Justin Porter

Chassis and interior are all done on the Alfa and I am very thrilled with how this lovely little car is coming together. Even mocked up the body for a final check before glass and such go in and the chassis is in place permanently. I've done two coats of Gunze GX112 UV Cut Super Clear over the Cobra Motors Rosso Corsa and I am really happy with the results.

This is such a lovely, tidy build. Lots of thoughtful touches to elevate what's already a great kit.

The Campagnolo wheels most often found on the "Chairs n Flares" Dinos rate pretty high on my list. I'd also like a set of 365GTB/4 Daytona rear wheels with the proper rear dish. This is one of the few genuine let downs about the Fujimi Daytona.

Small update on the Alfa. I chose AK Interactive Real Color Ochre for the carpeting and Gunze Mr Color Brown for the leather. A little bit of foil went onto the side panels plus picking out details in Mr Color Silver.

Strangely enough, the NRHSA's monthly magazine - Hobby Merchandiser - did a very interesting article discussing Lego as a sales avenue for hobby shops. The article focused heavily on the benefits not only of sustained sales, but also the SEO benefits because customers who quite likely won't be searching for products you currently carry will definitely be searching for a brand name as big as Lego. For me personally, it's an intriguing opportunity but I'd have to learn more about distribution and deals and at the moment I already have taken on the challenge of promoting the new wargaming lines. Gotta grow one thing at a time to the point of sustainability before jumping into another project.

Really cool to see such a nice replica of such a specific Morgan! Always good to see other folks enjoying this really fantastic kit.

Fortunately my Point of Sale does a solid breakdown on this. The best comparison actually to give is to use the gross revenue of my top ten categories. Wargaming isn't in here because it's a very new addition to my shop (literally got our first Games Workshop rack last month) but this shows basically what pays 90% of the freight at Haven Hobby. This time the unnamed slice is "Scenic Materials" which is primarily Woodland Scenics brand merchandise. I categorize it separately from railroading because effectively all of my customers make use of it.

That slice is NuNu. The pains of using an online pie chart generator. lol Atlantis is one I wish I could explain but they just don't seem to be generating much traction. Case in point, as much as I personally love the old Miss Deal kit, the "Skorpion" reissue of it is a dust collector. I also figured the Swamp Rat XXX release would create some buzz given how long its been since a reasonably modern top fueler of any stripe was readily available. Again, no such luck. This is based purely on automotive kits but my shop handles all genres pretty extensively including air, armor, Gundam (by far our biggest chunk of model kit sales), plus wargaming and model railroading.

Yes. This is based solely on number of kits sold.

This is purely on volume and not on gross revenue.

So, I was playing around with data from my point of sale system and I thought this would be an interesting talking point. Currently, these thirteen brands represent all of the model kit companies that I have made sales with over the counter or at shows in 2024. This does represent all scales so the 1/20th and big scale releases count towards this along with the typical bi-scale 1/24th and 1/25th releases. To me, it represents a great glimpse of where the trends are shifting. Naturally, Revell's combination of product and price-point is a dominant one. Round 2's brands also represent a healthy chunk. However, at least from what my data tells me, any shop that's not committing to stocking a healthy amount of imported kits is leaving a lot of money on the table. Side note. Those two tiniest slivers are Atlantis and Meng.

That would be fantastic if the AM Grand Sport has been revived. Hopefully the kit will be available in normal distribution channels because I'd gladly put it on my shelves.

The Aoshima Paganis in some ways feel like spiritual successors to the Fujimi Enthusiast series. Daunting, challenging, frustrating, but jaw-dropping if properly realized just like yours!

A brief break while clear coats dry to work on the lovely little Twin Spark twin cam in the Alfa. The finish is mostly AK Interactive Xtreme Metal paints. I used an Iceman 8 cylinder distributor in place of the kit distributor and Gofer wire and boot material, while the wire ties are just crimped 0.3mm solder.

Thank you very kindly for the order and glad you received it! I look forward to seeing it built because Tamiya really packed that one full of good stuff.

It is an acrylic which made it that much more impressive to me. I chose to spray over gray specifically as a test of how good the paint's coverage would be, figuring that white or pink primer would be giving it too much of a head start to impress me. lol

And we're live and in color! After a quick spray of Mr Surfacer 1200 my airbrush was cleaned and without so much as a pressure change I dumped the Cobra Motors Rosso Corsa into my airbrush and sprayed away. I am IMMENSELY pleased because it worked just as it said on the bottle. Absolutely airbrush ready, giving a really great tone over gray primer, shooting with no odor compared to my typically preferred Mr Color paints, and self leveling nicely to give a good base coat. I plan on using GX112 clear over the base coat and I think it's going to make for a very classy little Alfa.

This is the new reissue. I had earmarked one of my initial shipment as MINE for the moment I could bring them in at my shop. ?

Amazing thing is that this was an actual race car by the Mooncraft racing team that took part in races at the Fuji Speedway in the predecessor to the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship. It was powered first by a BMW four cylinder and then later by a Mazda rotary. It wasn't hugely successful but it was wild looking. Mooncraft would also later rebody a Riley Daytona Prototype and run it as an entrant in the Super GT series.

It's wonderful how certain events line up. One of my priorities at the shop has been trying to source an automotive specific line of premium paints that really suits my demographic. This year, AMMO by Mig announced their new line of automotive acrylics titled "Cobra Motors" and I decided to give them a shot. Then Tamiya announced they were bringing back one of my favorite kits. With the Alfa coming back onto the shelves AND a test jar of Rosso Corsa 50's-60's from Cobra Motors, I have the perfect testbed for this new paint line. Naturally, as this is a paint mule, the first step is marking out the thankfully minor mold lines and giving the whole body a good blocking-out with Tamiya 1500 sanding sponge.

Round 2 is consistently one of the highest priced non-premium brands across the board. Even the bulk of my imported kits like Aoshima, Fujimi, and even Tamiya tend to be cheaper. Case in point? Just brought the reissue of Tamiya's beautiful full detail Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA into my shop. That's on the shelf for $32.

Just announced on the Future Releases list at Stevens International today. AMT-1345 1/25 2023 Ford Bronco Outer Banks (New Tool) $38.99 TBA AMT-1472 1/25 1960 Ford Starliner Custom $37.99 TBA AMT-1473 1/25 Mopower Plymouth Funny Car $37.99 TBA

While not as big as some of the others like Model Roundup or Wes' Model Corner, I do like to think that I do a pretty good job of e-commerce through my shop's website for Haven Hobby in Elyria, Ohio.

Games Workshop, the company that owns and produces the lucrative Warhammer 40k tabletop gaming brand, contacted me through a regional sales representative to determine if I would be interested in becoming a retailer of their products. Within a week of their initial phone call, I had product samples, line cards, advertising materials, sales guides, sales metrics, and wholesale ordering catalogs including footprints for self-seller floor racks. They went out of their way to make the case that having their products in my store would be mutually beneficial in a prompt, thorough, and transparent manner. I bring this up because to date the only model car kit company that has gone to anywhere near these same lengths to demonstrate that they WANT to be on my shelf and that they value what retailers bring to the table - oddly enough - is Chinese racing car specialists NuNu who routinely private message me about upcoming products, thank me for sharing their social media material, and unfailingly have sent me a NuNu countertop calendar for the past now three years. I accept that most model car kit companies are not nearly as engaged with modern sales and media practices as gaming companies, or railroading companies (Rapido for instance), or Bandai, but there has to be an absolutely BARE expectation that a company that is trying to sell a product - particularly a product that ideally they want other people to sell alongside of on their own shelf - is capable of clearly communicating What That Product Is.

Knowing how vast the gulf can be on resin between the stuff I've got from C1 and the stuff I've got from Flintstone, rather glad to hear it's closer to the former than the latter. But now we all know we're talking about a promo style resin curbside which the initial post made absolutely no effort to explain. I'm certainly not opposed to Jo-Han coming back as a short run resin company, but I feel that if we're announcing their products then it should explained what those products actually are.