niteowl7710

If Tamiya had "lost" (aka not paid to renew) their Ferrari license they wouldn't be able to sell the kits at all - see RevellAG when they didn't renew their license years ago and had to insta-stop selling the kits. But pretty much all of the Ferrari kits (minus the Testarossa from the late 80s) are still listed as being active catalog items on the TamiyaUSA website. But making an Aperta out of the La Ferrari would require a significant investment in new tooling considering how Tamiya designed the original kit. The 1:1 Aperta - aside from having a different roof and wheels, also has a longer front diffuser, different radiator angles, "L" flaps on the A pillars, different angles of door opening, new wheel arches and other changes. You'd be talking about partially reconfiguring a new chassis plate and tooling a whole new body (and possibly interior pieces as they interact with the new door openings). Tamiya got 2 versions out of the La Ferrari, and shared parts of the tooling with the FXX-K, I mean sure I'd buy one, but I'm not sure you're going to convince them it'd turn a profit.

For people who want a less video intensive presentation. https://www.tamiyausa.com/blog/first-look-tamiya-24355-mclaren-senna-124-scale-model-kit/?fbclid=IwAR3zn73caU3DZdwDL_oXhwxxWIchOvlUFOGYqLsYGHSufGM-FAWyCknuGiM

Imma leave this right here. Andy's Hobby HQ with the breaking news and a look at the kit contents.

But AutoWorld is owned by Round2, it's their own in-house distribution, so they're not selling them at wholesale, and if you're one of the 500 people who buy one you're paying the entire $32.99 + shipping. Those Minivan Couriers are more than likely wholesaling from Round2 to first level distributors (think Stevens, Horizon, Hobbytyme, Hobby Lobby, etc) for around $17 or so, and then you as an end user pay for the middle men to mark up.

Well guys keep in mind they're reissuing the Ford Courier in it's "Minivan" version with I guess what one would consider it's "fleetside" bed as a normal "new" kit. So while you have the tooling up and running, it's effectively no cost to toss the stepside bed insert in and run off 500 of them in that tooling configuration. The main costs would be the box, decals, and new wheel tooling - presuming they're brand new-new, and it isn't borrowing the Vector wheels from something else.

They must have gotten their print run goofed up on a subsequent reissue of the Beetle, because the 2013 box I have is printed correctly. Back then the U.S. boxing was the only way to get the Beetle kit here without importing one from Europe. This was a late 2012 kit, right after Hobbico bought RevellAG and in their infinite wisdom they elected to not directly import any of the AG boxings of the Beetle "Limo" into the U.S.

The original kit has always been based on the Syclone (the Typhoon was the Blazer/Jimmy SUV) as it was the original kit in the series. The 2WD S-10 parts and N/A engine parts were added afterwards, parts of the Syclone running gear are in original S-10 kits, but not the entire AWD drivetrain. Somehow between the last run of the S-10 in 1999 and the subsequent relocation of the molds into and around China before the Syclone reissue in the 2000s most everything from the S-10 short of the chrome runner has gone AWOL.

I'm sorry but the entire and perhaps unintentional irony to this entire thread is complaining about the judging and/balloting processes used at an NNL Show. The entire point of an NNL's very existence being that it's not supposed to give our awards. The Toledo (original) NNL only gave out 4-6 depending on the year, and NNL East has followed suit. In real life the Acme Show gives out a Best of Show, Best Theme, and then a Top 10 within People's Choice voting. So comparing that to something co-run with Kalmbach as a photo show with multiple category winners isn't even apples to oranges, more like apples to snow plows. Even within the spirit of "The NNL", these shows that do Top 10s/12/15/20 are only doing so because the clubs putting on the shows caved to the peer pressure of people kvetching and moaning about not winning something at a show who's whole point is...NOT COMPETING. All this continued belly aching is going to do is make clubs who were thinking about running their Spring shows online bail on the idea, and people who might otherwise "compete" in them shun them because of how "unfair" they are. Then we'll be sitting here next summer bemoaning the fact that there wasn't anything to do this Spring.

It will be carried in the U.S., but it's not going to get a U.S. rebox, but the Jaguar will.

I get that it's annoying that some people can conjure up their social media brood to tilt a vote in their favor, when their something is in fact subpar to the entries that "should" have won. But at the same time I think everyone is going a wee bit overboard calling in the death of shows and wrecking the reputation of the Acme Southern Nationals. Guys it was a photography contest inside a popularity contest, given that the world, or at least the U.S., is on virus fire and holding an in person show wasn't possible...at least they tried? I mean the ACME club could have just hung out and done nothing this fall, and regrouped next November. But they chose to give everyone something to do and a show to "enter", but again I'm not sure how anyone could expect "legitimate" results to come out of it. People's Choice based "awards" are always janky at best, even in person, but this was clearly going to be a free-for-all from the start.

Couldn't get parts here because it was never imported here. It couldn't pass U.S. Emission Standards, and we didn't get Hyundais until the Excel. Although from the Wikipedia page about the Pony II, it was the best selling car in Canada in 1984...so apparently the entire country fell victim to it's charm. ?

I paid for the $19 shipping because it was the one I was sure I'd actually receive before the 2022 election. Took 4 days via the FedEx TransPacific Trebuchet.

All the time this kit took to get out and they bjorked the wheels. The spoked should be evenly distributed, not set in pairs and should be concave as well. The kit wheels are perfectly flat. Replacements are available from LB Production and ZoomOn is planning a wheel and tire set for the Macau race liveries as it ran a 15" wheel (vs. 16" elsewhere) there.

Lastly on the paper work front the markings come in your choice of adhesive sticker and (thankfully) regular water slides. Instructions are a stapled booklet on glossy paper about the size of a standard Tamiya affair. There are no paint call outs since in the idea of the MCP (Multi Color Plastic) concept is you don't need to paint anything. Then a quick peek at a couple of pages to give you a feel for the style of instructions and quality of diagrams.

Clear runner with the one piece front/rear piece and separate side windows. Along with a few odd pieces that are not called out in this kit's assembly. Chrome runner is a nice bright shiny chrome and holds the two wheel sets, front and rear light assemblies and bumper sections. Pre colored amber and red runners in duplicate allowing your to build the vehicle based on local lighting laws. Tires are unlicensed affairs with decent tread pattern. Not sure how prototypical they are to whatever came on the car in 1975, but they're certainly econocar small and narrow.

The chassis is the normal curbside plate style with the engine/transmission molded in... This is the main parts runner with the suspension components, smaller interior bits, two sets of the mirrors, the two grilles, exhaust, mudflaps, bumper mounts and bumper corners and so on. Main interior components here which build off a typical platform style with separate door panels, and being a SK vehicle it is LHD. The literature in the original advertising said the female figure would be painted and ready to go, but alas she is not.

So I got this in today fresh off a flight from South Korea, so let's take a look. This is very much more an actual model kit than the past two Hyundai offerings (Azera/Grandeur & Santa Fe) with 108 parts (about 95 or so used in the build OOB). The kit has 2 wheel choices, 2 front grilles, three sets of mirrors, several ways to address the lights (either amber, red or entirely paint them yourself clear) as well as parts on the clear runner that appear to be taxi roof medallions. So first up let's take a look at the body. Aside from the normal weak panel lines that have been an issue on prior recent Academy kits, the body itself is nicely molded with no flash or excessive panel lines. The lines that doe exist are for the most part following actual panels in the car so minimal normal clean up will get you ready to paint. If you're good with the red the body had a decent shine OOB and could be a "naked" model with a little compounding.

I said they paid for the NEW cars that were given away at the Auto Shows. The old Vic wasn't one of those kits, and Ford clearly didn't pay for the Audi or the Jeep either.

Fresh off a flight from South Korea.

Tim, Back when the first S550 Mustang was done for the Detroit Auto Show Revell had said that Ford paid them to produce it for them specifically for the give away and the originals were blazen with a giant tampo printed Ford logo on the chassis. You might recall people went nuts on eBay trying to buy one, because at that moment in time there was no word that there would be a boxed "kit" version of it in the future. The subsequent Ford BnPs were always brand new cars done in conjunction with the Auto Show the Ford GT and particularly the "2nd Gen" Ford Raptor were done before the 1:1 cars were even on sale. I also think Round2 might have been leery of doing a compilation of Mustangs after watching Revell make a entire slew of them to diminishing returns as I mentioned to Justin. Everyone might buy one or two, but you really have to be a fan of the car to have purchased them ALL. You end up relying on the casual Hobby Lobby builder (no not people who use the coupon - calm down people, but people who buy a kit a month or so) to buy the latter versions, and eventually even HL is going to have 5 Mustangs on the shelf at the same time. I like Camaros, but I've still only ever purchased the first of the Round2 kits.

No no, that's Revell of Germany, I mean the U.S. sports cars. The Mustang/Camaro/Corvette/Challenger. The 2010 ZR-1 was the worst selling Corvette kit they did (directly from someone at the former Hobbico), and the prior 2000s era ones weren't too popular either. They really milked the heck out of the 2006-2008 Mustangs, and tried to do that again with the 2010-2013 ones. But they suffered the same sort of "glutton of kits" problem that Moebius suffered from with the F-100s. Simply how many of these effectively same kits does any one person buy. You have to REEEAALLY like Mustangs to have bought all 8 of the glue kits, and the Snap-Tite Convertible. The Coyote 5.0 should have sold Mustangs well enough on the engine alone, but all we ever saw of it was the simplified pre-paint kit with the 5 part engine. The '09 Challenger & '10 Camaros were one and done tools in the middle of peak Revell "everything needs 3 to 5 variants"? They would have had to sell 16k of each of those kits downstream just to break even, let alone turn a profit. It wouldn't totally surprise me if there isn't more to both of those tools, and we never saw them because of the confluence of the Great Recession compounded by slow sales ala the "Day 2" Jeep Wrangler that's been lurking in the Tomb Raider kit since 2004.

The only reason the Ford Build n Play kits exist is because Ford was footing the bill for those to be given away at the Detroit (and other large) Auto Shows to kids. Then Revell turned them out as "kits" for their own sales. After mediocre to miserable sales of their modern sports car lines we got a few things plop out as those "Pre-Paint" kits with the follow along unpainted release with much lower parts counts and simplified chassis at a much lower tooling cost. While what you say sounds great it discounts the fact that the people running Round2 are running Round2. They know what their sales figures show, and what is or isn't popular for them in terms of being successful. Their Showroom Replicas were unassembled promos and had factory support, and the 2017/2018 Camaro had SEVEN releases in order to justify that tooling decision. Clearly it didn't sell well enough to justify doing a ZL1, nor did Revell's Challenger move enough units to make a newer version or any of the Hellcat/Demon versions. I'd love to see someone take a flyer on making a modern full size truck kit, but then it's not my $300,000.00 we're spending...

Remember the base of the S-10 is the GMC Syclone kit, it's the original tooling the S-10s are based on and came out before hand. That was sent to China along with everything else because they foresaw reissuing it again in the future.

Multiplicity - It's a Michael Keaton starring travesty of film making from 1996. To this day it's the only movie I walked out of, and demanding a refund for being subjected to...

More fresh decal goodness, this time from S.K. Decals. 2017 24hrs of Spa winning Audi, and 3 sheets for the newly released NuNu BMW 320i