Could you make a business case for upcoming new kit subjects?

[booboo60]

I wish someone would do a 68 Impala 2 door hardtop with a 327ci, my dad raced one and help national record holdermin it, ran j class, turned 14.50,, and was always racing up in class.

[bbowser]

In the interest of real world actual data, here are my company's top-selling 1/24-25th automotive subjects of the past 12 months, ranked by pieces sold.

1. Revell Slingster
2. Monogram Li'l Coffin
3. AMT 1978 Ford Pickup
4. Revell 1949 Mercury Woody
5. Revell Fireball Roberts 1957 Ford

I would never in a million years guessed the Li'l Coffin would rank 2nd! What market research would have predicted that?

[Jeff Johnston]

I would never in a million years guessed the Li'l Coffin would rank 2nd! What market research would have predicted that?

I agree. I would never have guessed that...

I'm still voting for the chopped and channeled hot rod. I really think it would sell and there are endless possibilities.

Edited June 14, 2014 by Jeff Johnston

[Brett Barrow]

We had a pretty good idea the Lil Coffin would do well, maybe not that well... We had a lot of preorders for it, and I believe we wrote a blog post about it back when we were still keeping up with that. Had a good response on our Facebook page as well. It's interesting to see what other models it gets bought with, a lot bought it together with the Munsters' cars, some were paired with Roth cars, Weird-Oh's, monster figures or movie cars.

[1930fordpickup]

In the interest of real world actual data, here are my company's top-selling 1/24-25th automotive subjects of the past 12 months, ranked by pieces sold.

1. Revell Slingster
2. Monogram Li'l Coffin
3. AMT 1978 Ford Pickup
4. Revell 1949 Mercury Woody
5. Revell Fireball Roberts 1957 Ford

I would never in a million years guessed the Li'l Coffin would rank 2nd! What market research would have predicted that?

Great looking wheels and the skinny model standing next to it. A good parts kit and a favorite show car of many.

I also am baffled by the ranking.

[Aaronw]

Brett, thanks for posting the sales info. That kind of data is usually lacking in these discussions.

Very interesting to see how well the truck models are doing since we are told by many on the forum that they are sales losers. Hopefully this is not a statistical fluke and it leads to more new tool truck kits in the future.

[Brett Barrow]

Brett, thanks for posting the sales info. That kind of data is usually lacking in these discussions.

Very interesting to see how well the truck models are doing since we are told by many on the forum that they are sales losers. Hopefully this is not a statistical fluke and it leads to more new tool truck kits in the future.

I think they do better in a hobby-focused setting like us or a brick-and-mortar hobby shop. In a regular big-box store like a WalMart they probably wouldn't do as well. Big, expensive models sell well for us these days. We've sold a ton of the 1/200 Trumpeter Missouri, Revell Germany's 1/200 Bucket Wheel Excavator, Revell's 1/144 Space Shuttle with Launch Tower, Tamiya's 1/32 Birdcage Corsair, HK Models' 1/32 B-17 and B-25, and many other big ships and big 1/32 planes.

The Peterbilt Wrecker was our #1 automotive model for calendar year 2013, both in dollars and quantity sold! It was amazing. If I were running Moebius I'd be seriously considering a LoneStar wrecker! I think it'd be awesome!

Edited June 14, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Aaronw]

I think they do better in a hobby-focused setting like us or a brick-and-mortar hobby shop. In a regular big-box store like a WalMart they probably wouldn't do as well. Big, expensive models sell well for us these days. We've sold a ton of the 1/200 Trumpeter Missouri, Revell Germany's 1/200 Bucket Wheel Excavator, Revell's 1/144 Space Shuttle with Launch Tower, Tamiya's 1/32 Birdcage Corsair, HK Models' 1/32 B-17 and B-25, and many other big ships and big 1/32 planes.

The Peterbilt Wrecker was our #1 automotive model for calendar year 2013, both in dollars and quantity sold! It was amazing. If I were running Moebius I'd be seriously considering a LoneStar wrecker! I think it'd be awesome!

Any idea how casual model sales (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Target etc) stack up vs sales through specialist hobby shops? Volume not subject matter.

[unclescott58]

Any idea how casual model sales (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Target etc) stack up vs sales through specialist hobby shops? Volume not subject matter.

I don't think Target sells model kits? Do they?

Scott Aho

Edited June 15, 2014 by unclescott58

[Aaronw]

Target has sold models from time to time, usually a very small selection and often snap kits when they have them. I'm pretty sure that is where I bought my son the Jada Speed Racer models several years ago. I was more just throwing out the kind of places where a person might buy a model because they see it on the shelf rather than go specifically looking for models.

[Tom Geiger]

Any idea how casual model sales (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Target etc) stack up vs sales through specialist hobby shops? Volume not subject matter.

I've always said to go to Hallmark and buy their car calendar. This is the one that Aunt Bessie will buy for her nephew who likes cars. It will have the most recognizable cars, those that the general public will be familiar with. It will be the usual Camaro, Mustang, Lambo and Ferarri mix. There certainly won't be any Hudsons or 50s Dodges in it.

[Art Anderson]

Yup, that's kinda my point, but you have to have SOMETHING other than gut-instinct to base a product-development budget on, eh?

Bill (and others), unlike virtually all "Fortune 500 companies, every model company here in the US is actually rather small potatoes--and thus there really isn't much "wiggle room" in the company budget for anything like really effective market research--would that it were otherwise, but that's pretty much the story of it.

That said, it sure seems to me that the two truly active American model companies right now seem to be doing one heckuva lot pretty right. Keep in mind that with model car kits, any manufacturer's focus has to be at least two-fold, and simultaneous at that. There are a great many automotive subjects that would light serious fires among us out here who buy kits (wherever we buy them), but if the wholesale/retail part of the chain doesn't see them in quite that fashion--what's a manufacturer to do, hmmmm? A prime example that comes up on this and other model car forums would be the legendary duo proposed by AMT/Ertl some 15-16 years ago, the '50 Olds 88, and the Bulletnose Studebaker. Those excited us as model car kit consumers to no end--BUT, retailers and wholesalers literally "panned" them, for whatever reasons--needless to say, neither went any farther out in Dyersville (although Revell did give us the Olds 88 Club Coupe about a year and a half ago.

I would submit, that being the rather niche market that model car kits go to, it really does take a product manager with some real savvy as to what will fly (figuratively speaking!) out there in Model Car Land. And further, that "savvy" brand manager does do pretty well at gauging the relative desirability of any one possible model car subject, because if he/she doesn't, at the very least there will be a replacement in that office pretty quickly. I think, for example that I can now safely say that Moebius' Dave Metzner and Frank Winspur didn't just decide out of the clear blue sky to just go and tool up a '53 Hudson Hornet and a '55 Chrysler C300--rather they asked a relatively small group of knowledgeable model car builders/enthusiasts (who for the most part are pretty well known around the hobby, in one capacity or another) each to come up with a short list of potential subjects, giving along with that their reasons why they felt that "such and such" would be a great subject if kitted. Apparently that approach worked, given the success of both kits, along with their follow-on versions. And, of course, they (along with Revell) are, by sheer necessity, catering to the market as it exists, not as they hope it might become. If one really thinks about this, isn't that pretty much the case with the vast majority of consumer products?

Art

[Robberbaron]

Thank you for the insight, Art.

[S. Svendsen]

I've been learning recently that licensing is playing a major role in what gets tooled also. Some car companies are very stringent in who gets to use their license. There are subjects out there that would probably sell well but either licensing can't be obtained or is cost prohibitive.

[sjordan2]

Okay, this is a shot in the dark since Revell's Ed Sexton said he doesn't see large-scale kits in Revell's future (that was about the same time as the 1/12 Mustang came out). But here's a thought.

Of interest especially to international modelers, the Ferrari 275 GTB berlinetta is one of the most admired cars of all time. But the 1/12 kit originally tooled by Renwal and later boxed by Revell is one of the biggest model kit jokes of all time (the horror, the horror).

It's time for a new 1/12 tooling with modern technology to make this car, which can be issued in at least 3 separate versions:

• Original 275 GTB berlinetta

• Next-generation 275 GTB/4 competizione with minor body, engine and mechanical adaptations, plus racing livery

• 275 GTB NART spyder, one of the most beautiful roadsters ever made.

A parts kit with a choice of 3 wheels could be offered for all of them:

• Standard Campagnolo alloys

• Borrani wire wheels such as those Revell issued on their 1/12 diecasts of the 250 GTO and Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut coupe.

• Rudge knockoffs

In the past couple of years, Revell of Germany has been reissuing some 1/16 kits of interest to the international market (Rolls PII Continental, VW Kafer bug), plus a single-store reissue of the 1/8 E-Type Jag, and I think a new 1/12 275 GTB would make a profit.

Edited July 10, 2014 by sjordan2