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Tire licensing rights Round 2 vs Revell


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I've taken notice to all the nice re- isseue kits from round 2 coming back most if not all seem to have the sought after famously wanted "pad printed" sidewall tires...... so why is it that round 2 can Pad print factory names on the sides of their tires whereas Revell/ Monogram no longer do this at all from my understanding....... I have a older first run of the 99' cobra and i want to say it had goodyear stamped on the rubber sidewalls i'm for sure the most recent repop/ run of the same kit does not have that plain jane no noname tires

Its very dissapointing on revells behalf as the newer mustang kits 05' gt and all kits since then could really benefit, the tires that come in the kits are Ho-Hum and don't look as great as they could

another great example

one of my favorite offroad truck tires has been in many monogram revell kits over the years

the "Goodyear" "Tracker AT" tires originall issued kits like i want to say the molded in blue cj- 7 is old enough to have the original tires with "goodyear Tracker AT" molded onto the sidewalls of the tires..... the old jeep honcho kits same thing sidewall detail..... (i'm certain that the pinkpoison/ mr deadwrench) re issue has the blank sidewall tracker tires still a nice tire yet lacking the quality of the originals

alot of amt's kits over the years have had the "goodyear" or "firestone" molded into the tires ......

does this just mean that amt (now round 2) does a better job of obtaining permission to used these names, or sign licencing agreements?

and why revell does not do anything with their plain boring genaric tires?

just wanted to know what the community here knows on thos matter its quite interesting in my eyes as an avid styrene modeler :huh:

guess this turned into one long rant..... yeesh

soap boxxin' in

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My understanding is that Goodyear especially is exorbitant in their licensing charges. That kills Monarch, Kelly-Springfield, Fiske, Dunlop and two or three other smaller brands.

Firestone, according to someone I know with some knowledge of the licensing process, does not charge royalties, and only asks for review samples prior to signing off on it. Firestone would be Dayton, Bridgestone, LeMans, Runway and a whole bunch of other gas station tires.

I'm not sure about Michelin, although I've been told they're more difficult than expensive- that controls the availability of Michelin, BFG and Uniroyal/U.S. Royal.

I've long advocated going with the companies that make gas station tires, like Multi-Mile or Cordovan, or smaller firms like Cooper or Continental-General. Similarly, we could use companies that are out of business, like Armstrong. I suspect that a lot of these companies would be very reasonable to deal with because it's a little bit of brand exposure, and, if they want royalties, a little extra income.

"But these are small brands!" "But these are...*gasp* aftermarket tires!" "But....but...but..."

Yeah, so? Looks a far sight better than blank sidewalls.

Charlie Larkin

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My understanding is that Goodyear especially is exorbitant in their licensing charges. That kills Monarch, Kelly-Springfield, Fiske, Dunlop and two or three other smaller brands.

Firestone, according to someone I know with some knowledge of the licensing process, does not charge royalties, and only asks for review samples prior to signing off on it. Firestone would be Dayton, Bridgestone, LeMans, Runway and a whole bunch of other gas station tires.

I'm not sure about Michelin, although I've been told they're more difficult than expensive- that controls the availability of Michelin, BFG and Uniroyal/U.S. Royal.

I've long advocated going with the companies that make gas station tires, like Multi-Mile or Cordovan, or smaller firms like Cooper or Continental-General. Similarly, we could use companies that are out of business, like Armstrong. I suspect that a lot of these companies would be very reasonable to deal with because it's a little bit of brand exposure, and, if they want royalties, a little extra income.

"But these are small brands!" "But these are...*gasp* aftermarket tires!" "But....but...but..."

Yeah, so? Looks a far sight better than blank sidewalls.

Charlie Larkin

We get that licensing fees are high. The issue is why does one model company pay them apparently, and others not?

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that is the interesting point why one company, not the other supposed "big" company(s) It did seem for awile you got nice goodyear eagle tires in some of the revell kits or at least tires that were far better than no namers..... yeah blank sidewalls is a drag on our little cars...... no wonder i like getting hold of tire junklots from fleabay just to i can get older "goodyear" tires in my parts bin, not like i had enough to begin with

I know mpc must have had an exclusive thing with B.f. goodrich back in there 80's days as pretty much all mustangs foxbody kits gt incorrect b.f tires all other kits i've known to have from the 80's fiero's exp's etc all had various sizes of bf tires....... those are the natoriously famous tires for burning marks melting into plastic kit parts and glass.......

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that is the interesting point why one company, not the other supposed "big" company(s) It did seem for awile you got nice goodyear eagle tires in some of the revell kits or at least tires that were far better than no namers..... yeah blank sidewalls is a drag on our little cars...... no wonder i like getting hold of tire junklots from fleabay just to i can get older "goodyear" tires in my parts bin, not like i had enough to begin with

I know mpc must have had an exclusive thing with B.f. goodrich back in there 80's days as pretty much all mustangs foxbody kits gt incorrect b.f tires all other kits i've known to have from the 80's fiero's exp's etc all had various sizes of bf tires....... those are the natoriously famous tires for burning marks melting into plastic kit parts and glass.......

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Note that average MSRP for Revell new kits is usually a few bucks cheaper than AMT kits. So maybe tire licensing has something to do with this...

Also the Revell kits are new tooling which is quite expensive these days. They probably are at the end of their budget, to get the kit out at a certain price. Round 2 / AMT is primarily selling reissue kits. I won't say the tooling is free since they recently bought it all, but must be less costly than cutting new steel. Their new tampo printed tires are a gimmick to get you to buy older kits you may already have, so the expense works for them.

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My understanding is that Goodyear especially is exorbitant in their licensing charges. That kills Monarch, Kelly-Springfield, Fiske, Dunlop and two or three other smaller brands.

Firestone, according to someone I know with some knowledge of the licensing process, does not charge royalties, and only asks for review samples prior to signing off on it. Firestone would be Dayton, Bridgestone, LeMans, Runway and a whole bunch of other gas station tires.

I'm not sure about Michelin, although I've been told they're more difficult than expensive- that controls the availability of Michelin, BFG and Uniroyal/U.S. Royal.

I've long advocated going with the companies that make gas station tires, like Multi-Mile or Cordovan, or smaller firms like Cooper or Continental-General. Similarly, we could use companies that are out of business, like Armstrong. I suspect that a lot of these companies would be very reasonable to deal with because it's a little bit of brand exposure, and, if they want royalties, a little extra income.

"But these are small brands!" "But these are...*gasp* aftermarket tires!" "But....but...but..."

Yeah, so? Looks a far sight better than blank sidewalls.

Charlie Larkin

When Lindberg (then under George Toteff) discovered the tooling for the once-lost AMT '34 Ford pickup in a tooling shop in Windsor Ontario, he had to come up with tires for it (tire tooling, of course, is not part of most model car kit tools themselves, but you probably know that already). So, Lindberg tooled up for new tires for this kit. Brand of tire? Yup, ARMSTRONG, those tires with the "ounce of prevention" biscuits in the tread groove, to "Grippppp the road"! You do have to look closely, but "Armstrong) lettering is clearly on the sidewalls, just outside of the scuff bead.

Art

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Also the Revell kits are new tooling which is quite expensive these days. They probably are at the end of their budget, to get the kit out at a certain price. Round 2 / AMT is primarily selling reissue kits. I won't say the tooling is free since they recently bought it all, but must be less costly than cutting new steel.

Yes, and still, Revell's reissue kits and even new tool kits MSRP is cheaper than AMT's (Round2) revised/reissue kits...

If tire licensing is the reason behind that difference in MSRP price (I don't see any other reason for this...), I think revell should do the same as Round2 and bring us nice tires in their kits.

Revell is known for having crappy tires in their kits, most of the time I throw them away and use other tires from the parts box or use AMT parts pack tires. Nice tires is important to achieve a nice build, and if I am willing to buy AMT parts pack tires, I certainly wouldn't mind paying Revell a few bucks more to have nice tires included in their kits :)

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I'm curious, do most people insist on accurate specific tires, or do you just want a decent looking tire with something actually on the sidewall.

If a model company included a set of Goodweasel Falcons (surprisingly similar in appearance to Goodyear's Eagle) would that satisfy people, or do most want the name of a real tire even if it costs more?

Personally I don't really care that much about the sidewall, but I do like a good looking tread pattern, so I'd be fine with fictional clones.

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Nobody complains about the lack of detail on a Pegasus tire. They're smooth. For me it depends. If building an exact replica, the yes, I want the tire to be as close as possible. But for a shelf model? Come on..

Well, for some of us, we try to build as close to the real thing as we can. When you build showroom stock, tire markings are important.

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I'm curious, do most people insist on accurate specific tires, or do you just want a decent looking tire with something actually on the sidewall.

If a model company included a set of Goodweasel Falcons (surprisingly similar in appearance to Goodyear's Eagle) would that satisfy people, or do most want the name of a real tire even if it costs more?

Personally I don't really care that much about the sidewall, but I do like a good looking tread pattern, so I'd be fine with fictional clones.

Actually, I'm ok as long as the tire is a good tire size for the model and the thread pattern looks good, most of the time I sand the sidewall markings away and use tire decals (except if I'm using those nice AMT tampo printed tires :) )

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I like it to have the Good Year logo and name , but I really want the tires and wheels to fit together , some of the current kits I've tired to build the wheels are to small . Or I guess the tires are to big , or cut to big.

I remember when the amt tires came solid and you had to cut out the centers yourself now there all cut out for you.

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Well for me,tires are important. There looks the way they fit and of corse side walls.I build the the replica of what I'm building.

it means slot to me.so do the rims.I also like certain brands on my projects.I don't speak for anyone but me,soI like others buy tire packs from AMT and tire lots from were ever I can get them..I've been collecting tires for a very lonnnnggg time.I understand licensing and it ok if model company's charge a little extra for the tire company's. But what don't get is why there isn't a company out there for us to get tires and rims from with different brands,width's,heights, subject matter..like street,race,off road all the different types. I would rather have a kit with no wheels an tires then go find,shop what ever to get what I want on my project.why don't Round2,Revell/Monogram and all the rest make seprate tire and wheel combo packs...so we decide want we want on our builds.I don't use pegeuss suppler for the most part.and yes it would be nice if there was more decals for us to make closer to what we want.we art all artist's and we need the right supples to create.thats the wsy I see it..my words I don't mean to hurt anyone so if I did..sorry.

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