Why Does AMT keep Releasing Same Kit With A Different Box

[Ace-Garageguy]

I know I'm not alone when I say there are a LOT of kits that I really wish WOULD be reissued.

We'll probably never see many of them though, because the tooling has been lost, damaged, modified beyond restoration, etc. etc.

But the re-pop of the AMT '36 Ford, and the restomod release of the old Sizzler as the new Slingster sure have put a smile on my face.

[High octane]

AMT doesn't release or re-issue anything as the company is looooooooong gone. Round 2 purchased the tooling and all rights to the AMT Corp. and is working on recouping their investment as well as make a profit. As long as they don't have to spend a small fortune in new tooling, they're happy campers.

[kitbash1]

Another favorite trick the kitmakers use is to reissue an ancient kit in a new "collectible" box and slap a ridiculous MSRP on it. Again, way cheaper to manufacture a new box to hold an old kit than to manufacture a new kit.

Yet another gimmick they use: an old kit with a new decal sheet. Again, it's far cheaper to print up new decals than tool up a new kit.

BTW... I'm not criticizing the kit manufacturers for doing these things. On the contrary, it's good business! As long as the old kits disguised in new boxes continue to sell, hey, why not keep reissuing them, right? Ultimately it's the consumer who is voting for all of these reissues.

The reissue of the Petty Torino Talladaga comes to mind. New decals, new box art, but we get the same body with the up-sweep in the front fenders like the original Polar Lights kit. Lame-o.

Edited December 31, 2013 by kitbash1

[Danno]

What about the repackaging in the new manufacturer's Brand Logo? Is it Revell or is it Monogram ? Or maybe Renwal ? Or Aurora ? Lots of fodder for the board.

AMT or MPC ?

Who cares what brand name it is?

Most savvy builders know the genesis of re-issues; the internet and magazine reviews will enlighten those who don't know but might care; and the remaining potential consumers won't care a whit.

[Greg Myers]

Thank you Danno.

[cobraman]

Talk about re-releases. Take the AMT Cobra kit for example. I have 9 different versions (box art) of that car but the last version offererd aluminum velocity stacks and beautiful pad printed tires. It also is in a retro box that mimics one issue from years ago. Pretty cool. I bought 3 of these.

[Danno]

Thank you Danno.

Yer welcome! I think.

[southpier]

Harry P. said "New builders don't care whether a kit is new or a reissue..."

had no idea there was a spokesperson election; guess I should have renewed!

[ChrisPflug]

Back to the original question of why AMT hasn't released anything new- since being basically gutted by previous owners it seems they really haven't had resources to develop kits- sad because there seemed to be an abrupt end to a great era in their history of nicely engineered new subjects

So as of the recent past and present all new kits weren't really an option at all- reissues or nothing (but plenty of interesting stuff to reissue and it seems a lot of necessary cleanup and repairs is getting done to the tooling because of the emphasis on reissues rather than previous owners just cranking out big quantities for Wal Mart to sell for $4.88)

[Force]

Yes, right before RC2 bought the AMT/Ertl company they did several very nice kits, some of them are the best they ever did, after that....nothing...and the people who designed and developed these nice kits was laid off or left by themselves.

About the mentioned Torino Talladega:
Polar Lights did a Richard Petty version the first time around so only the boxart are new...the decals might not be exactly the same but they're similar.

But sure, I would also have wished that they did address the problem with the up-swept fenders...but there are lot of problems with this kit (and the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II) that can be addressed as it feels like it wasn't really fully developed into a finished product and somewhat rushed into production when it was first released.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Force

[Fabrux]

The last run of new-tool kits: were they actually AMT or were they done by MPC?

[Rob Hall]

The last run of new-tool kits: were they actually AMT or were they done by MPC?

AMT during the RC2 era. The last new MPC tools were in 1988.

[niteowl7710]

I think it's somewhat subjective to presume that Round 2 is in any way, shape or form short on cash. Look at who owns it, he could buy and sell pretty much everybody here a couple of times over. Obviously he's taken the approach that Round 2 should be run as a successful business rather than being his personal "plaything". But at the same time he's willing to spend money to further his investment, when they purchased the tooling & rights for AMT/MPC from Tomica, and this summer when they purchased the tooling and rights to Lindberg.

Round 2 has done several new tools, but they've all been aimed at different markets than automotive, deciding that in that realm they'd rather focus on dragging ancient tooling out of the recesses of the warehouse and re-introducing them to the public. For the most part once they blew through the easily run kits back in 2008-2010 the majority of releases have been kits that haven't been around for a long while, or have been improved in some way. Which I'd rather have than the 5th reissue of the '99 Ford Lightning in 7 years.

Edited December 30, 2013 by niteowl7710

[Force]

The last new AMT tools were the 57 Chrysler 300C's, the 58 Plymouth Belvedere, the 58 Edsel Pacer, the 60 Ford Starliner Coupe's, the 62 Pontiac SD 421, the 62 Ford Thunderbird, the 66 Ford Fairlanes, the 67 Ford Mustang and Shelby, the 68-69 Plymouth Roadrunner-GTX and 70 Dodge Coronet, the 70½ Chevy Camaros, the 71 Plymouth Duster, all these kits were developed in the mid to late 90's before the RC2 era in the early 2000's and I have most certainly forgotten a few, but these are the ones I came to think of right now.
After RC2 took over there weren't that many new kits made, a few new Camaros and Challengers and maybe one or two more, the rest were straight or slightly modified re-issues of kits that were plentiful on the market allready with totaly boring boxart.

I don't know the financial status of Round 2 LLC but we must not kid ourselves, they are in this business to make money...that's the main thing, and if they don't they'll stop making kits...that's the bare fact.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Force

[niteowl7710]

The last new AMT tools were the 57 Chrysler 300C's, the 58 Plymouth Belvedere, the 58 Edsel Pacer, the 60 Ford Starliner Coupe's, the 62 Pontiac SD 421, the 62 Ford Thunderbird, the 66 Ford Fairlanes, the 67 Ford Mustang and Shelby, the 68-69 Plymouth Roadrunner-GTX and 70 Dodge Coronet, the 70½ Chevy Camaros, the 71 Plymouth Duster, all these kits were developed in the mid to late 90's before the RC2 era in the early 2000's and I have most certainly forgotten a few, but these are the ones I came to think of right now.

After RC2 took over there weren't that many new kits made, a few new Camaros and Challengers and maybe one or two more, the rest were straight or slightly modified re-issues of kits that were plentiful on the market allready with totaly boring boxart.

I don't know the financial status of Round 2 LLC but we must not kid ourselves, they are in this business to make money...that's the main thing, and if they don't they'll stop making kits...that's the bare fact.

The last few tools of the AMT/Ertl era were the Starliner, '62 Pontiac, and '62 T-Bird -- which actually had all of the various custom parts tooled up but never released (until Round 2 came along) before the Racing Champion disaster.

The Showroom Replicas (Challengers, Camaro, & Corvettes) are Round 2 creations. RC2 did the Camaro "Concept" kit, along with the Escalade EXT, '06 300, Ford GT, Pontiac GTO, the banana trimmed Belvidere to name a few.

As for the financials since Tom Lowe owns Round 2, it has as much money as he wants to put into it. He's a multimillionaire heir, and a successful businessman in his own right, which is again why he's spending money on new tools in Sci-Fi, Star Trek, etc where people are willing to drop significant cash, and focusing on getting the most value he can out of the old AMT/MPC tools by restoring them and unlocking long ago seen tools.

Edited December 30, 2013 by niteowl7710

[rel14]

Why Not,,, we been buying the same ones for 40 yrs,,, New box is a lot cheaper then 30 thousand for a new mold.

[ChrisBcritter]

So are there any more chances of long-hidden old tools awaiting rediscovery, or has everything been gone through to the point where Round 2 can say that there's nothing left to recover? Was finding the partial '59 Imperial tooling a one-time fluke, and are there other partial tools known to exist? I wish they'd be willing to tell us (hypothetical case!) "We have the body and chrome for the '63 Falcon Futura, but we don't have the interior" and we'd give our input on whether we'd want them to reverse-engineer the rest, or "We've gone through everything and we can definitely say there's nothing left of the '59 Pontiac/'69 Continental/'64 Corvair/whatever" and the resin casters would take over.

Edited December 30, 2013 by ChrisBcritter

[Harry P.]

Why Not,,, we been buying the same ones for 40 yrs,,, New box is a lot cheaper then 30 thousand for a new mold.

Your cost estimate is waaaaaaay too low. Not even close.

[Brett Barrow]

Why Not,,, we been buying the same ones for 40 yrs,,, New box is a lot cheaper then 30 thousand for a new mold.

Your cost estimate is waaaaaaay too low. Not even close.

Yeah, about 10 times too low...

I've got a feeling we'll see a new-tool full detail "AMT" kit from Round 2 in the next couple years. We could kinda count the 66 Batmobile, branded Polar Lights since that brand has the Batman license.

[Eshaver]

So are there any more chances of long-hidden old tools awaiting rediscovery, or has everything been gone through to the point where Round 2 can say that there's nothing left to recover? Was finding the partial '59 Imperial tooling a one-time fluke, and are there other partial tools known to exist? I wish they'd be willing to tell us (hypothetical case!) "We have the body and chrome for the '63 Falcon Futura, but we don't have the interior" and we'd give our input on whether we'd want them to reverse-engineer the rest, or "We've gone through everything and we can definitely say there's nothing left of the '59 Pontiac/'69 Continental/'64 Corvair/whatever" and the resin casters would take over.

I like the take you put to this seemingly BORING topic Chris ! You really brought a FRESH perspective , thank You .

[Erik Smith]

Round2 has been "spicing" up reissues with things like pad printed tires, aluminum velocity stacks and inclusion of previously limited custom parts AND some newly tooled parts (grill for the ranchero), so they aren't just pumping out poop like the Walmart days AMT garbage.

The collector boxes, prints, and brochures are really cool too, IMHO.

They are doing what they need to do to make money - which is the whole purpose of their existence.

[Guest]

Personally, I hope Round2 has only scratched the surface when it comes to reissuing the long lost kits. There's still a ton of old AMT and MPC kits I would like to see again! It's been quite a while since I've built a new kit. In fact, the last new kit I built was the Revell '66 Impala. I've bought a few new kits. But, the old AMT and MPC kits are what I've really been after lately. As long as Round2 keeps finding those old tools and enhancing them, I won't complain.

[Jairus]

Just to name a few 70 Camaro, 67 Mustang, 69 Cougar etc.

When will they tool same different cars?

-Dwayne

Dwayne,

One thing you need to remember is that this market is only a fraction of what it once was. And it's getting smaller!

Plus, the cost to tool up a new mold is astronomical compared to the 60's, even with having the Chinese do the work.

Also, production runs are much shorter than they once were even 20 years ago. So re-pops are more often seen today as one design sells out, the company makes another run till it stops selling.

Revell and AMT are simply doing what needs to be done to stay in business.

[ZTony8]

I recall hearing that there were several of the old MPC kits in the tool inventory when one was taken some years ago.One was the '70-73 style Camaro but with the subsequent release of the new AMT tool there wouldn't be a valid reason to reissue that or the '70-'74 'Cuda with the recent debut of the new revell kit.I wonder if these old tools would now be scrapped because of the newer releases of the same (or nearly so) subject.

Along this same line-what has become of the "new tool" AMT '57 Chevy from the 1990s? Every re-release of the subject from AMT has been the old tool.

[Brett Barrow]

I recall hearing that there were several of the old MPC kits in the tool inventory when one was taken some years ago.One was the '70-73 style Camaro but with the subsequent release of the new AMT tool there wouldn't be a valid reason to reissue that or the '70-'74 'Cuda with the recent debut of the new revell kit.I wonder if these old tools would now be scrapped because of the newer releases of the same (or nearly so) subject.

Along this same line-what has become of the "new tool" AMT '57 Chevy from the 1990s? Every re-release of the subject from AMT has been the old tool.

They did a "100th Anniversary of Chevrolet" reissue of the new-tool 57 Chevy last year. It was only available in the tin.