Positives to come from the Revell Deal?

[GMP440]

Maybe Revell/Monogram will start coming out with brand new releases of subjects that have been requested by modelers over the years.  

 

[Dave Van]

To bummed to think about 'what may be' other than all the folks that lost jobs......and we lost a model company. (USA based)

Edited April 15, 2018 by Dave Van

[High octane]

1 hour ago, GMP440 said:

Maybe Revell/Monogram will start coming out with brand new releases of subjects that have been requested by modelers over the years.  

 

Don't hold your breath, as I see total disruption now that Revell USA is no longer. Of course we can only hope for the best.

[bobthehobbyguy]

19 minutes ago, Dave Van said:

To bummer to think about 'what may be' other than all the folks that lost jobs......and we lost a model company. (USA based)

Dave I concur.

This is a tremendous loss for the hobby and the Revell USA employees. 

[Mark]

I'd bet on less Ford, Chevy, and Mopar, and more Ferrari, VW, Audi, and BMW.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

You know, we really don't know if this is a "tremendous loss for the hobby" or not at this point.

Fresh blood MAY make the Revell offerings better and more prolific, and kit costs don't necessarily have to go up.

And lets not forget...thanks to rampant mismanagement in other sectors over the years in recent momory, MILLIONS of other hard working Americans lost their retirement funds.

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 minutes ago, Mark said:

I'd bet on less Ford, Chevy, and Mopar, and more Ferrari, VW, Audi, and BMW.  

If the new owners actually have functioning brains, they'll look mighty carefully at the size of the US market to date...actual sales, numbers we don't seem to be privy to.

THEN, they'll make a logic-driven decision as to where to put the maximum effort and dollars.

[mikemodeler]

The first positive that comes to mind is that Revell is still around, albeit with foreign ownership. Yes the loss of jobs in Elk Grove Village is sad to hear, but let's reserve comment until we hear what the new owners have planned.

It hard for me to fathom that the new owners would abandon the US market and the opportunity to re-issue old kits to those of us hungry for them, unless they truly don't care about the US market.

What gets re-issued or new tooling will come down to licensing agreements, something I think still is being worked on as far as the Big 3 US automakers are concerned, and I don't see a flood of European models coming our way in place of US cars as I don't think the market is as large.

The answers will be forthcoming soon enough.

[CapSat 6]

One question in my mind is: what is their goal? Are they looking to flip the company for a fast buck, or are they really going to put effort into making the company competitive? I’m tending toward the latter, as it seems to me the “investment group” approach of turning the company for a fast buck seems to be more of an American thing. 

So- if they are looking to put an honest effort into the model business, then of course they will see what they have, do some rigorous analysis as to the existing market, etc. 

I see that perhaps under new management, the new subjects they choose to do might skew less towards what we have traditionally seen. Still- they have a vast bank of tools that reflect American Car Culture, which also has great appeal worldwide. 

I can’t help but thinking that once they come to the US to see what they have, they might realize that their tooling inventory is very large, and that it might make business sense to keep at least some production in the US. I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that some of the tooling is in China and some of it is here. I can only imagine how much they really have, when you factor in Airplane, military and auto kits. I can’t imagine they would want to pay to ship it all to Europe. They might yet end up setting up some operations here as a result. 

 

 

[440 Dakota]

2 hours ago, GMP440 said:

Maybe Revell/Monogram will start coming out with brand new releases of subjects that have been requested by modelers over the years.  

 

Doubtful I'd guess just more of the same old reissues that are re boxed and priced higher at least for a while for, example look at the kits with identical tooling, some of the Porsche and Ferrari kits come to mind, ROG always more expensive

59 minutes ago, Mark said:

I'd bet on less Ford, Chevy, and Mopar, and more Ferrari, VW, Audi, and BMW.  

this is what I'd expect also at least for any new toolings, but only time will tell for certain and I'm not too upset either way already have more kits than I could build in a couple lifetimes as do a lot of us here

the positive is there could be re discovered tooling that truly hasn't been issued in decades that could be brought to market

Edited April 15, 2018 by 440 Dakota

[Dave Van]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

You know, we really don't know if this is a "tremendous loss for the hobby" or not at this point.

.

The retired analyst in me says it IS a loss to our hobby. I was allowed to work with Revell on a number of Model King Revell kits. I really doubt Dave Burket and I will have  the personal relationship with the new owners that we had with Revell USA.  So other than maybe some Moebius/Model King kits private issue kits are no more. 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Dave Van

[Richard Bartrop]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

If the new owners actually have functioning brains, they'll look mighty carefully at the size of the US market to date...actual sales, numbers we don't seem to be privy to.

THEN, they'll make a logic-driven decision as to where to put the maximum effort and dollars.

And as near as I can tell from other sources, Germans LOVE American culture.  There's a German language program on a community radio station here, and half of what they play sounds like country & western.  I can't see the American stuff going away, for any number of reasons.

The European kitmakers seem a little more interested in releasing prewar classics, so if we're talking bright spots, maybe, just maybe, the new owners will bring some of the Monogram classics back to the shelves?

Edited April 15, 2018 by Richard Bartrop

[Dennis Lacy]

I don't think you guys are giving enough credit for interest in American cars & trucks. There is a thriving segment of interest, particularly vintage vehicles, in Germany, France, UK and the Scandanavian counties. On a weekly basis vintage cars located in the US are being sold to these countries and going on a big boat ride. Japan is another huge buyer right now. These people are hungry for American culture and are well aware of what's going on here in the States. In a lot of ways, they are doing it better and more hardcore than we are.

[Snake45]

NEW kits? For the time being, I'll be happy if they can just keep the current lineup (or something like it) in production and distribution at current prices. 

Then, if they can pull off some reissues of things we haven't seen in a while, better yet. 

I'd be VERY surprised if we hear of any all-new kits from them for at least a couple of years. If ever. 

Another thing that might be possible is reboxing of some foreign kits to take advantage of the Revell name in the US. 

I guess we'll see. 

[martinfan5]

Minus the part about people losing their jobs, I think the Germans running things might  prove to be a very good thing , but we just all need to be patient , and wait to see what is going to unfold , the ink hasnt really even dried yet.

[peter31a]

That's true, Jonathan, the ink hasn't dried yet and sale isn't final yet but they went and shut down Revell USA without even waiting for dry ink or finalized sale. To me that's what they care about the North American market..... Not at all....

[martinfan5]

4 minutes ago, peter31a said:

That's true, Jonathan, the ink hasn't dried yet and sale isn't final yet but they went and shut down Revell USA without even waiting for dry ink or finalized sale. To me that's what they care about the North American market..... Not at all....

We dont know that Peter, we dont know anything more than what we know, its way to early to start saying they dont care about us,  we all need to wait and see what is going to transpire.  I understand why you are saying that, but its business, and the US side is why there is no longer a Hobbico, things needed to change if Revell is going to live on, tough pill to swallow, sure, I agree, but changes needed to happen.

Again, let us all wait and see what is going to happen before we bring out the pitch forks at the ze Germans.

[peter31a]

I don't necessarily have the pitchfork out for the germans but I agree with James as he said in his video that they were after Revell Germany and since the price was so low, they took the whole package. To me they did not want the extra expense so let's close down Revell USA as quick as we can (as in even before the deal is finalized). No waiting to have the deal finalized and then review what we have and then determine who stays and who goes. I agree we'll have to see what happens, hopefully, something good but it's a funny way to show you're at all interested in the North American market.

Edited April 15, 2018 by peter31a

[martinfan5]

I agree as well that they really didnt want Revell US either, but we have to wait and see what is going to happen, they could very well regroup and open up a US sales office,  something like Tamiya USA has.

 

Edited April 15, 2018 by martinfan5

[SfanGoch]

3 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

I don't think you guys are giving enough credit for interest in American cars & trucks. There is a thriving segment of interest, particularly vintage vehicles, in Germany, France, UK and the Scandanavian counties. On a weekly basis vintage cars located in the US are being sold to these countries and going on a big boat ride. Japan is another huge buyer right now. These people are hungry for American culture and are well aware of what's going on here in the States. In a lot of ways, they are doing it better and more hardcore than we are.

Germans are infatuated with American culture. From C&W music to big rigs and muscle cars. When I was stationed in FRG in the early '80s, there was a car dealer in Furth, not far from Johnson Barracks, who sold nothing but used Corvettes and Camaros. His customers were exclusively German and he could barely maintain his inventory because of the demand. 

[mikemodeler]

1 hour ago, peter31a said:

That's true, Jonathan, the ink hasn't dried yet and sale isn't final yet but they went and shut down Revell USA without even waiting for dry ink or finalized sale. To me that's what they care about the North American market..... Not at all....

It could be part of a plan they had all along and quite frankly, when you are working for a company in bankruptcy, this is probably to be expected. Unless they intend to totally abandon the US market and the sales opportunity it represents, I foresee some type of operation here as they couldn't afford to ship distributor's orders direct from Germany to the US. R&D and marketing might be gone, but some form of distribution will be around.

 

On a somewhat related note, I doubt we will see any type of replacement parts program unless they retain some customer service function.

[niteowl7710]

Well one thing is that Blitz didn't shut anything down, it would be the Bankruptcy Administration for what's left at Hobbico that pulled that move. I know it strikes everyone as harsh, and the way they handled it at least was, but they have one job - liquidate Hobbico and collect a huge fee. Part of that is shedding all the payroll of the employees.

[High octane]

Companies and businesses get shut down everyday and of course there's layoffs too when they want to "trim the expenses" and it's not a matter of caring about the employees at all. It's all about MONEY .

[iBorg]

My perspective as to be expected, is a bit different. I could never figure out why we had the same kits released in RoG and Revell boxes. I've never compared the plastic, but I always assumed it was the same with maybe different decals. What I fear he most is higher retail prices for "imported kits" that are made from molds that were created in the US. Seems most of our kits are already foreign molded. I think kits will remain available but I worry that chains like Hobby Lobby may not carry the same range and local shops may struggle to get kits at a competitive price. As car modelers many of us have the luxury of kitbashing from several kits that are not price prohibitive. I fear if kits hit the $35 retail price that aspect of the hobby will be hurt badly.

[highway]

6 hours ago, Snake45 said:

NEW kits? For the time being, I'll be happy if they can just keep the current lineup (or something like it) in production and distribution at current prices. 

Then, if they can pull off some reissues of things we haven't seen in a while, better yet. 

I'd be VERY surprised if we hear of any all-new kits from them for at least a couple of years. If ever. 

Another thing that might be possible is reboxing of some foreign kits to take advantage of the Revell name in the US. 

I guess we'll see. 

WOW, what a novel idea, too bad that Revell has been doing EVERYTHING you stated already for years between the US and German divisions!! Here are just some examples just from my stash:

A couple in the "not seen in years" category, first the 1/16th scale big rigs last seen in the mid 80s that Revell reissued a couple of years ago

and a Peterbilt truck in that same series is currently available as a Revell AG rebox.  A couple more that were from the mid 80s were these 1/87th scale locomotives that were originally Monogram kits that were revived thanks to Revell AG reboxings. 

 

As for the reboxing of foreign kits in Revell US boxes, they have been doing that too. Ferrari kits are a prime example, such as this 612 Scaglietti. 

I not only have the Revell US rebox of that kit, but at least a half dozen other Ferraris in Revell US boxing that found there origins in Germany. I also have these, and other than the obvious hard top vs cabriolet bodies and for the US version it is named the Rabbit instead of the Golf as it is in the Revell AG version, the parts in both kits are identical. 

These are a couple other recent releases in Revell US boxing that started life as Revell AG kits. 

32 minutes ago, iBorg said:

My perspective as to be expected, is a bit different. I could never figure out why we had the same kits released in RoG and Revell boxes. I've never compared the plastic, but I always assumed it was the same with maybe different decals. What I fear he most is higher retail prices for "imported kits" that are made from molds that were created in the US. Seems most of our kits are already foreign molded. I think kits will remain available but I worry that chains like Hobby Lobby may not carry the same range and local shops may struggle to get kits at a competitive price. As car modelers many of us have the luxury of kitbashing from several kits that are not price prohibitive. I fear if kits hit the $35 retail price that aspect of the hobby will be hurt badly.

As I mentioned above, the VWs are identical kits with the exception of the bodies and the one sprue for the wheels, but everything else is shared between the two kits. It even has the option of LHD or RHD as the Revell AG kit and while the decals are not as expansive as the Revell AG Cabrio kit, it shares many of the common decals with the Cabrio. 

As for the price, I don't know where you're shopping, but most of the domestic kits at the hobby shops I deal with are already around the $30 price mark, even for some reissues that I personally feel weren't even worth the $2 or $3 or even $5 or $10 the kits were originally priced when they were first introduced in the 70s or 80s. One great example of kits already approaching a $35 retail price for a domestic kit is the newly reissued 1986 El Camino, going rate at Hobby Lobby is $29.99 and was about the same price at the hobby shop I deal with where I bought the Revell AG Golf Cabrio, which was $34.