niteowl7710

Why are you waiting on the LoneStar? That kit has been out for well over a year now.

You both know exactly what I meant by that, so stop your mock indignation. But then again the cars I've owned that were "classic" enough to need work, I have done myself, or bartered out to get the work done. I don't consider getting beer, having a BBQ and later helping someone move restoring with my checkbook. I used my debit card at the grocery store...

All of the R-Bodies (Chrysler Newport, pre-'82 Gran Fury, St. Regis) were awful heaps of fail. I believe those cars had something approaching, but not quite reaching 100HP out of those strangled 318s inside a 3,500lb car.

Looks like an AMT '62 T-Bird collided with a Revell California Wheels rim delivery truck to me. 22 year old ehh? Good for him, I admire his tastes in T-Birds, but he's either the most talented body guy and mechanic in recent history, or he's a rich kid with deep pockets. Checkbook "restorations" don't impress me much (to channel my inner Twain).

We had a 1980 Rabbit, but a 4 door. One of the New Stanton, PA specials that lowered VW Quality Control to whole new levels. We had more problems with that car than all the other cars my parents and I have owned before and since then combined.

Brett - is there a reason that Revell (or whomever) can't get the CAD data from GM/Ford/Chrysler? It seems to my recollection that Moebius did the Lonestar from company files, and it managed to get that kit out so fast it rocketed up the release schedule past the Hudson and 55' C 300 (two more kits I own - actually 3, plus the Hudson Convertible). I get that the promo contract goes to one company, and that company isn't Revell anymore. But is a cost thing? Access? Seems it would be beneficial to all parties to release models of current cars...ya know in the current year. Again I get that it takes time to cut tools, run test shots, tweak tools, draw decals, make instruction sheets, etc and it magically can't be an idea to a model in 90 days, and a human hand has to be in the kit design no matter the data access point to get the parts to assemble into something. Just seems in 2013 the EASIEST (and thereby cheapest) thing to produce would be a '13 Viper or '14 Corvette since all of the measuring and whatnot already exists ready to be plucked right from the company itself.

But Aaron it's VHTF...so much so it says that like 68 times in the description. Apparently he totally missed the fact he's going up against someone who has one listed at $13.84...Best of luck with that one dude!

Ahh for as much as I'm sure Brett feels like he's beating his head off a wall around here at times, so do several of us that would like to see more variety. Heck it's not even variety, it's just that I think some models a lot us (old codgers included) expected to see like a ZL-1 Camaro, SS Convertible, a '13 Mustang with the new motor, Boss/Laguna Seca variations haven't appeared. It makes me start getting leery that Revell may decide we don't need a '13 Viper, '14 Corvette, '14 Camaro, or '15 Mustang either. These are sort of mainstays in the Revell "system" of offering American Sports/"Halo" cars as a given. You put too many eggs in that Oldsmobile basket (even if it is selling like proverbial cakes of high temperature) and you're going to alienate a large chunk of your future customer base. For a lot of "us" (grew up on Monogram & AMT in the 80's & 90's) we all got burnt once with all of the fiddly old tooling Revell kits during that time and I for one didn't buy a Revell kit for YEARS...until they did the Motor Trend Car of the Year Series - Grand Prix, T-Bird & Cougar that was the first signs of cutting edge, state-of-the-art tooling we've come to expect with Revell in the past decade. Not sure how many people will give them another chance if they decide the younger modelers (even if there are apparently only three and half dozen of us from the sounds of it) don't matter. I'm not, nor have I ever advocated NOT making the '50 Olds or '57 Ford - I have kits of both, and depending on what variations comes next (don't have much use for NASCAR or Drag - just not my bag of chips), I will probably buy those too. Here's an example of a 4 month period of kits at the end of 2011 into 2012. As you can see I buy old codger cars too, I'd just like to have less of my late-model vehicles to come from overseas and Germany.

Well I dunno who got to Brett, but always enjoy sharing my evidentally unwanted and useless opinion and engage in debate with someone who's got the fact and figures to back up his point of view. Announcements only happen twice a year, the rest of the time all we have to discuss is what they should have made and would we wish they'd make. But if we don't speculate what else are we going to do around here? Actually build models? Like that's ever going to happen.

If this, the Rabbit and the Subaru Brat tooling still exist in a dark corner if the tooling vault, they should run some plastic through them this fall...

I have no problem with the wonderful world of diecast. Sure I'd like things to be plastic, but I also take what I can get. Craziness talking here, but it seems with some planning, you could release at least 2, and maybe 4 kits off the chassis platform that the Taurus & Explorer share. A Police Interceptor & SHO, and a Police Interceptor Utility & Explorer XLT. The Explorer would require a separate body tool, interior pan, wheels and the Civi version would require some interior bits (the Interceptors share most parts in the interior), but all of the chassis, engine and drivetrain up to and including the AWD system is identical. I suppose in reality there's not really a market for an Explorer kit, I have no idea how well (if at all) the 90's AMT/Ertl kits did, but I think you could make a reasonable case for the SHO.

Ahh heck civilization will come to an end first the way Matt keeps finding new and unique ways to harm himself. Since people'll do anything to avoid building I tell ya!

That's a cute picture, unfortunately it's a bad Photoshop. USBP does have Raptors, but they have the same graphics as the rest of the fleet.

I'm sorry I only got as far as "not allowed" before my eyes went crossed in disbelief. Say WHAT again? Look I have a wife and three kids, bills, budgets and the whole nine yards, but I also didn't marry my mother, and as an adult no one short of a law enforcement officer can tell me I'm "not allowed" to do or buy something. I get keep 'em happy to keep 'em quiet, and I'm not going to pretend to be a marriage counselor. But if you managed to figure that relationship out, you're a saint.

I'm.with Jonathan on the Japanese kits. Some if their variations seem to follow a "One Run of Very Limited Fun" sales scheme. There are a pair of GT-R kits that Aoshima put out around Christmas that are already OOP and discontinued on a lot of the direct to US sales sites. I have to prioritize my purchases that way since even a "common" kit has a run of around 10k compared with the 50k Revell run (and invariable bi-annual reissues).

They got burned with the new Mustang because they tried to cheap their way out (as usual) and make it a '10 and NOT an '11 which yes would have required an actual new engine rather than laying out the old engine in a different runner orientation. The lack of making the Coyote 5.0 mill was an epic fail. The fact they didn't fix that problem and release a '12 or better yet a '13 (another mild along tweak) with the right engine - it would be a popular engine to out source into a variety of build styles - and then do a Boss/Laguna Seca version(s) in mind numbingly frustrating. That development cycle needs to be fixed and the apparently broken relationship with the factories rectified. Otherwise go and fold up the tents on the Under 50 crowd. When the Asian manufacturers can release kits at almost the same time as the actual vehicle launches - and it's not just Japanese cars, look how fast Fujimi got the F 12 Berlinetta to market - I'm tired of hearing excuses.

I'll call 1:25 old codger scale because while I certainly enjoy muscle cars, classic cars and the like with the exception that was Monogram the only way to get a WIDE variety if modern vehicles is to go into the deep dark eeeeevil that is foreign manufacturers and 1:24 scale. Although I ponder a bit of either xenophobia it lingering anger over Pearl Harbor because I can't think of one single time where anyone here has ever complained that Revell AG kits are "the wrong" scale. Not one "Man I'd buy that Ferrari 458 Italia if Revell would have made it in 1:25". But oh my those terrible Japanese kits are all the wrong scale, and bad cars, and too expensive, and curbside, and from OVERSEAS! - yada yada yada. Nevermind that most Aoshima & Tamiya offer a more satisfactory building experience (unless you enjoy pretending to be Chuck Norris at your workbench), the majority of new members here lately who declared their age have been mid-30's guys who like my own mid-30's self would like to build more cars we see on Top Gear and grew up "driving" on Grand Turismo & Forza Motorsports than the 65th variation of the '69 Camaro tooling. Old Money is indeed the driver at the moment. But the Gen X guys are coming into our top earning potential in the next 10-15 years, whereas a lot of you (no offense just reality) are heading onto a fixed income. Revell is making their money no doubt, but I hope they have a better "big picture" view of the future than their product line indicates.

Models by Tony has been gone for at least 15 years now. Would have move if he passed the masters/molds onto someone else, but that's how the cottage industry cookie crumbles.

As Chuck points out the "Tuner" Series that Revell attempted was well after that style peaked. If you remember they've been (Caution Sarcasm Ahead!) RIGHT on top of the Lowrider and DONK trends too. The other major problem for those that build JDM style (Hella Flush, Stanced, etc) is that Revell decided to "Americanize" the scale and do them on 1:25, and yet pretty much every wing set, seat set, decal, and wheel & tire combo for JDM "Tuner" style is in 1:24! Go ahead explain the sales rationale to me. Mold kits that are in the old codgers scale that they simply aren't interested in, and alienate the target buyer because they can't use any modification parts they own. A brilliant Revell fiasco all around.

The one thing about the diecast police market is that the customizers really DO buy the "kits" by the case-load. Those guys don't want model kits. They want something they can quickly (dis)assemble, repaint, decal, and move onto the next order. It would be nice if Revell made the very minor changes needed to morph the Impala SS into a (or BACK into a) 9C1 Caprice since they're on a police car kick this year with the SSP Mustang, reissue of the Expedition with police parts, the co-branding of the '57 Ford (when's the Chevy version - no brainer there), and even the reissue of the '37 Ford last month comes with period "Chicago Police" decals.

They were blowing those F150's out at Ollie's for $7 for the better part if a year. Although the two Lindberg kits are 4x4s, AMT already has a tool of their own for that same truck. One might speculate that the '97 F-150 is the reason we can't get a current pick-up made. All three companies had kits out, oversaturating the market leading each company to see them as sales losers. How many F-150s does one person need? Because there are 2 Lindberg, at least 2 AMT, and 4 from Revell.

Look across to the Japanese my friend. Aoshima did kits of the last generation of WRXs and the Evo X. Heck I'm pretty sure with some digging (some are out of production) you can get kits of most of the WRX and Evo generations. American companies are never going to make kits of those Asian subjects. Heck the only reason we see ANY foreign manufacturer represented in "American" model boxes is Revell has a German counterpart (now I suppose it's a Division since Hobbico owns them both) that the North American Revell resells in "our" boxes. Otherwise there'd be nothing but old American cars with a sprinkling of occasional current Big 3 sports cars.

Probably has something to do with how touchy Chicago PD still is to this day with the fallout from "The Blues Brothers". After the department was made to look like a bunch of baffoons they restricted the use of their likeness severely. It's why the "Hill Street Blues" cars even though they're clearly Chicago, said "Metro Police" on the side.

Dangit Jonathan these people need an oil pan! They don't care if it's completely and totally hidden, a model kit is just not a model kit without the oil pan!! Anyone who's complaining about the hyper-detailed "7/8th's of an engine" aspect to the new Aoshima tooling has clearly never stuck their noses in a Revell AG Ferrari kit lately. Those things look like a bunch of lumber nailed together at odd angles on the bottom since there's only a sliver or two that show through the bottom of the skid plate and those parts are the only thing that they engrave.

The thing about Love's is that while the company itself started in 1964, it didn't take the name of the founder (Tom Love) until the early 1970's and back then the company was just a series of gas station/convenience stores located around Oklahoma City. The first truck stop (in Amarillo, TX) didn't open until 1981, and the company didn't really expand out of the Mid-South until the 2000's when it exploded across the country filling the vacuum created when Pilot bought out the truck stop sites that Speedway operated and bought out the Williams Travel Center chain. Which as an aside drove us all crazy because Pilot immediately ripped out all of the sit down restaurants at those locations to install Subways. The same thing that happened to Flying J when they were forced to merge with Pilot to avoid bankruptcy a few years ago. Although at least they sub-contracted Denny's into those locations (which doubled the number of Denny's franchises overnight). Come to think of it the only truck stop chain that has survived their brush with Pilot is Bossellman's which just co-brands their fuel and mercifully kept their stores, Grandma Max's sit down restaurants and free Wi-Fi. Sapp Brothers continues to hang on with their small chain of truck stops too, but so many independents are gone, or have been bought up by the big guys -- The Lee-Hi is now owned by T/A, and White's in Raphine, VA is now a Petro - no more breakfast "wif taters" and they took down the display cases that held the massive gun collection and motorcycle racing memorabilia. Back to the original point however, when the AMT Trailer was "new" in 1:1, I'm willing to be Love's was getting their gasoline delivered by whatever the local gasoline tanker contractors in the area were back then. The fleet of Neon Yellow trucks and trailers didn't come online until they had enough locations to justify having their own delivery fleet.