Hasegawa new tool A70 Supra

[fumi]

After their fairly successful R31 Skyline series, it is just natural for them to follow up with its rival the A70 Supra.

https://twitter.com/ModelArtInc/status/1278239318557945856

It will be the 3.0 GT Turbo Limited for December.  Following their practice, it will definitely spawn several variations.  I expect the street version Turbo A and the related Group A racers to follow soon, with the 2.5 Twin Turbo down the road.   Assuming they do all 3 liveries of Minolta, Fujitsu Ten and Biyo for the Group A cars, that would be at least six variations from the same basic mold.

Edited July 2, 2020 by fumi

[Spottedlaurel]

Interesting to see. Will it offer much that Tamiya don't with their version however?

[fumi]

30 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Interesting to see. Will it offer much that Tamiya don't with their version however?

No metal axles, for one.  It should also come with detailed platform style interior.

Check out the Twitter post by Model Art.  The seats even come with the seat belt retainers.

Edited July 2, 2020 by fumi

[niteowl7710]

Well lort knows we've needed a modern A70 forever now.  Both the Fujimi (with the exception of the High Mecha kit) and the Tamiya one are both very simple curbsides that leave a lot to be desired in terms of details considering both were tooled back in 1986.

[Spottedlaurel]

41 minutes ago, fumi said:

No metal axles, for one.  It should also come with detailed platform style interior.

Check out the Twitter post by Model Art.  The seats even comes with the seat belt retainers.

Ah, I didn't realise it was like that - I'd never really looked at mine.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

YEAH, I'm good widdit!  Tamiya's is fine 'n all, but I'd LOVE one with a platform interior and front wheels I can point right or left.

Diggin' me some 'Gawa lately.

[Daddyfink]

[niteowl7710]

Hopefully this sells well, we get a LHD dash at some point and inspires them to tackle a Celica XX (Celica Supra) there are kits of those from all of the Big 3 Japanese brands, plus the much listed upon MPC kit. But those Japanese offerings are either old and motorized or terribly out of proportion.

I won't go off on a tangent about my desire for a M40/50 1st Gen Supra, aside from off scale stuff there's no kit of that at all...Hasegawa brands all of these 80s/90s stuff in their Historic Japanese Cars line...a '78 Supra fits that bill delightfully well.

[fumi]

I hope Hasegawa will include the LHD dash and side mirrors in the initial release to boost up sales instead of going the special edition route.  Most modellers in Japan would want the Turbo A or the 2.5 Twin Turbo and they are a given for the special edition treatment.  Having the LHD option in the regular 3.0 GT would allow them to do an export version that differentiates from the JDM special editions, providing more incentive to buy it.  Not to mention the foreign market potential.

The 2nd gen Celica XX/Supra is fairly popular in the Japanese old car circle and it can provide the minimum 3 variations Hasegawa is getting from their recent molds, plus the underpinning is shared with the 1st gen Soarer, another popular car in Japan.  However that market is rather saturated right now, with Aoshima, Arii and Fujimi constantly pumping out their toy-like kits and Tamiya just re-released both their Celica and Supra.  The 1st gen is unpopular so it would be a hard sell.

Even the A70 Supra is a surprise to me, when most people expected the P60 Starlet or the B110 Sunny to be the next release from Hasegawa.  I would also like to see the DR30 Skyline down the line, it is hugely popular in Japan and they can easily get 3 or 4 variation from the basic kit, and that's before we get into the "Western Police" TV series.

Edited July 3, 2020 by fumi

[Spottedlaurel]

3 hours ago, fumi said:

Even the A70 Supra is a surprise to me, when most people expected the P60 Starlet or the B110 Sunny to be the next release from Hasegawa.  I would also like to see the DR30 Skyline down the line, it is hugely popular in Japan and they can easily get 3 or 4 variation from the basic kit, and that's before we get into the "Western Police" TV series.

I'd be very happy to see either a Starlet or B110 Sunny, as I have 1:1 experience of both of them. B110 would be relatively easy, as they've already got the front half of it in their truck kit. Would be good to build a replica of my 2-door saloon, although would they be more likely to offer the coupe?

I had a KP62 Starlet for a year or so, really enjoyed it and I could see why they formed the basis of so many short oval track racing cars here, even before they became popular more recently.

R30 is well-covered already, but maybe there is room for a really good version? I've enjoyed building the Tamiya kit a couple of times, accepting its fairly basic suspension. Fujimi's is awful, the roofline is so bad I will make one of mine into a convertible.

[fumi]

3 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I'd be very happy to see either a Starlet or B110 Sunny, as I have 1:1 experience of both of them. B110 would be relatively easy, as they've already got the front half of it in their truck kit. Would be good to build a replica of my 2-door saloon, although would they be more likely to offer the coupe?

I had a KP62 Starlet for a year or so, really enjoyed it and I could see why they formed the basis of so many short oval track racing cars here, even before they became popular more recently.

Beemax (now Nunu) showed very preliminary mockups of race version for both subjects in 2018.  With Nunu just getting around to release the 306 Maxi now I guess the Starlet and the Sunny will be at least 2 years from being released.

The Hasegawa B110 was rumoured for as long as the Sunny truck was released, and they hinted about it in interviews back then.  It will definitely be the coupe if they decide to make it, it was raced extensively in Japan and has a huge following.

[Luc Janssens]

Hmm....looks like an opening hood, or is it just to facilitate other hood/facia options?

[fumi]

10 minutes ago, Luc Janssens said:

Hmm....looks like an opening hood, or is it just to facilitate other hood/facia options?

Most likely for switching between the regular bumper and the Turbo A bumper with the huge intercooler duct.

[niteowl7710]

An R30 would also allow them to "dual tool" the kit the way they did with the R31 to allow a JTC version as well. 

The A60 Supra is over saturated I'll grant you, but then so was the market for an R31 Skyline and they did it anyways.

I know it's easy for us to spend their money on our own personal thoughts, but I've never understood why in the military realm they can retool and retool and retool certain (mostly German) tanks seemingly from new companies evert year, but the automotive market goes - Well there's a 30yr old tool of xyz, so a new one wouldn't sell! The American kit manufacturers are just as guilty of that. I know there are arguably more "IPMS" builders, but it's not the order of magnitude necessary to justify having 3-5 new Panzers popping up yearly each one trying to be more complicated or accurate than all the others.

[1972coronet]

Those were so incredibly popular in the U.S.  ---- now one seldom sees one around . If I remember correctly , that generation of the Supra (a separate model from its now-former Celica origins) was the last full-framed cars produced by Toyota ( pickup trucks being the obvious exception ) .

That kit looks like an amazing piece ! seat belt retractors ?!? You are kidding ! That is the next step in super-detailled kits ! 

I am curious ; what brand and type of tyres did the Japanese and European marketed cars receive ? 

[Rob Hall]

1 hour ago, 1972coronet said:

Those were so incredibly popular in the U.S.  ---- now one seldom sees one around . If I remember correctly , that generation of the Supra (a separate model from its now-former Celica origins) was the last full-framed cars produced by Toyota ( pickup trucks being the obvious exception ) .

 

Pretty sure every generation of Supra (and Celica) has been of unibody construction....surprised none of the kits of this generation have been made w/ the targa top, I remember that being popular on the 1:1s back in the day. 

[fumi]

20 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:

The A60 Supra is over saturated I'll grant you, but then so was the market for an R31 Skyline and they did it anyways.

I know it's easy for us to spend their money on our own personal thoughts, but I've never understood why in the military realm they can retool and retool and retool certain (mostly German) tanks seemingly from new companies every year, but the automotive market goes - Well there's a 30yr old tool of xyz, so a new one wouldn't sell! The American kit manufacturers are just as guilty of that. I know there are arguably more "IPMS" builders, but it's not the order of magnitude necessary to justify having 3-5 new Panzers popping up yearly each one trying to be more complicated or accurate than all the others.

For the R31 Skyline the market was actually non-existent until Hasegawa did theirs.  Fujimi was the only game in town, the body is oversized, the mold is badly worn, and the kit became a mess when they tried to change the mold back and forth to create different versions.  It is re-released once every few years because the demand is low and Hasegawa easily blows them out of the water.  It's the R32 that is over-saturated, and it is wise for Hasegawa to not jump into it.

The difference between the military realm and ours is that they will actually buy up all 10 variations of the same tank with rivets on the add-on armour arranged in different pattern, while we may buy one edition of the car and declare it is enough.  Unless you are Tamiya you almost stand no chance of recovering your development cost when someone else clashes with you: Hasegawa found it out the hard way when they and Tamiya released the Lotus 79 almost at the same time.  While Hasegawa supposedly came out with the better kit, it killed their foray into the 1/20 historical F1 market.  When Aoshima got wind of Hasegawa's Sunny Truck project, they scrapped their own development entirely eventhough the short body was part of their design.  They deemed it too risky.

The A60 Supra is doable, it is far more popular than the R31 Skyline in Japan and I don't see anyone else retooling their ancient kits.  Maybe after the market has digested all the recent Tamiya re-release and the A70 Supra turns out profitable first.

Edited July 4, 2020 by fumi

[fumi]

18 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

Pretty sure every generation of Supra (and Celica) has been of unibody construction....surprised none of the kits of this generation have been made w/ the targa top, I remember that being popular on the 1:1s back in the day. 

Fujimi's narrow body version has cut out lines on the inside of the body, and instruction for cutting the targa top.

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10024294

[niteowl7710]

4 hours ago, fumi said:

For the R31 Skyline the market was actually non-existent until Hasegawa did theirs.  Fujimi was the only game in town, the body is oversized, the mold is badly worn, and the kit became a mess when they tried to change the mold back and forth to create different versions.  It is re-released once every few years because the demand is low and Hasegawa easily blows them out of the water.  It's the R32 that is over-saturated, and it is wise for Hasegawa to not jump into it.

The difference between the military realm and ours is that they will actually buy up all 10 variations of the same tank with rivets on the add-on armour arranged in different pattern, while we may buy one edition of the car and declare it is enough.  Unless you are Tamiya you almost stand no chance of recovering your development cost when someone else clashes with you: Hasegawa found it out the hard way when they and Tamiya released the Lotus 79 almost at the same time.  While Hasegawa supposedly came out with the better kit, it killed their foray into the 1/20 historical F1 market.  When Aoshima got wind of Hasegawa's Sunny Truck project, they scrapped their own development entirely eventhough the short body was part of their design.  They deemed it too risky.

The A60 Supra is doable, it is far more popular than the R31 Skyline in Japan and I don't see anyone else retooling their ancient kits.  Maybe after the market has digested all the recent Tamiya re-release and the A70 Supra turns out profitable first.

I agree there are too many R32s, but as a race car guy it's incredibly frustrating that Tamiya is sitting on a mound of race car tooling that would sell - most of it doesn't even need decals at this point - and none of it has seen the light of day since it's original runs in the 80s & 90s.  Hasegawa & BeemaNuNu are throwing that era racing kits out in all formats and Tamiya gives me turned metal throttle bodies on a Lotus.  Speaking of which the Lotus 79 isn't the best example, since it's the same race car, at least with an R30 (despite all the Aoshima kits) there are a bunch of civilian and race R30s, and Hasegawa seems to be able to crank at least 5 variants out of everything even if it means putting a resin chin spoiler in the kit.  You'd only need one Lotus 79...maybe two if there's a race specific version, but you can build several Skylines however you'd like. ?

Aoshima also gets all my thumbs down right now as they've turned into an even more conservative company than Tamiya in terms of their releases.  There have been what...4 new tools in the past half decade, and I'd love to see the sales numbers on that Toyota Taxi.  The Pro Box is getting it's 4th kit in October, but how many Mazda Familia Vans did they move?  The R34 4 Door gets it's 5th version (if you count the original Custom Wheels version of the 1st releases as it's own kit) as a Police Car in October, and the URAS Type-R FINALLY saw the light of day.  I know Fujimi is off playing in 1/72 military land right now, but I'd love to get one of the 3 promised Jimny kits instead of the 14th reissue of the Hustler.

[fumi]

On 7/5/2020 at 7:24 AM, niteowl7710 said:

Aoshima also gets all my thumbs down right now as they've turned into an even more conservative company than Tamiya in terms of their releases.  There have been what...4 new tools in the past half decade, and I'd love to see the sales numbers on that Toyota Taxi.  The Pro Box is getting it's 4th kit in October, but how many Mazda Familia Vans did they move?  The R34 4 Door gets it's 5th version (if you count the original Custom Wheels version of the 1st releases as it's own kit) as a Police Car in October, and the URAS Type-R FINALLY saw the light of day.  I know Fujimi is off playing in 1/72 military land right now, but I'd love to get one of the 3 promised Jimny kits instead of the 14th reissue of the Hustler.

I think Aoshima went too ambitious in the mid 2000's and overextended themselves with the exotic line.  The Lambos probably sold well but not so much for the rest.  I saw stacks of their McLaren F1 discounted to 1800 yen in Tokyo a few years ago, that is not a good sign.  If not for all the sedan kits they keep milking since the 90's they would have been in serious trouble already.  Their focus is now on 1/32 easy kits to lure back people who have been out of the hobby for 30 years.  So far it is positive and you will see the majority of their new releases on that side for the time being, with the KPGC10 Skyline GT-R coming out soon.

Fujimi's 23-series Jimny is originally scheduled for this summer and the 64/74 series are for this winter.  Seems they have been pushed back now.

[niteowl7710]

2 hours ago, fumi said:

I think Aoshima went too ambitious in the mid 2000's and overextended themselves with the exotic line.  The Lambos probably sold well but not so much for the rest.  I saw stacks of their McLaren F1 discounted to 1800 yen in Tokyo a few years ago, that is not a good sign.  If not for all the sedan kits they keep milking since the 90's they would have been in serious trouble already.  Their focus is now on 1/32 easy kits to lure back people who have been out of the hobby for 30 years.  So far it is positive and you will see the majority of their new releases on that side for the time being, with the KPGC10 Skyline GT-R coming out soon.

Fujimi's 23-series Jimny is originally scheduled for this summer and the 64/74 series are for this winter.  Seems they have been pushed back now.

Yeah I saw there's a prototype for the GR Supra in the 1/32 line at the stuff that was at Shizouka Square.  If it makes them money, more power to them, it's just left them kinda lurching in 1/24.  I know they're playing in 1/72 military stuff as well.  Things there just haven't been the same since Nao left, then supposedly the main 3D guy bailed midway through the Pagani development.  I kinda wish if they're going to give up on the Super Car thing - instead of relabeling it into a new boxing style and series they'd finish up the Zonda and put it "to bed" already.  I know that some of the Lamborghinis did in fact not move well, and their choice of making the racing Murcie an R-SV rather than an R-GT (and the resulting sales disappointment) is what killed off their entire plans to do a Lamborghini racing line. Which sort of snow balled and compounded and took out the McLaren F1 "Short Tail" in the process - which is a shame considering what a dog's breakfast the Fujimi kits are, of all the McLaren F1s.

Every time I have a conversation with the people at BeemaNuNu about doing a Huracan/Huracan Evo GT3 kit, I hear the same lamentations about how poorly that R-SV sold, as if the success or failure or someone else's lack of foresight dooms everything related to it.  But then we've seen that repeatedly within the U.S. too as any sales failure of a kit usually dooms the entire genre (modern pick up trucks are still haunted by the trifecta of 1997 F-150s) for a few decades. 

Edited July 6, 2020 by niteowl7710

[Drake69]

My MKIII Supra, from the Tamiya kit, along with a "stolen" 7M-GTE engine from the Tamiya Soarer kit. Kit is curbside but pretty detailed. I used thin felt as upholstery for the burgundy interior, and the Tamiya Light Gunmetal matched my 1:1 ride.

I REALLY HOPE it's as detailed as the "High Mecha" kit I have and have yet to build. I'll buy at least 3 of them if I can get ahold of 'em.

[niteowl7710]

Hasegawa put out a better image of the flyer that's behind the test shot in the photo, and it's showing a December release date.  So this will be their new tool kit for the Fall, announced here because the All Japan Model & Hobby Show held in Tokyo has been canceled for 2020.

[fumi]

Hasegawa has officially announced the kit, tentatively for Dec 24 release:

http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/product/hc40/

Test shots here:

http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/hc40b/

From the layout the Group A race cars and the 3.0 Turbo A are a given after this release; they have already tooled the Momo steering wheel for the Turbo A.  The Twin Turbo R is possibe down the road with new Recaro seats and wheels.  Export version is not likely, the rear side moldings are molded solid to the body and do not have provision for side markers.

Edited October 23, 2020 by fumi

[niteowl7710]

February brings forth the Gr. A JTCC configuration of this kit.  They went with the iconic Minolta livery, representing the car as it ran at the Fuji InterTEC race at the end of 1988.  The package literature says for the #36 car which itself is an odd choice since in the Fuji race they broke the suspension early enough in the race to not be categorized in the race, and finished something like 30th+  Fortunately there's a bevy of aftermarket Minolta sheets out there that would be able to provide the driver names and #37s to replicate the car that finished 2nd place in this race. 

 

Below are some test shots for the new racing parts.  All I gotta say is I hope someone actually remembers to finishing tooling the wheels, cause I don't know what impact tool is gonna take off those wheel nuts as currently showing.

Minolta Supra Turbo A70 `1988 InterTEC` (Model Car) Images List (1999.co.jp)