Luc Janssens

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..

No problem Joe, did the same with my 1/25th scale amt Opel GT kit, it's also getting new footwear, one of those tuner (forgot the brand, but were designed by accurate miniatures IIRC) wheel/tire sets I picked up in the US years ago...

HPI guy (Chris) just posted a clip of his build on you tube

ideal for putting next to a sixties 1/32nd scale fighter jet, R2 should've advertised it in model plane mags.... I plan to pick up the '63 'vette in the series to put next to my Phantom jet

Reissues have been part of the game since day two, I wonder how many kits of tools thought to be scrapped or incomplete were brought back by R2?

Interesting also, that it says, "molded in the USA" which means not all of the tooling left the country or was sold.

IIRC the wheels and tires were similar to those in the Chevy Black Gold Van.

Guess time will tell, if he's the big savior of Amt/mpc or if he will bring the automotive hobby to an all new high...but believe me I very much would like to be proven wrong.

That why I included loan costs, (paying off the loan for buying the tooling from Tommy) Tom. Oh I see I forgot a comma between warehousing and loan costs, lemme fix that...

Again apples and oranges Are alternative versions possible of one spaceship/craft? Are there old tools available of certain spaceships/crafts? What’s the price setting of the competition? 20 years ago, for automotive kit manufacturers, the money came in by the truck loads, due to the buying power of big outlets such as Walmart, so alternative versions were not really needed (but often a 2nd was done anyway) as the sheer volume kept MSRP low. Since then a few events happened, all but one mayor retailer (a craft store) kicked out the model companies, due to changing interests of their clientele (read ROI on their shelf space) Lindberg under the leadership of a shady character, blew out their entire inventory (shooting plastic though every tool that had) flooding the market with mediocre products, which sat on the shelves unsold hurting their competitors cuz it sent a message through retail and distribution channels, that model kits don’t sell, consumer trust got a blow too, cuz the bulk of it was nicely wrapped junk (I'm being polite) Also the remains of once proud companies Amt & Mpc (owned by Tommy), were sold to a guy who’s family made it fortune selling cat litter, lets call him tool collector, cuz later he bought Lindberg lock stock and barrel too. Anyway they started re-releasing kits from old tooling, sometimes un- the other changed by restoring or adding parts, so their price-setting is made-up by payroll, production, licensing, minimal re- or added tooling, transportation, warehousing, loan costs and profit margin. The competition like Revell and Moebius have to be in that same price bracket, to not price themselves out of the market, so they get creative by designing kits with multiple siblings, which is good business sense IMHO, the lack of this kind thinking (back in the day by Ertl management) is what lead to the problems R2 faces with their Camaro retool So my statement that Round-2 is by choice more sci-fi oriented then automotive, still stands. ? But as always open to other opinions, that is the only way we learn to understand each other better. Luc

What What's the box-size of the Eagle II, and what would be the size and price of an 1/8th scale '79 Monogram Trans Am? all apples and oranges, now compare the prices of R2 car kits with those of Revell, the latter can tool up all new for less, (even Revell Germany) Also Round2 is entering Tamiya pricing in my neck of the woods, but where the quid pro quo? Newcomers like Belkits and Beemax can invest and sell car kits at a premium, so that tells me that automotive models will pay the price, as long as it's a subject they really want.

Strange cuz the narrator said it looked better than the M&M designed part!

I understand, but Moebius also caters the sci-fi market as well as the automotive one, so one doesn't exclude the other.

I very much would like a '68 Coronet, others other subject I don't care about, but to each his or her own, so don't participate to those treads.

How would they know, since they bought the remains of amt, mpc, ertl, lindberg, polar lights, I didn't see anything new for the die hard classic/muscle car modelers, even the Demon which was supposed to be a mayor retool was canceled and before anyone mentions the late model Challenger, vette's and Camaro's....well modern cars are a though sell, unless it's motorsport. Not trying to be a wise a$$ but trying to start a constructive debate;;;

if it was they would've included stock wheels

Indeed, which says a lot about the focus of the company.

Nope, these kits are "year specific"

I think no one here is against the restoring of tooling to bring back long lost kits, but many question the endless recycling of automotive kits one can find in the secondary market for cents on the dollar. I'm wondering if they do the same with the sci-fi kits. Looking at the video, the car guys are in the minority at Round-2, and probably have to put on a pretty good fight to push something through, cuz the green light for the 4dr. Impala retool came from?!......

More photo reports are being added, so keep on checking the IPMS Germany site the coming days for updates. http://ipmsdeutschland.de/news.html

They showed the Supernatural Impala, (beautiful buildup BTW), a build test shot of the Vega and a slammed together test shot of full bumper Camaro. There was also talk that a new muscle car, wagon and two big rig kits are in the works, what they are, no idea.