No love for the 1/24th scale Model A coupe

[Mr. Metallic]

So let me get this right Art, You're telling everyone no problem, just go to their local hobby shop and they'll have one there waiting on the shelf for them?

The point I'm making here is that this kit is no longer in production and if you are interested in getting one you'll have to do diligent search.

Oh yeah, what's the address of that hobby shop that has one ?

Well, if that's your point maybe you should have said that in the first place? Just asking about "no love" for that kit makes people think you're asking why people don't like it, which they obviously do. Ask a clear question, better chance of getting the response you're looking for.

[Art Anderson]

So let me get this right Art, You're telling everyone no problem, just go to their local hobby shop and they'll have one there waiting on the shelf for them?

The point I'm making here is that this kit is no longer in production and if you are interested in getting one you'll have to do diligent search.

Oh yeah, what's the address of that hobby shop that has one ?

Hobbies & History, at Lebanon IN.  I'm well aware that the Monogram '30 A Coupe is OOP, but it's been done 2-3 times over the past 20 yrs in Revell's SSP program, so it's not exactly unobtainium.  H&H stocks not only new and current kits, but also has a large inventory of OOP kits as well.

Art

[Dennis Lacy]

Hobbies & History, at Lebanon IN.  I'm well aware that the Monogram '30 A Coupe is OOP, but it's been done 2-3 times over the past 20 yrs in Revell's SSP program, so it's not exactly unobtainium.  H&H stocks not only new and current kits, but also has a large inventory of OOP kits as well.

Art

Not to mention you can find multiple copies of the Monogram kit on Ebay any day of the week. Just bring money!

This is what I did with mine a couple of years back.

Hosted on Fotki

I honestly don't have the desire to buy any more of this kit because I have no interest in a stock Model A  and there's not any good kit bashing fodder in it so to me all the kit is good for is a body and maybe the frame. I'd rather stock up on the new Revell kit and have lots of hot rod parts to pilfer. 

 

Edited September 16, 2016 by Dennis Lacy

[stavanzer]

Jesse Talmage, what resin wheels are you using on that Coupe? I really like them.TIA Alan

[Bernard Kron]

The new Revell release may be getting all the attention but the old Monogram kit has plenty, plenty soul IMHO and constitutes pure raw material rather than spoon feeding you a ready-made contemporary rod. It may be crude and ancient but it does build up to some pretty nice hot rod material, as several of posts in this thread will attest. Here's a chopped top version I did several years ago (I even anticipated Revell's Nailhead included in the roadster version...).

Edited September 17, 2016 by Bernard Kron

[oldcarfan]

It's funny you mentioned it. I have one of these SSP releases that I work on from time to time. I'll try to get a picture this weekend.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The new Revell release may be getting all the attention but the old Monogram kit has plenty, plenty soul IMHO and constitutes pure raw material rather than spoon feeding you a ready-made contemporary rod.

 Exactly. 

[plastic-mechanic]

      http://scaledworld.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ModCaBuiWinter2014.pdf   

pg 22

[Greg Myers]

Nice build, 2014 ?

[Art Anderson]

Revell-Monogram reissued the '30 Model A Coupe kit at least 3 times, in their SSP program within the past 20 yrs or so.  The way SSP worked was, Revell sent out a list of subjects they were willing to run in this program (SSP stood for "Selected Subjects Program"), with a limited time frame for retailers (Hobby Shops only) to pre-order the kits.  Once the deadline was reached, Revell would run the kit(s) to fill those pre-orders, with probably a few more just to have a small supply for re-orders.

I get to several model car shows a year, and I can't remember anytime within the past 10yrs or so that I haven't seen at least one 1930 Model A Coupe kit on a vendor's table--often several scattered throughout the vendors' area, and generally not at high collectors' pricing.  Add to this that IF Revell saw a market for another production run of any existing model car kit tool, they'd do it, and fairly quickly.

Keep in mind though, that a company such as Revell (whose plastic model kit history goes well back into the early 1950's) likely has several thousand sets of tooling--perhaps most of the tooling that either Revell Inc. or Monogram Models had cut over their history, but also has to "mind the store" as well--just because they might have all those tools, more than likely their capital budget is far more limited than most modelers might imagine--one simply does not just pick up a model kit tool, pop it into a molding press, hook up all the lines, and push the START button--a lot has to happen before any reissue comes about.

This is not the 1960's anymore, when in any one year, there might have been just a couple of hundred model kit subjects (of all kinds of subjects, including model cars) on the market at any one time--today, in 2016, I suspect the total available subjects from manufacturers all over the World might be in the low thousands--which presents another "barrier" if you will:  It takes a lot of square-footage in a retail store (and in a wholesaler's warehouse)  to stock a truly full line of just plastic model kits, not to mention the capital required to stock in anything like a truly full line of kits to appeal to a wide range of model interests (and both the labor force AND the capital ($$$$) to to stock anywhere near a full and comprehensive line of model kits.  In addition, at the manufacturrr's level, similar limitations exist--requests for capital to fund new projects will always compete with requests from upper management (if nobody else, then the "bean counters) for more of existing product--and all that in the face of a necessarily limited production capacity in whatever factory is going to run the kits.  And last, but not least, there is the human factor--any company,making and selling any product you may think of, does have a somewhat limited staff of people at least somewhere along the line at some level who are called upon to bring not only reissues to life again, but to maintain the availability of existing long-running subjects, AND put into production the new products we modelers all love to see.  

So, at every level of a model company and it's products, from concept to new tooling to maintaining the supply of existing "staple" items, to bringing back something from their past faces limitations--if you ever took an Economics class in high school or college, that's the limitations of the legs of the 3-legged stool--land, labor and capital--each one has its limitations.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see this particular subject come up for air at some time (IF indeed the people who are charged with making such decisions feel as you do!)

Art

[Longbox55]

Hobbies & History, at Lebanon IN.  

Great place to look for OOP, been there a few times myself.

[Toner283]

I'll play too. Stock height coupe early 50's style.

Edited September 19, 2016 by Toner283
Add pic.

[Mike999]

Some great builds in here, thanks for the inspiration!  And I do love that MONOGRAM '30 Ford Coupe kit. Just checked the spreadsheet and I have 4 of them.  Will buy more if I see them reasonably priced. 

Along with fantastic rod material - they're a great source of stock parts for the '30 Ford Phaeton and '30 Woody, which haven't been released in completely stock form for a long time.  I also have a couple of Herb Deeks' resin 4-door sedan bodies that were made to fit the MONOGRAM kit. 

I'd also like to see the very attractive '30 Cabriolet reissued too.  It hasn't been available for a long time either.  Even better, put all the Coupe/Cabriolet parts in one box and give us the original 6-in-1 version. In a nostalgic long box with a nostalgic instruction sheet, as long as I'm wishing.

[Toner283]

Some great builds in here, thanks for the inspiration!  And I do love that MONOGRAM '30 Ford Coupe kit. Just checked the spreadsheet and I have 4 of them.  Will buy more if I see them reasonably priced. 

Along with fantastic rod material - they're a great source of stock parts for the '30 Ford Phaeton and '30 Woody, which haven't been released in completely stock form for a long time.  I also have a couple of Herb Deeks' resin 4-door sedan bodies that were made to fit the MONOGRAM kit. 

I'd also like to see the very attractive '30 Cabriolet reissued too.  It hasn't been available for a long time either.  Even better, put all the Coupe/Cabriolet parts in one box and give us the original 6-in-1 version. In a nostalgic long box with a nostalgic instruction sheet, as long as I'm wishing.

The Woody was never released in stock form. It was always a hot rod. Other the wheel and tire changes and the addition of a few extra parts such as the deuce grill/shell and the large diameter wheels in the last issue, it has remained remarkably the same as it was when it was first issued. But you are right, the stock parts will exchange on to it as it is built on the same basic architecture as the coupe, the cabriolet, and the tub.

A couple of interesting things to note about the coupe and the cabriolet - they were both originally part of the 6n1 kit. That appears to be one of the reasons why the coupe roof was removable. The same lower body section could be used with the Cabriolet door tops and windshield posts. When monogram split the coupe and the cabriolet into two different kits they the tooled up a second set of fenders for the coupe with no spare tire wells in the front fenders. It is my belief that they also tooled up a new lower body section to go with the new fenders for the coupe as well. IMO I think this is why the door lines do not quite line up on one side of the coupe kit now. On the original 6n1 kit that I have looked at,  the door lines do line up properly. 

[Greg Myers]

Some great builds in here, thanks for the inspiration!  And I do love that MONOGRAM '30 Ford Coupe kit. Just checked the spreadsheet and I have 4 of them.  Will buy more if I see them reasonably priced. 

Along with fantastic rod material - they're a great source of stock parts for the '30 Ford Phaeton and '30 Woody, which haven't been released in completely stock form for a long time.  I also have a couple of Herb Deeks' resin 4-door sedan bodies that were made to fit the MONOGRAM kit. 

I'd also like to see the very attractive '30 Cabriolet reissued too.  It hasn't been available for a long time either.  Even better, put all the Coupe/Cabriolet parts in one box and give us the original 6-in-1 version. In a nostalgic long box with a nostalgic instruction sheet, as long as I'm wishing.

[Greg Myers]

The Woody was never released in stock form. It was always a hot rod. Other the wheel and tire changes and the addition of a few extra parts such as the deuce grill/shell and the large diameter wheels in the last issue, it has remained remarkably the same as it was when it was first issued. But you are right, the stock parts will exchange on to it as it is built on the same basic architecture as the coupe, the cabriolet, and the tub.

A couple of interesting things to note about the coupe and the cabriolet - they were both originally part of the 6n1 kit. That appears to be one of the reasons why the coupe roof was removable. The same lower body section could be used with the Cabriolet door tops and windshield posts. When monogram split the coupe and the cabriolet into two different kits they the tooled up a second set of fenders for the coupe with no spare tire wells in the front fenders. It is my belief that they also tooled up a new lower body section to go with the new fenders for the coupe as well. IMO I think this is why the door lines do not quite line up on one side of the coupe kit now. On the original 6n1 kit that I have looked at,  the door lines do line up properly. 

[JTalmage]

Jesse Talmage, what resin wheels are you using on that Coupe? I really like them.TIA Alan

Those wheels are the "artillery wheels" from the Australian company called "The Parts Box"

http://www.thepartsbox.com/store/index.php?page=details&prod=740&cat=32&group=14

 

[Greg Myers]

With the new release Revell Model A coupe kit that just came out, is there no longer any love for the old Monogram 1/24th scale kit, in it's many incarnations?

 Well, if that's your point maybe you should have said that in the first place? Just asking about "no love" for that kit makes people think you're asking why people don't like it, which they obviously do. Ask a clear question, better chance of getting the response you're looking for.

With all these post of great stock and nostalgic hot rod builds seems the answer would be a resounding YES. 

With Round2 re issuing their Model A roadster against Revells  outstanding new roadster, albeit quite the conundrum ( Revell and Monogram being one in the same), it would still seem to be a good marketing move to reissue the Monogram coupe, making good use of ready publicity.

So in short I would say, yes there is still love for the venerable Monogram Model A coupe and maybe their whole Model A line, Coupe, Cabriolet, Phaeton, Woodie and Roadster Pick up.

[charlie8575]

I didn't even see these were back out?

Cool, I'll have to get a couple- one for inventory, one for me.

Charlie Larkin

[Greg Myers]

I didn't even see these were back out?

Cool, I'll have to get a couple- one for inventory, one for me.

Charlie Larkin

Mod Rod, AMT '29 Roadster ?  http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/116563-amt-mod-rod-review/

[charlie8575]

Mod Rod, AMT '29 Roadster ?  http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/116563-amt-mod-rod-review/

Actually, I was referring to the '30 coupe mentioned here, but now see it isn't.

Charlie Larkin

[Greg Myers]

Yeah, that was the whole point of this thread. Revell ? we'd like a repop.

[stavanzer]

Thanks, Jesse!

[GaryR]

Wow! Some very nice A Bones!!! I was VERY dissapointed in the Revel A, no fenders, everything modified to current fashion. I much prefer a more stock offering with DETAILS, that  can be built in more variety. Like the A Sedans, can be built in many ways.IF a guy wants to build out of the box, fine, but it's only useful to me now for the basic body.

Every time a kit is done in this "flavor of the day" fashion it becomes DATED. Like the 70's Revel Lil John kits, good for then, hopelessly DATED for anything else.  My two cents. I LIKE the old A!

[Greg Myers]

 Like the 70's Revel Lil John kits

Never thought of that. Good analogy.