Hobbico - BANKRUPT!

[TooOld]

Received this email  . 

Edited April 14, 2018 by TooOld

[MrObsessive]

Bob, your email says it all as it's coming from the horses mouth. All we can do is wait and see what happens in the following months.

[gtx6970]

3 hours ago, Snake45 said:

If Revell disappears, what will I do? I guess I'll have to try to get by on the three or four hundred of their kits I have in my stash....

Funny, I was thinkng the same thing.

Even if ALL the current manufacturers closed there doors today. Odds are I still have more then I can a build in the time I have left here in anyway.

[Dave Van]

True....if I build one kit a day I will not be able to build what I have. But new and updated product drives the hobby. I do not see new stuff coming. To bad too.....I had a sneak at things coming......doubt we see them now. 

[Chris in Berwyn]

1 hour ago, Dave Van said:

True....if I build one kit a day I will not be able to build what I have. But new and updated product drives the hobby. I do not see new stuff coming. To bad too.....I had a sneak at things coming......doubt we see them now. 

Well Dave, can you let us know what was coming?  The people who swore you to secrecy unfortunately are no longer part of Revell, and the entity that needed the secrecy no longer exists.  

I agree that much new stuff oriented at the US market is unlikely.  Plus they got rid of the people who know the market, knew what was in the pipeline, etc., so if they are interested in producing anything specific to the US market, they will be starting from scratch unless they find something interesting on someones desk or in the computer network.

I am not going to take the time to research the other firms in the Quantum portfolio and what Quantum has done to/for them, but they are mostly corporate castoffs that they have acquired.  I don't know how long they tend to keep the companies, but they claim they plan to grow them, as their website states "We acquire businesses with significant potential for improvement, growth and development. Our investments are not limited to a specific industry. We work with the management to develop strategies for a sustainable and effective turnaround."

Chris

 

 

[Dave Van]

Well....still doing some work with other hobby companies that may frown on spilling at first sign of trouble. If any one can...it may be Ed.....but he may want to work again too.  Not being snide about it......

Who knows what will fall out of all this.....it's not final until May....and there is a new company in CA that could use some good people....and a newly reorganized model group at Pegasus too......so we will see.

[Bernard Kron]

First off, a huge thanks to you all for largely keeping your eye on the ball and creating such a valuable resource to follow this important development in our hobby. A special thanx to Niteowl7710 (James Duff) for his dispassionate and thorough reporting of the bankruptcy proceedings.

I agree with those who intimate that we have nothing to do but to wait and see how this shakes out. As soon as I saw that the purchaser was a German private equity firm, and that it was a purchase of the consolidated assets of both Revell of Germany and Revell USA I began to think of this in cultural terms. If you look at Quantum's companies to date you will see that they are all "Mittelstand" type industrial firms, small to middle sized  primarily in metals and electronics. This is pretty far from a plastic model kit company. So I began to think that perhaps it might be a "trophy" acquisition; that among the Quantum partners were those who thought that owning a company whose models they once built, if acquired cheaply enough, might be "cool", and who might romanticize such a purchase. It's worth noting that so far none of Quantum's companies is in Germany. This would be the first one.

In any case, thinking in these terms I realized that the major issue would be whether the US arm would be left intact. We very quickly got our answer, at least from business structure point of view. But the cultural issue remains.

It has been true for many years that the overwhelming majority of new product releases by both Revell companies have been automobile and truck subjects and that these subjects formed the bulk of the catalog in the case of both of the prior companies. But I suspect that hot rods and American muscle cars are at best a niche market outside of North America. Certainly there are zero non-American players in the hot-rod and muscle car space, a thriving area in the North American hobby market. RoG never became active in this area and rarely even marketed Revell USA kits under it own brand. From Quantum's point of view it should be a matter of just how big that market is as to whether new products, or even re-issues, in the "American Style" are developed by Revell. But will care? If it's a Trophy acquisition from a European perspective then perhaps they'll renegotiate their moribund Ferrari license, but will they care that much about the mysterious limbo of the '30 Ford Coupe?

The Champaign, Illinois team are not young men and selling the new owners on the American Style as part of Revell 2018's marketing mission may turn out to be fairly demanding. Will they even be asked to?

If Revell 2018 chose to de-emphasize this part of the combined Revell catalogs it would leave a huge hole in the modeling hobby. There are several fine Asian and European plastic model firms serving the Euro-Japanese segment, but there are only R2 and the rump of the former Revell USA to serve what, judging at least from what I see here on MCM is still an important market in American Style subjects. Am I wrong in thinking that the outrage of at least Revell's North American dealers would be epic and the damage to the brand substantial? For this reason I suspect that Revell 2018 will have no choice but to face the issue and accommodate this segment. At the very least the Revellogram catalog is simply too large, varied and culturally significant to ignore. For now it's the ghosts of Ed Roth vs. Enzo Ferrari, but it makes no sense, to me at least, not to find a way to accommodate both. The degree to which,and method by which, Revell 2018 approaches this will be the story of the balance of this year in our hobby, I think.

[aurfalien]

Hello Monsignor Krom,

Your post, as usual is very very good.  My experience with Europeans (I've been traveling to Europe since I was as 4) as that they LOVE American Muscle cars.  So since this holding company is Euro-centric, they may also share that love, I'm actually sure that they do.

While I'm a little bummed that Revell HQ is no longer in the USA as I am a bit of a nationalist, I am actually glad that this German company bought them.  I've several German friends and they are very serious about there hobbies.

So all in all, I'm certain that classic American muscle will continue to be released by Revell.

I just hope they release the 16' Ford GT LM

 

 

 

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

First to all the Revell USA employees impacted by this good luck in finding new employment. When I was in electronics there were periodic downsizing that I was caught in. However to have the horse shot in this manner is really tough.

We will just have to wait to see the outcome on this. However if I don't buy any new kits there is no hazard of me running out of kits and projects in my lifetime.

[niteowl7710]

FWIW the CEO of Quantum is a German National, but got his MBA at NYU, so he might have a passing fancy in unifying Revell as a "plaything" (similar to Tom Lowe at Round2) and had a soft spot for American subject matter. 

[Dave Van]

29 minutes ago, niteowl7710 said:

FWIW the CEO of Quantum is a German National, but got his MBA at NYU, so he might have a passing fancy in unifying Revell as a "plaything" (similar to Tom Lowe at Round2) and had a soft spot for American subject matter. 

During my banking analyst days I worked with a number of Europeans. They came to the US just so they could own a US muscle car......not affordable in Europe. I'd drive my 73 Javelin 3 - 4 times a month and all my Euro friends just wanted to look at cars during lunch!! So there are some that love US iron. But buy a company.....we'll see.

[Exotics_Builder]

2 hours ago, aurfalien said:

Hello Monsignor Krom,

Your post, as usual is very very good.  My experience with Europeans (I've been traveling to Europe since I was as 4) as that they LOVE American Muscle cars.  So since this holding company is Euro-centric, they may also share that love, I'm actually sure that they do.

While I'm a little bummed that Revell HQ is no longer in the USA as I am a bit of a nationalist, I am actually glad that this German company bought them.  I've several German friends and they are very serious about there hobbies.

So all in all, I'm certain that classic American muscle will continue to be released by Revell.

I just hope they release the 16' Ford GT LM

 

 

 

 

If you observe the work done at IPMS or other modeling events in Europe, American "Iron" has a definite place.  The recent Jabbeke  event had quite a few American oriented models as well as exotics and Japanese market.  WIll be interesting to see what happens at the upcoming Dortmund event.  

A wait and see approach is best, as speculation can escalate into views that incense people.  There are many potential business scenarios that can play out and we have no idea the drivers.  We know the facts around the sale and that Revell USA is presently shuttered.  If one looks at RoG, the American oriented kits were sourced from Revell USA as some of the RoG models were reboxed as Revell USA.  

The sad part is that 20-30 people at Revell USA put there their hearts and careers into the company and their ESOP went to zero and they are now laid off.  

 

[High octane]

8 hours ago, TooOld said:

Received this email  . 

That is very true as I talked with Ed Sexton today at the Milwaukee NNL and he said the same thing. He also said that the Model A kits were "up in the air" and the GT 40 full detail kit may be out in August.

[Aaronw]

6 hours ago, Bernard Kron said:

It has been true for many years that the overwhelming majority of new product releases by both Revell companies have been automobile and truck subjects and that these subjects formed the bulk of the catalog in the case of both of the prior companies.

 

RoG has actually been quite active producing military vehicles and aircraft in addition to cars and trucks. They have produced several large 4 engine passenger aircraft, cargo planes and bombers over the past decade. Off the top of my head the Lancaster, Halifax, B-17, C-54 / DC-4, Airbus 400M, and several new helicopter kits. I don't follow armor or ships that closely, so not as aware of re-issue vs new tool but seeing their yearly whats new lists it appears they have been busy in those areas as well.   

 

 

 

At a minimum Revell USA offers a huge assortment of tooling for kits that there is little competition for. American autos have always been largely an American model company thing, Revell, Monogram, AMT, MPC, Lindberg, Moebius. You can probably count the number of American autos done by Japanese or European companies on your fingers and toes with some toes to spare.

Hopefully they have an actual interest in Revell / Monogram, but worst case they will likely hold out to find a buyer who does. At $4 million they could double there money without pricing the company out of the hands of a wealthy hobbyist (like Peter Jackson and his company Wingnut Wings) or a group of individuals with the experience and connections to run the company as was done with Round 2. I can not imagine anybody spending $4 million just to scrap everything. It is also not unusual for foreign model companies to have a US branch as you see with Airfix USA, Tamiya USA, Dragon USA etc if for no other reason than distribution. It is unfortunate for those at Revell who are out of a job, but none of us know what the new owners have planned. They could pack everything up and ship it overseas, or start hiring for a new Revell USA once they have an inventory and a plan. It is quite possible that they are as surprised as many here that they got Revell USA so cheap and are now trying to figure out how it fits into their RoG plans.

 

I think it is way to early for doom and gloom.  

[russosborne]

If the new owners want to do the manufacturing locally (to them), will they be able to get the molds from China? Will they even want to? Probably wouldn't be cheap even if the Chinese gov't cooperates. Guess it remains to be seen if they would continue to have stuff produced in China.

I don't have a clue about what molds are where.

Thanks,

Russ

[1930fordpickup]

57 minutes ago, russosborne said:

If the new owners want to do the manufacturing locally (to them), will they be able to get the molds from China? Will they even want to? Probably wouldn't be cheap even if the Chinese gov't cooperates. Guess it remains to be seen if they would continue to have stuff produced in China.

I don't have a clue about what molds are where.

Thanks,

Russ

Very good questions Russ. As long as they have no money owed for repairs on molds they should be able to move them if they want to.  

This whole Bankruptcy makes me wonder if the Model A problems were more about bills not being paid than a problem with the molds. 

As far as the company buying Revell I think they want to sell plastic model kits. 

[bobthehobbyguy]

At this point its going to take some time before all the dust settles. Will be waiting to hear news on the next step. No sense in meaningless conjecture at this point.

[mikemodeler]

8 hours ago, Exotics_Builder said:

 

A wait and see approach is best, as speculation can escalate into views that incense people.  There are many potential business scenarios that can play out and we have no idea the drivers.  We know the facts around the sale and that Revell USA is presently shuttered.  If one looks at RoG, the American oriented kits were sourced from Revell USA as some of the RoG models were reboxed as Revell USA.  

The sad part is that 20-30 people at Revell USA put there their hearts and careers into the company and their ESOP went to zero and they are now laid off.  

 

My thoughts exactly Gerry.

 

In the meantime, I will cash out my 401k and buy up every Revell and Monogram model possible in the hopes of cornering the market and being "the guy" with all of the highly sought after models!

[Bennyg]

Well, I just bought the cheapest revell 1/32 Mack r series I could find, and a Foose FD100. Hopefully the Ford GT LeMans 2016 is still getting done by ROG.

Ben

[DiscoRover007]

So is the new Ford GT release still on hold?

 

Certainly it is an end of an era. Sad to see. Was Revell suffering in sales? I  thought that they had started to turn the corner in their offerings lately. Seemed to me they felt the heat from Tamiya and started putting out better quality stuff since the Ferrari California and the 599 GTO. 

I had always thought they would do much better if they made a full switch from 1/25 to 1/24 for all kits. 1/25 is toylike and loses detail in my opinion. I also think they missed some opportunities by not offering more modern selections. Why not make a new Viper model? Cadillacs? Saleen S7?  New Land Rover 4x4s? Toyota Tacoma? 2004 Mustang?

[Dave Van]

USA kit builders hated Monogram's use of 1/24......so no win in the scale wars.

[DiscoRover007]

2 hours ago, Dave Van said:

USA kit builders hated Monogram's use of 1/24......so no win in the scale wars.

According to what though? When was the last time they took a survey on this stuff? Call it elitist but 1/24 is a superior scale in my opinion. I think most younger modelers like myself are seeing all of the brilliant engineering in Tamiya's 1/24 and now Aoshima and wondering why Revell isn't answering that call. The 1/24 platform is  perfect for small scale models that don't compromise detail. 1/25 works in select kits where the actual is small but in any other instance I don't really get it. 

Plus they hardly have released anything modern that is cool. They tend to rehash old kits that only appeal to older generations. That's not me knocking muscle cars because I love them. but I think they had too many models of old cars. Then they try to compete directly with Tamiya on supercar flagships like the LaFerrari. The problem is though I'd rather shell out $45 for a Tamiya LaFerrari that I know is in a class of its own than buy a $30 Revell LaFerrari that will not be as crisp. Revell hit a slam dunk on the Porsche 918, and they had that all to themselves. I wish they would have pursued similar subjects. There are tons of new Porsche subjects that are not being capitalized on. Or even some modern sedans would be interesting. I'd love for someone to make a kit of the new Acura RLX for example, or even the Lexus IS 350.

It doesn't seem like it was really Revell that was tanking, but still I think they had some missed opportunities.

Edited April 15, 2018 by DiscoRover007

[shoopdog]

Hopefully no one will need any Revell parts support any time soon. I know this is a small issue compared to the problems of the Revell employees who have lost their jobs but certainly something to think about.

[JTPlastic&Paint]

Kind of strange they didn't make any official statements on the webpage or any of their social media. Pretty lame to keep the community in the dark 

[martinfan5]

12 minutes ago, JTPlastic&Paint said:

Kind of strange they didn't make any official statements on the webpage or any of their social media. Pretty lame to keep the community in the dark 

The sale is not finale till early May,   so its a bit early I would think to make a statement, they will probably just tell us what we already know at this point.