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Possible new NASCAR kit(s) coming


martinfan5

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It's not the economy. It's that they have put a boring product on the cookie cutter tracks.

I think a new kit would be a disaster sales wise. You can't give away nascar kits.

It would be the same for kits of current Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock cars. They all look the same and haven't gone the full quarter-mile for several years. The excitement wears thin after a while. But, that doesn't mean I wouldn't buy any of them at all.

Edited by johnbuzzed
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The kits only sell to a very small part of the hobby at best, and the licensing is out of control for what they want, remember everyone wants their cut, when I was one of the owners of SLIXX decals we quit doing NASCAR because the amount of money they wanted for licensing was getting "stupid high" plus a lot of requirements to boot.. and the profit was not there, plus now it's gotten so bad to the point of having to get licensing for every tiny decal on the car, I can't see a quarter of a million dollar plus investment on totally new tooling for a current NASCAR kit, the return is not there, The old stuff yes that would be great, but don't count on seeing it, even the die cast is dead pretty much.just saying thats all.

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It would be the same for kits of current Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock cars. They all look the same and haven't gone the full quarter-mile for several years. The excitement wears thin after a while. But, that doesn't mean I wouldn't buy any of them at all.

Well we haven't had a for the time up to date Top Fuel Dragster since 1989-90, Funny Car since the mid 80's and Pro Stock cars since 1984-85 with the Camaro and Thunderbirds, and the Olds Cutlass from 93-94, everything released after that didn't keep up with the development of the sport as the race cars went through a lot of changes and developments under the time Revell/Monogram did these kits.

Revell did too little too late to the kits and never kept up with the progress, so the later reissues of the kits were never up to date for the time they came out, the funny thing is IF Revell had done the necessary updates to the last issues of the Top Fuel Dragsters from early 2000's and Funny Cars from late 1990's to make them current for the time they would still have been close to up to date today 12-14 years later as except for the FC bodys the current race cars haven't gone through any major developements since then and looks pretty much the same.

The Pro Stock cars are another story, they still changes a lot and are harder to keep up with.

As for the NASCAR kits, I don't have high hopes for any new kits but if they did the Generation 6 cars I would buy, they look more like the cars they are supposed to be and a lot better than the previous generations.

Edited by Force
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Well we haven't had a for the time up to date Top Fuel Dragster since 1989-90, Funny Car since the mid 80's and Pro Stock cars since 1984-85 with the Camaro and Thunderbirds, and the Olds Cutlass from 93-94, everything released after that didn't keep up with the development of the sport as the race cars went through a lot of changes and developments under the time Revell/Monogram did these kits.

Revell did too little too late to the kits and never kept up with the progress, so the later reissues of the kits were never up to date for the time they came out, the funny thing is IF Revell had done the necessary updates to the last issues of the Top Fuel Dragsters from early 2000's and Funny Cars from late 1990's to make them current for the time they would still have been close to up to date today 12-14 years later as except for the FC bodys the current race cars haven't gone through any major developements since then and looks pretty much the same.

The Pro Stock cars are another story, they still changes a lot and are harder to keep up with.

.

But think about the time it takes to make the changes. They could have been up to date at the time they did the kits but once they hit the market they weren't up to date. Trying to keep an accurate kit on the shelves seems like you would always be chasing your tail.

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Not saying it has any effect on if there are any new NASCAR kits or not, but don't use this years night Bristol race as a yardstick for attendance records, it had rained most of the day and rain had been forecast for the night all week. And the race ended up being a Sunday day race after all, with the cost of tickets and travel, motel, and food a lot of people who had tickets didn't make the trip and on XM SIRRIUS on Monday almost every caller regretted their decision as most felt that they missed a great race. Now let's talk about the road races, I'm not a real fan of the them, but both races were virtually sold out, and the most exciting races of the year (up to that point) were seen, if it's any sign the races in the chase are doing great, and I have would bet that the rest won't be dogs either , I'd go as far as saying if you don't have tickets for Homestead yet that you're going to need a bit more than face value as far as what they will cost you.

The most exciting part of last weekends race happened AFTER the race was over.

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But think about the time it takes to make the changes. They could have been up to date at the time they did the kits but once they hit the market they weren't up to date. Trying to keep an accurate kit on the shelves seems like you would always be chasing your tail.

Yes of course updates takes time but the few updates Revell did to the kits over the years they were issued couldn't have taken that long as it wasn't that much, most of it were already done to the real cars several years before the kits came out and some needed things were never updated.

Revell just missed out on the timing with some years...if they had done the needed updates with the last issues of these kits they would still have been quite accurate today.

Edited by Force
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Yes of course updates takes time but the few updates Revell did to the kits over the years they were issued couldn't have taken that long as it wasn't that much, most of it were already done to the real cars several years before the kits came out and some needed things were never updated.

Revell just missed out on the timing with some years...if they had done the needed updates with the last issues of these kits they would still have been quite accurate today.

The problem is that the changes come year after year after year. It takes a long time for a manufacturer to develop an accurate kit of a subject that does not constantly change, and even then, there will usually be problems with accuracy of some type. By the time a kit would be introduced, the real car could quite possibly be out of date. The market for what would be an out-of-date competition car, more specfifically an out-of-date Sprint Cup car, might not be big enough to warrant the development time involved. Maybe a nostalgic or historical car would sell, but something possibly three to five years old? I don't think so.

Edited by johnbuzzed
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Yes of course updates takes time but the few updates Revell did to the kits over the years they were issued couldn't have taken that long as it wasn't that much, most of it were already done to the real cars several years before the kits came out and some needed things were never updated.

Revell just missed out on the timing with some years...if they had done the needed updates with the last issues of these kits they would still have been quite accurate today.

Revell's 2007 kits were not 100% correct for that year. The COT or Gen6 car is 100% different. Chassis is very different with enclosed drive shaft, wider than 2007 and different roll cage. Bodies shared nothing at all. Revell's engine was somewhat generic....so a new one of those needed.....maybe tires would have transferred over.....nothing else. Revell had to tool a all new kit or stop making them. The uproar over tiny things on recent kits would be nothing compared to a NASCAR 2014 kit with 2007 chassis.

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Dave: I was talking about the drag racing kits I know it's a bit off topic but they were mentioned earlier in this thread.

The NASCAR kits is another thing and I know the generations are quite different.

John: I agree with you, it's not easy to keep up with the changes if they are done often...but with the TF and FC kits (except bodies for FC) it hasn't been many major changes since the early 2000's and that's why they would have still worked pretty well today if the necessary updates had been done when they were out last.

But as this is about NASCAR kits we can leave it with that.

Edited by Force
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Would a Powerslide/Revell or Round2 team up be possible ? Slixx and Revell did it before on NASCAR kits . Would that help with the licensing ? The model could make a kit and package a Powerslide decal and sell it on shelves ? Then they could sell a generic white kit online or hobby shops. That might work .

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Would a Powerslide/Revell or Round2 team up be possible ? Slixx and Revell did it before on NASCAR kits . Would that help with the licensing ? The model could make a kit and package a Powerslide decal and sell it on shelves ? Then they could sell a generic white kit online or hobby shops. That might work .

As far as I know NASCAR owns the rights to the shape and construction of the generation 6 cars together with the teams who builds them so you can't do even generic cars without licensing from NASCAR, Toyota, Chevrolet and Ford, but you also may be needing licensing from Hendricks Motorsports, Toyota Racing Development, Roush-Fenway, Joe Gibbs Racing and so on even if you leave out the decals.

But if the licensing is shared it could cut the cost some, the question is if it's enough to develop a new kit.

It's a weard time we live in when you have to pay lots of money for exactly nothing just to be able to do a model kit of something, it was a time when there were less greed and the model manufacturers could do model kits without having to pay huge ammounts of money just to be allowed to use the name of the tires, the brand of car and so on for the model kits...it's kind of free advertising if you ask me, and you could even call it product placing, that's done all the time in movies and the brand owners even pay for it and give out their products for free.

I for one learned of many of the car related brands through my models, what kid who built models back then didn't know what for example Good Year and Firestone did.

I'm more into the "dark side" of NASCAR as not many of the later race cars from the 1990's and 2000's didn't look like anything, but I like the shape of the present Generation 6 cars, so if they are done I will for sure buy.

Edited by Force
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NASCAR isn't about racing though, it's about selling garb. Bumper stickers, cardboard cutouts, die casts, t-shirts, flags, etc. Their business is selling advertising for their business. For the fans it's still about racing, but for the sponsors and the team owners and NASCAR fat cats it's about selling lamp shades with #48 on them. They can't give away licensing, their business model is to sell licensing.

That said, I still watch. I haven't got 4 hours to watch a whole race start to finish but I catch the first 20 and last 50 or so when I can. I sit through the commercials, look at the ads all over the smartphone app when checking the "score", talk about it on Monday with fellow fans, and watch the highlight reel.

Edited by kalbert
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Kind of funny how people kind of put down NASCAR about their licensing practices and say that they can't watch an entire race, but the same people don't think a thing about the NFL, NBA, or professional baseball, and spending four hours watching a game that the entire thing can be covered in a minute or less of highlights on the late news or Sportscenter. And they rationalize the multi million dollar contracts paid out to the players by saying that their useful money earning years are short. The last time I watched a pro baseball game, they didn't risk their life or permanently crippling injuries every time they started a game, and didn't Nolan Ryan play into his fifties and was still a very highly rated player, how many Cup racers can you name that are still competitive in their fifties, and how many good rookies have you heard of in racing that start out with fourty million dollar contracts with a three or four million dollar signing bonus, without ever starting a race?

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For the handfull of other sports I loosely follow, I don't watch hours of them either. I'll tune in toward the end and if the score is close I'll watch to see which way it goes. Most of the time the game is over 3/4 through, but sometimes its close and exciting.

Now in the event that I'm at the venue, I watch the whole thing no problem. A lot happens on the field/court/track that you can't see on TV. Being in the company of thousands of people cheering and jeering also adds to the fun and makes even a snoozer a good time.

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Once the 200 people who want a new NASCAR kit are satisfied,the kits will languish on store shelves and eventually end up in the $3 or less range at toy shows.

If a "correct" modern kit was built, they'd fly off the shelves .. the reason the other kits "languish" is simply for the fact that they were truly awful kits ..

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Kind of funny how people kind of put down NASCAR about their licensing practices and say that they can't watch an entire race, but the same people don't think a thing about the NFL, NBA, or professional baseball, and spending four hours watching a game that the entire thing can be covered in a minute or less of highlights on the late news or Sportscenter. And they rationalize the multi million dollar contracts paid out to the players by saying that their useful money earning years are short. The last time I watched a pro baseball game, they didn't risk their life or permanently crippling injuries every time they started a game, and didn't Nolan Ryan play into his fifties and was still a very highly rated player, how many Cup racers can you name that are still competitive in their fifties, and how many good rookies have you heard of in racing that start out with fourty million dollar contracts with a three or four million dollar signing bonus, without ever starting a race?

I totally agree. Major league ballplayers in every stick & ball sport are wildly overpaid for what they do IMO.

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If a "correct" modern kit was built, they'd fly off the shelves .. the reason the other kits "languish" is simply for the fact that they were truly awful kits ..

I disagree. The Monogram 1/24 and AMT 1/25 kits from the 90's were great kits and made a lot of coin for the companies. That fad has now run it's course and NASCAR itself is on the decline for a variety of reasons, hence little interest in those cars or new ones. All the interest now is for us baby boomers and cars from the 50's and 60's.

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