Trumpeter reissues?

[Plowboy]

Does Trumpeter not do reissues? I was on ebay last night and saw the Street/Strip '65 Falcon with a bid of $90 plus $44 and change for shipping (from Australia) and couldn't believe that some are willing to pay that price for that kit! Then I did some checking around and found the cheapest for that version was $59.99 plus shipping. The convertible and Ranchero could still be found for a reasonable price. I also looked up the '63 Nova and all were over $100. So, it got me wondering why Trumpeter has never reissued their automotive kits? I know they have some issues. But, nothing that can't be fixed fairly easily. Just wondering why only one issue?

[Snake45]

It's a complete mystery to me. You'd think that they'd recognize that there's a ready market for their stuff, even at the $40+ price point. 

[ZTony8]

I recall that the kits weren't received with the enthusiasm that Trumpeter expected, There was a large amount of mostly justified criticism about the details of the kits- the too tall windshield in the Nova convertible, the roof length of the Pontiac hardtop, the engine of the Monte Carlo, and the body shape and engine of the Falcon. I believe that Trumpeter took the attitude that " since you don't like our car kits we won't sell them here any more."

[Richard Bartrop]

The subject matter didn't help either.   I'm sure there's a '77 Monte Carlo fan out there somewhere who was excited as all get out,  but you have to admit they're pretty much nonexistent on most peoples' wish lists.

The one Trumpeter car kit I did buy was the Red Flag limo, and it was the subject matter that attracted me.

[lordairgtar]

11 minutes ago, Richard Bartrop said:

 

The one Trumpeter car kit I did buy was the Red Flag limo, and it was the subject matter that attracted me.

That's the only one I have as well. In fact I have two of them and a off brand version by Lee

[Oldcarfan27]

Might be a case of too many armchair critics = not enough sales. So they took their bat and ball and went home.

I see it all the time here. Why didn't manufacturer X make the kit I wanted, in my scale, in the color I want, with no flash/sink marks/blemishes, with all the details and NO build issues. Oh and make it cheap to buy!

And then, when we get one home, we cut it up, redesign and remake it, change parts, paint it with bad paint. Then complain the kit didn't go together easily or look like the real thing.

Personally, I'd rather have a weak kit than no kit.

[Richard Bartrop]

12 minutes ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

Might be a case of too many armchair critics = not enough sales. So they took their bat and ball and went home.

I see it all the time here. Why didn't manufacturer X make the kit I wanted, in my scale, in the color I want, with no flash/sink marks/blemishes, with all the details and NO build issues. Oh and make it cheap to buy!

And then, when we get one home, we cut it up, redesign and remake it, change parts, paint it with bad paint. Then complain the kit didn't go together easily or look like the real thing.

Personally, I'd rather have a weak kit than no kit.

Up to a point.  I'd love a kaiser-Darrin kit, but  the only one anyone ever made was Premier, and scratch building would be easier than turning that into a passable replica.  And when you're charging what Trumpeter was charging, then people have every right to be picky about what you're offering.  I'm also going to suggest that the folks at Trumpeter are big boys and girls, and that sales were probably more of a factor than hurt feelings.  Every company has critics, and yet they somehow carry on.

For me, it was simple.  They were charging way too much for subjects I had no interest in.

[Dave Van]

I bet they feel the cost of licensing vs sale is not there.  

[RancheroSteve]

I think the more one knows and cares about a subject, the more likely they are to scrutinize it. That was certainly the case for me with the Trumpeter Falcons and Rancheros. After seeing photos online, I felt the flaws were all too apparent and egregious, especially for the price the kits were going for, so I voted by not buying them. On the other hand, the Moebius Comet might not be quite perfect, but the discrepancies are easy enough to fix (or even ignore), making it a great kit at a fair price.

[StevenGuthmiller]

I would have thought that the Falcons and ‘63 Nova kits would have been huge sellers judging by the apparent interest in the Round 2 Nova wagons and the Moebius ‘62 Novas.

 

 

 

Steve

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, Richard Bartrop said:

For me, it was simple.  They were charging way too much for subjects I had no interest in.

And there it is. But I note that there are quite a few of us who are now lined up with wads of cash to buy piles of the upcoming 1G Novas from Moebius, even with flaws noted in the test shots, and even at premium Moebius prices (and probably no 40% off HL discounts). 

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

Might be a case of too many armchair critics = not enough sales. So they took their bat and ball and went home.

I see it all the time here. Why didn't manufacturer X make the kit I wanted, in my scale, in the color I want, with no flash/sink marks/blemishes, with all the details and NO build issues. Oh and make it cheap to buy!

And then, when we get one home, we cut it up, redesign and remake it, change parts, paint it with bad paint. Then complain the kit didn't go together easily or look like the real thing.

Personally, I'd rather have a weak kit than no kit.

That sums up a lot of attitudes, doesn’t it.

my attitude has mellowed over the years to much more of a, “I’m really glad they make this model” attitude.

But that’s a minority attitude, no doubt!

 

 

 

Steve

[Khils]

22 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

“I’m really glad they make this model”

I resemble "that remark"!       ANY!    ....new models......is better than   ...... NO models .......or the same old models over & over.

[Richard Bartrop]

29 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

And there it is. But I note that there are quite a few of us who are now lined up with wads of cash to buy piles of the upcoming 1G Novas from Moebius, even with flaws noted in the test shots, and even at premium Moebius prices (and probably no 40% off HL discounts). 

And I still think it's like Moebius got a focus group together and told them to think of the least interesting car they can, but I wish them luck all the same.  Interestingly enough, looking through the website of one of my local hobby shops,  Moebius kits are going for about the same  price at Round 2 kits. Maybe even a little less.  Moebius also seem to be more of a niche company than Trumpeter.

Maybe  their mistake was to try to offer models that nobody else was.   You look at their catalogue, and there are planes and tanks that are offered by everyone else.  There's a reason certain subjects get done over and over again, and that's because most people know them, and most people like them.   Maybe there would be a market for yet another '55 chevy kit, if it was the best '55 Chevy kit that anyone had ever seen.

It may be that China just didn't have much of a car culture, though this could be changing.   GM already sells more cars in China than they do in the US, and apparently Buick is an aspirational brand there.  There are a lot more people with disposable income than there used to be, so maybe there's a opportunity here.

 

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Richard Bartrop said:

It may be that China just didn't have much of a car culture, though this could be changing.   GM already sells more cars in China than they do in the US, and apparently Buick is an aspirational brand there.  There are a lot more people with disposable income than there used to be, so maybe there's a opportunity here.

But I'll bet cash money we STILL will never see a '64-'67 Buick Skylark GS kit from Trumpeter (or anyone else in China)! 

[Mark]

On one hand, there are people wanting these hot messes to be reissued...on the other hand, you've got people griping about the box art on an Atlantis reissue of a kit that hasn't been available in nearly sixty years.

[Richard Bartrop]

47 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

But I'll bet cash money we STILL will never see a '64-'67 Buick Skylark GS kit from Trumpeter (or anyone else in China)! 

I'm not taking that bet.  They already tried selling niche bits of boomer nostalgia, and we already know how well that went over.   Round 2 is basically catering to the same dwindling market of people who built models in the '60s, and they can do it because they already have a stockpile of existing moulds they can squeeze a few more kits out of.  

On the other hand, there might be a market for one of the newer Buicks.  Especially the China only models.

Edited July 18, 2021 by Richard Bartrop

[Oldcarfan27]

1 hour ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I would have thought that the Falcons and ‘63 Nova kits would have been huge sellers judging by the apparent interest in the Round 2 Nova wagons and the Moebius ‘62 Novas.

 

 

 

Steve

Personally, I liked their subject matter, I just never had many places around to purchase them.

Also, I can't recall them being available for very long.

[Plowboy]

1 hour ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

Personally, I liked their subject matter, I just never had many places around to purchase them.

Also, I can't recall them being available for very long.

So did I. Like others have mentioned, the price was the problem for me. At the time they were realeased, they were almost triple the price of AMT and Revell kits IIRC. I have Nova and it's quite detailed. But, I never have had the desire to tackle it. I also have both versions of the Falcon. They don't have near the detail of the Nova. I bought all of them on ebay for about the same price as when they were new. Not much more than current kits. I was just shocked at the prices they're going for now.

Another kit I was shocked by the price it went for was the Meng F-350. I put one on my watch list when I saw it and it was approaching $100. It sold for $189.99 and it was an open kit!  

[peteski]

6 hours ago, Richard Bartrop said:

On the other hand, there might be a market for one of the newer Buicks.  Especially the China only models.

LOL! I heard or read somewhere that Buick no longer manufactures passenger cars (coupes and sedans) . It is all SUVs and such.  So any Buick model will have to depict cars of the past years.

The other problem with Trumpeter car kits was that they used real chromium (or similar metal) on the "chromed" parts. It was a real pain to deal with.  Unfortunately I have noticed other companies (probably in China) doing the same thing.  I don't get it. Vacuum metalizing (the old tried and proven way to "chrome" plastic) seems like much simpler, cleaner (and probably less expensive) process.

Edited July 18, 2021 by peteski

[Force]

I only have three Trumpeter kits, one Nova and two Falcon's and was excited when I got them until I opened them up, to say they are accurate is to exaggerate because they are not and they have problems with proportions both here and there, and I have heard likewise with their WW2 aviation kits.
The Chinese kit manufacturers often miss when they do their kits, pretty much like Meng has done with their GT40 kits wich they brag about are the best out there...yeah right, if you don't mind all the inaccuracies and bad designed parts. 
It seems like they are not doing their homework and research the subjects enough, and base their kits on bad pictures and wild guesses, and that's a bit strange because to do an accurate model costs the same as doing an inaccurate one...and an accurate kit sells a lot better and gets less critisism. 
 

[Plowboy]

5 hours ago, Force said:

It seems like they are not doing their homework and research the subjects enough, and base their kits on bad pictures and wild guesses, and that's a bit strange because to do an accurate model costs the same as doing an inaccurate one...and an accurate kit sells a lot better and gets less critisism. 
 

That sounds a lot like Moebius. Their Ford pickups have horrible proportions and loaded with inaccuracies. IMO, at least the Trumpeter kits look much closer to the full scale than theirs do. I can't recall ever seeing a Trumpeter Nova built and have only seen maybe three of the Falcons. I may have to see what I can do with one of the Falcons soon.

[Richard Bartrop]

8 hours ago, peteski said:

LOL! I heard or read somewhere that Buick no longer manufactures passenger cars (coupes and sedans) . It is all SUVs and such.  So any Buick model will have to depict cars of the past years.

 

Well according to this https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/12/buick-set-new-sales-record-during-november-in-china/, not only are most Buick sales in China, most of those are sedans.

[Snake45]

I forget what the Trump kit prices were, or what "regular" kits were going for at the time, but I thought they were ridiculously high. I eventually lucked into a pretty decent deal on the Nova convertible ($16, IIRC) and grabbed it. I have zero interest in ragtops but figgered I could bash it up with a Rat Packer and come up with a stock(-ish) hardtop of some kind. Later, I bought a MCW 2DS body for it--need to dig all that out and actually build it one of these days. 

[Force]

1 hour ago, Plowboy said:

That sounds a lot like Moebius. Their Ford pickups have horrible proportions and loaded with inaccuracies. IMO, at least the Trumpeter kits look much closer to the full scale than theirs do. I can't recall ever seeing a Trumpeter Nova built and have only seen maybe three of the Falcons. I may have to see what I can do with one of the Falcons soon.

I have never seen any of the Moebius Ford pickup kits in person so I can't say anything about them.
But the Trumpeter Falcons has lots to desire when it comes to porportions and accuracy, the body is decent but the floorpan has tubbed fenderwells, the engine is the most horrible representation of a Ford small block I have ever seen as it's way too large ond crude, the transmission is not much better and what it's supposed to be is questionable.
The one thing good is that if you want to build a race car of the Falcon it's a bit easier as you don't have to modify it much to make room for larger tires and such.