
niteowl7710
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Everything posted by niteowl7710
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Very few Revell Germany kits get U.S. reboxes, and with the new management Revell Germany kits are no longer force shipped to the U.S., retailers/wholesalers have to order them. As others have mentioned it's been out for awhile and it quickly sold out when the first shipments of it came around. Most likely will have to source one from a Euro/UK vendor.
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The Torino reissue is a Revell U.S. kit in our boxes with a North American stock number. I'm not sure how many (if any) of those Revell kits Hannants actually carries.
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Revell Germany has a long tradition of doing their later year new tool/revised tooling announcements on New Year's Day. Hannants usually leaks that list early...and Bob's your Uncle. Tune into German modeling websites on January 1st at 1 minute after Midnight to see the official Revell announcement.
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AMT to reissue the Alaskan Hauler Kenworth
niteowl7710 replied to Mr mopar's topic in Truck Kit News & Reviews
Next month. 01/23 -
Fujimi did offer their Celica XX (these cars weren't called Supras in Japan) in the High Mecha line with an engine insert. Last reissued in 1998 this way, it's been around by the boatload since then as a very simple curbside.
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Upcoming Round 2 reissue news via Spotlight Hobbies
niteowl7710 replied to Dave Darby's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
The original 1500 was tooled up in 88 right before MPC was purchased by Ertl and then merged into AMT - which then reissued most of those 88 annuals (1500, Beretta, F Bodies, Mustang, Vettes, etc) as magicly 1989 AMT kits. This is also right at the cut line where the manufacturers stop destroying tooling to create the next version. When you think about kits that survive to this day with ALL of their parts in tact it starts with the Revell kits around that same time frame - '69 Camaro, '32 Ford, and so forth. It's quite possible that given the kits were annuals and never really intended to be reissued in the future (as that just wasn't EVER done with those kits they were either destroyed into a race car of some sort, or the tooling still exists in the final kit form with inserts sometimes long since lost) that the long bed 1500 was destroyed when it was turned into USA 1, and the short bed box went missing along the way making the 454SS impossible. Steve has already said somewhere in the multiple overlapping topics here that AMT never owned the later promo/SnapFast tooling so it doesn't exist at all. -
I mean this kit hasn't been reissued since 1985...I find it hard to believe it's very common outside of vendors who'd pass on it thinking it worthless the same way all Japanese cars are. Lord knows I've picked up enough Tamiya kits over the years from people who just wanted to rid their stand of some icky Furrin' plastic with no real understanding (or care) of what the potential value really is... I for one haven't seen one of these kits locally for less than $40. So picking it up brand new freshy-fresh for $28 works for me...even if it is the "wrong" scale. Also another vote (again) for a 1st Gen Supra
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Yeaaaaaah you might know and trust Tamiya, but if you're not up on that kit's history that's gonna be a mighty big box of motorized toy disappointment. Also not counting it's reissue back when the new "BMW Supra" kit was released it had been out of the catalog - at least in it's U.S. Spec "Long Beach Grand Prix Marshal" boxing for quite awhile. That kit sits around and doesn't move very well precisely because it's as much a wild pile of dreck as the Aoshima/IMAI and Fujimi Celica XX kits.
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Round2/ AMT '55 Chevy Nomad Wagon Kit Coming in 2023
niteowl7710 replied to stavanzer's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
Looks like January. It was in this month's Round2 video, buts it's not part of the December releases on the distribution side. -
Never Say Never about old kits. "New Era Modeling"
niteowl7710 replied to stavanzer's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
Less to do with ability than wherewithal. Licensing for these things from scratch (he doesn't hold a current license with anyone) start in the mid-5 digits and go up from there (BMW from scratch licensing has been upwards of $250k € about half a decade ago). Then there's a long arduous approval process of the concept, test shots, concept box art and decal art, final prototype approval before production, approval of the final box art, decals, instructions, and kit itself. All the way through that the manufacturer has last right to refuse approval. Then you have to carry millions of dollars in product liability insurance, plus pay a per unit royalty. That's why you see people here and elsewhere quote a $300-450k price tag on a new tool from R&D to Shelf. Established companies, like a Round2, are paying a little less on the licensing end if they already hold an established 3 year (max term) license with a GM, Ford, et al because you're not paying for an entire whole new license with every kit. You might be able to do a quick song and dance around all of that if you attempted to 3D print an entire kit in some form or another, but then you're taking a flyer on getting a Cease & Desist - which has happened to resin casters on occasion. Powell doesn't have a company and the original two brothers have long since past. Getting permission from the heirs is a lot easier than going through all of the above with Stellantis. -
All of those MPC Camaros were annual kits, so unless Round2 would go about recreating one of them the tooling is parked as a 1981 model.
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Never Say Never about old kits. "New Era Modeling"
niteowl7710 replied to stavanzer's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
Jo-Han doesn't in that way exist anymore. Copy the kit, tweak things to make it better (like losing the axle through the engine) and release it. It's not like Okey is in a position to do anything at this point to make the actual original kits and the tooling is either lost or beyond reasonable financial reach. -
Never Say Never about old kits. "New Era Modeling"
niteowl7710 replied to stavanzer's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
In furtherance of my point of Hasegawa being new dog, old kits - in February they're reissuing that kit again, but this time with a newly tooled set of wire wheels. If you bought every version of the 2000GT that Hasegawa has plopped into the market since the current cycle of new car tooling being their main focus (post 2016) you'd be sitting on NINE of these things at this point. Pricewise it slots in above the standard issue but always in the catalog 2000GT (by $6) but below the 3 race car kits, and both resin girl kits... Actually FWIW the entire 02/23 release slate is recycled kits with new decals with a WRC Corolla for Valentino Rossi, a 72 Season Celica Race Car, the aforementioned 2000GT and these two as well. A ZG with new Watanabes (which say C110 on the runner tag, but neither 70s Skyline kits have come with these so far) and the venerable Bluebird SSS with Mooneyes decals. All of these kits are about trying to bilk..err convince modelers to buy another version of a kit they probably already own several copies of already. -
Well remember there was a "Street Machine Dually" that was part of the SnapFast line back in the day that had a billet grille, custom rims and a cowl induction hood. If one were to take the newly tooled stock grille and hood from the upcoming short bed and then tool up some actual 3500 dually rims and MIRRORS (and maybe tires depending on what the disposition of the truck tires are out of the extended cab/Ram 3500 Dually) and *Poof* Bob's Your Uncle you have (finally) a factory stock Silverado 3500.
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Never Say Never about old kits. "New Era Modeling"
niteowl7710 replied to stavanzer's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
Kinda, sorta, but I say no. First of all most if the Hasegawa kits that are getting resin girls are older kits that were tooled up in the 90s, that everyone already has a copy of...adding the resin girl is less about creating a "sales tier" than it is pushing out an old kit with a new bit in hopes that people buy a 2nd (or moreth) kit. The High Detail kits are reissues, those were created when these kits (2000GT, 89C, etc) were brand new - again back in the 90s. So in a technical sense it does create a "top tier" model, but only for about a half dozen kits that have all received the same treatment in the past. -
Off the top of my head I can't remember if it's on a black tree or not as the body is molded in white. But the entire roof is a separate part for ease of painting regardless of molded color, it's not clear.
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TAMIYA X-20 Thinner
niteowl7710 replied to 1972coronet's topic in Model Building Questions and Answers
None of the Tamiya Enamel Paint line is available in the U.S., but as everyone else has said any odorless (or odored if you wanna huff some fumes) mineral spirt will get the panel liner back off. -
Alright...so here's the next three kits being released. Are you beside yourself with excitement? Cause these are about as interesting as discussing Jo-Han tooling, although at least they tooled up some windshield glass for the Caddy. Still wouldn't buy any of this nonsense if it came with a $20 folded in the instructions.
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Simple, that old stuff exists. The reason Atlantis went dumpster diving at Revell (and by proxy Salvinos buying the old NASCAR stuff from Atlantis) is that stuff is. 3D scanning opens a world of possibilities, but other than shaving some R&D costs off the top doesn't make the costs associated with making a new tool kit any less than the costs of making a new tool kit. Make no bones about it Round2 is spending large piles of that cash they got when they sold 49% of the company to that investment group a few years back. They've got to be getting close to a million dollars worth of new tooling at this point and there's still more coming in 2023 & 2024 - Lord willing and the creek don't rise. Round2 is reissuing the curbside version of the new '63 Nova Wagon next month with a Coke box...because you have to amortize that cost somehow. I'd buy a Maverick because of the oddity of it if nothing else, but it's still going to cost what it's going to cost - to say nothing about doing the same sort of subtle upgrades all the recent projects got like the Nova, 4070A, '68 Coronet, et al. You still need to sell at/around the same number of units to turn a profit.
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Everything would have been moved over to Romeo where Seville was based at back in 1991 when they took over the assets of Jo-Han. At this point Okey has owned whatever he owns for closing in on 23 years and other than re-packing some Furys, 56 Plymouths, Rambler Wagons and bodies for some X-El nothing has ever come of it. I don't have high hopes of whatever he does have being stored properly for the past two decades either to be honest. At this point it might be worth scrap steel value and nothing else.
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I mean it's a very good possibility that Okey is in possession of most of, if not all of what tooling was still left when Seville sold it to him. Lots of inserts went missing - by employees selling them so the story goes - before Seville got hold of it, but they clearly produced a bunch of stuff under that USA Oldies label, plus the kits they ran for Testors. They were the same type of company that JoHan was in so much as Seville Industries made plastic car parts and ran Jo-Han on the side. If the inventory was so poorly managed and you don't have a background in tooling it's very difficult to tell what a given tooling might produce. It's not like Okey (appears to anyways) has a injection machine, or the financial wherewithal to pay someone else to run hanger shots of whatever he might have. Not to run Okey down, but based on the notes he added to the instructions to the few things he did release by making whole kits out of leftover parts it's pretty clear he had no idea whatsoever what he was looking at, and didn't even have the ability to pay someone to make a clear glass piece (to replace the smoked one) in the Plymouth Fury which would have cost a few thousand at most, let alone all the rest of the improvements for that Furyt hat were once touted that never materialized.