New From Round2/AMT 2020

[Mr mopar]

19 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

I assume it's going to be green because the original JGG kit was molded in green.. 

I did not know that thank you Robert now that make cents !

 

[Dave Darby]

50 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

I assume it's going to be green because the original JGG kit was molded in green.. 

Fair assumption.  I myself am hoping for white.

[Rob Hall]

4 minutes ago, Dave Darby said:

Fair assumption.  I myself am hoping for white.

The Model Roundup listing says molded in green.  The last issue of the '65 (2013) was molded in white..

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by Rob Hall

[Mark]

If you want a white one, scrounge the last issue.  The last couple of issues prior to that were light gray.  None of those are terribly hard to find.

[niteowl7710]

Was informed by the LHS proprietor that he expects the Camaro & Vega a week from today on 9/1. So that wait is nearly over.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Kool!

May have taken forever, but really good choices and work on those two, far as I'm concerned.

[Dave Darby]

On 8/24/2020 at 9:58 AM, Mark said:

If you want a white one, scrounge the last issue.  The last couple of issues prior to that were light gray.  None of those are terribly hard to find.

I built both of these box art cars. Even the test shots were molded in gray. I have a couple on hand. I like the JGG box art. Just not real keen on the green plastic. Not a deal breaker. 

 

 

[iBorg]

On 8/17/2020 at 2:23 PM, niteowl7710 said:

...one does have to wonder if we're going to see history repeat itself with one major big box retailer dictating the market again.

We're there already. I remember vending at a show (remember those?) and I was told my prices was too high because they could get it at HL for 40% off. HL is doing what WallyWorld did to the mom and pop stores in small towns to hobby shops in driving them out of business.

[Vince Nemanic]

K Mart dictated things long before Wal Mart and Hobby Lobby. They even said that the companies should have more black on the boxes because they said boys noticed black the most.  Remember the MPC '67 Corvette from the '70s that was originally white on the box and then was changed to black? Or the Monogram boxes that had back on the top, not to mention the number of kits that were molded in black? K Mart ordered those things.

[niteowl7710]

2 minutes ago, Vince Nemanic said:

K Mart dictated things long before Wal Mart and Hobby Lobby. They even said that the companies should have more black on the boxes because they said boys noticed black the most.  Remember the MPC '67 Corvette from the '70s that was originally white on the box and then was changed to black? Or the Monogram boxes that had back on the top, not to mention the number of kits that were molded in black? K Mart ordered those things.

Running a kit in a different color plastic is a cost with no benefit other than keeping a customer happy. AMT famously canned their plans for a '50 Oldsmobile because Wal*Mart decided it wouldn't sell well enough to justify ordering it. It took nearly 20 some odd years to get that kit out of Revell.

[Mark]

Companies don't usually decide to produce/not produce an item based strictly on one buyer's say so.  With model kits, they used to take the proposal to a trade show and float it before the buyers who went to those.  These days, there are fewer big buyers like store chains and wholesalers.  But it would still probably take thumbs down from more than one of those to kill off a particular kit.

Too, if you as a manufacturer are overly dependent on one outlet for your product (like Wal-Mart) that's a problem unto itself.  I've heard about investment firms downgrading the stock value for companies doing too high a percentage of their business with one customer, as they are too dependent on that customer making them subject to unreasonable demands by said customer down the road.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Mark
Spelling

[Justin Porter]

I'll say this much. Yes, Hobby Lobby eats into a chunk of my shop's "square box" domestic car kit sales. Their ability to fire sale kits with those 40% coupons does some genuine damage to the overall volume of our domestic car kit sales. 

But in doing so, that just means that domestic car kits have become a shrinking sector of my business with increased focus on military kits, Gundam, and imported car kit brands that Hobby Lobby has no interest in stocking. I don't fault Round 2 and Revell for allying with Hobby Lobby. It keeps them around and I do keep their products because even selling a percentage of their kits that my local Hobby Lobby does still represents a good amount of sales for me. However, I know what I have to do to justify my business to my customers, and that means a steady commitment to "Heh, can't get THAT at Hobby Lobby" to keep them coming through the door.

[Spottedlaurel]

2 minutes ago, Justin Porter said:

I'll say this much. Yes, Hobby Lobby eats into a chunk of my shop's "square box" domestic car kit sales. Their ability to fire sale kits with those 40% coupons does some genuine damage to the overall volume of our domestic car kit sales. 

But in doing so, that just means that domestic car kits have become a shrinking sector of my business with increased focus on military kits, Gundam, and imported car kit brands that Hobby Lobby has no interest in stocking. I don't fault Round 2 and Revell for allying with Hobby Lobby. It keeps them around and I do keep their products because even selling a percentage of their kits that my local Hobby Lobby does still represents a good amount of sales for me. However, I know what I have to do to justify my business to my customers, and that means a steady commitment to "Heh, can't get THAT at Hobby Lobby" to keep them coming through the door.

Really interesting to hear your take on it, pleasing to know you have customers who value the service and ability to get different products.

I can't think of a dominant 'bricks and mortar' retailer here in the UK.

Revell Europe are the car/truck kits we're most likely to see in a general toy shop that has a few models, I presume they have the most effective wholeale/distribution network.

[Mike999]

14 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I can't think of a dominant 'bricks and mortar' retailer here in the UK.

Looks like you have the French outfit Carrefour in the UK.  That's the closest thing I've seen to a Euro-style Wal-Mart.  When I worked in Egypt, I hit the Alexandria Carrefour almost every week for groceries.  Low prices and it was a huge store that sold everything, from food to clothes, tools and TVs.  Like Wal-Mart it had its own bakery and other services. 

What Carrefour did not have, of course, was scale models.  And I looked, all the time.  The closest thing I ever saw was a few BBurago 1/24 scale die-cast metal assembly kits.

[Tom Geiger]

17 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

I'll say this much. Yes, Hobby Lobby eats into a chunk of my shop's "square box" domestic car kit sales. Their ability to fire sale kits with those 40% coupons does some genuine damage to the overall volume of our domestic car kit sales. 

But in doing so, that just means that domestic car kits have become a shrinking sector of my business with increased focus on military kits, Gundam, and imported car kit brands that Hobby Lobby has no interest in stocking. I don't fault Round 2 and Revell for allying with Hobby Lobby. It keeps them around and I do keep their products because even selling a percentage of their kits that my local Hobby Lobby does still represents a good amount of sales for me. However, I know what I have to do to justify my business to my customers, and that means a steady commitment to "Heh, can't get THAT at Hobby Lobby" to keep them coming through the door.

Interesting take! Do you have customers coming into the shop asking you to match the 40% off coupon?

Avenel Hobbies closed up shortly after HL opened in town and he said this was a factor, and no he couldn’t match the coupons 

[Dale Gribble]

21 hours ago, iBorg said:

We're there already. I remember vending at a show (remember those?) and I was told my prices was too high because they could get it at HL for 40% off. HL is doing what WallyWorld did to the mom and pop stores in small towns to hobby shops in driving them out of business.

sucks , But it’s the reality . Low prices are the game changer. Doesn’t matter how polite you are , or how willing to bend over backwards for a customer you are . If HL has it cheaper , they will get the business . I know I look there first before going to the hobby shop . And I get sticker shock so bad at the hobby store I usually go home empty handed 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Dale Gribble

[Rbray47]

Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and occasionally Ollie's are pretty much the only plastic model sources around here. No real hobby shops unless I drive to the nearest bigger city, which has a Hobbytown USA. It's also over a 2 hour round trip. I do visit a small shop about 2 hours south of me once per month. They carry kits that the big three do not, plus they dont mark up older kits to current pricing trends. I bought several sealed kits from the 90s and 00s for $10-11 each. 

[Justin Porter]

5 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

Interesting take! Do you have customers coming into the shop asking you to match the 40% off coupon?

Avenel Hobbies closed up shortly after HL opened in town and he said this was a factor, and no he couldn’t match the coupons 

Haven't had that experience yet but I have spoken with builder who come in for supplies - paint and tools being my leading revenue streams by far compared to kit sales of any kind - who when prompted that I just brought in X new domestic release inform me "Yeah, sorry. Picked it up with my coupon at Hobby Lobby."

As a little "peek behind the curtain", that Hobby Lobby settled on 40% off strikes me as no accident as that is the going rate of initial wholesale discount that most distributors (certainly my primary ones) offer to small shops. Effectively, Hobby Lobby coupons at a rate to where local shops have to sell at cost to match them and on volume items like domestic auto kits that's practically untenable. 

The route my shop has taken has been appealing to local "serious builders" by instead offering club discounts to both local and national organizations such as IPMS and NMRA. It works, plus it gives us an ear to the ground on upcoming product buzz, but I won't deny that Hobby Lobby's practices have a decidedly aimed feel. 

[stitchdup]

12 hours ago, Mike999 said:

Looks like you have the French outfit Carrefour in the UK.  That's the closest thing I've seen to a Euro-style Wal-Mart.  When I worked in Egypt, I hit the Alexandria Carrefour almost every week for groceries.  Low prices and it was a huge store that sold everything, from food to clothes, tools and TVs.  Like Wal-Mart it had its own bakery and other services. 

What Carrefour did not have, of course, was scale models.  And I looked, all the time.  The closest thing I ever saw was a few BBurago 1/24 scale die-cast metal assembly kits.

most of our supermarkets have gone the wallyworld route in the uk (asda is a uk division of wallyworld). as for model kits lidl usually gat a selection twice a year of revell kits. mostly its military/aircraft but cars feature occaisonally

[Snake45]

4 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

Haven't had that experience yet but I have spoken with builder who come in for supplies - paint and tools being my leading revenue streams by far compared to kit sales of any kind - who when prompted that I just brought in X new domestic release inform me "Yeah, sorry. Picked it up with my coupon at Hobby Lobby."

As a little "peek behind the curtain", that Hobby Lobby settled on 40% off strikes me as no accident as that is the going rate of initial wholesale discount that most distributors (certainly my primary ones) offer to small shops. Effectively, Hobby Lobby coupons at a rate to where local shops have to sell at cost to match them and on volume items like domestic auto kits that's practically untenable. 

The route my shop has taken has been appealing to local "serious builders" by instead offering club discounts to both local and national organizations such as IPMS and NMRA. It works, plus it gives us an ear to the ground on upcoming product buzz, but I won't deny that Hobby Lobby's practices have a decidedly aimed feel. 

Just for your information: If I lived in your area, I would still be buying what kits I could at HL at 40% off. BUT I would ALSO be buying from you plenty of paints, tools, decals, glues, supplies of all sorts, and kits that HL doesn't sell, so you'd still be making a buttload of money off me. 

[Rodent]

19 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Just for your information: If I lived in your area, I would still be buying what kits I could at HL at 40% off. BUT I would ALSO be buying from you plenty of paints, tools, decals, glues, supplies of all sorts, and kits that HL doesn't sell, so you'd still be making a buttload of money off me. 

Yeah, what Snake said. I buy kits from HL, but they have a poor selection overall and it seems to take forever for them to get the new stuff (except the 64 Belvedere which I have no intentions of buying). Other kits, paint, BMF, etc. comes from the LHS. I bought one new Revell kit and one recycled Round2 kit from the LHS ($80) a few weeks ago because I didn't want to wait for HL to get them in. A few weeks before that, I bought the Tamiya Mustang GT4 from the LHS.

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by Rodent

[SSNJim]

My kits/supplies/whatever come from whatever store I happen to be in that has what I want. I'm going to pick up the 1970 full bumper Camaro, for example, the first time I see it. Don't care about the price, don't care about supporting local business, all I care about is who can provide me the product I want. If I'm in your store and I want some Bilious Green paint, some 728 grit sandpaper and some oxided aluminum BMF, if you don't have it all, you probably won't sell any of it. What is so hard about keeping the shelves stocked with product, even (especially) new stuff? That's kind of what stores do. Keep stuff on the shelves, sell more. That applies to any store, not just hobby shops. And for heaven's sake, please don't tell me you can order it. Guess what? So can I -faster, cheaper, and with quicker delivery. Ever hear of the internet?

[Snake45]

52 minutes ago, SSNJim said:

And for heaven's sake, please don't tell me you can order it. Guess what? So can I -faster, cheaper, and with quicker delivery. Ever hear of the internet?

I hear that all the time (not just in hobby shops, either), and that's what I say, too--"I can order it. I was hoping you had it today, and was prepared to pay your price for it right now." 

[GMP440]

1 hour ago, SSNJim said:

My kits/supplies/whatever come from whatever store I happen to be in that has what I want. I'm going to pick up the 1970 full bumper Camaro, for example, the first time I see it. Don't care about the price, don't care about supporting local business, all I care about is who can provide me the product I want. If I'm in your store and I want some Bilious Green paint, some 728 grit sandpaper and some oxided aluminum BMF, if you don't have it all, you probably won't sell any of it. What is so hard about keeping the shelves stocked with product, even (especially) new stuff? That's kind of what stores do. Keep stuff on the shelves, sell more. That applies to any store, not just hobby shops. And for heaven's sake, please don't tell me you can order it. Guess what? So can I -faster, cheaper, and with quicker delivery. Ever hear of the internet?

   Very true and valid.  Because of this alot of mom and pop hobby shops are going by the wayside.  Inventory;  sometimes it doesn't justify having xyz kit on the shelf.   That xyz kit that you liked and bought ; chances are it has been sitting for maybe a year on that shelf because you were the only one that bought it.  Had the hobby shop owner had ten of those kits, he would have lost money for having that inventory.  So, it's justified for that hobby shop owner to place an order for it.  Yes, you can get it faster on the internet.  Welcome to the world of e-commerce.   That's one if the reasons for poor kit inventory , but more supplies, paints, etc.

[Justin Porter]

10 hours ago, Snake45 said:

I hear that all the time (not just in hobby shops, either), and that's what I say, too--"I can order it. I was hoping you had it today, and was prepared to pay your price for it right now." 

Firstly, thank you for offering your patronage were it geographically feasible! Every dollar in the till is one we didn't have before. 

As to the inventory question, in truth that's one of the things my Dad and I set to resolve that we disliked about some of the bygone local hobby shops previously. In many cases, they simply refused to stock anything that the owners felt were too niche or too expensive or that they personally didn't hold an interest in. Admittedly, our on-hand quantity (speaking to kits specifically) tends to be in the ones or twos of a kit, but that allows us to keep a greater variety on hand especially on the military side where there are so many countless manufacturers. Generally speaking, the only times where we hold things to an "as ordered only" item if at all possible is on very large kits like the Trumpeter 1/200th scale battleship kits or if there's an HKM 1/32nd scale 4 engine bomber that we don't currently have in stock. These are items that represent multiple hundreds of dollars in cost AND a large amount of shelf space. We try not to bring them in as speculative items very often. Although we usually have at least one out of the line of kits on hand in order to demonstrate that yes, we do handle that line and are aware of that product. 

And while I understand shops and their approaches to kit stocking varying from ours, supplies running thin is inexcusable. Lately it has been excruciating for us to wait on wholesalers to restock on high-demand colors of Tamiya 23ml jars (our biggest paint mover by far) and we absolutely hate having ANY outs on our paint wall.