niteowl7710

It's going to be a "2n1", which is nominally over-selling it a bit since the n1 is a bumper, grille, and wheels added to the factory stock parts.

Well Nao left to go form Rocket Model, and their head 3D design guy left in the middle of the Pagani project. Combine that with the fact the "Probox" Toyota NCV160 is the first JDM new tool kit they've made since the Toyota 86/BRZ & Subaru Sambars - which was in 2012/2013, they were due for a pivot back to their home market a little bit. Plus they're making a small fortune reissuing all of these older kits with a few thousand Yen worth of upgrades to wheels, tires and decals. Shizuoka show in May should give a good indication of the path of travel this year.

Those are the most recent additions at Stevens. Round2 is always adding kits, so that's just part of the 2Q offerings. As for Revell being sold doesn't help anything, but also having all of your kits at least a month behind their original release dates doesn't either. Chances are the 2Q offerings are marginalized to help catch up as well. Remember when there was no 4Q at all in 2016 because they got all backed up on releases.

Hobbico bought Revell-Monogram lock, stock, and two sliding molds in May 2007. They bought Revell of Germany in 2012 and started Hobbico Europe to distribute them. It's all controlled out of Champaign. I will plead complete ignorance to European laws in regards to what happens to a company that's a division of a U.S. company when the U.S. parent goes under and dissolves. I'd also argue we've seen a slow, but continuous backsliding with RevellAG Hobbico owned offerings once they ran through what the former German ownership had in the pipelines. The loss of the Ferrari licensing - which instantly froze a pile of tooling and vaporwared an entire kit series, the cost cutting measures - when Europe actually has a growing hobby market, the quality of kit tooling and parts count declining - nobody can compare the Panamera and all is sink marks and half-engraved nonsense to the DTM cars or Mini Cooper, etc.

They filed Chapter 11 because it grants in automatic stay against their creditors - and gives them 4 months to figure out a reorganization plan. I'm sure the people in charge would love to keep it together and not get tossed out on their ears. But not every 11 case is puppies and rainbows. We're taking about a 20 millionish asset company here with a 10:1 debt ratio, not Delta Airlines or GM. Between the patent lawsuit and the Department of Labor being stuffed in their sideways who's gonna prop them up when there's untold amounts of fines, penalties and settlements pending?

I don't even know of that companies that Hobbico owns that produces stuff, that Revell is the largest. I mean Revell could have been making money hand over fist, and it wouldn't be enough to prop up the conglomerate they were trying to be. Blaming Elk Grove Village for the poor financial management of the parent company that wanted to own all things hobby related and then distribute them too isn't very fair. Two days before they declared bankruptcy, they closed their Reno, Nevada warehouse - which was 200,000sq feet. That's a lot of building to maintain, especially considering the majority of the country lives East of Interstate 35.

Right but Hallmark - who owns Crayola (AKA Binney & Smith after it's founding in1885) didn't go bankrupt. They just couldn't plug plastic models into a company that makes nothing but art supplies. The hobby in general took a shellacking during the time B&S owned Revell, and they still survived that as a profitable enough entity to be sold to Hobbico in 2008.

Giddy...no. It's terrible for the employees, they're all getting a royal shaft. Not only are they out of a job more than likely, but all their money in that ESOP is gone as well. I really feel for them having been in a similar position with myself and other close friends and relatives. I am not happy to be right, but I was right, I had said this writing was on the wall from the time they refused to pay out the big ticket ESOP payouts and the Department of Labor got involved and all I got was poo-poo'd by all the various "experts" and "insiders". This isn't a hobby thing, this is a financial thing. When a company can't meet it's financial obligations on a mandatory Federally regulated thing like an ESOP, it's a matter of time. More worser is the fact none of this is Revell's fault, THEY didn't cause this to happen. Revell needs to get a good ownership group to buy them out, or perhaps Tom Lowe can own it all. RevellAG - maybe they can get the prior ownership group that sold them in 2012 back in the building that did all of the excellent kits we remember AG for - the DTM cars, Mini, Beetles, 2CV, Golf, etc AND get the Ferrari license back while they're at it.

Most companies are worth more as a name than their physical assets.

Come everyone pool together your Tamiya Xtra Thin!

The way that article reads unless someone wants to play in their debt restructuring, they're gonna liquidate in April.

Tower Hobbies goes kaput with this liquidation too, as it was half of what made Hobbico to begin with, I doubt Hobby Lobby is gonna buy Revell. Running a model company has nothing to do with operating a retail chain. Other than a random ownership group, the only person I can think of that has enough cash to scoop them up is...Mr. Lowe. Round2 suddenly RULES THE WORLD! Maybe the prior RevellAG ownership will buy them back. Revell had owned and sold the German arm before.

They don't OWN Italeri, they're the North & South America distributor for them.

While supporting your LHS is all fine and well, Hobbico is making money no matter how you obtain a Revell kit. It's not like Amazon Vendors have some way of acquiring Hobbico products without buying them either from them directly or some other middleman that bought them from Hobbico.

After just declaring it was shutting down it's Reno, NV warehouse a couple of days, Hobbico declared bankruptcy this morning. Which could mean the end of both Revells (since Hobbico bought the German side too). Well 2018 just got a lot more interesting... Hobbico "has determined that it may be necessary in the near future to permanently close and discontinue all of its operations in connection with a bankruptcy case to be filed under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code," wrote human resources Director Howard Salazar in a letter dated Wednesday obtained by The News-Gazette. http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-01-10/hobbico-files-bankruptcy-layoffs-next.html

FWIW that review on the Molotow U.S. website is a submitted review from another e-zine, not the gospel truth from the manufacturer in Germany. Which is neither here nor there in what it states per se, but like so many reviews of so many products in the hobby - such as Revell using IPMS builds as substantive proof their products are good - buyer beware on the reviewer knowing what they were doing/knows what they're talkng about.

I'm right there with you, but if they actually tool up the right bumpers and "P-Hole" (not being disgusting the holes on the wheels are the letter "P") wheels for that '83 Pirelli GTi, I will probably break down and get one of those to go with all of my other Mk1 Golf/Rabbit/Caddy kits.

That was Revell of good 'ole Elk Grove Village that had that wonderfully insulting kit description for about 24hrs, what's up there now is a copy-pasta of the RevellAG description word for word. I saw that and wondering how long it would last given RevellAG seems to be all-in on this new Porsche license to try to replace the Ferrari one they were to cheap to renew. Nothing like having some web lackey with a social justice streak stick his/her thumb square in the eye of a major corporation you're trying to build a relationship with...I mean other than a couple of Bimmers and Mercs (and the odd McLaren) EVERYTHING they've done in the past several years has been a Porsche. Last thing they need, particularly with all the morass surrounding the parent company and their yearlong ESOP/Dept of Labor Investigation odyssey, is losing the main license they have to produce new products.

More than likely, it will cease to track once it leaves the U.S. The USPS only has reciprocal tracking with a few places. I had parts coming from the Czech Republic and the Ukraine. The Ukraine one stopped tracking once it left the country, and the Czech Republic one never tracked at all ever. USPS tracking doesn't even function into Canada unless you pay for the upcharge shipping. While I understand YOU don't care, a lot of people pull the "Oh I never got my package" BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH and eBay tends to screw over the seller in those occasions, so many have either given up shipping out of the U.S. or INSIST on using the expensive tracked USPS -> FedEx method.

Ya know why we puzzle over the last minute deletion of Electronic Nannies, and someone forgetting to fill in that last sensor area...can we also pause to take a second to also low five - via a kick in the boys - whomever was tasked to tool up the brakes. Because while the C7.R brakes had herpes temporarily, can someone explain what happened here? The Vette brakes while bemusing, at least made sense. It followed a pattern of the Chinese tooling place not being able to read the plans and tooling things in relief of themselves (aka in negative) which also plagued the '30 Ford's "skeleton" interior. Those...those are like something someone does on Friday after they really don't care and might have had a few wee nips off a flask in the process. Thank God there will be P/E sets for this kit, but in 2000 and now EIGHTEEN I shouldn't HAVE to replace the brakes on a $30 model kit. I mean...just leave 'em blank if you're not gonna do the job.

On a 2016 Panamera that little "nipple" would be part of the blind spot detection and backing "radar" system. There should be FOUR of those more or less in a line across the rear bumper, one where it is, then another inboard near the license plate surround - and then another matching two on the RHS. The outboard ones are the ones that light up that "dot" in the mirrors to let you know there's someone in your blind spot - the inboard ones are for the "booper" system that lets you know you're about to scuff your expensive paint parallel parking. There should also be FOUR of them on the front bumper when the car is equipped that way, two for lane departure, and two for the adaptive cruise control. The good news is obliterating the one they started to put on there means you just de-optioned the car a bit and you don't have to carve 7 more onto the bumpers... My guess is this car has been in the works for the usual 12+ months, and at some point RevellAG decided to change to the 2017 version, and they decided to delete out the Assist System, because even a 2017 with lane departure still has two nipples on the outside edges of the front and back bumper, while the backing assist is in the rear fascia plate as David points out, and the adaptive cruise control sensors are mounted in the front fascia "plates" that surround the turn signals and front vents. I didn't upload any pictures of the 2017 lane departure, but the flipping box art clearly shows them.

Well the only way to get tracked shipment overseas for a U.S. vendor are of course the most expensive options. The USPS option actually involves FedEx once it's outside of the country and the last I checked the prices started at $30 for an 8x11 mailer envelope.

The purist in me has to point out there were only 18 Z-Tune R34s created and with one exception they'e all the unique silver Nissan creates specifically for them.

Yeah my thought was for $8 it fills the base for the C1 Caddy, build one OOB snorezville, and then maybe turn up the wick on the last one a little bit.

I got three of them for $8@ at Ollie's. It'll be fun to watch someone build it as a regular Rabbit rather than the "custom" slambering that 98% of these kits suffer from...