New kid on the block ?

[Dave Van]

11 hours ago, Art Anderson said:

And, just where did Accurate Miniatures end up?

I would hope as someone I'd consider an industry insider, you'd know the story of both AM I & II. 

But I detailed it above if not. 

[Gary66]

Anytime something new is announced, I don't pay much attention to what is said .  Everybody said Revell's Mustang was a bad kit, wrong, never sell....etc... and all I know is they fly off the shelves around here.

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Classicgas said:

And I feel the opposite. You can have modern cookie cutter nascar. Give me the stock cars that were actually based on a stock car.

I agree 100%!

While I'm not much of a fan of NASCAR in general, I was a fan of stock car racing, back when it was actually "stock car racing".

Today the cars are all exact copies of one another.

While I don't want to disparage anyone for building modern NASCAR kits, I could never build the exact same kit over & over again with different decals.

I doubt that I could maintain interest on one!

That being said, I hope this new venture goes well for them.

Eventually maybe they'll come to their senses and produce some stock kits!

 

Steve

[Casey]

On 1/16/2018 at 6:45 PM, CapSat 6 said:

It doesn’t seem to be quite the same for the older body styles. The Polar Lights Talledegas, Cyclones and Chargers seem to sell for healthy amounts on the secondary market

Looking at sold items on eBay, the '71-4 Petty Charger seems to bring $40 or so, the Buddy Baker Charger a bit less ($30-38), and the rest less than what a new Polar Lights kit would retail for. I think that shows just how important marker research is, and how vital it is to hit a homerun on one of the first attempts. The Petty name will help immensely, though I'm guessing Petty Enterprises licensing is by far the most expensive to obtain.

I don't envy the risk SJRM is talking right off the bat with a lesser (but still well known) driver and car, as we've already heard directly from Dave Metzner at Moebius that slow (or slower than expected/hoped for) sales of existing kits can delay the production and introduction of new of modified reissues. Hopefully they have enough capital behind them to possibly weather an early storm if sales numbers are as positive as expected. I certainly hope they sell like crazy and SJRM does well, but this sounds like a very risky first subject, taking my limited knowledge of the vintage NASCAR market into account.

Edited January 18, 2018 by Casey

[Greg Myers]

Aren;t those both 1/16th scale ?

[Bill J]

1 hour ago, Greg Myers said:

Aren;t those both 1/16th scale ?

No Greg, the Polar Lights Dodge kits were 1/25 scale. Actually very poorly shaped and proportioned bodies and oversize roll bar tubing.

[martinfan5]

4 hours ago, Classicgas said:

And I feel the opposite. You can have modern cookie cutter nascar. Give me the stock cars that were actually based on a stock car.

And I feel the opposite of this, we can play this game all day, you like what you like, and I like what I like, and just because we dont like the same thing does not mean there shouldn't be kits of either ,  there is plenty of room for all sides to be happy.

Edited January 18, 2018 by martinfan5

[martinfan5]

2 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I agree 100%!

While I'm not much of a fan of NASCAR in general, I was a fan of stock car racing, back when it was actually "stock car racing".

Today the cars are all exact copies of one another.

While I don't want to disparage anyone for building modern NASCAR kits, I could never build the exact same kit over & over again with different decals.

I doubt that I could maintain interest on one!

That being said, I hope this new venture goes well for them.

Eventually maybe they'll come to their senses and produce some stock kits!

 

Steve

And if that makes ya happy,  that is all that matters,  and building modern NASCAR kits and living in the current times is what makes me happy,  and ya know what, neither is right or wrong, there is plenty of room for both vintage and modern NASCAR kits in this crazy thing we call model building. 

 

 

[moparfarmer]

On 1/16/2018 at 2:05 PM, espo said:

If the fidelity of the kit is even close to the pictured model this should be very big for anyone wanting to do a nice NASCAR build. I don't recall the Oldsmobile in this body style being done before.

Didn't JoHan have a snapper type kit of this style..I think it was an orange/red color on the box..Maybe the same mold as this new one?

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

45 minutes ago, martinfan5 said:

And if that makes ya happy,  that is all that matters,  and building modern NASCAR kits and living in the current times is what makes me happy,  and ya know what, neither is right or wrong, there is plenty of room for both vintage and modern NASCAR kits in this crazy thing we call model building. 

 

 

True.

But as Casey stated in his post, if this first offering is not successful, the likelihood of a second one are slim.

That's why we would all like to see a very strong first effort.

Not to say that this one will not be, but I shudder to think of what would have happened if the Moebius '53 Hudson kit would have flopped.

We would have missed out on a whole bunch of really great kits!

 

Steve

[martinfan5]

4 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

True.

But as Casey stated in his post, if this first offering is not successful, the likelihood of a second one are slim.

That's why we would all like to see a very strong first effort.

Not to say that this one will not be, but I shudder to think of what would have happened if the Moebius '53 Hudson kit would have flopped.

We would have missed out on a whole bunch of really great kits!

 

Steve

Not what I was getting at,  but its ok,  you did make a valid point.

Edited January 18, 2018 by martinfan5

[Luc Janssens]

4 hours ago, Dave Van said:

Having done work for both Accurate Miniatures I and AM II , doing everything from building sample kits, test shots and even packaging kits....I have a perspective few have.  Both versions were filled with talented dedicated folks. Both companies failed because of perfect storms. AM I I will not detail to much.....I was an freelance worker and was outside looking in. 

AM II I can detail some as my family was deeply involved. AM II had some great plans. Unfortunately salezs did not support the planned tooling. Left with the GS Vette and some plane kits.....cash was an issue. But that alone did not do them in. My brother-in-law was art director and was a big part of kit design and development assisting Bob Johnson, expert kit designer. My brother-in-law passed away quickly and very unexpectedly.  He went from working one day to passing 3 days later. Thom's passing did not shut AM II....but almost all the folks at AM  II had major life altering events within a month. All this combined caused the end of AM II. It was just fate.

 

This new JR model co is in for a very tough road.  I do not know anyone involved.....but having done work for Moebius in the early years I have seen how difficult it is......and how costly.   I hope I am wrong but if they just set the CAD to the tooling maker this week (per their FB page) I do not see a kit before Fall '18 if all goes well. I WANT that Olds.......I make a number of decals ready for it.....but I'll take a wait and see.....thx

IMHO Cheap kits (thanks to Walmart and co) killed the AM (especially car kits) they had something good going but a few decades too soon.

See also my post on Bel-Kits...

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 minutes ago, martinfan5 said:

Not what I was getting at,  but its ok.

I know what you're saying.

There should be room for every builder to build whatever their heart desires.

In theory  you're correct, but there's not always room for everybody depending on how successful a kit maker is.

If this company fails on it's first attempt, the only "room" is for the hobbyists who wanted that particular kit & everything that could have come after it goes away, regardless of the subject matter that you, or I, or anyone else would like to see from them.

When one of these companies fails, our choices become more limited & we all lose.

I'm sure that your hope is that modern NASCAR subjects continue to sell so that you can look forward to new kits in the future, but if a manufacturer is not healthy & does not have the capital to take a chance on riskier subjects, they could very well go away altogether, & that's no good for any of us.

That's why I get a little concerned when a brand new company comes out of the chute with a first offering that may not do well.

Honestly, I had the same concern when Moebius came out with the Hudson kit.

Let's hope that I am just as wrong this time as I was then.

 

Steve

 

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Yeah, well.

I like cars. I also like models.  Am I happy as the proverbial bescatted boar if I get a good model of a car I like? Absolutely.

But I also like kits for their own sake.  I like Tamiya and Eduard warbirds 'cause they're good models. I like WW1 tanks from Takom and Meng because they"re good models.

And if I'll get kits of subjects that far outside my mainstream just 'cause they're good, I'll most certainly get one of these if they're good.

[Classicgas]

4 hours ago, martinfan5 said:

And I feel the opposite of this, we can play this game all day, you like what you like, and I like what I like, and just because we dont like the same thing does not mean there shouldn't be kits of either ,  there is plenty of room for all sides to be happy.

Exactly. I wasn't saying you shouldn't like new ones, just saying I feel different. We each have a valid point of view. I also am glad they are doing this, I would like to see them in hobby shops versus online, and also hope they venture into factory stock vehicles.

[unclescott58]

7 hours ago, moparfarmer said:

Didn't JoHan have a snapper type kit of this style..I think it was an orange/red color on the box..Maybe the same mold as this new one?

 

Yea. That was a '75. A Cutlass S, minus the 442 package. Factory stock. Curbside snap kit. I'm willing to bet that the Jo-Han dies were not modified for this. There are enough differences between the 1975 and the '76 - '77 Cutlasses to probably not make a conversion of Jo-Hans dies all that easy. Plus, there were no NASCAR version or parts with the Jo-Han kit. 

Edited January 18, 2018 by unclescott58

[ranma]

If when it comes on the market, And if I have the extra cash I'll get one or two of them> Even though they are a race car kit I am a model builder,And I can and will convert them as close to Factory stock as I can. I done that with the "Pepsi  #39" Chevy and will do it to the Oldsmobile stock car as well. We are after all model builders here, and I have seen cars on this forum that were converted/altered many times over by other members.

Edited January 18, 2018 by ranma

[espo]

29 minutes ago, ranma said:

If when it comes on the market, And if I have the extra cash I'll get one or two of them> Even though they are a race car kit I am a model builder,And I can and will convert them as close to Factory stock as I can. I done that with the "Pepsi  #39" Chevy and will do it to the Oldsmobile stock car as well. We are after all model builders here, and I have seen cars on this forum that were converted/altered many times over by other members.

I like that Laguna. This body style was very popular at that time in the 1:1, but never got the kits based on it that I would have thought. Very nice conversion.  

[PettyKW43]

I’m glad Hiway saw the point I was trying to make, there’s too many negatives being put out let’s put our efforts into positives and building great models of all subjects! 

[Bennyg]

On 18 January 2018 at 12:48 PM, Casey said:

Looking at sold items on eBay, the '71-4 Petty Charger seems to bring $40 or so, the Buddy Baker Charger a bit less ($30-38), and the rest less than what a new Polar Lights kit would retail for. I think that shows just how important marker research is, and how vital it is to hit a homerun on one of the first attempts. The Petty name will help immensely, though I'm guessing Petty Enterprises licensing is by far the most expensive to obtain.

I don't envy the risk SJRM is talking right off the bat with a lesser (but still well known) driver and car, as we've already heard directly from Dave Metzner at Moebius that slow (or slower than expected/hoped for) sales of existing kits can delay the production and introduction of new of modified reissues. Hopefully they have enough capital behind them to possibly weather an early storm if sales numbers are as positive as expected. I certainly hope they sell like crazy and SJRM does well, but this sounds like a very risky first subject, taking my limited knowledge of the vintage NASCAR market into account.

I'm thinking subject choice has to be the biggest factor. In model trucks, a company has had a kit in preproduction since 2014. They didn't end up releasing it and an aftermarket company made a conversion kit. It sold out in 48 hours. Möbius had a home run with the release of the LoneStar. Hopefully this kit does well. Looks ace,

Ben

[W-409]

Nice to see a new kit manufacturer out there! Also, there can never be too many kits of 3rd Gen GM A-Bodies. Unfortunately that price is just a bit too much for a Stock Car kit. I mean they're cool and I have a bunch of them with plans to build them all, but I'm not that crazy about Stock Car models that I'd pay $40 plus all shipping charges and customs etc for that kit. Once it is on my hands it would be somewhere between $75-$80 so it's too much. If it was a stock, or at least street version, I'd be happy to pay that amount all day long.

Anyway, I hope these will sell great and I'm interested to see what other kits they will produce after this one.

[Bill J]

Sure beats this recycled line up, it is a new subject even if it is a race car version.

Revell

1/25 1967 GTX

1/25 2003 Cadillac Escalade 

1/24 Baja Bandito

1/24 snap lightning McQueen, 

AMT

1/25 AMT 1957 Chrysler 300

1/25 AMT 1965 El Camino gear hustler

1/20 AMT (Lindberg) 1992 Toyota Pickup 4x4

[Dirty Dave]

With modern tooling/mastering tech, this could give us a new, really great option for the venerable SBC if it's done as well as promised. I anticipate buying at least one as a donor kit, even though I'm not a proponent of roundy-round racing.

[Richard Bartrop]

The 300C is probably one of AMT's nicest kits, and the subject is one of Virgil Exner's better efforts, this is one that deserves to make a comeback.

[Junkman]

For forty years I've been told that from a business perspective it isn't possible to tool up a new kit, let alone when you produce it anywhere within civilisation.
Now there comes a guy who simply does it.

My mind truly is a boggling one.

Sadly I couldn't care less about stock cars, but I might buy one just because it exists.
Who knows, maybe I end up with the Blue Mauritius of all kits, if I go by what the people say who worked in the industry three decades ago.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Junkman