niteowl7710

Actually they destroyed the Daytonavette (one of several built for filming and stunts) on screen and Ferrari gave them 2 '86 Testarossas. If you want a kit of an ACTUAL Ferrari Daytona, then go buy a Fujimi EM kit, the Spyder is still in production in the regular "Ferrari Red" window box, and the coupe was just reissued on Wednesday as part of a new "The Circuit Wolf" (Japanese Cartoon) series.

Stop clicking "Add to Cart" so excitedly.

FedEx prices came back in line with EMS a little bit recently, about a $2 difference. I have to drive past the FedEx office, but my local Post Office (who refuse to leave packages for the past 8 months)is not on my way home.

The suspension can be set to be cambered like on the box art as well. It's adjustable in height and camber actually since there's one tooling for all the 86/BRZ kits with kit variable specific parts.

They seemed to push some stuff around and moved things up in January. The Tommy Ivo "Showboat" dragster was supposed to come out, that evaporated and was replaced with the Build n Play Jeep Rubicon - which is out, saw one at the LHS this morning.

Tamiya kits usually weigh in *rimshot* at about 1,000¥ if shipped via SAL. It's been so long since I've only had one kit to ship, I don't actually worry about the per kit cost anymore. Big FedEx crates work out to like $6/kit

For some reason I can't edit my post on my phone this morning. Forgot to mention for LATE MARCH release.

MSRP on this is 4,200¥. Which for those people who resolutely refuse to buy their Japanese kits via Japan means the LHS shelf price is going to be around $75-80. For those of us smart enough to do direct importing, the price at HLJ is 3,360¥, which with the favorable exchange rate is working out to $28.57 this morning. I'll wait while all the crybabies tell me $29 is too much to pay for this kit, I'll be over here preordering it.

In each case Tamiya made their kit first and other people followed. So with all due respect I don't think you can blame Tamiya for being copied. I'd like an FF just to round out my Ferrari collection, but Aoshima and Fujimi already make Aventadors, and Tamiya really WOULD be copying there, and with Coupe, Roadster, and soon to be 50th Anniverario editions at Aoshima I can't even see what other Aventador there is to kit other than the J.

Silly or repeated subjects ehh? Care to give examples?

My dubiousness over the 60s (and to an extent the 15 year period between 1988-2003) being a golden age is how much of this hobby at it's infancy was paid for by the various 1:1 auto manufacturers paying the freight with all of the promotional models? If the annuals didn't ever exist, is the hobby as a whole robust enough heading into the gas crisis (and subsequent down turn of Detroit) during the mid/late 70s until people figured out engines could have HP again? Look at what happened to JoHan when the promo orders dried up. The merger of AMT/MPC/Ertl and Revell making their "landmark" kits (like the '69 Camaro) also coincided with all the folks from the 60s reentering the hobby and having my generation. We were introduced to the hobby by a group of very enthusiastic returning builders who were also getting into things we consider run of the mill in 2015. Resin, Photoetch, aftermarket decals, etc. But when we all drifted away to college combined with the effective end of the entire promo business, a crutch that when removed effectively hobbled AMT until Round2 came along (IMHO), it sent the hobby into a dark period. It's that time I will truly credit the older generation for keeping things going. In 2015 Gen X/Y is back from collegiate journey into the wilderness, the explosive technological revolution in both the internet & kit manufacturing, and now we've got the kids this time around (mine are 12, 3 1/2 and about to turn 2) and they are a fortunate bunch. They will have TWO generations of builders to guide them! The hobby has a solid 15 year period ahead of it where there will be THREE generations of builders operating at once. It's the opportunity of a lifetime for everyone involved, we must do the best we can not to squander it.

I agree that if certain people can be brought on board the "Future is Bright as the Sun!" bus we will indeed enter a genuine honest Golden Age in the Hobby. I'd debate the exact number involved, as the "2nd Age" in the 90s almost looks like a bubble in retrospect, and the "1st Age" was the origin of the hobby. Not to sound disrespectful of the folks here who were around for it, but I'm not sure you can dub the creation of something as it's original Golden Age. That's like claiming the 1st Golden Age of Automobile was the Stanley Steamer and Model T when everyone (something like 300+ automakers at one point) was making something that had 4 wheels and that new fangled internal combustion engine, as opposed to the ACTUAL Golden Age of the Post WWII to Gas Crisis years (IMHO). But semantics aside there was an article with the RevellAG people at Nuremburg and they said that RevellAG saw a 13% growth in sales in 2014, after a 6% growth in 2013. Even after taking a disastrously high write-down liquidating a bunch of Star Wars kits nobody wanted (huh who would have figured) they still saw a nearly 3% growth in plastic model sales if split off from the rest of their business. 3% might not sound like much, but it's not a loss, and it's certainly more growth than say the ACTUAL economy of pretty much ANY European country had in 2014. I hazard to say most businesses would like to see a 3% gain in the past 5-7 years, or any of us would take that pay raise at work as well. They also saw an increase in export sales to the U.S. and Asia, and the Hobbico ownership will certainly do nothing but increase their visibility in this country. Heller has bold new ownership who clearly isn't afraid to fund new projects, EBBRO has made an obvious and major investment in diversification out of simply a diecast company, and Aoshima continues to push aggressive growth at home and abroad. Time will tell what Meng and ICM do within the 1/24 model realm as Meng didn't go to Germany, and ICM had no new 1/24 kits on display (in their defense the Model T kits are brand new and their focus). The one key to sustainability this time around I believe will be THIS very media form. Not forums per say, but the entirety of the internet. No longer will Heller be just "that French company", or Aoshima be another small manufacturer in Japan. They have a global platform, global sales reach, and a global audience, with the recent retirement of one of the key "from the beginning" employees at Aoshima they've also gotten leaner, tougher and younger. Bold plans put in place by bold teams of people 50 & Under, who seem to be real "car guys". How well that enthusiasm translates into products only time will tell, but they certainly aren't listening to the Hobby Chicken Littles... Everyone is always ready to roll out the desert tray of reasons why things can't be done. I say that the 2015 Nuremberg Toy Fair was a giant fat warning shot over they bow of that attitude by people willing to not only show the reason why things CAN be done, but are willing to do them. Even within the U.S. Moebius seems to be small and agile, with the presence of mind to realize a visible representative to their customers is needed. Even if their customers sometimes aren't exactly tactful with their criticism, they are willing to take it under advisement and improve their products. Round2 has figured out their niche, and is going to milk that til the cows come home. Someone go phone Illinois, if we can get the dinosaur (or perhaps giant elephant) back into fighting shape, maybe this hobby has a chance to prove the naysayers completely wrong.

Did these "Bod Mods" vehicles come with a dream catcher and a sweatshirt with an iron-on graphic of a wolf head or two? Talk about 70s CHEESY!!

The i8 is really something, that could have easily been a curbside kit with the engine buried under that "package shelf" and the entire aero chassis pan. But not only full detail, but opening doors (not a usual RevellAG touch) to boot.

Late May is the latest tentative release date based on their distribution arm.

Why not? With two 2CVs in my possession, plus the Fourgonette, who am I to turn down a matching Coupé Utility Slough? Plus EBBRO & Tamiya = WIN!

Just as an FYI, the EBBRO Tyrell 002 kit came out today for those were waiting.

There's a pond between Belgium and Ireland? I thought it to be more of a Straight, or perhaps a Narrows... I think this is a case of darned if you do, darned if you don't. SInce there's the massive skid plate under the engine, all of the bottom side detailing is moot. So then if they were to put only a top half of an engine in, there would be the indignant outrage that follows every Tamiya/Aoshima/Fujimi release that has an engine insert rather than a full engine. Curbside probably takes a good third out of the tooling costs too. $60 is pricey for a kit sure, but how much is this costing to make, and then how many of them are they REALLY gonna make and be able to sell - in the real market, not the imaginary "I'll buy a CASE!!!" one - and then do the math. If Belkits doesn't do it? Who will? Any MAJOR player (eg Revell AG) will have to tool it to make a number of variations thereby causing compromises to be made in that respect, although a Rally car might finally give them a kit with correct ride height out of the box. I don't have a dog in the fight, as this is an interesting subject, but not something I'm doing a dance about. But if we want small independent companies to succeed someone has to pay the freight for the releases.

Mayhaps I took that to mean the two McLarens, and the tentative subjects as being the 50th Anniversario Aventador, and '88 F.I. Countach,

There is a set of transfers, if you look on the parts layout photo they're right below the decals. Tamiya has in more recent years been including "doubles" of the scripting in decals, as some people East of the Pacific seem to believe they're made via witchcraft and try to dunk them in water..hilarity then ensues. We'd offer you cookies, but we spent the baked good budget on superbly engineered Japanese model kits.

I don't believe there is to be any announcement of the Super Cars at Nuremberg, they are showing off an Orange (unsure if it's molded in color, or pre-painted like some of their other kits) and Molded Clear Body McLaren F1 GTR Long Tails which are obviously just tooling amortization kits.

The Chevrolet Cruze is BeeMax, it is as far as I know done, but is still tied up in some sort of licensing wrangling with GM. Belkits is a completely different company. This Escort isn't even out of 3D files yet, it'll probably be in the Fall before it comes out at the earliest.

You can count me among the "Not Shocked" crowd when this get reissued at the end of 2015 or early next year in a regular box the way the Black Widow recently did. This kit "sold out" quickly, so there's still a market for them, and your "big box" places don't get to carry SSP releases.

It would make sense that since there is very little difference beyond the body parts that you would run off a whole slew of kits since you have the rest of the tooling out and being run.

My RevellAG Golfs came in Friday fresh from the Big Building down in Champaign, Illinois.