Force Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 (edited) If you do a new tool truck kit you would like to do a subject that appeals to the crowd so you sell more and get your money back faster, a subject with a narrow market does not do that. The kits available to us today are old...very old, I mean, a kit from lets say 1980 is 40 years old now...time flies when you have fun...and most of the kits from for example AMT are old as the majority came in the early 70's, a few kits came in the 90's and it's nearly 30 years now, and a very few are newer than that. There is nothing wrong with re-issuing older kits as nostalgia is a big thing, but a more modern subject is long overdue and Moebius started out good with the Lone Star Pro Star, but nothing new has been done after that. What subject should be done then...well...take a look on the highways and see what seems to be popular and you get a hint on what can be a good seller as people like to build what they see, and there are lots of interesting subjects out there. Even a Kenworth W900L or a Peterbilt 389 would sell good even tho' they are old...but they are popular, and there are most likely several other more modern trucks that can fill the void and would sell fairly good. Italeri has been upgrading their kits to newer and newer specs all the time when it comes to the European truck kits...mostly the cab styles and not much else...but the US truck kit development from the kit manufacturers has unfortunately stagnated totally wich is a bit weird as the US market seems to be quite large Edited December 21, 2020 by Force Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leafsprings Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Force said: a more modern subject is long overdue and Moebius started out good with the Lone Star Pro Star, but nothing new has been done after that. What subject should be done then... I'm not privy to sales figures for the Lone Star Pro Star, but there is probably a reason Moebius didn't bring out more modern subjects after that. Maybe poor sales? Now look at the Ford pickup series, '65-72, again, not privy to sales, but these were classic truck subjects that were ignored in the past and I'm assuming were a great success ( maybe we got a few extra issues that we really didn't need ). IMO, we could use the same logic for classic big rigs that have been ignored. Most car and truck shows attract people who are interested in vehicles from the 50's thru 70's, I think it would be safe to assume this is true for the model building community also. Edited December 22, 2020 by leafsprings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRIPTROIT 71 Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) The truth is that we all like different stuff. While I would be less likely to buy a modern aero whatever, I would be more likely to buy something more vintage or at least classic looking. On the other hand someone else may be more likely to buy a modern aero rig and cares nothing for old rigs. There is no wrong answer. Like has been said, it comes down to what will sell the most. Which ever the case, it seems to me that between the plastic releases of today and the resin options that we have today, as truck builders we have more options now than we have ever had. Whatever this release will be I wish them the best, and hope it sells well. I’ve personally been glad to see all of the re-releases over the past few years flaws and all. As far as a movie truck release goes, I personally wouldn’t expect anything 100% accurate. I could realistically see the California Hauler kit with a 351 hood and maybe a few extras released as the “Duel” truck, or the R-Model released with the old Ertl Rubber Duck extras. Just a thought. I will be looking forward to what ever the release will be, but realistically I will probably never get built what I already have.? Edited December 22, 2020 by DRIPTROIT 71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian falcone Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 I'd guess the western star truck would be in the running...it can offered as a tractor, dump, mixer or logging truck. If they wanted to get the most out of a mold I'd say it would warrant more variations than an over the road highway tractor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) Maybe the Lone Star Pro Star wasn't the right subject, the Lone Star is cool but not everyone likes it as the design is kind of bold, and the Pro Star is more plain jane and maybe not that common, if they had done maybe a Kenworth W900L, a T660-680 or Peterbilt 379-389 or a 579...or maybe even a Freightliner Cascadia they might have done better...I don't know but it's a hunch I have. The older trucks have their place as I said, because nostalgia is a big thing, but a newer truck kit can't be wrong to do as so many asks for one, and you can't really compare trucks to cars, the modern American cars worth doing kits of are few and most people interested in cars are more for 20's to early 70's rods, classic and muscle cars, truck people are a bit different as most are interested in both vintage trucks and modern trucks...and what we have available to us today is exclusively vintage as nothing new has been done except for the two Moebius kits wich has some years on them now too as the Lone Star came out 2011 and the Pro Star 2013. A strange thing is that so little is done for older trucks on the aftermarket considering the truck kits we have to work with. For movie trucks. I think you have to at least do the right model and be close to the right year for a movie based truck to sell fairly good, if it's too far off many will not buy it for that reason. I mean ERTL's attempt to do the Rubber Duck of the DM600 back in 1978 failed humungously as it wasn't even close to what is was supposed to be, allthough it sells for huge amounts now for some reason it's so wrong and absolutely worthless if you want to achieve a close look of the movie truck with that kit and the few usable things from it are definetely not worth the price. The AMT R-series is better as the cab is right but as it's a R685ST wich has a shorter hood it's not really right, the Rubber Duck movie truck was a RS700L Western with a long wheelbase and it's different in many ways from the AMT kit, and very different from the ERTL DM600, you also have to have the right accessories for it to pass as the movie truck. Same goes for the Duel truck, the AMT California Hauler kit cab is newer than the movie truck cabs and it's the wrong model so I don't think it will do that good as the Duel truck even if you do a new 281/351 hood for it, and you also need to include several new accessories for it to pass for the movie truck. AMT's attempt to do the Movin' On truck was not as bad as the ERTL Rubber Duck but it wasn't entirely right as it has too old cab with wrong interior, too short wheelbase, too small sleeper, wrong bumper and lots of other things, so it needs work to be right...it's better to base a Movin' On build on the Revell Germany W900 and you get the right cab, interior, sleeper, wheelbase and bumper so you only have to change the wheels, rear suspension, the engine, a shorter hood and get new decals, you will have a more correct truck than the AMT kit even if you don't change these things and just get the decals. If it would be easy to do with what they allready have and they thought they would sell good they would allready have done it, and if you see what has been said on mostly every new car model kit when it's released the last years where people say it's wrong here, it's off there, not right there, has to be changed here, not the right scale on these parts and so on...the same most likely goes for truck kits wouldn't it. Edited December 22, 2020 by Force Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckyr Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 8 hours ago, niteowl7710 said: . How many Freightliners do you NEED? A Western Star would be nice. Both Freightliner and WS share similar components. A KW T680 would be nice too. Used by a lot of fleets and O/Os. How many Ford pick ups do you need? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockford Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) Maybe the future for kits is that you purchase a file download from the kit manufacturer of your choice and have someone local 3D print it. That would reduce the stocking costs associated with boxed kits and the retailers' reluctance to carry them. Would also save on tooling and distribution costs for the manufacturers. Have I just stumbled upon my own genius there or has that idea already been drop kicked over the roof? Edited December 22, 2020 by Rockford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) I’m not really a big truck guy so I cannot argue for any specific modern subject. But putting my Round 2 logic hat on... First, which manufacturers, if any, are tough to impossible to deal with, licensing wise? Eliminate them. Next, let’s look at existing old tooling.. it’s been asked if the International Transtar tooling exists.. created back when Ertl was independent. If so, what repairs or modifications does the tooling need? Historically we know old tools are most likely to be missing the clear trees and tire molds.. so let’s say they can do this kit with very nicely done new tires... that would be an option, along with the usual Round 2 magic of great new decals and other little things. A possibility. Moving on with the Round Two usual MO... TV and movie ties. Let’s face it, big rigs have less sales potential than an automotive subject.. BUT remember that the TV and movie memorabilia market is much larger than either of ours! And a kit doesn’t need to be perfect for this crowd, considering most won’t be built. And at worst, as long as there is weight in the sealed box, we are good! So I will agree that Round 2 market logic would go.... and as mentioned in this thread.. the granddaddy of this genre would be the Duel Pete and trailer. It’s already been posted about a base kit that they could steal, or at least reverse engineer, the chassis from, so in my mind this could be a possibility. Moving on to modern subjects, Round 2 has obviously looked at the Moebius foray into big rigs.. was this successful to the degree needed to sink R2 capital into a brand new tool? I don’t know! Then again, we are all wrong.. as with our collective guesses on the wagon. Round 2 puts these little tidbits into their marketing to get us excited and doing exactly what we are doing in this thread! So be it. And we anxiously await! Edited December 22, 2020 by Tom Geiger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 19 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said: Round 2 puts these little tidbits into their marketing to get us excited and doing exactly what we are doing in this thread! So be it. And we anxiously await! What Tom said. Still, it's fun, isn't it? TIM PS - I have no knowledge of that Round 2 has planned and I did not watch the video clip that apparently generated all this discussion, so like most of you, I have no clue as to what is up...TB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbill Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 All I heard in that video was they had a big rig in development that was going to knock our socks off, no mention of new tool or anything. now, having said that, given the fact that there are a lot of movie tie ins to a lot of the releases, maybe we will get lucky and it will be a version of optimus prime from the transformers movies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leafsprings Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 Sooner or later there's going to have to be new tooling, you can only ride the coat tails of previous AMT kits for soo long. I recommend they do one modern truck and one classic old truck to test the waters, compare sales figures, then decide what road they want to go down for future business investments. No recommendations for a modern truck but for an old classic, start off with one of the most famous and recognizable big rigs on the road at one time, the Mack B 61. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 (edited) 10 hours ago, Tom Geiger said: Moving on with the Round Two usual MO... TV and movie ties. Let’s face it, big rigs have less sales potential than an automotive subject.. BUT remember that the TV and movie memorabilia market is much larger than either of ours! And a kit doesn’t need to be perfect for this crowd, considering most won’t be built. And at worst, as long as there is weight in the sealed box, we are good! So I will agree that Round 2 market logic would go.... and as mentioned in this thread.. the granddaddy of this genre would be the Duel Pete and trailer. It’s already been posted about a base kit that they could steal, or at least reverse engineer, the chassis from, so in my mind this could be a possibility. You are quite right. People who collects movie and TV memorabilia doesn't care if a model kit from a movie or TV show is correct or not, most of them aren't going to build the kit anyway and just put the box on the shelf. The old ERTL Rubber Duck kit is a good example, the prices on that kit is huge due to collectors wanting them, but the kit is worthless if you want to build a fairly good replica of the movie truck from it...that's the fact...I have one of these bought back in the day but even if I didn't have one allready I would not buy one even if the prices were a lot lower because it's so far off, and the only thing the kit is good for is to build a plain regular DM600. But people who gets a Movie and TV tied kit to build it will most likely want a kit that's fairly right and have the look of the subject it's supposed to be to buy it...at least I do...it doesn't have to be perfect because smaller things can be fixed, so if it's close I would for sure buy. Anything is possible, it just depends on how much money you want to spend on the subject and how fast you want to get your money back...the Coca Cola thing from Round 2 is one example of putting out merchandise and get your money back fairly quickly...those kits are aimed both for collectors and builders. Well we have to wait and see what Round 2 will offer to us. Edited December 23, 2020 by Force Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincen47 Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 (edited) On 12/22/2020 at 12:26 PM, tbill said: All I heard in that video was they had a big rig in development that was going to knock our socks off, no mention of new tool or anything. now, having said that, given the fact that there are a lot of movie tie ins to a lot of the releases, maybe we will get lucky and it will be a version of optimus prime from the transformers movies? Ahh, now that’s a possibility. I could see a sci-fi guy saying how “awesome” a project is if it was something like that. The licensing would be costly, but I think it would sell. There are multiple generations/versions of Optimus Prime that would be cool, but I’d think the Western Star would be the most likely candidate. Some, like myself, would build it stock, without the movie modifications. I’d like to hope it was the Transtar 4070A or 4070B returning. But, I can’t imagine a sci-fi guy getting excited about that, even if he’s paid to be “excited” when making the videos. He seemed genuinely interested when discussing what he thought of the development, but maybe I’m reading too far into it. Edited December 25, 2020 by vincen47 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegaso Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 My strong wish and hope is that something actual and fully new is coming. Like the Italeri with the continous update of european models, we need Amt or Moebius to start releasing the new US ones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straightliner59 Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 On 12/22/2020 at 7:05 PM, vincen47 said: I’d like to hope it was the Transtar 4070A or 4070B returning. I would think either of those would be a homerun. Especially the A model, since it was so short-lived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Posted December 27, 2020 Share Posted December 27, 2020 Like the 4070B Transtar II with air ride. not many of them left the factory, but the first batch had it. The chassis in the 4070B Transtar II kit was basically a carry over from the 4070A kit from the beginning in the production thus the air ride, but it was soon changed to walking beam after International skipped the air ride on the real trucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxwell48098 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 It would be nice if they re-released the IH S-series kits which I heard some time back were missing some of the tools for one of the chassis sprues, but were otherwise complete. A,J, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcarfan27 Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 The question has just been answered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledsel Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 Although not a "newer" truck.... I would love this in 1/25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincen47 Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 4 hours ago, Sledsel said: Although not a "newer" truck.... I would love this in 1/25 I love the CL (CLT) 9000 too. A mean looking cabover. You’d think AMT would have released it in 1/25 years ago, being they had one in 1/32. I managed to get the resin one from KFS in 1/24. Not cheap, but it’s a nice conversion kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk11 Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 On 12/21/2020 at 7:54 PM, chuckyr said: How many Ford pick ups do you need? Accurate ones would be nice On 12/21/2020 at 7:54 PM, chuckyr said: A Western Star would be nice... X2 ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShakyCraftsman Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 My bid is for a 1/24 Peterbilt 379exhd with high cab roof and with unibilt 63" walk in sleeper with the larger sleeper opening to the cab. Most of the parts are available from the Italeri/AMT 378 kit, just needs some reworking. It also needs deep Texas bumper, drop visor, loads of chicken lights, 7 - 9 roof lights, low frame mounted air horns and Cat C15 twin turbo with 18 spd. transmission. ...hey wait a minute I'm scratch building one of these as we speak! ...lol Also a 1/24 Kenworth w900L decked out the same way.😁😉 Ron G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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