Revell 68 Chevelle availability

[echoxrayniner]

Fortunately I'm over in the EU so I tried them, see if I could replace the two absolutely demolished bodies, buuuut again no dice - the customer service rep said they have no spare bodies to offer. Plus the store I bought 'em from over on eBay apparently gives no ****s about replacements/refunds(not to mention, the idiots packed the two Revell boxes on top of eachother in a tight box with no filling and the box got beat senseless) sooo I'm waiting out the clock to file a claim.

Though I suppose I could always just heat up the plastic and try a little bit of counter warping and try to salvage one, at least I can still use the engines and whatnot for other stuff!

[hpiguy]

Friend on a FB page just posted that his Hobby Lobby clearanced out their Chevelle's and some other new kits for $7.49.  Wowsa.


 

[Chuck Kourouklis]

On 3/14/2019 at 7:38 AM, echoxrayniner said:

Fortunately I'm over in the EU so I tried them, see if I could replace the two absolutely demolished bodies, buuuut again no dice - the customer service rep said they have no spare bodies to offer. Plus the store I bought 'em from over on eBay apparently gives no ****s about replacements/refunds(not to mention, the idiots packed the two Revell boxes on top of eachother in a tight box with no filling and the box got beat senseless) sooo I'm waiting out the clock to file a claim.

Though I suppose I could always just heat up the plastic and try a little bit of counter warping and try to salvage one, at least I can still use the engines and whatnot for other stuff!

Why not? You could hardly make that body shell any worse.  Maybe have a picture of just the body to capture the way you received it before you try any repairs.

[echoxrayniner]

1 hour ago, Chuck Kourouklis said:

Why not? You could hardly make that body shell any worse.  Maybe have a picture of just the body to capture the way you received it before you try any repairs.

Hah you're definitely not wrong! I reckon one of the two is easy to fix, the other is properly smooshed down - reminds me of those stacked wrecks at a salvage yard. I snapped a handful of pics to try and sway the eBay seller to atleast refund me with, no dice so far though.

Brute force and heat, here we go!

[Rodent]

This is the time to mate an AMT 69 body to the Revell 68 chassis. 

[Luc Janssens]

23 hours ago, echoxrayniner said:

Hah you're definitely not wrong! I reckon one of the two is easy to fix, the other is properly smooshed down - reminds me of those stacked wrecks at a salvage yard. I snapped a handful of pics to try and sway the eBay seller to atleast refund me with, no dice so far though.

Brute force and heat, here we go!

which vendor did you use?

[echoxrayniner]

12 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

which vendor did you use?

Model_Hobbies, used them before and should've known better this time. The cheap shipping option means its just packaged in a box, no protection, no care, but I suppose its okay cause its cheap.

[Mike999]

On ‎3‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 1:12 PM, hpiguy said:

Friend on a FB page just posted that his Hobby Lobby clearanced out their Chevelle's and some other new kits for $7.49.  Wowsa.

Amazing, seeing those kits clearanced. And annoying!  The Chevelle hasn't even made it to any of the Hobby Lobbys close to me yet.  Only one of those stores had the '34 Ford pickup and it hasn't been there long.  Some on-line vendors have the '60 Chevy pickup & Go-Kart, but their price is close to HL full retail ($28-29).  I'm trying to hold out until I can use a 40% off coupon. 

Just checked 2 big online kit vendors; both show the '60 Chevy pickup, but one says "Out Of Stock" and the other "Unavailable."  That could mean they're not in stock yet, or they sold out quickly.

[Luc Janssens]

5 hours ago, echoxrayniner said:

Model_Hobbies, used them before and should've known better this time. The cheap shipping option means its just packaged in a box, no protection, no care, but I suppose its okay cause its cheap.

I picked up mine at a hobby shop here in Antwerp, paid €27.

https://www.modelbouw-baillien.be/en_US/shop

 

Edited March 17, 2019 by Luc Janssens

[Rodent]

Finally got one yesterday at Hobby Lobby. It was the only one they had and it was occupying the space for something else. 

[Mike999]

I drove about 25 miles yesterday to the biggest Hobby Lobby in my area.  No clearance sales for model kits. I checked the model aisle and the "Clearance" section at the back of the store.

No '68 Chevelles, Boss 302's or '60 Chevy pick-ups yet, either.  I think the newest kit they had was the Round 2 '55 Chevy 2-door sedan.

Then I drove to the only hobby shop in this area, which mostly deals with R/C cars and planes.  They usually get new kits in pretty quickly. None of the above kits there, either.  The newest kit in that store was probably the Piranha race team.

[Mr. Metallic]

On 3/15/2019 at 12:12 PM, hpiguy said:

Friend on a FB page just posted that his Hobby Lobby clearanced out their Chevelle's and some other new kits for $7.49.  Wowsa.

 

This just feel weird for some reason. Surprising they would put such newly released kits on clearance already. But what is is more odd is that the 48 police coupe was put on clearance a year ago. I remember because i bought one. 

Also odd that other locations aren't on clearance as well. Typically large companies like this authorize clearance all at once at all locations. So, either these select stores have jumped the gun, the rest of the stores are behind, or an error has been made and the wrong kits marked down. But it is possible that each location has a managers discretion to clearance product as they see fit. But that would be atypical for how retail corporations operate these days

Edited March 19, 2019 by Mr. Metallic

[RichCostello]

My HL, just recently got the Nova, and Chevelle, and hasn't even gotten the 34 pickup yet, so I doubt they will be on clearance.

They have a lot of old kits that have been on the shelves forever that would make more sense to discount.

[Robberbaron]

Totally believe it.  I also got one of the '48 Ford police cars last year on clearence, when it was grouped with a bunch of other kits.  Seemed at the time like it was pretty soon to have put that one on clearance.

They also put both the S&H Torino and the factory stock version (blue car on box art) on clearance.  But after the clearance ended, they've continued to carry both since then. None of it makes any sense, so I'm convinced all of those were mistakes.

The '68 Chevelles and AMT branded '34 pickups.are just hitting the shelves, so there's no doubt that was a mistake, too.  I was at my local HL today, and there were no kits on clearance, so I don't think it's anything from corporate.  My guess is the local store manager screwed up.

[Robberbaron]

9 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said:

This just feel weird for some reason. Surprising they would put such newly released kits on clearance already. But what is is more odd is that the 48 police coupe was put on clearance a year ago. I remember because i bought one. 

Also odd that other locations aren't on clearance as well. Typically large companies like this authorize clearance all at once at all locations. So, either these select stores have jumped the gun, the rest of the stores are behind, or an error has been made and the wrong kits marked down. But it is possible that each location has a managers discretion to clearance product as they see fit. But that would be atypical for how retail corporations operate these days

 

[Mike999]

9 hours ago, Robberbaron said:

Totally believe it.  I also got one of the '48 Ford police cars last year on clearence, when it was grouped with a bunch of other kits.  Seemed at the time like it was pretty soon to have put that one on clearance.

They also put both the S&H Torino and the factory stock version (blue car on box art) on clearance.  But after the clearance ended, they've continued to carry both since then. None of it makes any sense, so I'm convinced all of those were mistakes.

The '68 Chevelles and AMT branded '34 pickups.are just hitting the shelves, so there's no doubt that was a mistake, too.  I was at my local HL today, and there were no kits on clearance, so I don't think it's anything from corporate.  My guess is the local store manager screwed up.

Here's a thread from June 2018 about that clearance sale.  You're right, "none of it makes any sense."  Kits were $7.49 one day, and back to $29.99 the next.  But I don't think that one was a mistake.  That Clearance Sale seemed to be taking place in all stores, or most of them.

Ollie's irritates me even more than HL, if possible.  The past 2 or 3 Ollie's model-kit sales, the Ollie's in my area got none of the really good kits like the '29 Ford Mod Rod.  Just stacks and stacks of old Lindberg dreck like the Pirate Ship, and NASCAR Snap Kits.

 

 

[Tom Geiger]

Revell only got the Mustang and Chevelle to their larger distributors.  Small vendors couldn't get them directly.  The smaller vendors I know all bought their stock from Steven's Distributors.

Hobby Lobby isn't a good thing for the hobby in the long run.  People are now accustomed to buying their kits there with the 40% off coupon that brings the $30 kits down to $18.   And those 7.99 sales are bewildering!  My local store hasn't had those.

When Avenel Hobbies in New Jersey closed their doors after 30 years,  Randy stated that he gave it up because he couldn't compete with Hobby Lobby.  This was a store without RC, mainly catering to model builders. He said people would come in with the HL 40% off coupon and demand that he matched it.  He said that they were selling kits below his cost!   And now a good shop is gone!

[Mr. Metallic]

1 hour ago, Tom Geiger said:

Hobby Lobby isn't a good thing for the hobby in the long run.  People are now accustomed to buying their kits there with the 40% off coupon that brings the $30 kits down to $18.   And those 7.99 sales are bewildering!  My local store hasn't had those.

When Avenel Hobbies in New Jersey closed their doors after 30 years,  Randy stated that he gave it up because he couldn't compete with Hobby Lobby.  This was a store without RC, mainly catering to model builders. He said people would come in with the HL 40% off coupon and demand that he matched it.  He said that they were selling kits below his cost!   And now a good shop is gone!

Without getting into a big discussion on economics and Hobby Lobby in the middle of this thread, here's my thoughts

If Revell and Round2 weren't charging so much for their kits (I'm only naming them because they are the two companies selling North American market kits at Hobby Lobby currently) I wouldn't have to resort to shopping at Hobby Lobby for so many of my purchases. I still support my LHS for non-Round2/Revell purchases(and even some from those two when they release brand new gotta have it releases). But over the last 10-15 years all the model kit manufacturers have priced themselves above what i can pay for "splurge" purchases, which is what i typically buy at HL. Much less try to introduce a kid into the hobby with these prices.

While I understand that there are many factors that have gone into the dramatic rise of the cost of kits in the last 2 decades, just thing about the $1.49 cent kit purchased in 1965. If kit prices kept pace with inflation over that time, kits should cost less than $15. I'm not naive enough to believe that's exactly how the real world works, but should the cost of kits really be at least double that, especially for straight reissues? 

Unfortunately, the LHS is the one that pays the price for the excessive prices the manufacturers are charging.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Mr. Metallic

[Tom Geiger]

6 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said:

While I understand that there are many factors that have gone into the dramatic rise of the cost of kits in the last 2 decades, just thing about the $1.49 cent kit purchased in 1965. If kit prices kept pace with inflation over that time, kits should cost less than $15. I'm not naive enough to believe that's exactly how the real world works, but should the cost of kits really be at least double that, especially for straight reissues? 

Unfortunately, the LHS is the one that pays the price for the excessive prices the manufacturers are charging.

A couple things.  First, note that the companies selling kits today are not the same companies that created the tooling for the straight reissues.  Both entities bought that tooling in recent times, so the argument of "bought and paid for" doesn't apply. Round 2 especially is doing a lot of work on that tooling to bring back missing parts etc. and adding other new value to the kits.  

What I can say is that Hobby Lobby probably buys by the container load so they get the largest discount of any customer.  I can see that they probably still make money at the 40% off mark, but are probably losing money on those $7.99 clearances.  They can absorb that loss due to the size of their "machine".

The local hobby shop doesn't deal directly with the manufacturer.  They are buying through a distributor like Steven's International, so there is a middle man adding markup.  Note that few hobby shops get full cases of each kit, so the distributor does do work to provide that service.

 

 

 

[Classicgas]

I know this much about Hobby Lobby, managers seem to call the shots. One store would not try to get a kit I wanted, another one said she'd be glad to special order it.

[Mr. Metallic]

16 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

A couple things.  First, note that the companies selling kits today are not the same companies that created the tooling for the straight reissues.  Both entities bought that tooling in recent times, so the argument of "bought and paid for" doesn't apply. Round 2 especially is doing a lot of work on that tooling to bring back missing parts etc. and adding other new value to the kits.  

What I can say is that Hobby Lobby probably buys by the container load so they get the largest discount of any customer.  I can see that they probably still make money at the 40% off mark, but are probably losing money on those $7.99 clearances.  They can absorb that loss due to the size of their "machine".

The local hobby shop doesn't deal directly with the manufacturer.  They are buying through a distributor like Steven's International, so there is a middle man adding markup.  Note that few hobby shops get full cases of each kit, so the distributor does do work to provide that service.

You missed my point by focusing on the wrong part of my original statement. Yes, i understand that the companies are generally making improvements to the reissues. But my point is, regardless of how they obtained the tooling, their purchase of raw materials, development costs, etc...they are still pricing themselves out of the market, and any chance of developing a market for after the builders from the golden and platinum age of this hobby have passed on. They are shooting themselves in the foot by increasing the prices to the point where whatever kids(or younger builders) would be interested in the hobby can't afford it.

And an additional note on pricing, even just 20 years ago, most of us could afford a lot more "splurge" purchases of kits that we wanted but probably would never end up building. Or buying kits just for parts. Those sales have essentially dried up because of the disproportionately higher prices of kits now. Yes, the market is shrinking due to lack of interest, purchasing pool dying off and many other reasons. But they are not helping themselves at all by pricing their product higher and higher.

So, back to your point, Hobby Lobby may not be good for our hobby in the long run, but what are we supposed to do as a purchasing public? If I limited my purchases to only my LHS, I would make far fewer purchases overall. Meaning fewer sales for the model companies. Meaning less money to keep the ball rolling. Meaning fewer potential items for me to purchase, meaning less money to keep the ball rolling, and so on. They see lower sales over the course of time and assume it's because whatever they are offering isn't popular, or the market is dying off. When in reality, if their prices were lower they would sell more.

[SfanGoch]

I've said it before, car modelers are notoriously cheap. They expect filet mignon quality at ham sandwich prices.   In the overall modeling hobby picture, car kits are on the bottom rung of the price ladder when compared to armor, aircraft, sci-fi/fantasy and ships. Armor kits average about 50-60 bucks, with more than a few hitting $100+. Even low-end 1/72 a/c kits are in the 30-60 dollar range.

Also, the hobby, as a whole, is in relatively good shape. Take a look at all of the new kit manufacturers (Meng, Takom, Rye Field Model, Kitty Hawk, Kinetic, etc.) that have entered the market within the last ten years. Also take note of the numerous armor, a/c and sci-fi kits released every year. There seem to be a lot of people interested in model building as evidenced by what these companies are willing to produce. These manufacturers aren't gun-shy about cranking out stuff because they know the kits will sell well and put a lot of money into new tooling. Modelers in these niche segments can expect new kits almost every other month.

[Mike999]

41 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

I've said it before, car modelers are notoriously cheap...

All good points.  Both Takom and Trumpeter recently released brand-new kits of the German "Maus" mega-tank.  The car equivalent of that would be something like 2 companies simultaneously releasing a 1930 Ruxton kit. The Trumpeter Maus retails at over $100 but has a complete interior and lots of other goodies.

Here's one recently discussed in another thread here: a 1/48 aircraft kit from a new company, Dora Wings, that retails for over $40.  Outrageous!  Until you look at the contents:  photo-etched metal parts, a big decal sheet, and even adhesive masks for painting those tricky red scallops on the Gee Bee racers.  It also has a pretty complete interior, even though it's barely visible when finished.  But in another nice touch, the builder can open a side hatch to make it more visible. 

 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Mike999
error

[SfanGoch]

Yup. Aside from Dragon cheaping out on PE, metal barrels and other neat stuff in its armor and a/c lines, the other companies are going out of their way to ensure one will get his money's worth when buying one of their kits. That, in itself virtually guarantees return customers. What do car modelers have to look forward to? Tampo printed tires, retro box art and new decals included in a 50 year old reissue........

 

Here, take my money. Now.

Then, we come to the availability problem. Revell just had to know from surveys, forum discussions and other picture postcards that the '68 Chevelle was one of the most anticipated kits in the past few years. So, what does it do? Absurdly low initial production run and almost zero distribution to the largest market for a classic muscle car....North America. Brilliant!

[hpiguy]

12 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

 

Then, we come to the availability problem. Revell just had to know from surveys, forum discussions and other picture postcards that the '68 Chevelle was one of the most anticipated kits in the past few years. So, what does it do? Absurdly low initial production run and almost zero distribution to the largest market for a classic muscle car....North America. Brilliant!

We have no idea what was or was not known, by who and when it was known, so it's all a guess.

For all we know after Hobbico stopped paying thousands of companies in the bankruptcy and Revell USA was bought out, it may have been very hard to find a company to mold kits in large runs and ship them across the Pacific without being paid in advance, etc.  Thus small runs and limited shipment until they could prove themselves and pay for work done.

Instead of being thankful that a legend in models has remained open and is working on re-starting from scratch with vendors and suppliers that are probably gun shy after being hosed last time, let's instead bash them and trash them and assume we know what was said/heard/done/known and complain until they shut down for good because you can't get your toy car fast enough.