niteowl7710

First thing to keep in mind is the basics of financial capital. Round2 isn't a public company, therefore it can't issue stock in the company to raise money. The way private firms do the equivalent process is by selling fractional ownership interest in said company. Controlling ownership could be anything from 51% to 99.9%, but for the moment at least Tom Lowe is still running the company. His background is in finance before and in between running Playing Mantis, so he's not some bumpkin that doesn't understand how all of this works. I'd also bet push comes to shove he could buy his way out of this agreement if he really wanted to, at least to the extent that he would regain control of at least 51% of it. That new tool TranStar is going to cost about 3/4 of a million money buckaroos to bring to market, which means they need to sell round about 19k of them to break even unless they can issue more than one version (although the overall bottom line number is effectively the same if it's 10k 4070As, and 9k Coke 4070As). If they are going to continue to invest in new tooling, whether all new or further down the restoration of old into new, they'll need significant capital investment. New tooling is a long term investment/return game, a lot of money up front you hope you make a profit on the back end. Color me optimistic, with a dash of cautious.

LHS had a warehouse odds and ends sale (bottom two kits), got good deals on the Stealth & Grand Prix, although it might have contracted rabies and sepsis. ?

They could just...ya know...price stuff like a normal store instead of shelf racking everything at MSRP. I mean Wal*Mart & Target don't put a 40% off coupon because they're not charging the highest end price for everything. Throughout the existence of HL, buying a model kit there with the 40% off would only save me about 40-60 cents over going to my LHS. I know a lot of people don't have a LHS. I get that...but man buncha middle aged dudes got sucked in by the same coupon marketing designed to lure in old ladies who fancy themselves as "crafty". Seems like you're getting a sale, and in fact just paying what the regular asking price really is...not actually saving a thing.

After many moons of transit from Hong Kong during this year's Holiday Special - "Rona and Short Staffed Postal Services" (lort I hope there's no sequel), two envelopes have rattled in with the latest - Well they were the latest 2 months ago - decals from LB Production and S.K. Decals. 

Yes, but as I mentioned before that kit has no inner fender well/engine compartment detail. You have to cut the hood off, and then fabricate the engine bay otherwise it's an engine sitting in hole.

This is also (considering the reissues have been military/tacticals) the first reissue in a while that has both the soft top AND hard top included.

The Fujimi kits include two engines, both the regular Z engine, and the one from the '73 GT-R, BUT the kit doesn't actually have any sort of engine bay detail to put them into as the kit was originally a curbside. The engines themselves are pretty nice. Overall this is kind of a "superior yawner". The Tamiya kit will undoubtly be the best of the 1st Gen Z kits when it's all said and done, but another ZG...ohboyohboy. 2021 is the 50th Anniversary of the ZG, and I suppose people in Japan (and particularly Nissan) are still pretty partial to them. Unless there's a Z432R in the distance...I guess I'll buy one, and sell my Fujimi ZG, but after the spate of Hasegawa LHD kits, my collection is about 240Z'd out at the moment. The ZG also wasn't available here - with that whole composite headlight set up that was illegal, so that may lend this to being RHD only. Be interested to see the parts layout and all of that in the future.

Yeah the R32 is the same way, it's the concession to using the tooling for both street and race versions without tooling up two entirely separate interior platforms.

At this point I believe HL is getting their own run(s) of most of the kits they're carrying. Considering a run of kits is around 5k pieces on a new tooling release, and there are 932 HL stores at this point, and that would leave them around 5 kits per store. I can't imagine that they're fighting with Horizon, Stevens, and the other main frontline wholesalers to acquire cases as they're the only retailer out there other than Wal*Mart that has it's own fleet of trucks.

The kicker to this whole mess is the Trumpeter kit was just reissued by Trumpeter as well around Christmas. One of the great mysteries of the Orient right now is exactly how many kits "Magnifier" actually ran off, and who decided to distribute them worldwide. Because everyone I've spoke to who would know confirms that it was very specifically NOT supposed to leave Mainland China/HK/Macau. It was a 3rd party paid for run of the Trumpeter tooling, to which no licensing was paid to anyone or anything, which is why it's so cheap. Nobody knows...or well nobody wants to admit to knowing...how a short run local production item was distributed to reputable front line wholesalers/vendors worldwide. I have about a half a dozen "white box" kits in my collection, things that were run off for the local HK/Chinese market, but they come in just that - a plain white box. You had to know the guy who knew the guy to get your hands on one, in my case they all have different livery options than the original issue of the model kit, but the contents of the white box are just a straight pull of the original kit down to the instructions.

It would also require an entirely different front core section for the cab. The B uses round headlights, but they're set into square surrounds, there are marker lights outboard of the grills, the center vent section is different (under the windshield split frame, the A is ribbed for your pleasure), and the B also has it's wipers roof mounted as well. Bumper is different too, but that's not a cab piece... Now of course as we've seen with the Revell '68/'69 Chevelle - which has the year appropriate side cores tooled as swappable pieces - if Round2 thought far enough ahead in the core design, then a B is certainly possible.

Special paint blends get a special price. They don't reflect any new pricing structure within the TS line other than the fact that some other new metallics (the $10 cans) have been blended with a finer (and more expensive) metallic particle so they don't come out looking like a bass boat when you paint things. TS-83 is specifically designed to be used over TS-14 (Gloss Black) to give NMF (Natural Metal Finish) on airplane models. TS-84 is also designed to be used over TS-14 for things like automotive wheels and the like. Both are proprietary mixes to give finishes that are specifically NOT supposed to be clear coated, hence the extra money dollars.

The Magnifier kit was also not really supposed to be distributed outside of the Chinese market either, but nothing is local in the era of instant global commerce.

The work around for this was figured out in the 2000s by Revell. Designate it as an adult collectable and sell stuff only through hobby shops. There is a little irony in the fact all these years later both breweries are on the same licensing system after the merger of Miller, Coors and Molson into a singular entity.

I'm in for a TranStar and one of the Scouts presuming it's the full roof "SUV" version and not a reissue of the topsless one with a flippin' Hostess machine or something. On the other hand I might buy a kit for a 1/25 snack vending machine...

MSRP - $71.95 I feel that's a fair price for an all new tool semi, that's one if the most requested original kits out there. Especially considering the $270 discount over what an original one will run you these days. Although I'm sure plenty of people will disagree...loudly.

The trunk is separate because it's pre-cut to accept the NiSMO spoiler that both kits use. The fuel inlets are already flashed over on the initial issue of the kit - if you look closely at the photo you can see the plastic swirl a little darker in two circles (plus I have one of these too and I can attest they're already there to be drilled through). I suspect we'll see a wide range of R32 platform cars including mayhaps a GTS-4, or a GTS-t M/S is always a possibility too since nothing is molded to the chassis pan floor, so it's possible to change the chassis from 4WD to RWD by changing out the engine bottom. Several of the top end non-GT-R R32 Skylines used the Super HICAS system, so you wouldn't have to change the suspension components out. There are several versions planned as you may note there are FOUR sets of mirror faces on the chrome tree.

I would expect they would have to, at some point, do a LHD dash board if they want to be able to produce any of the race cars that ran at the 24hrs of Spa, or elsewhere in the ETCC because those were all built/fielded by Toyota Belgium and were LHD models. The Supras didn't have a long life in JTCC with the 1987 Season cars - which is the one the Tamiya kit represents and needs a different front bumper being the most successful. The '88 cars were mildly successful, but JTCC was dominated by the Ford Sierra RS500, and the '89 cars (the blue ones sponsored by Bijo) got a pair of seconds, but were otherwise field fillers as the 1989 seasons started the 5 year romping of the R32 GT-R. Also the JTCC cars were only ever a pair fielded by Team Tom's, which if Hasegawa were to backdate the car to 1987 still means there are a grand total of 6 of them to be built to represent ALL of them that ever ran. There are at least 9 of them that ran from 1987-1990 in the 24hrs of Spa, including the infamous Bastos liveried one that is always one of the most requested versions of the Gr. A Supra. A LHD racecar would begat a LHD road car, as that was the evolution of the 240Z. A kit that has sold well enough to need another run done this month.

Well if the question is very specifically 1/25th scale...then no, there is not set of those wheels in any media I'm aware of in U.S. scale. As others have stated there's a slew of Fujimi and Hasegawa (many boxings beyond the two shown) kits that include them in 1/24th.

I remember seeing pictures of when Dave got in the '69 Fords and it required a semi with a pup trailer to make that delivery.

Well isn't that always the way? But what I understood from John (the above referenced hobby shop) was the first kits would come in Monday, and then he was getting a second larger shipment today (Wednesday 1/13 for those reading from the past), so more should be available soon from him at least.

It all depends on what wholesaler various places use. Hobby Lobby and HobbyTown USA do their own. So the kits have to be shipped twice. A lot of the new kit sellers on eBay are brick and mortar hobby shops as well. The "automodels2" that people are referencing here is Auto Models, LLC in Greensburg, PA who's a major show vendor on the East Coast and has an actual storefront.

That's my LHS, they have them.

I think part of this thing's design "charm" is probably related to the fact that at the time all Renault vehicles were supposed to be adhering to a company wide rear-engine/RWD mandate, but at the time the only rear engine van was the VW T1 and Renault designers didn't think a rear-engine arrangement would allow them to create the extreme low floor loading they wanted. The wanted the Estafette to be a smaller version of the Citroen Fourgon Type H which is a giant sheet metal can on wheels. So begrudgingly Renault allowed the design team to make it front engine, but only if they could make it work with existing parts which is how this thing ended up with the engine out of the Dauphine wedged the wrong way round with a van specific gearbox - which in the end allowed them to tailor the ratios specifically to the performance they were seeking from the van.

This kit should be in stock at most brick and mortar hobby shops (and probably the bigger mail order places) as of this morning.