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RC2 era 'b and s' cars...


mk11

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This so called Chevrolet Apache was first released in 1999. I'm still REELING from that one . I just acquired a 1963 ORIGINAL and because of the squirrels at RC Champions , none of the grille , bumpers , etc will fit . Meanwhile , I just hope you enjoy the mis-mash of pieces that comprise this thing ..........

AMT-6310-5.jpg

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Most likely marketing guys with little or no knowledge of model kits.

Glad that era ended...

 

Actually, I was employed by RC2 toward the end of that period:   Their product/marketing manager was a woman, who came from their Collector Doll unit at Ertl--she had not a clue whatsoever, as did virtually no one else at Ertl--being as most males were farm toy oriented.

Art

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Yep , that RC2-era was a joke at best . The horrible box art was not only a turnoff , but -- as this thread points out -- also fraught with , in es. , false advertising .

Anyone else notice that the earliest iteration of the 1971 Duster 'Street Machine' ( think : Viper-stylled wheels , low profile tyres , and Viper-esque induction for the 340) features a cobbled-together mpc 1972 Duster 340 annual ? I couldn't believe it ! At that time -- some 15 years ago -- I remember proclaiming , "If the tooling exists for the 1972 Duster annual , then why isn't it being reissued ?!?" .

As a visual artist , I cannot get past that garbage box art ! Arrggg ! Even trolling around eBay , knowing full-well what's in those boxes , I still hesitate buying / bidding on them . Thank the Good Lord that Round2 came to the rescue !

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Yep , that RC2-era was a joke at best . The horrible box art was not only a turnoff , but -- as this thread points out -- also fraught with , in es. , false advertising .

Anyone else notice that the earliest iteration of the 1971 Duster 'Street Machine' ( think : Viper-stylled wheels , low profile tyres , and Viper-esque induction for the 340) features a cobbled-together mpc 1972 Duster 340 annual ? I couldn't believe it ! At that time -- some 15 years ago -- I remember proclaiming , "If the tooling exists for the 1972 Duster annual , then why isn't it being reissued ?!?" .

As a visual artist , I cannot get past that garbage box art ! Arrggg ! Even trolling around eBay , knowing full-well what's in those boxes , I still hesitate buying / bidding on them . Thank the Good Lord that Round2 came to the rescue !

Interesting..I have that kit, never noticed that aspect of the box art.  Also have the MPC '72. 

Edited by Rob Hall
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Actually, a lot of kits with photo box art have "prototypes" pictured on the boxes.  The original MPC '69 4-4-2 box shows a Jo-Han Olds with an AMT Chevelle chassis stuck under it.  (Look at the front bumper on the stock version.)  The original '62 Bel Air (dark blue car on the box) shows a Modelhaus Bel Air.  The first issue '62 Impala convertible box has a built test shot that didn't have the door handle detail added yet. 

Revell was in on it too: a lot of their 1/25 scale Seventies funny car kits have built 1/16 scale cars with the wiring left off.  The front wheels and tires are the giveaway: they're way too good...

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When AMT came out with their NASCAR stock cars, they ran a full page photo ad in SAE of their "new" NASCAR car.  It was obviously the old Monogram kit used for the photo.  A very annoying time as a builder.  I also owned the LHS at the time and ordered a case of those Daytonas thinking they had updated the chassis to the newer RoadRunner and such, as pictured on the box.  Then opened it to find that old kit.  Grrrrr.   

I also got suckered on the 74 GTX.  I fell for the box art on that one too and was sadly disappointed that there were no stock decals.  

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1076385-31781-83-pristine.jpg

 

 

I just got done building this, the box art shows thin whitewall tires, but the kit only has blackwalls. The box art car also shows (on the side) an air cleaner that's not included in the kit.

 

Didn't really bother me (although whitewalls would have been nice) since I almost never open the hoods on my builds, but thought I'd mention it.

Edited by Merkur XR4Ti
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I remember being disappointed when the interior parts of the Joker Goon Car weren't as nice as what was on the box. The steering wheel is a lot more accurate and the radio is more detailed. And unless my eyes are deceiving me, the rims and tires are more stock in the photo of the police version.

1219-2.jpg

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Actually, I was employed by RC2 toward the end of that period:   Their product/marketing manager was a woman, who came from their Collector Doll unit at Ertl--she had not a clue whatsoever, as did virtually no one else at Ertl--being as most males were farm toy oriented.

Art

 

You are both right on point,  here's what happened.  Back then they were announcing 10-15 releases at a time and they wanted box art builds in within 30 days.  It just wasn't feasible to complete that many. Their go to box builder would pull completed models out his collection along with whatever fresh builds he could handle in a month.  Of course most of those already built models were not box stock but the product manager wasn't very concerned.  She felt that putting "prototype model" on the box covered those issues.   Towards the end I pitched in and helped so one guy didn't have build them all but I had a falling out with the product manager so that didn't last long. 

-Steve

(Cap Sat was my other reference but I can't get the Multi-quote to work)  

 

 

Edited by SteveG
Multi-quote not working
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I don’t think it was as much a bait and switch as it was using builders’ previously built personal models for the box art instead of commissioning a new build with just box-stock parts, like Chuck K said. By that point the folks in charge of AMT brand  were mostly from Learning Curve (makers of Thomas the Tank Engine) and didn’t know/care about stuff like that. One reason you saw so many third-party reissues from the likes of Model King and Stevens Int’l was they were sorta diverting that work off on folks that knew the  Hobby better than they did. 

Edit: I shoulda read the 2nd page, Art and Steve explained it better than I could  

 

 

Edited by Brett Barrow
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