Why No Modern Pickup's in 1/24 or 1/25 scale?

[Aaronw]

The AMT '92-93 F-150s had promo versions. The Revell kits did not.

I did not know that, don't believe I've ever seen a promo of the early 90s Fords. So only Revell has dipped their toe into the waters of a "modern" truck (they were modern at the time anyway). So 2 1/2 kits are the foundation for the claim that there is no market for modern trucks, interesting.

I'm not the expert, and although I love pickups, they're the kits of earlier ones. I haven't paid much attention to the 1990s on up ones much. A quick walk through the eBay promo section finds 1995 S10 Blazers, 1996 GMC Jimmy, 1995 Tahoe, 1993 Chevy C-1500 extended cab pickup, 1991 & 1992 & 1993 Ford F150 pickups, 1988 &1991 & 1992 Chevy Silverado Sportside & regular side, 1994 Dodge Ram, 1998 Dodge Dakota, 1994 S-10 4x4 pickup, 1993 Ranger STX 4x4.

And there's a ton available in 1/24 and 1/25 scale diecast. Some of it is OOP, but that never stopped us. If you want the truck, a diecast taken apart and rebuilt is indeed a model. This is just scratching the surface, I compiled the list below without ever getting past auctions expiring within one day:

1995 Chevy c-1500 Pace Truck (I think these were Brookfield) 1996 Chevy Express Van, 1993 Suburban pace truck (diecast - Ertl) 1997 Suburban Brookfield, New Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo (Maisto), Range Rover (Bburago), Land Rover Discovery, Land Rover Defender, 2010 Ford F-150STX (Maisto), Land Rover (Bburago), Mercedes G (Welly), BMW X5, Late Model Chevy Tahoe (Jada), Hummer H2 Wagon (Jada), Range Rover Evoque (Welly), 2000 Suburban (Jada), 2002 GMC Yukon Denali (Jada) 1995 Chevy CK Dually (Sunnyside), Ford F-650 Super Duty (Motor Max), GMC Bucket Truck (DG Productions), VW Touareg (Bburago), 2003 Ford Expedition (Jada), Porsche Cayenne,

and there are many large trucks in diecast simply marked as "From China" in the diecast category. There's a full size Toyota bus, large straight trucks, forklifts, a couple of different large truck tractor / trailer cabs, a cement mixer all in 1/24, and priced around $100.

I've got no problem using any of those, and have on several occasions. We seem to have crossed intentions along the way. I just hate the frequent claim that modern trucks don't sell well when there hasn't really been much of an effort made to figure out what the market even is.

[Tom Geiger]

I agree with most that the new Meng F-350 will be very expensive at the projected $75 price but let's get real. I was at the local hobby shop yesterday and the shelves are fill with kits that were tooled 30 or more years ago and every one of those kits is selling for $26 to $31 dollars so lets get real. Most of those kits were made back in the days before corporate America decided it need a piece of every item sold with their name on it. Mack and Caterpillar along with the Union Pacific railroad were some of the earliest companies to jump on this band wagon. There was a time when the car companies commissioned promo models which is paid for most of the research and tooling costs. Now the model company does all the research, pays tooling cost and licensing cost.

If you want to know the other reason that new models cost so much go look in a mirror. Modelers today are spoiled, we want every part to fit without effort, be the perfect shape size and thickness and we want every possible option available that was available on the real vehicle. We demand perfection but we are not willing to accept the cost for perfection and when a new kit comes out every one wants to immediately blast the model company for any small error or compromise they made to give us the kit.

Will I buy the new Meng kit, absolutely I bought their new D9 kit and it was worth every nickle I paid for it. Will I ever see this as a 1/24 or 1/25 scale kit, no, why, because modelers will not pay the price.

If anyone out there thinks they can do a better job I challenge you to invest $75,000 to $100,000 of your own money to research develop and produce a kit and pray that people buy it. That is my two cents worth I will now get off my soap box and go back to model building.

Right on Gary!

Time for a little story. Back when I got into models as an adult, Ertl AMT had just come out with the '55 Chevy Cameo and the '66 Nova kits. We didn't have the Internet yet, but modelers complained a blue streak about these kits that AMT had put a ton of effort into. They were remarkable kits for their time.

That Christmas (my girls were little then) my daughters got a small merry go round for their little dollies. It needed to be assembled and Dad got that task of course. Pulling it out of the box, it consisted in maybe a dozen injection molded parts on familiar trees. The parts had mold lines, ejector pin marks and a little flash. I then pulled out the instruction sheet and the art and procedure looked very familiar. I looked at the box and yes, it was an Ertl product. I quickly assembled it with out worrying about the mold marks, applied the stickers and handed it over to two very pleased little girls! Looking at the box, this little toy sold for about double what a kit did then.

So I thought about it from a business stand point. Ertl could invest a small amount in tooling up these simple kids toys, which then were salable to the mass markets in Walmart, Toys R Us and other large retailers world wide. The products would be eagerly accepted by kids who would be very pleased with them. The return on investment would be phenomenal.

On the other hand, Ertl could invest much more money on very detailed tooling of over 100 precision parts, that needed to correctly represent a car or truck down to the last detail, and must assemble easily and flawlessly. It could only be sold in limited retail establishments and the consumers who bought this product would scream and yell about the effort. They would never be happy. Return on investment? Maybe you could make a small profit.

Which market would you serve?

[Guest]

I did not know that, don't believe I've ever seen a promo of the early 90s Fords. So only Revell has dipped their toe into the waters of a "modern" truck (they were modern at the time anyway). So 2 1/2 kits are the foundation for the claim that there is no market for modern trucks, interesting.

No. Amt had quite a few '90s truck kits. Although they were early to mid '90s. They did the F-150 in a regular cab: long bed, short bed, flareside and the Lightning. The Chevy was made in the regular cab: long bed, short bed SS and step side. They also offered a "pro street" super cab with a dually bed as a snap kit. They did a two door S-10 Blazer and four door Explorer. Then there are the Ranger regular cabs: short bed, long bed and Splash. The S-10 regular cabs: (I may miss one here) short bed and Xtreme. The latest AMT pickup kit that I recall is the un popular '97 F-150 long bed. They did a snap '97 Supercab short bed 4X4 also. They made the Cadillac Escalade EXT. One that I don't understand is why AMT didn't turn the Tahoe into a kit. I have every kit I mentioned except for the S-10s, S-10 Blazer and Escalade EXT. In the '90s, AMT was the "go to" company for pickups and SUV's. It surprised me when they just up and stopped making new pickup kits. The nasty looking '97 F-150 long bed and Cadillac EXT probably killed any more new kit production.

[Autobot Cruiser]

Wow, alot of great discussion! Way more than I ever thought. Awesome!

I really don't believe the trucks don't sell mantra that always gets bandied about. I think it is far more likely that trucks don't sell under the same model as say a '57 Chevy.

It will be interesting to see how Meng does, this is the first real effort in a long time. $70 is a lot for a kit, time to see if the people clamoring for truck kits are willing to spend the money. I know I've dropped that much on just a resin cab, so paying that for a complete kit doesn't seem too bad a deal.

This was my initial thought as well. I understand there not the most popular as say a 57' Chevy, Corvette, Chevelle, etc, but considering that Full size trucks are the best selling vehicles in America, I refuse to believe that there isn't some kind of a demand.

The cost of the meng kit is high for sure, but looking at the detail i can live with that. But that does lead to another question...

Is this kit higher detail than your average 1/24 scale kit? I understand that modelers are demanding, but are they/we more demanding with our trucks than cars? Bigger vehicles, means more parts. ore parts, mean more money. However there are several car kits that provide options that include options to build the kit in multiple ways but still don't come close to the $70 price tag.

Someone had brought up the many options that trucks have. Half through one tons, regular through crew cabs, long and short beds, duallys vs. single rear wheel etc. I can defenatly see a problem trying to figure out which combo would be the best seller. but you have to start somewhere. Would it not make sense to start with the most popular selling combos? Crewcab trucks rule the land so maybe that's a good starting point.

[Aaronw]

No. Amt had quite a few '90s truck kits. Although they were early to mid '90s. They did the F-150 in a regular cab: long bed, short bed, flareside and the Lightning. The Chevy was made in the regular cab: long bed, short bed SS and step side. They also offered a "pro street" super cab with a dually bed as a snap kit. They did a two door S-10 Blazer and four door Explorer. Then there are the Ranger regular cabs: short bed, long bed and Splash. The S-10 regular cabs: (I may miss one here) short bed and Xtreme. The latest AMT pickup kit that I recall is the un popular '97 F-150 long bed. They did a snap '97 Supercab short bed 4X4 also. They made the Cadillac Escalade EXT. One that I don't understand is why AMT didn't turn the Tahoe into a kit. I have every kit I mentioned except for the S-10s, S-10 Blazer and Escalade EXT. In the '90s, AMT was the "go to" company for pickups and SUV's. It surprised me when they just up and stopped making new pickup kits. The nasty looking '97 F-150 long bed and Cadillac EXT probably killed any more new kit production.

You might want to re-read the discussion on promos. Apparently all of these AMT kits were promo based, their cost being borne by the auto manufacturers. It appears only Revell has gone out alone and tooled up a modern truck that wasn't dictated by the desires of the 1-1 auto manufacturers.

[Tom Geiger]

Like I said earlier. If there was a profitable market a manufacturer will fill it. And nobody has stepped up to offer modern pickups.

If Meng follows with more American late model trucks, it will be because their main Asian and European markets have responded positively. They aren't looking at the US market, as this is being handled by a distributor. That translates to low volume at higher prices. Not enough sales potential in that formula to make or break their project. Just what we're seeing. This is the equivalent of when Tamiya did the Jeep Grand Cherokee a while back. And that didn't set the US market on fire.

[Rob Hall]

It appears only Revell has gone out alone and tooled up a modern truck that wasn't dictated by the desires of the 1-1 auto manufacturers.

..and Lindberg, who did a Dodge Dakota and '97 Ford F150.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Rob Hall

[Thatswhatshesaid]

Just because a vehicle is a no. 1 seller in the US as a 1:1 doesn't mean that will automatically translate into sales success as a kit. If that was true there would be kits of Camrys, Accords and Kias aplenty.

[charlie8575]

..As cost goes, Meng Is Merciless..

..Sorry 'bout that.

That's AWFUL!

I wish I came up with it.

Charlie Larkin

[Guest]

You might want to re-read the discussion on promos. Apparently all of these AMT kits were promo based, their cost being borne by the auto manufacturers. It appears only Revell has gone out alone and tooled up a modern truck that wasn't dictated by the desires of the 1-1 auto manufacturers.

I did and no, they weren't all based on promos. The Escalade EXT and Ford Explorer were never offered as promos. The S-10 Blazer was offered as a four door 4X4 promo. But, the kit is a two door. So, it is a stand alone kit also. The S-10 was offered as a 4X4 only (that I'm aware of) as a promo. The kits are 2wd that don't share the fender flares with the 4X4. I don't know how much of the promo tooling AMT used from it. Probably not a lot. Same thing with the Ranger promos and kits.

[Saltie Olds]

On 3/12/2014 at 4:06 PM, SlotDaddy1963 said:

Model Round-Up has both... $39 and $42 respectively, Knda pricey

http://www.modelroundup.com/v/vspfiles/photos/AMT-6199-2.jpg

http://www.modelroundup.com/v/vspfiles/photos/AMT-8237-2.jpg

Much like the AMT "Snap-Fast Plus" F150, C1500 and C3500, nice but simplified

I have both of these kits that I’m going to be building a Club Cab 3500 with.

[Jordan White]

If anyone hasn't been in the car/truck news sections, Revell is bringing the 1999 Silverado kit back out shortly. Looks like it will still have some custom parts, but the box art shows that they might be bringing back the stock wheels at least!

[stavanzer]

 

"Ed seemed to believe that the stock wheels will be in it as they wouldn't be allowed on the box art if they're not included.  Otherwise, it's reported as a straight reissue of the kit from its last run, which means no stock height suspension."

[Mattilacken]

The thread is old, and we have gotten some trucks since. We have the raptors, easy builders but still! The Meng FORD F250 and Hummer. As well as the Dodge Ram power wagon in resin. 😎 glad to hear that the Silverado is coming out soon again. I have two new in boxes still and I know a store that still carries them:-)