Whats new for 2016?

[lapazleo]

Sounds like something a car modeler would say... talk about a lame argument.

Actually I've been a truck modeler since 1970 and been in the trucking business as a driver and owner for 30+ years.

[lapazleo]

Firstly, I never said that serious truck guys only want to build modern trucks. A serious truck guy will build what ever he wants, whether it be from a kit, resin conversion, scratch built or a combination of any or all of what I mentioned. The issue as I see it is when a new modern subject, such as the Moebius Prostar, gets released and it carries a retail price of $55 USD the car guys or casual builders get a case of sticker shock. They see an AMT reissue for around $35 or a Revell snap Pete selling for $25 and they make their purchase based on price. When this happens it hurts the sales of the new modern subjects, and that in turn prevents a company such as Moebius or Italeri from pursuing new modern trucks. Who suffers then? It's not the casual truck builder, it's the serious truck builder.

As far as your interests are concerned, you have a different appreciation for trucks in general due to your background and familiarity with trucks and the trucking industry. My interests are very much the same, my father drove a tanker for Flying A and latter Getty out of Providence, RI for many years until he started his own home heating oil business in the late 1970's. Today, our company is a subsidiary of a larger family owned business. My father has long since passed but I still work for the company.      

The original AMT kits retailed around $5 in the early 70s adjusted for inflation Moebius kits are about right. A kit of a new subject modern or not must be commercially viable. A kit that would be highly sought after by serious builders may not be commercially viable. In other words it must sell well enough to the casual masses to recoup development costs. A hardcore builderwill find a way to model a subject either by scratch building using resin etc. As far as who suffers well that's just reality as with everything it comes down to the almighty dollar. The manufacturers are here to make a profit not to please anyone.No profit no manufacturers. Again I go back to the original subject of this thread what's new for 2016. Happy holidays to all.

[chuckyr]

 

I am confused as to why "serious truck guys" would only want to build modern trucks?

I can only speak for myself.

I would love to have a model kit of every big rig truck subject going back to1890. But all my posts on all the treads on this and other web sites are coming from an economics point of view.

I know from a practical standpoint that truck modeling is a very, very small portion of the overall scale model kit business.

Military and Aircraft modelers are by far the largest portion of scale model builders. The obsession with war is rampant. 

Car modeling goes without saying is a very large market. Look at the shelves at a major hobby shop and compare the shelf space set aside for big rig kits.

Further more the United States is not the largest model market in the world. Asia as a whole, is the largest modeling market. Japan being the largest single market. Europe is number two for modeling sales.

The kit manufactures are only going to allocate a small portion of their capital budget to a big rig truck kit.  The market is extremely small for such a subject.  Not to mention, as Dave Metzner said in one of his post, a big rig model is particularly expensive to produce.

A big rig kit has more parts than a aircraft or a boat kit. This is especially true if the big rig kit has a detailed drive train, something that if the kit doesn't have, the casual big rig builder will bitch and moan about,

All this being said, a new big rig kit that is put on the shelves once every 15 or more years on average has to be a hit.  One failure or slow seller means that the next big rig model may not be produced at all.

All of these points have been said ad nauseum by others.

It makes practical sense to offer current modern truck subjects.  They would be the common medium for the casual truck modeler and the hard core big rig modeler.

And in 15 years, they will become the vintage subjects available for future generations.

 

[Bennyg]

I can only speak for myself.

I would love to have a model kit of every big rig truck subject going back to1890. But all my posts on all the treads on this and other web sites are coming from an economics point of view.

I know from a practical standpoint that truck modeling is a very, very small portion of the overall scale model kit business.

Military and Aircraft modelers are by far the largest portion of scale model builders. The obsession with war is rampant. 

Car modeling goes without saying is a very large market. Look at the shelves at a major hobby shop and compare the shelf space set aside for big rig kits.

Further more the United States is not the largest model market in the world. Asia as a whole, is the largest modeling market. Japan being the largest single market. Europe is number two for modeling sales.

The kit manufactures are only going to allocate a small portion of their capital budget to a big rig truck kit.  The market is extremely small for such a subject.  Not to mention, as Dave Metzner said in one of his post, a big rig model is particularly expensive to produce.

A big rig kit has more parts than a aircraft or a boat kit. This is especially true if the big rig kit has a detailed drive train, something that if the kit doesn't have, the casual big rig builder will bitch and moan about,

All this being said, a new big rig kit that is put on the shelves once every 15 or more years on average has to be a hit.  One failure or slow seller means that the next big rig model may not be produced at all.

All of these points have been said ad nauseum by others.

It makes practical sense to offer current modern truck subjects.  They would be the common medium for the casual truck modeler and the hard core big rig modeler.

And in 15 years, they will become the vintage subjects available for future generations.

 

You've hit the nail on the head. 

[martinfan5]

 The issue as I see it is when a new modern subject, such as the Moebius Prostar, gets released and it carries a retail price of $55 USD the car guys or casual builders get a case of sticker shock. They see an AMT reissue for around $35 or a Revell snap Pete selling for $25 and they make their purchase based on price. When this happens it hurts the sales of the new modern subjects, and that in turn prevents a company such as Moebius or Italeri from pursuing new modern trucks. Who suffers then? It's not the casual truck builder, it's the serious truck builder.

 

You know why there is a big difference in prices, its the kit themselves,  lets take the Intl Prostar, the parts count is what the internet says around 260, the parts count for Revells Kenworth W900 is 115,The Pete 359 has is listed at 110 parts, thats a difference of 145-150 in more parts. and thats a lot of extra cost in just tooling those 145 parts, and lets be honest,  the Prostar/Lonestar are much better kits over all than that KW W900 Or Pete 359 could dream of being.  

Dont get me wrong, you have a valid point, but you are trying to compare a lower skill level, lower level of detail kit with a kit that is more for skilled builders and is much more detailed.   Bottom line is the these people you speak of need to be better informed customers.

[Junkman]

I know from a practical standpoint that truck modeling is a very, very small portion of the overall scale model kit business.

 

I think it's ironically more popular in Europe.

[chuckyr]

I think it's ironically more popular in Europe.

Possibly. 

[Junkman]

Well, if there is something available in Europe that you fancy, just let me know.

[KJ790]

The problem is that any new kit will cost more to produce than a reissued one. The cost for the molds and development costs have already been covered during the original issue of any model, so a reissue is much cheaper to produce. For a new kit you have so much upfront cost that needs to be recovered in a short period of time, there is no way to compete with the cost of a reissued kit which now would have no development cost.

[highway]

I'm gonna be snatching up as many as I can of the Papa truck.

Same here, just hope they accidentally put the 12V71 in the kit instead LOL!! Hopefully with the Papa Truck coming out, maybe the race truck to go on it might be in the reissue works!

Still hoping for a Transtar II.

 

Me too!

 

I'm pretty sure that Mike meant the CABOVER!

Somebody call 911!

 

The plane is desending, rapidly.

 

Yep, look what it did to this train!

[scummy]

Seeing as round2 redone the molds for the cal hauler how about we look for the molds needed for the challenger mixer ???? They cant have been destroed .

[Petetrucker07]

For the KW they have. The mixer unit may be intact, but who knows.

[Mopeyguy]

[chuckyr]

I'm pretty sure that Mike meant the CABOVER!

 

I'm pretty sure I mean the LATEST Transtar!

Edited December 28, 2015 by chuckyr

[Jim B]

What they should do is take the mixer parts and sell them as a parts pack. Same thing with the dump box from the Autocar. 

Now that would be a good idea.  I don't think they'll do it, but it's a good idea.

[Casey]

Round2 is also reissuing the Beetle Bus custom VW Van kit, too:

[scummy]

What they should do is take the mixer parts and sell them as a parts pack. Same thing with the dump box from the Autocar. 

Yep , that would work as i got a couple of torsion bar w models .

[BigBad]

 

Me too!

 

To make a modern Transtar as Chuck is showing here, somebody could probably could use the Moebius truck frame and this Jada cab. But looking at the grill, the front end is a little lower though:

Edited December 30, 2015 by BigBad

[chuckyr]

To make a modern Transtar as Chuck is showing here, somebody could probably could use the Moebius truck frame and this Jada cab. But looking at the grill, the front end is a little lower though:

 

Actually, my first choice would be a Workstar 7600.

 

Edited December 30, 2015 by chuckyr

[Aaronw]

 

Now we agree on something, I could get excited about a Workstar.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Aaronw

[Bennyg]

A bit of a let down. Only the 1/32 aerodyne.

 

http://www.plastik-modellbau.org/blog/revell-neuheiten-2016/2016/

 

Ben

[mistermodel]

I have purchased the new Mobius kits ,but enjoy the round2 the most .Not because of price as mentioned earlier ,but because they have the best subject matter.I would enjoy another modern kit of just about any brand.Round2 business plan is reissueing old kits not making new molds,unless is a small repair for some thing.I have to counter point the opinion that we need new kits that youner people recognize...young people don't build too many kits any more.Models seem to be for older people any more and I don't blame the companys reissuing stuff to cash in on the older people havin disposable cash to buy kits they missed or for nostalgic reasons.

[vincen47]

There is value is producing a variety of subjects, both vintage and modern, and where one manufacturer caters to one market, we should have others that produce kits that appeal to the other interests. 

I myself enjoy trucks from the past and present. If the truck interests me, I put it in the stash and on the list of future projects.

This thread and the one about your first truck kit got me thinking. In my case, I was 10 years old and the T600a was a modern truck, it was one I had noticed on the road (who wouldn't with that new design?) so it really interested me. Had to get it. Did I like the older trucks? Sure. But this was new and cool. I had a real life connection to it.

I'm certain that other current diehard truck model builders, casual kit buyers, and the future building youth out there who are buying their first kit tomorrow feel the same.

[Whelen36]

I'de like to see both rereleases and new tool trucks, big rig and pickup/van. 

But one thing I noticed is people are saying round 2 is only making rereleasea

they just released a snap kit of the general lee last year and it was a new tool.

i know it's not a truck but it's a possible start for the future of the company. So 

who knows what the future may hold for them though it may be in the distance

 it's still a possibility now more than before.

[Petetrucker07]

I wonder how likely it would be for Round2 to re-release the Freightliner single drive. I'd like to get a few of those.