Revell 2020

[DukeE]

Please, can we ignore excrement stirring, martyrdom, and slights from 2 generations ago? Maybe a C8/sky is falling thread? SMH 

New Land Rover tool is pretty nice, see build threads here. G-Rev has tooled nice stuff in 24th in past. So wish they'd reboot the Dragon M3 E36. Or do a 720 followup to the 570. 

 

[Phirewriter]

50 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

What did Hot Wheels do in '69?

Harry Bradley had been a designer for GM for a number of years and in 1967 left to help with the initial design of Hot Wheels for Mattel. Different books on Hot Wheels history have him either leaving with copies/photos or simply had seen the final production design. Regardless, he simply drew up his design for the Hot Wheels version along with 15 others for their debut run. It just so happened that the Hot Wheels version made it to market before the 1:1 version did. 1968 was the introductory year for the redline Hot Wheels. He left shortly after to do independent design work, MPC being one of his clients in the late 60's into the early 80's.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Phirewriter

[peter31a]

Really excited for the VW T2 as well as the T1 Camper.

[hpiguy]

I LOVE threads that devolve like this.  And they always do. 
All this speculation and certainty from people with zero professional connections to a company on what really went down, who got fired, why, why a product isn't out yet, what the financials of a company are, etc. 

Always a good read. Like a knitting circle of plastic model gossip.

Instead of correcting people with facts, it's more entertaining to let it unfold over time and see all the 'experts' proven wrong. Again and again. Stay tuned, you'll see.

[Snake45]

11 hours ago, Phirewriter said:

Harry Bradley had been a designer for GM for a number of years and in 1967 left to help with the initial design of Hot Wheels for Mattel. Different books on Hot Wheels history have him either leaving with copies/photos or simply had seen the final production design. Regardless, he simply drew up his design for the Hot Wheels version along with 15 others for their debut run. It just so happened that the Hot Wheels version made it to market before the 1:1 version did. 1968 was the introductory year for the redline Hot Wheels. He left shortly after to do independent design work, MPC being one of his clients in the late 60's into the early 80's.

The initial 16 Hot Wheels hit the market in May 1968. By that time the '68 Corvette had been on the street for six or eight months.

[iamsuperdan]

So close to shutting this trainwreck of thread down.

Everyone just calm down, keep things civil, and maybe grow up a little. 

 

For the last time: The thought that Revell is gone from the US and/or going under should not be promoted unless you have actual FACTS that support that idea. And I'm not talking about inferences based on things that have happened over the past two years.

 

 

[stitchdup]

54 minutes ago, iamsuperdan said:

So close to shutting this trainwreck of thread down.

Everyone just calm down, keep things civil, and maybe grow up a little. 

 

For the last time: The thought that Revell is gone from the US and/or going under should not be promoted unless you have actual FACTS that support that idea. And I'm not talking about inferences based on things that have happened over the past two years.

 

 

Well put, from what I gather it was folk spreading rumours similar to those that shut down the USA hot vws mag

[The Creative Explorer]

Revell had a somewhat 'turbulent' 2019 behind them, maybe we should wait and see how the cards will unfold. Revell GmbH was a healthy organisation and seeing what they have done now'they definately deserve the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Chuck Kourouklis]

On 12/22/2019 at 8:08 AM, The Creative Explorer said:

I disagree, the lamborghini Aventador does pop up regurarly on the second hand marketplaces. Some build, some still in box (hoping/speculating on upgoing value, which it doesn't (yet)).

even though the 911 does pop up a few times per year, it is by far not as much seen as the Lamborghini. The Aventador has been sold quite a lot actually, the Huracan would be more rare, but still was sold pretty good and recent.
I would say that the Aventador, Testarossa, F40 and the Mercedes are the most common Pochers popping up.

Oh, I was referring more to the "rarer built" thing - but sure, Aventadors are all over the place, since they were the most recently produced, selling well enough to allow Hornby/Pocher to go with the Huracan which is an even more impressive kit.

Last I saw, the F40s were going for cubic dollars.  May have to look at those again - they were a big step up from the Testarossas.

[Scott - Elm City Hobbies]

19 hours ago, the other Mike S. said:

The tone of your reply sounds very aggressive and almost bullying to a certain extent.  For some reason, I'm on your "hate" radar for what was a legitimate comment of Revell's financial condition.

It's very obvious to me that your premise of everything being fine and dandy at Revell is not the case.  The recent bankruptcy of the parent company, Hobbico, severely affected Revell's operations here in the U.S.  That can not be a good thing for a company.  The recent backlogged restocking of product for U.S. based vendors tells me this. 

Also, if any new kit development was happening at the time this all went down, that would have delayed or perhaps all together cancelled any new product development for the time being.  Burning bridges at GM by your C7 comment is not a good thing either.   So, it looks to me that unless Round 2 has the promo contract again which is highly unlikely, any new plastic kit release of the C8 by Revell is going be delayed.  And, anything else that may have been in the pipeline along with it will be delayed as well.

The C8 will be a money maker.  Not having the new C8 in scale and in plastic, in the first or second quarter of 2020, is going to be a greatly missed opportunity.  Releasing the kit 1 or 2 years after the car is already out on the streets will never be the same.  

Here's the issue, you are not correct with Revell's financial situation, which is the point he is trying to make. So not aggressive or bullying, just tired of people starting rumors that have been dispelled for months, but for some reason people keep dragging up the non truths about it.

Revell USA didn't go bankrupt, their parent company Hobbico did. Revell USA, Germany and Estes was the only thing keeping Hobbico afloat, if not for those 3, they would have gone bankrupt years earlier. Hobbico going bankrupt had little effect on day to day operations at Revell, at least not until the end once the sale went through. Revell was trucking along pretty well. There were corners cut, the elimination of the Preferred Buyers Program was one, and being a former member of that program, I can tell you that I don't really miss it much. Sure I could get the new releases 2-3 weeks before everyone else (including distributors), but also meant I had to take the duds that didn't sell, along with those kits that were hot sellers. I do not miss the duds.

Further more, Revell Germany has never included Revell USA releases when they do their yearly release list around when the new year starts. Just be patient, info for Revell USA will be coming eventually.

Keep in mind that when Blitz bought both RUSA and ROG, that they handed control of both companies to the team that runs ROG, and what was once a large office and warehouse staff at RUSA, was reduced to one person, that was pretty much responsible for all of RUSA operations in receiving kits from China and sending the kits out to distributors and retailers. (the company is now has a second person in Ed Sexton), so now you have 2 people doing the job of a fully staffed warehouse, save for the kit development and most of the marketing, things move a little slower when all that work that was done by an office and warehouse full of people are now done by 2 people.

Revell is doing fine, hell Blitz bought both companies for a song. Total expenditure for both RUSA and ROG was $4million. $3 or so million of that was for existing inventory that was in the RUSA warehouse. RUSA tooling on paper was purchased at $50000 (valued at about $4mil), much of which they likely recouped when they sold off the tooling they didn't want to Atlantis. So other than the existing inventory (which has all sold), and the licensing and trademarks (about $100000) Blitz pretty much "stole" the company and have very little invested on the RUSA side of things. (BTW, part of that $4mil, was about $900000 for all of Hobbico UK's ROG shares), so for roughly $1million Blitz bought RUSA and ROG for what was rumored to be worth about $35 million (not including stock on hand)

So, Blitz won't be selling off any RUSA tooling. Why would they? Pretty much a license to print money at this point with the entire company pretty much paid for.

As far as the C8 goes, the car isn't even on the market yet. When the C7 Corvette came out, RUSA was nearly 2yrs getting the simplified snap kit to market, nevermind the other C7 kits that they put out. So you are likely looking at late 2020, but more likely 2021 before a C8 kit is out from RUSA, and it is likely that the first kit won't be a fully detailed glue kit, more than likely a more simple snap kit.

So lets dispel again the unsubstantiated rumors that seem to keep popping up about the state of Revell and get back to the building of the models instead of stirring up BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH about them. 

[Scott - Elm City Hobbies]

47 minutes ago, Chuck Kourouklis said:

Oh, I was referring more to the "rarer built" thing - but sure, Aventadors are all over the place, since they were the most recently produced, selling well enough to allow Hornby/Pocher to go with the Huracan which is an even more impressive kit.

Last I saw, the F40s were going for cubic dollars.  May have to look at those again - they were a big step up from the Testarossas.

Nothing to do with Revell, but I would love to see Tamiya give the same treatment to their 1/12 Ferrari GTO as they did to the Enzo and the Porsche!

[hpiguy]

4 minutes ago, Scott - Elm City Hobbies said:

 what was once a large office and warehouse staff at RUSA, was reduced to one person, that was pretty much responsible for all of RUSA operations in receiving kits from China and sending the kits out to distributors and retailers. (the company is now has a second person in Ed Sexton), so now you have 2 people doing the job of a fully staffed warehouse, save for the kit development and most of the marketing, things move a little slower when all that work that was done by an office and warehouse full of people are now done by 2 people.
 

Nope, you folks are still incorrect.

I speak to more and emailed with more than one person at Revell USA in the US and I've never spoken to Ed personally in any capacity.  I've also spoken directly with people at RG  but that's besides the point.

Can we still stop pretending we're know it alls on that company already and drop it? 

Edited January 3, 2020 by hpiguy

[Scott - Elm City Hobbies]

1 minute ago, hpiguy said:

Nope, you folks are still incorrect.

I speak to more and emailed with more than one person at Revell USA in the US and I've never spoken to Ed personally.

Can we still stop pretending we're know it alls on that company already?

They may have more people now, but after the sale when through and Blitz closed the existing RUSA warehouse, and opened a new one, there was one guy running the show, until Ed Sexton was brought back on. There may be more people hired now, but it was a one man show for many months afterwards.

I am in the hobby business, and dealt with the old RUSA on a weekly basis. Once they got set back up under Blitz, I reached out to see what was up about getting kits again, and was explained to me that they wouldn't be dealing directly with retailers any longer as they didn't have the staff to do so, and had told me at that time that it was a one man show. Ed Sexton was brought back on as whatever Ed does...seems to be advisor/marketing as it is his face at the shows we see. Since then it is likely that more people have been hired, which makes sense as the company gets its footing back under them after the sale.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

1 hour ago, Scott - Elm City Hobbies said:

Nothing to do with Revell, but I would love to see Tamiya give the same treatment to their 1/12 Ferrari GTO as they did to the Enzo and the Porsche!

Brother, you are telling me!  I actually found a nice price on one of the semi-assembled display models and bought it to see if the usual here-comes-the-kit jinx would apply.

No dice!

Edited January 3, 2020 by Chuck Kourouklis
pic added

[The Creative Explorer]

2 hours ago, Chuck Kourouklis said:

Oh, I was referring more to the "rarer built" thing - but sure, Aventadors are all over the place, since they were the most recently produced, selling well enough to allow Hornby/Pocher to go with the Huracan which is an even more impressive kit.

Last I saw, the F40s were going for cubic dollars.  May have to look at those again - they were a big step up from the Testarossas.

Sorry, I misunderstood ?
 

I guess we end up on the same page .... hahaha.
From what I notice, I see a lot more Aventadors popping up than those Huracan's. Which is also a bit logic, since the Aventador did sell better than the Huracan, I believe even by a great number.

Never heard the 'cubic dollars' phrase yet, but I agree. A few years back, the F40 would do about 150-200 in a built form (I bought my K57 Dutch Prototype for 100, with only the interior minor built). But now, they don't get below 250 built anymore, usually between 300-400.
But I assume it can also be some sort of wave, at some point it will lower again.

[Scott - Elm City Hobbies]

6 hours ago, Chuck Kourouklis said:

Brother, you are telling me!  I actually found a nice price on one of the semi-assembled display models and bought it to see if the usual here-comes-the-kit jinx would apply.

No dice!

That, in a plastic kit, the quality of the Enzo.....would so be on board for that. The F40 would be nice also, but not as appealing as I have a Testors (Fujimi) 1/16. Don't know why they stopped with only the Enzo and the Porsche

[the other Mike S.]

On 1/3/2020 at 12:50 PM, Scott - Elm City Hobbies said:

Quote

Here's the issue, you are not correct with Revell's financial situation, which is the point he is trying to make. So not aggressive or bullying, just tired of people starting rumors that have been dispelled for months, but for some reason people keep dragging up the non truths about it.

Well, I was merely commenting on things as I knew them and I got slammed for being a rumour starter.  This was last straw to break the camel's back for him and I got the crabby reply.       

Quote

Revell USA didn't go bankrupt, their parent company Hobbico did. Revell USA, Germany and Estes was the only thing keeping Hobbico afloat, if not for those 3, they would have gone bankrupt years earlier. Hobbico going bankrupt had little effect on day to day operations at Revell, at least not until the end once the sale went through. Revell was trucking along pretty well. There were corners cut, the elimination of the Preferred Buyers Program was one, and being a former member of that program, I can tell you that I don't really miss it much. Sure I could get the new releases 2-3 weeks before everyone else (including distributors), but also meant I had to take the duds that didn't sell, along with those kits that were hot sellers. I do not miss the duds.

If it didn't affect their day to day operations, it surely affected the supply chain going to the distributors.  A particular online retailer (of which I won't mention here) was finally able to get a restocking of Revell kits.  This tells me right there that what happened during the Hobbico fiasco temporarily stopped product from being supplied to the distributors that supply the online and hobby store retailers.  Not having product available to your retail buyers is pretty significant in my opinion. Fortunately for us, that has been now corrected and things are back on track. 

Quote

Further more, Revell Germany has never included Revell USA releases when they do their yearly release list around when the new year starts. Just be patient, info for Revell USA will be coming eventually.

 

Keep in mind that when Blitz bought both RUSA and ROG, that they handed control of both companies to the team that runs ROG, and what was once a large office and warehouse staff at RUSA, was reduced to one person, that was pretty much responsible for all of RUSA operations in receiving kits from China and sending the kits out to distributors and retailers. (the company is now has a second person in Ed Sexton), so now you have 2 people doing the job of a fully staffed warehouse, save for the kit development and most of the marketing, things move a little slower when all that work that was done by an office and warehouse full of people are now done by 2 people.

[Revell is doing fine, hell Blitz bought both companies for a song. Total expenditure for both RUSA and ROG was $4million. $3 or so million of that was for existing inventory that was in the RUSA warehouse. RUSA tooling on paper was purchased at $50000 (valued at about $4mil), much of which they likely recouped when they sold off the tooling they didn't want to Atlantis. So other than the existing inventory (which has all sold), and the licensing and trademarks (about $100000) Blitz pretty much "stole" the company and have very little invested on the RUSA side of things. (BTW, part of that $4mil, was about $900000 for all of Hobbico UK's ROG shares), so for roughly $1million Blitz bought RUSA and ROG for what was rumored to be worth about $35 million (not including stock on hand)

So, Blitz won't be selling off any RUSA tooling. Why would they? Pretty much a license to print money at this point with the entire company pretty much paid for.[\QUOTE]

 

Good to know.  Thanks for the additional info.
 

Quote

Quote

As far as the C8 goes, the car isn't even on the market yet. When the C7 Corvette came out, RUSA was nearly 2yrs getting the simplified snap kit to market, nevermind the other C7 kits that they put out. So you are likely looking at late 2020, but more likely 2021 before a C8 kit is out from RUSA, and it is likely that the first kit won't be a fully detailed glue kit, more than likely a more simple snap kit.

True, but the diecasts are out now or will soon be.  If anything should be fast tracked, it should be the new C8.  The real car is generating a lot of buzz and excitement in the automotive industry and it's only logical from a business perspective (as model kit manufacturer) to capitalize on that opportunity.  Unfortunately, like you mentioned, the Hobbico bankruptcy probably delayed that prospect.  Since I collect promos too, I'd to see a factory authorized promo of the new C8.  Whether Round 2 or even Revell gets the promo contract again, I don't know.  However, I sure hope someone does so the lineage of Corvette promos and the model kits that are based off them can continue.        

Quote

So lets dispel again the unsubstantiated rumors that seem to keep popping up about the state of Revell and get back to the building of the models instead of stirring up BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH about them.

 

Sounds good to me. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by the other Mike S.

[Scott - Elm City Hobbies]

2 hours ago, the other Mike S. said:

If it didn't affect their day to day operations, it surely affected the supply chain going to the distributors.  A particular online retailer (of which I won't mention here) was finally able to get a restocking of Revell kits.  This tells me right there that what happened during the Hobbico fiasco temporarily stopped product from being supplied to the distributors that supply the online and hobby store retailers.  Not having product available to your retail buyers is pretty significant in my opinion. Fortunately for us, that has been now corrected and things are back on track. 

I am a hobby shop owner, going on 12 yrs. Revell stock wasn't disrupted until the sale went through, after which the new owners closed down the existing Revell USA warehouse. Up until that point, it was business as usual, and kits were easy to get. After that, once the existing stock dried up from the warehouse (there was lots) then yes new stock was hard to find. ROG kits took about 9 months to start getting restocks, as the RUSA warehouse acted as the importer for ROG kits. So loosing the warehouse we lost the ability to get both RUSA and ROG kits.

Up until the point of the sale, the problems Hobbico was having, had no effect on Revell USA, as the more kits they sold, the more money went to try and stave off bankruptcy. It was only after the sale, and the actions the new owners took that caused the supply of Revell kits to dry up, until they could get a new warehouse up and running and kits arriving from China again.

I deal with about a 1/2 dozen distributors, and none of them had supply issues until after the sale went through.

[Scott - Elm City Hobbies]

2 hours ago, the other Mike S. said:

True, but the diecasts are out now or will soon be.  If anything should be fast tracked, it should be the new C8.  The real car is generating a lot of buzz and excitement in the automotive industry and it's only logical from a business perspective (as model kit manufacturer) to capitalize on that opportunity.  Unfortunately, like you mentioned, the Hobbico bankruptcy probably delayed that prospect.  Since I collect promos too, I'd to see a factory authorized promo of the new C8.  Whether Round 2 or even Revell gets the promo contract again, I don't know.  However, I sure hope someone does so the lineage of Corvette promos and the model kits that are based off them can continue.       

Diecast is a whole other ball of wax, and are much easier to make, due to less detail and less parts needed to make. Neither Revell or Round 2 has had a kit of a new car out in the same year that the car came out. I am sure a C8 will come along, just don't expect it before even the actual car gets released.

[the other Mike S.]

11 hours ago, Scott - Elm City Hobbies said:

I am a hobby shop owner, going on 12 yrs. Revell stock wasn't disrupted until the sale went through, after which the new owners closed down the existing Revell USA warehouse. Up until that point, it was business as usual, and kits were easy to get. After that, once the existing stock dried up from the warehouse (there was lots) then yes new stock was hard to find. ROG kits took about 9 months to start getting restocks, as the RUSA warehouse acted as the importer for ROG kits. So loosing the warehouse we lost the ability to get both RUSA and ROG kits.

Up until the point of the sale, the problems Hobbico was having, had no effect on Revell USA, as the more kits they sold, the more money went to try and stave off bankruptcy. It was only after the sale, and the actions the new owners took that caused the supply of Revell kits to dry up, until they could get a new warehouse up and running and kits arriving from China again.

I deal with about a 1/2 dozen distributors, and none of them had supply issues until after the sale went through.

Why would the new owners (Blitz?) close down the Revell USA warehouse knowing that would disrupt the availabity of kits to U.S. based retailers?  That doesn't sound like a good business decision after the new take over.  That is, as if certain people on here say, we're supposed to believe the new owners are a much better thing for Revell.

Whether the supply issues happened before or after the take over, it still happened.  That's not a good thing in my opinion if you want stave off "rumours" that can proliferate in a situation like this.  I would think you'd want to instill the upmost confidence from consumers that the company is still in exellent shape (after a situation like this) and keep suppy chain flowing at all costs.  The disruption in the supply chain was a major fubar on their part.

Edited January 9, 2020 by the other Mike S.

[the other Mike S.]

11 hours ago, Scott - Elm City Hobbies said:

Diecast is a whole other ball of wax, and are much easier to make, due to less detail and less parts needed to make. Neither Revell or Round 2 has had a kit of a new car out in the same year that the car came out. I am sure a C8 will come along, just don't expect it before even the actual car gets released.

I'm not expecting a model of the C8 to come out before the actual car.  That hasn't happened in generations.  However, the new (parent?) company take over by (Blitz?) most likely has delayed it even further among other things that were in development at the time.  As far as I can tell, Round 2 has not picked up the promo contract from GM.  

It would be nice to see a somewhat timely release of a simplified promo-like snapper of the C8, but that probably won't happen.  Some people may disagree, but I think it's still important to have a plastic model kit available during a new car release in the same yead.  Especially with a car as significant as the new mid engine C8 is.  We're not talking about a new kit of an old Land Rover or something.  We're talking about the new kit of the C8.  The C8 is significant in many respects. 

Once the real car hits the street and the market gets saturated somewhat, the intitial buzz and excitment wanes and the demand from modelers and enthusiasts alike to have scale replica lessens a bit, at least for me it does.  Yeah, I'll still want one after 2-3 years, but it's not as criitical as it once was during the actual 1:1 car debut.  

You'd think the model companies would understand this.  However, like you mentioned above, they want to basically print money with a reissue of an already amortized many times over tooling run.  I can't blame them.  On the other hand, opportunities like the new mid engine C8 don't come along too often.  So, it would be good to capitalize on that the best way possible.  I guess this is where the diecast fans come in and get to have their cake and eat it too.     

Edited January 9, 2020 by the other Mike S.

[Shelby 427 1965]

That E-Type scares me. As a big Jag guy.... That looks identical to the E-Type kit in my stash, an old Revell of Germany release. They just can't seem to get the headlights right - they always look wrong.

 

Super super excited for the bay window and splitty, though. 

[Matt Bacon]

I wouldn’t get too scared just yet... that’s just a picture Revell has of an E-type. There’s no evidence it’s the box art of a new kit, still less that the model inside the box when it comes is going to look like that. I wish Revell would use the 3D CAD models Of new releases like Airfix does, but they haven’t done that except when promoting the Land Rover on their blog...

best,

M.

[Shelby 427 1965]

Fair enough, I'm praying that's the case - we're long overdue an E-Type that's actually accurate!

[Dave Van]

The large amount of speculation about Revell over the past year or so is due to the appearance to the public of a 'cloak and dagger' like moves.  

A good personal friend is a hobby wholesaler. When Blitz finalized the purchase of Revell USA they did let everyone go, locked the building and had ZERO personnel in the USA to answer any questions about anything....including scheduled shipments that never showed up. This went on for weeks.....lending to all the rumors to what was going on. Blitz either didn't care or was unaware of the issues they were creating by the information blackout. It then became a game of 'telephone' where info good and bad was passed along and often changed each time it was repeated leading to all the misinformation. 

I did freelance work for Monogram/Revell since the 1980's and really wanted to know what was going on. But hard info was not out there. When Ed Sexton showed up as a Rep of the new Revell I contacted him. I got only basic info about what was going on but had to be happy with it. 

So all  this leads to tons of bad info and lots of guessing.. Pretty much SOP when things like this happen....human nature. 

One FACT I know is Blitz got the deal of the century buying Revell.......the retired banking analyst in me says so!