bobthehobbyguy

Justin that link on the kit prices is very informative and should be read by all to understand the current pricing. Steveg thanks for the insight on the costs. Well I've spent enough time on this and now have important things to do. Halloween is nearly here and I need to tend to my pumpkin patch I'm really sure the Great Pumpkin is coming this year and I want my best pumpkin patch ever for him to see.

It is total nonsense from a financial stand point. Okey has very little to offer. For every Johan kit that Round2 would produce it will cost two hundred thousand or more dollars. That is from a defunct company name that would have little meaning to most modelers today. And the rights to the kits that were produced in the seventies and are basically glorified promos. The prices on eBay only reflect a dwindling supply and buyers who are more than likely collectors than builders. The typical kit costs aro7nd 250k to produce which was it cost round2 to do the restore on the chevy nova wagon. They got 3 varations out of it. The two promos probably cost what a full kit would becuase there were fewer parts involved. The typical kit msrp is $40. From recent discussions Round2 costs and profit is around ten dollars and the shelf msrp would end up around $40. The kits have to sell ienough to make those num ers to work. i sincerely doubt that nostalgia is going to sell enough kits to warrant what it would cost to produce those kits. Sorry but you are over rating the value of nostalgia. Plus the Johan clones would only be one version kits and those kits will be closer to 200k plus to produce. And i don't see sufficent volumes to meet the investment. Finally given all this I really can't see why Round2 would want to go down this path. It would.be up to Okey to find a partner and I doubt any one would risk the venture with somebody that can't produce a 3d printed body or kit and hasn't managed to do anything with what they have had in 25 years. At this point doing a state of the scanned kit more sense given the slight difference in cost to produce and that makes the scanning of obsolete kits a mute point. Continue to believe what you want but as I've said Round2 has their own projects lined up to do. Who knows I might be surprised and the Powell truck might show up in 6 months but I wouldnt hold my breath for it.

I would suggest you put together a proposal. It really helps for the model companies to get several variants from a kit. Can multiple years be done? Sounds like a good market is there.

Ignore reality and expect that one day you will be in for a rude awakening.

Great information. Those badges look great.

Thanks for clarifying how the licensing works.

I agree on all points. As an aside to point 7 the on line producers are honest but I think that denial gets in the way. They will have a health or family issue and be over optimistic about getting things back on track.

I agree. I think the 3d printing will have a positive impact on model building. If anything the push a button get a completed model might have a bigger impact on the diecast market. And side note just think when AI and 3d printing merge think of the implications of machine creating other machines.

Great points Tim. Bottom line is that the decisions have to make financial sense. There is not a lot of margin for recovering from errors. One thing I'd lave to see Round2 restore would the the 1932 Chevy panel from the Barabas atrocity. However I'm not sure there is a strong enough business case for that.

Good question. My gut feeling is that it is not that simple. Hopefully someone in the business can provide more information on this.

Sorry to hear you're having paint issues. Getting a good paint job is a lot of work and is just as stressful as the final assembly process. Looking forward to seeing more of this one.

How poorly we honor fellow modelers and automotive icons on the site. We get a constant flow of every celebrity that passes but when a fellow Modeler or automotive icon hardly creates a ripple in the pool.

The plastic models and the die-cast are two different markets. The die-cast volumes put the plastic kit volumes to shame. It boils down to the cost of the licensing being spread over those volumes.

It should be mentioned that Donn Yost has recently passed from complications from brain cancer. Check the in modelers in memorial in the off topic lounge. Hope fully they can keep the youtube site up and will continue to sell the dvds.

I'm surprised that he hasn't done a tribute to Donn Yost's passing.

This sums it up very well. Spending the money to fix it just can't be justified when the financial return isn't there. And when the money isn't there the time to assign a person to work on it isn't either. I does give a strong case for 3d scanning the actual car to produce the model. The new Revell Mustang is a perfect example. Hopefully the scanning will become the standard in the future.

Would hazard a guess that doing t h e Happy Days version of the Monkee Mobile was cashing in on the popularity of the Fonz and Happy Days. As far as the Superfly to Welcome Back Kotter if the Licensing for the Superfly was long gone then it was an opportunity to get another version out of the tooling.

I found it but I'm having trouble determining the year from the picture.

Unfortunately there are so many unscrupulous people these days. And it is also unfortunate that people don't ask questions before they act; instead they ask them after the fact.

The way I see it 6 months from now there will still be no Powell kit. The last time any Johan kits were produced was in 1998. 25 years later nothing more has been accomplished becuase there has been no effort to do any more with them. And now because of 3d scanning there are some that expect Round2 to buy the rights to produce those kits again. And of course Round2 is expected to do all of the heavy lifting for this grand opportunity. And becuase I state this blasphemy I'm a non believer who hates Johan, their subject matter, and am trying to artificially keep up the high prices for Johan kits. I would be truly annoyed if Round2 considered this nonsense. I want them to pursue the products they believe will do the best for them. It's been stated they have parts of the 1928 Ford sedan that could be resurrected with 3d scanning. Just my final thoughts on the subject.

Good points. It is an impossibility to make something from nothing. It is possible to make it something from raw materials and as you pointed out there is re multiple paths to achieving that goal.

Although it could be laziness on the part of the driver it could also be the driver is being pushed to deliver more packages in a short time frame.

Mikos I have one question for you. What do you think that Okey has offer to Round2 and what should Round2 have to pay for that?

SteveG thanks for providing your insights. If you could expand on how some of the decisions when a kit is to be produced I think it would help provide a better understanding of the process. For example that a full detail kit requires a 2 year cycle. Also the constraints on what type kit a new model will be- such as time and budget.

Codi thanks for weighing in on the subject. Hope you are doing well. I concur that 3d printing is another tool in the toolbox. In my opinion the true craftsman choose the most suitable tool in his toolbox to get the job done in the best fashion. The same goes for choosing the right material to make a part.