Revell 2020 Kits !

[Carmak]

1 hour ago, tim boyd said:

Thought I had a better image of my Monogram '69 SuperBee Six Pack in 1969 1/2  code F6 Spring Green Metallic, but all I have posted in my Fotki site is this comparo photo which was an unused outtake from my Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits book a couple of years ago.  Anyway, FWIW I completely agree with Bill's above comments about the Monogram  '69 Super Bee.....TIM

 

Tim, You do what most builders of the Monogram 69 Super Bee don't - you lowered it and pulled the wheels in (reduced track width). It completely changes the look of the model. I find myself hacking up the suspension of most Revell/Monogram and some modern AMT kits to get them to sit correctly. As always well done.

Craig (Carmak)

[slusher]

15 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said:

Still not sure why there's no hope of the 30 coming back. The simple fact the the 29 has hit the market again, as promised by Revell, gives hope that the 30 is still coming.

Yes, it's taking time. But there has also been a bankruptcy and a global pandemic thrown into the mix since the 30 tool went offline. I choose to remain hopeful, and the 29 roadster returning to market as Revell said it would only gives me more hope.

I really hope we see it again but right now is a hot time for models during the pandemic...

12 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

Pandemic-schmandemic. That's more cop out than valid reason. It has nothing to do with why the '30 coupe hasn't been reissued.  Car modelers are the red-headed step children of the larger hobby kit family. They've been conditioned to have lower expectations, go into a frenzy at the mere mention of a sixty year old kit possibly being reissued for the 53rd time at some undetermined date and are giddy when one, maybe two at most, kits are announced. The pandemic hasn't slowed down the production of aircraft, armor, sci-fi or other genres of model kits. Those manufacturers are cranking out kits faster than one can keep track. Please note that most, if not all, of those kits are produced in China.

I totally agree Joe!

[tim boyd]

20 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

Pandemic-schmandemic. That's more cop out than valid reason. It has nothing to do with why the '30 coupe hasn't been reissued.  Car modelers are the red-headed step children of the larger hobby kit family. They've been conditioned to have lower expectations, go into a frenzy at the mere mention of a sixty year old kit possibly being reissued for the 53rd time at some undetermined date and are giddy when one, maybe two at most, kits are announced. The pandemic hasn't slowed down the production of aircraft, armor, sci-fi or other genres of model kits. Those manufacturers are cranking out kits faster than one can keep track. Please note that most, if not all, of those kits are produced in China.

The pandemic in China actually did stop production of kits (and most all industrial output in China) for a couple of months early in the year, but yes, I agree that kit production of all genres is now largely back on track now. 

But that has nothing to do with the timing of the '30A kit reintroduction.   Prior (pre-Hobbico bankruptcy) and (to the best of my knowledge) current German Revell management has concluded (rightly or wrongly) that for business purposes they need to spread out the introduction of kits that are derived from a single tooling set.  Since the '29A Roadster kit was reintroduced early this year,  as I understand it the thought is to wait about a year before the next kit based on the same tooling set (in this case, the '30A Coupe) is brought to the market.   Given the uncertainty in global markets these days, I think there is a fair amount of risk by delaying this long, but unfortunately I don't get a vote here. 

Ever since I became definitively aware of this project (January 2014 if I am remembering correctly) I have voiced the view to Revell that the '30A Coupe will be the much stronger seller of these two kits, and that production of it should be prioritized over the Roadster.   My takeaway was that Revell agreed with my view on the sales potential, but for business purposes they thought that by scheduling the Roadster first, they would maximize overall sales from the tooling set over the lifetime of production.   Of course, had there not been the tooling issue that interrupted the '30A production run shortly after it began, we would not be having this discussion today.    

There is no conspiracy at foot here.  It is a simple series of business decisions that has guided the kit introduction sequence, further compounded by an unexpected production issue just after the kit was first introduced several years ago. 

But that doesn't mean we as hobbyists have to agree with those decisions.  Bottom line?  Ever since I set my grubby fingers on the first round test shot parts of this kit over six years ago now, my thoughts were, and remain, that this '30A Coupe is among the best hot rod kits the hobby has ever, or will likely, see.  Everytime I talk to Revell management or their agents, I express my wishes, and those of many others in this hobby, that the '30A Five Window Coupe hot rod kit goes back on the production line, so that all hobbyists who want to buy and build this kit can have that opportunity much sooner than later.    

TIM  

[GMP440]

4 hours ago, tim boyd said:

The pandemic in China actually did stop production of kits (and most all industrial output in China) for a couple of months early in the year, but yes, I agree that kit production of all genres is now largely back on track now. 

But that has nothing to do with the timing of the '30A kit reintroduction.   Prior (pre-Hobbico bankruptcy) and (to the best of my knowledge) current German Revell management has concluded (rightly or wrongly) that for business purposes they need to spread out the introduction of kits that are derived from a single tooling set.  Since the '29A Roadster kit was reintroduced early this year,  as I understand it the thought is to wait about a year before the next kit based on the same tooling set (in this case, the '30A Coupe) is brought to the market.   Given the uncertainty in global markets these days, I think there is a fair amount of risk by delaying this long, but unfortunately I don't get a vote here. 

Ever since I became definitively aware of this project (January 2014 if I am remembering correctly) I have voiced the view to Revell that the '30A Coupe will be the much stronger seller of these two kits, and that production of it should be prioritized over the Roadster.   My takeaway was that Revell agreed with my view on the sales potential, but for business purposes they thought that by scheduling the Roadster first, they would maximize overall sales from the tooling set over the lifetime of production.   Of course, had there not been the tooling issue that interrupted the '30A production run shortly after it began, we would not be having this discussion today.    

There is no conspiracy at foot here.  It is a simple series of business decisions that has guided the kit introduction sequence, further compounded by an unexpected production issue just after the kit was first introduced several years ago. 

But that doesn't mean we as hobbyists have to agree with those decisions.  Bottom line?  Ever since I set my grubby fingers on the first round test shot parts of this kit over six years ago now, my thoughts were, and remain, that this '30A Coupe is among the best hot rod kits the hobby has ever, or will likely, see.  Everytime I talk to Revell management or their agents, I express my wishes, and those of many others in this hobby, that the '30A Five Window Coupe hot rod kit goes back on the production line, so that all hobbyists who want to buy and build this kit can have that opportunity much sooner than later.    

TIM  

  Very interesting read here.  The brass at Revell should have taken in your advice and expertise in order to go ahead and release the Ford 30A coupe first.  Looks like the Roadster went first because that was already decided on much earlier by management and nothing was going to sway that decision.   Management like in any industry are going to do what they want to do.   Interesting question; how well is the Roadster selling?

Edited August 21, 2020 by GMP440

[SfanGoch]

I understand what you are saying, Tim; and, I agree. However, the dearth of new automotive models, when compared to what is produced and released in other genres by essentially the same manufacturers, says a lot as to how insignificant these manufacturers must consider the car modeling customer base to be.

[Dave Van]

COVID will be the go to excuse for the next ten years....right or wrong.....

[unclescott58]

On 8/20/2020 at 6:38 PM, niteowl7710 said:

FWIW if you dig backwards into Hobby Search far enough you'll find the listing for the most recent reissue of the Monogram '69 Super Bee, and they had the scale right that time...just sayin'... ?

Good or bad, if Revell reissues the old Monogram '69 Super Bee again, I be picking one up. I built one back in the 1980's when they were first out. I liked the kit then. And, I'd love to build another one today. 

[Tom Geiger]

10 hours ago, GMP440 said:

  Very interesting read here.  The brass at Revell should have taken in your advice and expertise in order to go ahead and release the Ford 30A coupe first.  Looks like the Roadster went first because that was already decided on much earlier by management and nothing was going to sway that decision.   Management like in any industry are going to do what they want to do.   Interesting question; how well is the Roadster selling?

I see Revell’s strategy here. Release the roadster first and everyone will jump and buy them.  Then later release the more desirable coupe and people will jump to buy those, 

Release the coupe first and when the roadster comes, everyone is already satisfied with the coupe, and those who really wanted a roadster already left the roof off the coupe!

[tim boyd]

21 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

I see Revell’s strategy here. Release the roadster first and everyone will jump and buy them.  Then later release the more desirable coupe and people will jump to buy those, 

Release the coupe first and when the roadster comes, everyone is already satisfied with the coupe, and those who really wanted a roadster already left the roof off the coupe!

Yep...I think that might have been the exact train of thought there....except....a  correct '30A Roadster would not look like the coupe kit with the roof left off.  But you knew that, anyway.  Cheers Tom....TIM

(More '30A Roadster reference pics here....TB) 

[slusher]

The 30A has been gone so long it will fly of the shelf. The 29 been around for a while most builders who likes them has one or two of them on the shelf. I have to see a 30 model A on the shelf to believe it. Why would you sit on something so hot when your customers want it....I do. respect everyone’s opinion.

Edited August 23, 2020 by slusher

[Richard Bartrop]

I only managed to snag one roadster  the first time, so I'm getting the new one.  It also has the parts I wanted from the coupe. 

I suspect there are still people who want the roadster for any number of reasons.

[niteowl7710]

18 hours ago, slusher said:

The 30A has been gone so long it will fly of the shelf. The 29 been around for a while most builders who likes them has one or two of them on the shelf. I have to see a 30 model A on the shelf to believe it. Why would you sit on something so hot when your customers want it....I do. respect everyone’s opinion.

Well despite some people's view that COVID has no effect on anything, it has in fact put a big chunk of hobby related things 6 months behind.  China was shut down for nearly 3 months itself, and then by the time they got back up and running, we shut the U.S...or well most of it...down for several months ourselves.  I'm still not sure there's anyone working at Tamiya USA, but for months now you couldn't get replacement parts because nobody was in the office to process the requests.  The current batch of Revell kits (62 Impala, 71 GTX, 78 El Camino) that are now supposed to come out this month (and they're rapidly running out of month) were originally scheduled for May...after being delayed by the Rona.  Have to remember Revell is just leasing time slots (for lack of a better term) at an injection molding facility, which of course is itself 3 months behind running whatever else keeps their lights on and doors open.  There's only so many hours in a day...

[ZTony8]

It would seem to me that it would have made more sense to release the coupe first this time. I would think that the people who bought the roadster first during the prior release already have the quantity that they want and missed the coupe since it had such a short earlier run.

[Snake45]

21 hours ago, slusher said:

The 30A has been gone so long it will fly of the shelf. The 29 been around for a while most builders who likes them has one or two of them on the shelf. I have to see a 30 model A on the shelf to believe it. Why would you sit on something so hot when your customers want it.

 

2 hours ago, ZTony8 said:

It would seem to me that it would have made more sense to release the coupe first this time. I would think that the people who bought the roadster first during the prior release already have the quantity that they want and missed the coupe since it had such a short earlier run.

Agree completely with both. As Slusher said, I'll believe the 30 A when I see it on a shelf (preferably my local Hobby Lobby). 

[SfanGoch]

4 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:

Well despite some people's view that COVID has no effect on anything, it has in fact put a big chunk of hobby related things 6 months behind.  China was shut down for nearly 3 months itself, and then by the time they got back up and running, we shut the U.S...or well most of it...down for several months ourselves. 

Do you build or follow armor, sci-fi or other genres as much as you do car models? I do. There was a short slowdown by, for example, Chinese military kit manufacturers in February; there still were releases during that period. In mid March, Chinese and European kit and aftermarket manufacturers were essentially back to business as normal. Check out Armorama's website and you'll see new kit and/or aftermarket announcements almost every day from February to the present. Voyager, E.T. Model, Black Dog, CMK and a whole lot of other Asian and European aftermarket companies kept announcing and releasing new products during that time.

Edited August 23, 2020 by SfanGoch

[niteowl7710]

3 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

Do you build or follow armor, sci-fi or other genres as much as you do car models? I do. There was a short slowdown by, for example, Chinese military kit manufacturers in February; there still were releases during that period. In mid March, Chinese and European kit and aftermarket manufacturers were essentially back to business as normal. Check out Armorama's website and you'll see new kit and/or aftermarket announcements almost every day from February to the present. Voyager, E.T. Model, Black Dog, CMK and a whole lot of other Asian and European aftermarket companies kept announcing and releasing new products during that time.

Riiiiight and there's still no actual mail service between Japan and the U.S.  There's regular mail service between China/HK for Zips 40000 (really 40004 as that's the first assigned zip in that block) to 99999, and EMS for the rest of the U.S.  All of that China/HK mail restart is within the past 30 days, and right now regardless of how your mail comes out of China and/or HK it gets put into quarantine when it gets here.  Nothing like paying for Express Mail to have USPS/CBP sit on things for a week to make sure when they lick the boxes they don't get the Rona.  Mail from Europe is still running at a trickle because WE as a country can't stop licking each other (apparently) and since we're banned from traveling over there, there's still very little capacity for mail in either direction.  My last two shipments from a decal vendor in Madrid took 49 and 42 days respectively on what is normally a 8-13 day transit.  So sure Asia and Europe are back up and running, but until you try to actually obtain that stuff HERE it's all rather meaningless when comparing the difficulties of getting test shots, press advances, containers of produced kits, and all of the like to the U.S.   I just paid $106 to FedEx some models out of Japan, because other than DHL or UPS that's the only way they're getting here without putting them on a boat - which in itself, aside from being uninsurable as far as Japan Post is concerned, takes up to two months just to make the transit across the Pacific because there isn't nearly the shipping capacity on the water as there was at the beginning of the year.

Another way to consider things - when WingNut Wings went belly up a few months ago, and almost instantly Meng announced it was releasing the 1/32 Fokker D1Triplane, the Interwebs lost their collective minds.  There was so much "OMG! CHINA STOLE THE MOLDS AND GAVE THEM TO MENG!!!"  Whoooooops turns out Meng had been tooling all of the WnW kits this whole time, Meng also offers contract tooling & production services to a wide variety of other companies.  WnW didn't pay their tooling bills because they never turned a single penny in profit (Peter Jackson proving you make money in modeling by having an even larger amount of money to start with) Now if your very profitable model factory closed down because of COVID, and then when it got started again, what are you prioritizing?  Your in-house brand and "private label"  native country kits?  Or some people 12 hours behind in time zones who don't even speak the same language as you do and certainly aren't about to come across town and check on things?  

Edited August 24, 2020 by niteowl7710

[SfanGoch]

21 minutes ago, niteowl7710 said:

 I just paid $106 to FedEx some models out of Japan

What was that for, a pallet of kits? If it was for just a couple, it was an absolute waste of money. Model kits are not essential or absolutely indispensable items which need to be delivered like yesterday. They're toys. ?

I've ordered and received numerous model kits and other items from China/Hong Kong on ebay during the last six months and haven't experienced any unnecessarily long wait times. The longest was two weeks. Same with orders from BNAModelWorld in Australia. My wallet wasn't rifled for shipping charges, either. As a matter of fact, I had to wait over a month and a half for a kit being sent from Denver. It was languishing at the Jersey City Regional Sorting Facility for most of that time before it finally arrived in Rockaway Park, NY.

[Dave Van]

Tooling cut in China is always part owned by the Chinese government. So when WnW went out the Chinese via Meng had the molds already. That was no surprise if you have dealt with China. 

Check out 'the 100 year marathon' for a look inside......

[Roncla]

26 minutes ago, niteowl7710 said:

Riiiiight and there's still no actual mail service between Japan and the U.S.  There's regular mail service between China/HK for Zips 40000 (really 40004 as that's the first assigned zip in that block) to 99999, and EMS for the rest of the U.S.  All of that China/HK mail restart is within the past 30 days, and right now regardless of how your mail comes out of China and/or HK it gets put into quarantine when it gets here.  Nothing like paying for Express Mail to have USPS/CBP sit on things for a week to make sure when they lick the boxes they don't get the Rona.  Mail from Europe is still running at a trickle because WE as a country can't stop licking each other (apparently) and since we're banned from traveling over there, there's still very little capacity for mail in either direction.  My last two shipments from a decal vendor in Madrid took 49 and 42 days respectively on what is normally a 8-13 day transit.  So sure Asia and Europe are back up and running, but until you try to actually obtain that stuff HERE it's all rather meaningless when comparing the difficulties of getting test shots, press advances, containers of produced kits, and all of the like to the U.S.   I just paid $106 to FedEx some models out of Japan, because other than DHL or UPS that's the only way they're getting here without putting them on a boat - which in itself, aside from being uninsurable as far as Japan Post is concerned, takes up to two months just to make the transit across the Pacific because there isn't nearly the shipping capacity on the water as there was at the beginning of the year.

Another way to consider things - when WingNut Wings went belly up a few months ago, and almost instantly Meng announced it was releasing the 1/32 Fokker D1Triplane, the Interwebs lost their collective minds.  There was so much "OMG! CHINA STOLE THE MOLDS AND GAVE THEM TO MENG!!!"  Whoooooops turns out Meng had been tooling all of the WnW kits this whole time, Meng also offers contract tooling & production services to a wide variety of other companies.  WnW didn't pay their tooling bills because they never turned a single penny in profit (Peter Jackson proving you make money in modeling by having an even larger amount of money to start with) Now if your very profitable model factory closed down because of COVID, and then when it got started again, what are you prioritizing?  Your in-house brand and "private label"  native country kits?  Or some people 12 hours behind in time zones who don't even speak the same language as you do and certainly aren't about to come across town and check on things?  

i can relate to your shipping experience James.  I just received some decals yesterday from BestBalsaKits in Belgium that were posted back at the end of February but then our borders here in NZ have been closed to everyone but returning residents since then thus restricting the number of commercial flights arriving to a trickle.

I understand that a lot of mail is  being redirected to surface mail  or just stockpiling.

On Thursday I had an order shipped out from Hobby Link Japan but payed the extra for DHL Express and tracking is showing it arrived here in NZ 4 hours ago.

[martinfan5]

4 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

Do you build or follow armor, sci-fi or other genres as much as you do car models? I do. There was a short slowdown by, for example, Chinese military kit manufacturers in February; there still were releases during that period. In mid March, Chinese and European kit and aftermarket manufacturers were essentially back to business as normal. Check out Armorama's website and you'll see new kit and/or aftermarket announcements almost every day from February to the present. Voyager, E.T. Model, Black Dog, CMK and a whole lot of other Asian and European aftermarket companies kept announcing and releasing new products during that time.

I can't get correct parts for the KA Models Mazda K360 kit because of the lack of mail service coming to the USA from South Korea( wrong parts trees were put in a small percentage of the kits), it would be nice to one day maybe finish the model with the correct parts☹️

 

[martinfan5]

2 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

What was that for, a pallet of kits? If it was for just a couple, it was an absolute waste of money. Model kits are not essential or absolutely indispensable items which need to be delivered like yesterday. They're toys. ?

I've ordered and received numerous model kits and other items from China/Hong Kong on ebay during the last six months and haven't experienced any unnecessarily long wait times. The longest was two weeks. Same with orders from BNAModelWorld in Australia. My wallet wasn't rifled for shipping charges, either. As a matter of fact, I had to wait over a month and a half for a kit being sent from Denver. It was languishing at the Jersey City Regional Sorting Facility for most of that time before it finally arrived in Rockaway Park, NY.

 

I paid $48 to ship 4 kits about 2 weeks before he did,  that was the cheapest option of the two($54 or $56 was the other),  its funny, you say what a waste of money that was then go on to state that you have been spending money buying and shipping model kits and other items over , regardless of you spending less on shipping, since "They're toys" as you stated, so that's just a waste of money because they are not essential,  literally the perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black ??( see what I did there?)

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by martinfan5

[SfanGoch]

Yeah, they are toys. That I have purchased them doesn't mean I get burned on shipping costs just to get them immediately, if not sooner, because I'm impatient. It is a waste of money if you're willing to pay possibly more than half , or more, of the total value of the merchandise just to get it fast. This might come as a revelation; but, paying less for shipping means I have more money to buy other things. I paid only 23bucks shipping from Hobby Easy in HK for two very large AFV kits and a pile of aftermarket items. I've paid that much for shipping from stateside online stores for parcels of similar size. I also bought a single aircraft kit (Academy 1/48 U2-S) from a South Korean store and shipping was four bucks. I ordered it on March 23 and received it on March 29. Six days.

 

[Richard Bartrop]

Shipping has been slow between here and the States, and until recently, priority has been given to essential items like food over things like model kits.  The '29 roadster has only recently appeared in the stores here.

[Dragline]

I buy resin figure kits out of China weekly and there was only a small 3 week window where things were delayed a great deal. Then it was back on track and packages rolled in. Not sure what all you are all talking about.

[Mr mopar]

15 minutes ago, Dragline said:

I buy resin figure kits out of China weekly and there was only a small 3 week window where things were delayed a great deal. Then it was back on track and packages rolled in. Not sure what all you are all talking about.

I think Richard was talking about how slow Canada post is ,It took 3 months to get Resin truck parts out of Australia .