niteowl7710

Should anyone care to take a break from debating the curvature of Ford pickup windows for 30 seconds, this kit was finally released on Friday (the 18th). Fujimi made a few minor tweaks to de-motorize and de-electrify the kit from it's origins, and from the photos I've seen of the runners did some housekeeping in general on the tool (or it was well cared for over the years). Even the metal "diamond tread" on.the trailer decking is molded open. It's a big heavy box and can only be shipped EMS (or FedEx if you use HLJ) for the tune of $40. FedEx is a volume over weight thing so it only adds like $17 to a giant order I have pending. Still at $100 delivered it's a third what the originals sell for...or they did before Friday.

DSC01784 (1280x529) by niteowl7710, on Flickr DSC01785 by niteowl7710, on Flickr

P.S. This Fujimi Evo VII came in today from a friend in California.

eBay is never the answer for Asian kits. The 4L is back ordered, but "available" from HLJ for $37.62, figure it'd be another $8 to ship it. Try HLJ you'll liiiiiiiiiiike it! Although I can't be held responsible for any addiction caused by the access to affordable Japanese model kits may cause to your budget. The 2CV Fourgonnette is a bit of a problem since it's OOP already, and none of the sources we use has any more in stock. Depending on how many Tamiya 2CV "bottoms" Ebbro purchased for the initial kit run, there's a chance it will not be reissued again until the next time Tamiya Spot-Runs their own 2CV kit (which they did when the Fourgonette came out originally) It does tend to be the answer for Revell AG kits though, I picked up on of those Universals from a seller for $18. I don't see any that cheap, but keep in mind the price on it is somewhere in the $18-22 range, anything more than that and you're suffering M.S.R.P. mark-up syndrome. To get a Universal right now, you need(ed) to find someone who imported them from Germany. Tower Hobbies (and by default everyone else) will start carrying them in August for $19.95.

Aerosol paint is a hazardous material, especially to the U.S. Postal Service. It's a pain to just ship around within the Continental U.S. due to the regulations. Post 9/11 it can only be shipped via surface methods, no airplanes. So shipping it Internationally is EXPENSIVE, and takes for ever since it has to be put on a boat. I know some people who found TS-29 when Tamiya paint was universally unavailable here in the States from Asian eBay sellers and it was taking more than THREE MONTHS to get their deliveries.

I don't know how many 389s Peterbilt is actually selling, as I don't see that many new ones around. A lot of the fleets that used them have moved over to the more aerodynamic "fleet" models that they're selling now. Although I suspect down south, especially in Texas, the 389 is as popular as ever. The W900 (or dubbya 9) is still seen by most truckers (at least those of us old enough to have started driving before EVERY fleet went to the 10 ton Toyota - aero, easy to drive, all hard plastics) as the pinnacle of trucker ownership, especially as an Owner Operator. The 84" Studio Sleeper was (and may still be) the largest factory sleeper made. Celadon recently purchased 500 black metallic LoneStars that are max option trucks. They have every box ticked, including hardwood floors. They really are the 1:1 version of the Moebius kit. Until they can either outlaw, or make the entire proposition too expensive for the little guy, there's always going to be a "boutique" market for "Large Car" Class 8 Tractors. Freightliner's main truck is the Cascadia, but they still offer a line of "Legacy Model" trucks which include the Classic/Classic XL and Original Coronado (there's a non-Legacy Coronado and a Classic-ish 122SD available under their regular truck models).

It's a '14 Freightliner Cascadia. Schneider is still using Pumpkin Orange trucks for their OTR & Tanker Divisions. Their Regional Operations trucks are now black, and Dedicated Operations - to whit I formerly was and Matthew currently is, in this case a Wal*Mart Grocery Distribution Account - are white.

Well the release date I kept seeing was July 31st/August 1st, so it was a small surprise when this kit came in stock THIS morning. Interesting features include all the required parts to build it either as a '67-'74 French Domestic Market vehicle, or a post-'78 (from what I can tell) export version. Two sets of interior & exterior mirrors, 2 sets of wheels, 2 steering wheels, and two grilles. Also the canvas top can be posed open or closed, as can both doors, the rear hatch and the hood.

The three most recent reissues of the kit are the black "Chassis No. 0714TR", which is a replica of the 2nd of the thirty-four 250 Testa Rossas built. As such it has a few different options (specifically related to brake cooling) of that particular car and comes with 5 different liveries, three of which are U.S. based races as this chassis wound up in the U.S. in 1959. The white car marked "1958 Le Mans" is a replica of just that, the 1958 Le Mans winning Testa Rossa. It also has decals for 4 other 1958 Le Mans entries (Ferrari entered 10 Testa Rossas in the '58 Le Mans), as well as the markings of the winning "1000km of Buenos Aires" car. This one tends to be the most expensive as it comes with a sheet of photo etch from KA Models in the box. The red box art car is representative of a "street" version of the Testa Rossa if you want to call it that. I believe it's based of the Ralph Lauren collection car, or one very close to it. It's just plain red and doesn't include any of the other kits racing livery decals. It also tends to be the easiest one to find, I'm pretty sure one of my LHS has one on the shelf still. If you want to compare the instructions side by side you can check them out on Hobby Search - http://www.1999.co.jp/search_e.asp?Typ1_c=112&scope=1&scope2=0&itkey=hasegawa+testa+rossa

I can unfortunately see the "median intelligence" argument, looking at my wall of Revell behind me here...what is a 2n1? Is it something like the current version of the '68 Corvette which has that blown drag version to go with the factory stock? Or is it the 2010 Camaro SS which the "2" is a different set of wheels and some ground effects. Does those 8 parts REALLY justify it as a 2n1? Is putting a different set of rims and some ground effects REALLY a completely different build option? Not if you compare it to ye oldern day 2n1 & 3n1 kits where you were getting two or three honestly different end results. Because when you really look at things like the California Wheels branded kits (Mini Cooper, VW Beetle excluded) Revell's idea of a 2n1 kit for the past half a decade is a set of low-pro tires and large modern rims. That would arguably change the style of the end result, but is a '72 Cutlass Convertible riding on 20s really any different than the model painted the same color rolling on stock wheels? This Drag LX is an honest to goodness old fashioned 2n1, and apparently Revell didn't know exactly what to do about that.

It's not just Revell and/or Round 2 that has that "problem", Aoshima & Fujimi are famous for including rashes of spare parts with their kits that came from earlier/other versions of their kits without mentioning them anywhere other than the instruction sheet where those parts will be "grayed out" on the runner layout and marked with *Not for Use I have a Evo VII that has two sets of seats, three steering wheels, two sets of wheels...pretty much every Fujimi & Aoshima Skyline/GT-R kit has at LEAST two sets, if not three or four of wheels included. Aoshima has also made a practice when reissuing kits of including EVERY optional part EVERY version of the kit ever had. Good examples would the the RAV4 and CRV kits which had not only the regular factory stock parts show on the box, but multiple sets of wheels, a second off-road set of tires, plus all the bike racks, brush guards, running boards, etc that came in a separate "Off Road Options" version of those kits. Another example of the "silent carryover" are people who constantly knock the American SATCO versions of the early 90s 4Runner, Pathfinder & Montero into the triple digit stratosphere, but the $24 current versions of the HiLux Surf Wide, Terrano R3M, and Pajero ALL carry over the entirety of the LHD "Americanized" parts. There are no decals for the export versions, but those are easier to come up with than LHD dashboards and windshield wipers...and even if you had to pay someone to do them for you wouldn't cost the additional $75 those SATCO kits cost on eBay.

Without taking into account the costs going into this equation... If Model Company A wants to make a Quarter Million Dollar worth of net income on a it, there was a time when you could buy models anywhere, everybody carried them, everyone built them, we all sang Kumbaya around a campfire in delight. 50,000 kits x $5 = $250,000 Now everyone - but Pittsburgh apparently - is losing all of their LHS, no one builds anymore, the hobby is in the crapper, we're all watching it die, someone light the funeral pyre and get out the black suits. $250,000/10,000 kits = What's the price guys? It's $25... There ya go explained - done and done. Onto lamenting the next thing...

I'd be a little more offended by the either incorrect spoke count, or wheels that weren't technically available on the truck if the actual real wheels weren't included. Those 8 spokes were only standard on Lariats and King Ranches, neither of which is a trim level this kit purports to be. They should have been right rather than wrong, but to build the kit offered on the box, you don't use those wheels in the first place. The accidental V-10 decals and all of the various information on instructions makes me wonder if there wasn't a tip of the hands there to an upcoming V-10 and dually versions. I guess if there's a V-10 Dually down the road with a diesel exhaust we'll know some wires go crossed in the R&D department as to which parts went on what runners.

That's the Order Stop price, it was like $74 on pre-order (I know, I have one pre-ordered). This is actually an older 1980s Mitsuwa tooling, Mitsuwa now being out of the model kit business, or at least the "large" 1:24 scale end of things. This was tooled as just the tractor, then a dump body was added, then the car hauler trailer was tooled, and the tractor and dump truck version were subjected to that interesting Japanese Show Truck treatment with all the chrome wings and spoilers and lights. $74 is frankly a bargain at twice the price, I've seen the trailer ALONE sell for $140. The entire combination usually sells for right around $200. Not just listed for that price, but actually SOLD. Search around on Google for Mitsuwa Mitsubishi and you can find built examples of all of the kits - such as this one Unlike a lot of Japanese truck kits the cab is one piece, it has an engine and chassis details as well.

That has been the number of kits that the NASCAR kits were run at, I suppose the '69 might get run at a higher rate, but he's paying for them up front and then has to sell them later. 5000 kits @ $10 a kit is investing $50,000, and while I'll will not pretend to have any knowledge of Model King's finances, that's a good chunk of cash to have tied up.

A couple four points...food for thought after catching up on this thread. 1) To make an animal husbandry analogy Revell has to milk the cows it has, it can't bet the farm on cows that "aren't born yet". But at the same time they need to raise some calves if they want to keep the dairy open. In English they have to make kits for the people who have the free time (or least disposable income) to purchase them, but can't neglect - as they have been - the future of their business. I think the success (or failure) of the $10 Mustang & Audi kits, along with the pre-painted 2013s will be very telling. Revell gets kudos for getting the kits out on the shelves during the Summer months (the Mustang is a June release, and the others are July/August) when kids are actually AT HOME and can build the kits. Plus they'll be out there way ahead of Christmas time as well (or just in time for Christmas in a big box retail point of view). Banking the entire future on the 50+ crowd just simply can't be done no matter how much you guys want to argue it. Go down to the forum basement and check out the thread of people listing their nearly hobby ending medical issues. Sorry guys but a LOT of the Peace, Drugs & Free Love crowd go rode hard and put up wet and it's coming back to bite everyone in the hind end. I'm not sure everyone's retirements will be nearly as health and/or as long as they think they are. My mom passed in February at 65 and she didn't even live the hippie lifestyle. 2) Grand Turismo and Forza are not the arcade driving games a lot of you seem to think they are. If you want to be successful and get into the truly high-end machinery especially in Grand Turismo you better be prepared to learn how to drive a race car and spend a LOT of time doing it. I understand with the newest version of GT you can buy in-game cash with REAL cash to sort of "short circuit" the experience of having to start with a used factory stock 4-banger econobox. As others have mentioned tapping into that market or tying into that market even if only a couple percent of people "transition" is still several THOUSAND people that because models aren't sold in every store around the block might not really be aware modeling exists. The downfall is of course that most of the cars involved seem to be the exclusive domain of Japan, with the exception of Ferarris from Revell AG. All of them for the most part are modern cars, and a slew of them are icky furrin' vehicles...I promise they don't radiate off cooties onto your Gasser kits at the LHS. 2a) This insistence that because a kit already exists, especially if it's 30+ year old tooling, it can't be done again in nonsense. I did thirty seconds of research tonight and found that there are no less than THIRTY (that's 3-0) boxings of Nissan Skyline R34 GT-Rs (1999-2002 5th Gen) from ALL THREE of the big Japanese manufacturers, several of them replicating each others kits, but there also being every version of those cars to the "nth" degree. That doesn't count the race car only kits. That doesn't count about 25-30 different variations of the R32 & R33 Skyline GT-Rs, and about 18 different boxings of the Nissan GT-R R35 (the one they also sell here in the U.S.). Yeah the GT-R is iconic, and yeah sure the Japanese market is different than here. BUT the point being they REALLY have the "multiple variations of a tooling" thing down pat over there, and they aren't afraid to compete head to head to prove who has the best product on the market. 3) One of the facilitating reasons that Moebius could bring the Hudson to market is Dave Burkett. Model King did two 5k piece runs of the NASCAR versions of the Hudson. How much easier is it to green light a project when 10,000 kits are sold before the tooling is cut? 5,000 Chryslers...5,000 '69 Ford F-Series...heck 5,000 '57 Ford Customs from Revell for that matter...it was one thing when he was putting up cash to restore tooling, it's another when it's cash to basically support tooling that doesn't exist. You need Revell or Moebius to make you a model of the Hupmobile you want, go to Kickstarter and see if you can get enough cash to pay for half of the kit run...see if that doesn't open the door for your project idea.

Couple of things recently. Got my first foray into admitting my eyes aren't as good as they were when I was a kid. Well actually I've worn glasses/contacts since I was a kid, it's more like I actually care about small details, whereas I didn't as a kid. DSC01709 (1280x700) by niteowl7710, on Flickr I've seen several complaints recently about a visor set that looks just like that one being cheap and useless, but the one I have is actually the brand new Carson Opticals OptiVisor Pro; not the made in China, sold through Spain half-baked (and half-priced) knock-off. Being the eyepieces are cut by an actual Optics company, they are crystal clear and virtually perfect. The other one that I know people are fan of, I don't care for the "wearing a ViewMaster" looks or claustrophobic feeling of losing my peripheral vision with the visor pulled down. This one the lens itself is mounted to a swivel piece that swings it forward out of the way, or backwards into the visor part for storage. The three LED light is blindingly bright to look into directly (whoops), pivots and swivels and comes off the visor and is magnetic and can be place on the workbench surface for light pretty much anywhere. I've tested it out and I like it, we'll see how it stands up to actual use. Also this pile of kits... DSC01710 (750x1280) by niteowl7710, on Flickr They are (top to bottom)- Won at Club Raffle, Picked up at LHS, bought from Hobby Search, won on eBay, bought from a friend, and won on eBay. The two Mercs which I together paid less than I would for either individually on eBay most days complete my collection of "Factory & Factory Tuner" twin kits. I know have the S500, S600, & 600 SEL in both regular and AMG packaging. Those SEL took about 18 months to secure, but then both happened in the same week. Better to be lucky than good sometimes.

Well considering Mr. Plowboy has been active across this forum for the past several days since posting his claims, I'm going to now have to presume there is in fact no problem with this kit to the nature which he alleges there to be.

Depending on how the reefer is equipped - multiple zones/cooling units vs. single zone cooling unit (meaning you can separate the trailer by insulated bulkheads and operate it at separate temperatures vs. there being a uniform temperature for the entire trailer) you can put somewhere between 40,000 and 45,500lbs worth of cargo into it. Part of the equation also is how heavy the tractor is, as the entire vehicle's gross weight can't exceed 80,000lbs. The multiple zone trailers haul less cargo weight due to the additional weight of the internal cooling units and insulated bulkheads.

Also notice that it's officially an Azera for the export release in July, not the SKDM specific Grandeur markings it had for it's South Korean release.

Perhaps the M.K. '69 since it will have that 5k "Limited Edition" tag, but it's not like there's ever really a shortage of new kits. I saw in another thread people lamenting the lack of '70 Cudas because the next batch wasnt coming until this month because it's being run of with the Sox & Martin kit that's coming at the end of the month. But the LHS by my office has TWO of them just sitting there since they were released.

Well the Moebius Hudson and Chryslers are pretty wonkily proportioned, and the LoneStar's hood will not shut if built according to the instructions, and yet everyone around here declares Moebius the greatest thing since sliced bread and the kits to be of "Tamiya-like" quality. Perhaps people are willing to give the new "kids" a bit of a pass as they go through their learning curve, and expect the company that's been at it for 65+ years to know what they're doing by now...

The Universal! It's a neat little wagon variation of Revell AG's new Trabant 601 tool from a couple of years ago. They really are quite neat little kits - and I mean they're tiny cars in real life - scaling them down did no sizing favors. But unlike the ancient AG Trabant tooling these new tool kits are full detail with tiny little engines and everything. Well worth the price of admission if you're into weird little Iron Curtainmobiles.

Remember when mis-declaring the value or falsely claiming something is a gift, it's YOU who are going to be in hot water not the end recipient. Even if someone like Mr. Hales asked you to do it - and I don't intend to question his ethics beyond his own statements - I bet 99% of people will immediately declare that they NEVER asked you to make false Customs declarations. They'll just have their package tied up for months while everyone tries to figure out what the item(s) are worth, and probably get stuck with paying a duty on the MSRP of them. Meanwhile if you've done that type of thing enough (or the package has a high enough mis-declared value) - remember those tracking numbers aren't SnapChat, they never go away - the USCBP & Postal Inspection Service will come knocking on your door to have a chat about your inability to not commit fraud. Those outbound Customs declarations are FEDERAL documents, and you're swearing that the information is correct and true. It's one thing to declare NCV on a built model, since what value does it REALLY have commercially, but any complete kit - particularly sealed ones - DO. You could declare a "gift" on a trade, but by the letter of the law if they paid for the item beyond the costs associated with shipping it, then it has a declarable value. Nobody here can operate a Duty-Free Hobby Shop. If you're going to do that little dance with fate, you oughta at least toss in a Birthday Card or something, to make it plausible that you were REALLY sending them a gift. Also when you undervalue the contents of the package, that value becomes what the contents are worth should the package go AWOL or become destroyed in shipment. So that $50 worth of models that got sent out, and you're on the hook for replacing/refunding since they were purchased by the other guy, is now worth $1 to the USPS when you go to make a claim for it.

The Revell kit in the North American box is just a reboxing like all the Ferarri kits. It too was done by Revell of Germany, and at least in the German/Euro boxing has both RHD & LHD along with a full compliment of decals to make either a Austin Mini Cooper or a Morris Mini Cooper. Now that Hobbico owns both Revells it seems they aren't importing Revell AG kits to the US unless they don't plan to sell them directly here. Like this Rally version of the Mini Cooper, or the 2CV Charleston, either of the Trabant kits, or the '70 Beetle Cabriolet for example. You can't however order the European boxed version of the '68 Beetle. Or pre-order the Euro boxing of the La Ferrari or the 1st Gen Golf GTI. I find this annoying since the seemingly only way to get a non-warped Revell Ferrari was to shell out the couple extra bucks for the AG boxed kits. Oddly enough Hobbico re-imports OUR kits back to us. My LHS has the Revell AG Euro boxed version of the Impala Police Car, '69 Charger, '09 Challenger SRT8, and Viper ACR SRT kits that were all recently "reissued" for the European market