In 1929, a Swedish immigrant by the name of Nils Testor purchased the assets of a struggling Rockford adhesives company owned by fellow Swede Axel Karlson. Karlson had been producing a product known as "Karlson's Klister", which was originally intended for use in the repair of women's stockings, but had quickly found use in other applications as well. By the time Testor came along, cobblers had become the product's primary market. Coming to the conclusion that the only way to save his new acquisition was to sell the product to additional markets, Testor renamed the adhesive "Crystal Clear Household Cement" and began marketing it to households as a general-purpose repair product while continuing to sell a large quantity to shoemakers.

Testor's actions proved to be successful, and by 1936 the company was able to expand its product line. Staying true to its status as a chemical corporation, hobbyist model cement and butyrate dope was introduced to the public. Four years later, Testor Corporation became a founding member of The Hobby Industry of America, an association of hobby parts suppliers and manufacturers.

World War II

Industrial production necessitated by World War II caused severe shortages of raw materials for manufacturers not directly involved in the war effort. In Testor's case, this manifested itself in difficulties acquiring the chemicals necessary to continue producing its line of adhesives and paints. As a result, the company was forced to branch out into other segments of the hobby market. To this end, Testor began producing static scale models of popular aircraft out of pinewood. These scale models proved enormously popular, and enabled Testor Corporation to survive despite its inability to produce its flagship chemical products in any significant quantity.

On February 1, 1944, a fire broke out at Testor's main Rockford facility. In addition to totally destroying the upper two floors of the four-story brick building, production lines and equipment suffered severe damage from both the fire itself and from the water used to douse the flames. Total damages were estimated at over US$200,000; however, in less than a year a new, larger plant was built and production continued. With the end of the war, the company was able to resume production of its trademark glues and paints, including adhesives for the plastics that were quickly becoming popular. Additionally, surpluses of ultra-lightweight balsa wood left over from the war enabled the company to begin producing flying wooden aircraft models as well as provide raw balsa wood for builders of custom-designed models.

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