Luc Janssens

I think he has a successful partnership with Moebius now, where his talent and experience benefits both actors.

IIRC these were done under Ertl management and two with the help of Dave Burket.

Welcome!

Indeed, but think nowadays they use smaller tooling to facilitate the adding of extra parts, to existing traditional non-modular designed tooling. Remember Revell suddenly adding a wagon to the '57 Ford? Depending on tooling design blocking off unwanted parts can be a problem, cuz it might interrupt the flow of plastic, so they either get included as extra part in a kit, or cut off in the pre-packaging state and regrind. But one also has to remember that back in the old days, insert swapping was very common, parts which were originally in one kit, a few years later ended up in another, one example the amt '66 Chevy Impala engine in the '61 Ranchero, MPC really mastered it, and without good records, the headache of engineers in search of an insert to re-release a certain kit. Nowadays newly designed tools incorporate the possibility of several versions, the execution varies between companies. Now Tom, I'm not an engineer, but used to be a problem solver and set up the work sequence and workstation requirements so an operator had the info, tooling, time and the necessary parts to perform his or her task in a ergonomic and foolproof manner, so give me some slack

The announcement say's convertible. AMT PLASTIC MODEL KITS Plastic Model Kits Brand Product # Description Suggested Retail Price Status AMT PLASTIC MODEL KITS AMT-1200 1/25 1964 Olds Cutlass F85 Convertible $35.95 TBA Personally I find it strange that they don't go for a hardtop body when tooling all new, cuz hardtops sell a lot better, perhaps it's because of the interior tub.

It's all about the willingness to put money behind the idea, it takes money to make money. Up until now the tool was waste, an incomplete paid for block of steel that was taking up space and costing money, one can do two things then, (ROI) depending on the state of the tooling, desirability of the subject and restoration costs and that is invest the cash or dump it, simple as that. Revell (before the Hobbico implosion) could do it, and so does Moebius and many other foreign model companies, I think it's more about the focus of the money guy of Round-2, the big savior of the legacy of Amt, Mpc and to a much much much much much lesser extent Lindberg

Yet somehow the military/plane side of the model kit spectrum keeps on getting more detailed, I guess our efforts to bring automotive kits a few notches up are useless....Let's revive Palmer! a quote from the Borg, "resistance is futile"

Hmmm, somehow the topic changed from Round2 to Monogram

This is the post I'm referring to Tim... About the wagon comment, they tooled a lot of the stuff they needed for a wagon, when designing the 4dr. hardtop, only needing the following additional parts - body - side panel extentions for the trunk area or all new side panels - rear seat and backing - trunk floor - clear (windshield, rr side glass and backlite) - rr bumper taillite trim assy - wheels with hubcaps or covers (which they can re-use for a non sci-fy 4dr. h/t) An all new kit or a variant from another tool would cost much much more, and their track record shows that money for automotive projects always seems tight, vs Sci-Fi/fantasy All aforementioned is not set in stone, but that's what I personally think based on monitoring sites like these and my wacky creative brain

By reading here how easy it is to turn it into a 442 I think it is, and the wagon they also talked about I assume is a '67 Chevy Impala.

Even if he knew, it's still not the best kit, and too bad Revell didn't base theirs on their excellent '64;

Can be offered as decals then, the badges I mean.

At least Round-2 puts the parts layout on the box bottom, but the moniker "classic kit" with a bit of history printed on the box would be a plus JMHO

Without the body they had a useless tool, where they paid for, so it's good business sense to tool up a new body (and probably clear too) , cuz now it can make money.

No promo I'm aware of, but there was a resin conversion kit by AAM;

Parts pack cost the same shipping and packaging wise, so for a few bucks more one can buy a std. kit IMHO they could show the endless possibilities mixing and matching in their instructions sheets, promoting the other kits in their lineup

The funny thing is, that back then when it was announced in the '86 Catalog they showed a black '86.

I grew up building Monogram models much more than Amt and Mpc, mostly due to the fact that they built up well and they always had clear headlamps, I never could understand the toy like cheapo molded-in chrome units in the Amt/Mpc kits, but at that age I didn't know about the Promo heritage most of these releases carried. When John Greczula at Round2, had a new grille for the Amt '61 Ranchero tooled with clear headlamps, I thought they were gonna update more kits the same way, but alas the money guy decided otherwise

Moebius is doing the same with for example their Ford P/U's, I call it smart business.

Could that be the "muscle car" they, according to their video are working on?

There's tooling that is worth to be saved and with TLC and some updating will go on and one, but...there are others that really need to be scrapped to make room for all new tools....like the '67 and '70-'72 GTO's, and most of the Lindberg odd ball stuff, that went from production straight to Ollies, and then landfill. I know that nostalgia is a powerful thing, but think one baby boomer trying to build a "nostalgia kit" like he did when growing up, and despite the great box art and colorful decals, it still fits like crapola, he must be thinking, wow this hobby really progressed in these past 40 years, NOT! Just my 2 cents

Sure there are kits that fall in that category, but many others can still be bought for pennies on the dollar, it kinda seems that the recycling of common old kits mostly finances the new sci-fi releases,, and too a much much lesser extend the restoration/restomod of old automotive tools or the creation of new ones. Anyway to me the credibility of the company hit rock bottom with the release of the '69 Yenko Camaro. But maybe there's a ray of sunshine up on the horizon, with the eminent release of the Supernatural Impala, the rumored wagon and muscle car, if they can get the bug out of their system.

In the video R2 aired a few weeks ago, they showed a built test shot, and said that they experienced some problems with the retool thus therefore the delay.

The more I think about it, the more sure I'm getting that it will be an Impala Some parts they had to tool up for the supernatural they also will need for a wagon (please correct me if I'm wrong) - new front bumper-grille - new hood - bench seat - 4dr. interior side panels So what do they need to tool-up - new body (co-designed in 3D when they were doing the 4dr.) - new windshield, back and side windows - extensions for the 4dr. (or all new) interior side panels - wagon interior floor and inner tailgate trim - backseat with backing - rear bumper-taillight part - new stock wheels (one can use to convert the 4dr. hardtop to stock)

Since they're already tinkering with the '67 Chevy Impala tool, I'm guessing that will be the wagon kit, unless the Movie guys won from the car guys, then it will be the family truckster..