What's "new" coming our way in the next few months, model wise ?

[Greg Myers]

Used to be there were Trade shows letting us in on the new releases and lots of buzz here on the board on new kit releases. Doesn't seem to be much lately. Does anyone have any New up dates?

[disabled modeler]

No idea myself...still waiting for the last batch to show up locally.

[Greg Myers]

That's another part of this equation, Where do they show up first. Quite aggravating seeing "new" releases om Ebay before they are even released.

[Austin T]

In my opinion if I were a kit manufacturer I don't think I'd even mention a new release until it was almost finished, that way people don't complain about the time it takes to actually design the kit,produce the tools, and make the kit itself. kinda like what many Japanese companies do,for example Tamiya's latest offering was only announced a few months back and people started getting them a week or so ago. Just enough time to build up the right amount of hype instead of having to wait three years for a kit and potential customers losing interest.

[TonyK]

Still waiting on when we might see that World Touring Chevy car. Aoshima, I think. Always tough for me to track down where I can purchase Aoshima kits. Kind of hit and miss even on the Internet.

[gtx6970]

Isnt the 57 Ford wagon supposed to be due here in a bit ?

What about the Lindberg Lawman Dodge ?

Mobius 1965 Plymouth or the 65 Comet , ? ,,havent heard a peep about either one is some time

how about the 69-70 Ford pickup ? 61 Pontiac Ventura ?

I want at least one of each ,,with multiples of both the plymouth and the comet

[Austin T]

Still waiting on when we might see that World Touring Chevy car. Aoshima, I think. Always tough for me to track down where I can purchase Aoshima kits. Kind of hit and miss even on the Internet.

I believe it was Beemax that is releasing the Chevy, Also HLJ.com is an excellent place for Japanese kits.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Austin T

[Art Anderson]

A couple of observations here:

First, "trade shows" in the hobby industry have been fading for several decades now--40-50 years ago, THE event was the Hobby Industry Association show in Chicago every day--that show wasn't mega-sized by modern standards (but then neither were exhibition halls either). In the years before the internet, hobby dealers traveled, often a couple of thousand miles to see what was new for the coming year (HIAA shows traditionally opened the 3rd Sunday every January). Those HIA trade shows, at the old Sherman House Hotel in Chicago's Loop were a mob scene, several thousand spectators, most all of them hobby dealers and their staffs. By the 1980's, that had all changed, regardless of "for better or worse".

Even the follow-on Radio Control Hobby Association (RCHTA) shows were fairly minor compared to their earlier counterparts--where HIAA shows brought in hobby dealers from all over the US, RCHTA attendance was, at best, regional. iHobby tended to be even smaller. In short, why set up a booth at a show, to see only perhaps a few hundred spectators, with only a percentage of those being hobby retailers?

As surely has to be obvious by now, it's become very difficult to set a release date for a new model kit out say, 6 - 12 months--there are just too many variables that can, and it seems, generally do, get in the way of that. The logistics alone can be a real obstacle with that. With a kit of a new car or pickup (or for that matter, a subject that was done in real life by the use of CAD, the design process of a model kit can be a lot easier, done more quickly. But, as has always been the case, a new model kit of a vehicle that was created the old-fashioned way, by draftsmen at drawing boards, takes a lot more time to bring to fruition--the research and reference work can take months, if not years, to gather, and far longer to translate to usable CAD files required for modern-day kit tooling. Add to this the far more sophisticated and knowledgeable model builder of today--grown men with far more critical eyes than any of us were as 10- say 16yr olds back in the day.

All factors that make truly accurate release schedules seemingly impossible to set.

Art

[Danno]

What's new . . . model-wise . . . coming our way is DESERT SCALE CLASSIC 11 . . . in just 9 days!

[southpier]

i think Revelle is releasing a beach wagon but it's got so much flash no one will be buying it.

[gtx6970]

A couple of observations here:

First, "trade shows" in the hobby industry have been fading for several decades now--40-50 years ago, THE event was the Hobby Industry Association show in Chicago every day--that show wasn't mega-sized by modern standards (but then neither were exhibition halls either). In the years before the internet, hobby dealers traveled, often a couple of thousand miles to see what was new for the coming year (HIAA shows traditionally opened the 3rd Sunday every January). Those HIA trade shows, at the old Sherman House Hotel in Chicago's Loop were a mob scene, several thousand spectators, most all of them hobby dealers and their staffs. By the 1980's, that had all changed, regardless of "for better or worse".

Even the follow-on Radio Control Hobby Association (RCHTA) shows were fairly minor compared to their earlier counterparts--where HIAA shows brought in hobby dealers from all over the US, RCHTA attendance was, at best, regional. iHobby tended to be even smaller. In short, why set up a booth at a show, to see only perhaps a few hundred spectators, with only a percentage of those being hobby retailers?

As surely has to be obvious by now, it's become very difficult to set a release date for a new model kit out say, 6 - 12 months--there are just too many variables that can, and it seems, generally do, get in the way of that. The logistics alone can be a real obstacle with that. With a kit of a new car or pickup (or for that matter, a subject that was done in real life by the use of CAD, the design process of a model kit can be a lot easier, done more quickly. But, as has always been the case, a new model kit of a vehicle that was created the old-fashioned way, by draftsmen at drawing boards, takes a lot more time to bring to fruition--the research and reference work can take months, if not years, to gather, and far longer to translate to usable CAD files required for modern-day kit tooling. Add to this the far more sophisticated and knowledgeable model builder of today--grown men with far more critical eyes than any of us were as 10- say 16yr olds back in the day.

All factors that make truly accurate release schedules seemingly impossible to set.

Art

Art,

No dis-respect meant. so please dont take it as such .

But just to use one model year as an example.

How did the then Johan manage to produce an extremly accurate replica of say the Plymouth 1969 GTX. Granted some of the interior details,,and expecially the chassis detail left a lot to be desired.

But for the most part the bodies were dead on which is the primary thing you see . And they showed up on hoddy store shelves not to long after if not the same time that the 1/1 car hit the streets. ( dealer promos as an example )

And I whole heartedly agree, todays buying public is much more criticle and less acceptable then we once were. Which for the most part is probably the same buying public then as today .

Were model manufacturers able to get advance specs on the forthcoming cars long before the main public did ?

One would think with todays technology a kit could go from idea to live product considerably faster today with less flaws in the finiched product.

[Art Anderson]

Art,

No dis-respect meant. so please dont take it as such .

But just to use one model year as an example.

How did the then Johan manage to produce an extremly accurate replica of say the Plymouth 1969 GTX. Granted some of the interior details,,and expecially the chassis detail left a lot to be desired.

But for the most part the bodies were dead on which is the primary thing you see . And they showed up on hoddy store shelves not to long after if not the same time that the 1/1 car hit the streets. ( dealer promos as an example )

And I whole heartedly agree, todays buying public is much more criticle and less acceptable then we once were. Which for the most part is probably the same buying public then as today .

Were model manufacturers able to get advance specs on the forthcoming cars long before the main public did ?

One would think with todays technology a kit could go from idea to live product considerably faster today with less flaws in the finiched product.

The answer is, obviously back in the heyday of promotional model cars the likes of JoHan, AMT, PMC, and MPC all got advance information, as much as a year in advance--given the expectation that promotional models would be available at car dealerships within a few weeks of new car introduction. Those model cars (as were virtually all model kits until the last 10-15 years) were created from hand-carved tooling mockups (tooling patterns). And, that old-fashioned way of creating solely by the human hand such things as accurate body shells (and BTW, there are inaccuracies in a great many of those, certainly in dimensions, if you really get into it--the "science" was there, but the "art" was something that had to develop!). And, lose an experienced pattern maker/sculptor, and the learning process often had to begin all over again!

In addition, as surely you know, those annual model car kits of 50-55 years ago were incredibly simple affairs--not all that many more parts in them than a 1/64 scale diecast miniature such as I developed at Johnny Lightning. The custom and "racing" optional parts made up the rest of the parts count. Where today, the expectation is that a model car kit has a fully detailed chassis, made up from perhaps a couple of dozen intricate parts--in the 60's, most kids were far happier with a one-piece "pan chassis" with engraved, raised detail, an engine were perhaps 8-10 parts, and virtually nothing resembling a real engine bay. In addition, where we've come to demand "platform style" interiors having upwards of sometimes 10-12 very accurately done pieces, that JoHan kit you mention had just three or four (a tub, perhaps a separate front seat, an instrument panel, a steering wheel with possibly a separate piece denoting gear selector and turnsignal lever). Window glass used to be one single piece, which sorta assembled inside the roof--today, the expectation is separate glass parts--my '50 Olds kit came with a windshield, back window, separate vent wings and separate quarter window glass). Even the '50 Olds engine has far more parts than any AMT 3in1 engine of the early-mid 1960's.

On and on this can go, of course--but the the bottom line remains--it takes a heck of a lot more work to develop an acceptable model car kit (acceptable to the market which is today those kids of yesteryear all grown up!) than it did in say, 1965. Add to the equation please, that product development staffs today at model companies (at least here in the US) are FAR smaller than the staffs used back then to create new model kits. Fewer people means longer lead times--if only the dollar volume were there today to allow for multi-person departments, huh?

Art

[Art Anderson]

Art,

No dis-respect meant. so please dont take it as such .

But just to use one model year as an example.

How did the then Johan manage to produce an extremly accurate replica of say the Plymouth 1969 GTX. Granted some of the interior details,,and expecially the chassis detail left a lot to be desired.

But for the most part the bodies were dead on which is the primary thing you see . And they showed up on hoddy store shelves not to long after if not the same time that the 1/1 car hit the streets. ( dealer promos as an example )

And I whole heartedly agree, todays buying public is much more criticle and less acceptable then we once were. Which for the most part is probably the same buying public then as today .

Were model manufacturers able to get advance specs on the forthcoming cars long before the main public did ?

One would think with todays technology a kit could go from idea to live product considerably faster today with less flaws in the finiched product.

I would submit that "technology" does make it far quicker for say, Ford or GM, to bring a newly designed car to production--but then, they are dealing in 1:1 scale. When creating a model, the problems of miniaturization simply have to come into play. What looks so great in real life can be far more difficult to make look great when reduced to 1/25 scale, for reasons I and others have enumerated many times over these past several years now. It ain't simply a matter of a shrink ray operation.

Art

[Greg Myers]

Really just a simple question, what's new, coming our way, no history lesson, no speculation, just, what's up next ?

[niteowl7710]

The next big hobby show in Japan is in Shizuoka in mid-May.

That oughta be when Revell kicks out a flyer for the 3Q too.

Beyond that Revell is still missing a couple of 4Q 2014 kits let alone the 1Q stuff (other than reissues) with that '29 Ford being the big deal for the "summer".

I doubt Moebius is going to announce anything until they unclog the pipeline, which based on their FB page and reports of people getting their '53 Smoothside Rollup Door trailer kit shipped should finally dribble out 4 kits by June.

Round2 has fallen asleep at the switch so to speak , since iHobby they haven't produced any further fliers for 2Q, and only the AMT part of their website is actually updated to reflect it's 2015. April kits are supposed to be the '53 Vette, '64 Impala and a non-Art box version of the Piranha "Spy" car.

[Tom Geiger]

Bill, to add to what Art has said, there is no comparison between the good ole days and today. As said, Johan had the inside scoop since they were working for the car manufacturer, and were provided original design documents to work from. Nothing like having an up front guarantee of a large number of promotional models, which in effect paid for all that model car tooling. And aside from basically having that kit financed by the car manufacturer, the number of kit units that could be sold was many, many times what our market absorbs today.

So today, a kit manufacturer has to go out on their own and measure the subject matter, and finance the entire kit development, to sell maybe 10% of the kits that were sold in the heyday.

[martinfan5]

There are a handful of new or modified kits coming

Aoshima has the following still to come

Two Mclaren F1 GTR Longtail GTR kits, one with Loctite decals, and one Gulf decals, these are just straight reissues with new decals

1988 Countach 5000QV

Aventador LP 720-4 50° Anniversario version

Sesto Elemento

Diablo GT

Toyota 86 with the Rocket Bunny Version two body kit

Bellkits has the VW Polo Rally kit coming soon

and the Ford Escort RS1600 MKI rally

Beemax has the Chevy Cruze has already mentioned, and they are also working on Honda EF Civic GR A Ver, a Toyota Celica GR. B Ver, and a MCLAREN MP4-2 1/20.

Like James said, we have the Shizuoka in mid-May to look forward to.

[martinfan5]

Still waiting on when we might see that World Touring Chevy car. Aoshima, I think. Always tough for me to track down where I can purchase Aoshima kits. Kind of hit and miss even on the Internet.

It is not hard to find Aoshima kits at all, Hobby Search, Hobby Link Japan, or if you dont want to buy direct from Japan, Tower Hobbies , are you can try M&S Hobbies, local guys, I recommend them, the are very decent priced for being a imported kit seller, or there is always Ebay.

[Danno]

I prefer Benihana.

[Greg Myers]

and measure the subject matter,

Probably a lot harder nowa days what with all those new fangled digital cameras, computers an all ?

[High octane]

I saw some Round 2 re-issues at the LHS last night like the '32 Vicky, and a few others. I also saw "test shots" of the '65 Satellite and '61 Catalina kits at our club meeting.

[Roadrunner]

I saw some Round 2 re-issues at the LHS last night like the '32 Vicky, and a few others. I also saw "test shots" of the '65 Satellite and '61 Catalina kits at our club meeting.

I think the 32 Vicky will be my next project;... I love that car.

[Draggon]

Got the Lil' Viky last week. Great decal sheet, optional blue windows, pretty much like the original otherwise. Nice kit.

[TonyK]

I've used Hobby Link Japan before and Tower Hobbies carries "some" Aoshima kits. I never do Ebay so......

Thanks for the various sources.

[martinfan5]

I've used Hobby Link Japan before and Tower Hobbies carries "some" Aoshima kits. I never do Ebay so......

Thanks for the various sources

It looks like Towers is carrying the kits that Aoshima is currently doing runs on, well, a good amount of them.