50,000 + kits from just one mold ?

[Paul Hettick]

I don't remember if they were missing, but we were going to use a different tire as the ones supplied by Revell back in 62 were pretty bad.  Possibly the MPC Goodyear used in the mid sixties.

[Casey]

On 1/29/2018 at 5:15 PM, Art Anderson said:

Someone on Facebook (Dean Milano, perhaps, who worked for Monogram--later Revell Monogram for several years) posted a couple of pics on a model car group that showed the company's "model kit hall of fame" which showed several million-selling model kits. 

Not sure if this is what Art was alluding to, but there was such a display on a wall at the Monogram headquarters in 1968:

[NOBLNG]

On 1/29/2018 at 10:47 AM, wku88 said:

A model kit is pretty simple compared to some of the injected molded parts I deal with. If a cooling fan shroud made from glass fiber reinforced Nylon can be shot in less than 90 second cycle time, I'm sure a kit could be less.  How long is 50,000 minutes? 34.7 days....   Injection molding is most consistent when allowed to run uninterrupted. Keep the bin full of resin, and barring a failure, 50k kits could be done in 5 or 6 weeks.

 

 

That’s enough to completely pack 2-1/2 forty foot shipping containers.

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, Casey said:

Not sure if this is what Art was alluding to, but there was such a display on a wall at the Monogram headquarters in 1968:

VERY cool! I can identify 10 of the 11 model airplanes, nearly all of which I built as a kid (and thus contributed to the One Million sales figures). Only car I can positively identify is the Lil Coffin. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, Snake45 said:

... Only car I can positively identify is the Lil Coffin. 

The fact that they're all Monogram kits narrows the possibilities considerably.

Top row, no. 2 appears to be the "Slingshot" Dragster.  

Next to it is the Hot Rod, Monogram's second plastic kit. 

Next one looks like the Forty Niner Dragster. 

Second row far right is Monogram's first plastic kit, first issued in acetate, the approximately 1/20 scale Midget Racer  

 

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Ace-Garageguy

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

The fact that they're all Monogram kits narrows the possibilities considerably.

Well of course it does, duh! Was just sayin' I'm not all that familiar with the early Monogram car models, especially the sub-1/24 ones. 

[Oldcarfan27]

On 1/28/2018 at 8:24 PM, lysleder said:

I seem to remember seeing written somewhere that MPC's General Lee Charger is probably America's most produced kit with an estimated one million copies out of the same mold. And all of them with the incorrect rear window..

Actually,  it hit the million mark back in the early 80s, so multiply that with all the DofH reissues and all of the Charger variations before and since then. And they're still using it!

BTW, the Trans Am Blackbird had the distinction BEFORE the Dukes Charger and that one gets reissued almost every few years, too!

[Tom Geiger]

Too bad tooling doesn’t have an odometer!  Think of some of the classic kits that have been issued over and over I. The past 60 years. I’ll bet some of them have done over a million kits! 

[Don Sikora II]

Long ago, Roger Harney of Monogram engineering told me the Monogram kit that sold one million units the quickest was the 1/24-scale Red Baron. 

[Bugatti Fan]

Clapped out tooling used over and over. I can see why it has been common over the years, but what used to annoy me was a reissue of a kit with the word NEW on the box.

[Snake45]

5 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

...what used to annoy me was a reissue of a kit with the word NEW on the box.

In Adspeak, New on the box means a new box. 

[stavanzer]

Or, New Decals, New Tires, and other extras.

And, Noel, while it is not new to us, the "New" label on the box is not meant for us, the "lunatic fringe". We know how old these kits are. The primary market, does not. So, give advice to the novice looking at new kits with you at the store. Try to gently steer them away from the older dogs, and towards a better build experience. I've done it a few times. I'll never know if it helped, but the store made the same money, and a novice model builder did not get a 50 year old kit that might have caused real problems. It is all we can do sometimes.

[Ace-Garageguy]

13 minutes ago, alexis said:

...So, give advice to the novice looking at new kits with you at the store. Try to gently steer them away from the older dogs, and towards a better build experience. I've done it a few times. I'll never know if it helped, but the store made the same money, and a novice model builder did not get a 50 year old kit that might have caused real problems. It is all we can do sometimes.

I understand what you're saying, but frankly, I think most novices would find building some of the older, simpler kits more enjoyable.

Many novices aren't hard core car guys, and all those complicated mechanical bits some of us enjoy are just so much frustrating and incomprehensible drudgery.

It wasn't hard to get decent looking results from a lot of those old kits, and with fewer detail parts to fret about, and an easy assembly sequence, a novice builder might be able to better concentrate on the basics...like generally clean workmanship, and acceptable paint.

Just another way to look at it...

[stavanzer]

Well, it happens to me most Often at Hobby Lobby. I try to get an idea of what the builder wants. I've steered kids to snap kits, and away from some of the more labour intensive kits. I've suggested ones I know are easier to build, and away from some kits that are more of a bear to build.  Yeah the old AMT '40 Sedan is a pretty easy kit to get good results from, but some newer kits aren't.

It's just a bit of conversation really. I just try to provide some background info, on the choices that are there on the shelf.

[Tom Geiger]

In NJ there’s a hobby shop that is owned by a business couple rather than hobby people. Their floor staff is a bunch of high school girls, who equally know nothing about the products. 

One year in the Christmas rush I was looking at the models and a lady was shopping for her son’s gift. She asked one of the young girls if they had a Porsche kit and the girl started reading all the boxes starting at the top corner of the shelves.

i jump in and immediately know what Tamiya kit it was, grabbed it and handed it to her. I explained the contents and quality. She then asks about supplies needed and I load her up with glues and paints.

Other people start asking questions about different kits so I help them as well. What I don’t see is they the frustrated store clerk had gone and gotten the store owner to show him the guy who is interfering. He tells her to leave me be because I’m doing good. He watches me sell a couple more kits.

Then he starts a conversation. Is impressed that I know everything about model cars and offers me a job! Of course he wants to pay minimum wage.. the same amount he’s paying the useless high school girls!

[Bugatti Fan]

Tom, we had a similar thing over here in the UK. A number of years ago a group named Beatties were buying out individual owner model shops. Tho old owners went to be replaced with spotty adolescents who did not know the difference between a Barbie Doll or an Airfix kit. The whole lot went under wiping out the many local model shops they bought up. Another group of shops owned by Amerang trading under the name Model Zone a few years later went into administration. 

Bean counters cannot successfully run model shops with no depth of experience in the subject. Customers soon suss this out and do not bother to return  any more. Cannot see any model shops existing after another 10 years, and the Corona Virus is just another nail in the coffin as those shops are deemed low priority traders.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Bugatti Fan

[stavanzer]

I cannot argue with your experiences, Noel. You have the right of it.  Hobby shops are about a lot more than just selling kits and parts. But, That truth CANNOT EVER be explained to any body who has a Masters degree in Business. 

[Tom Geiger]

Since we already dragged this thread down the rabbit hole, you reminded me of a story.

I was laid off eight years ago. Part of my package included placement consulting services. I was put into a group of senior people who were director / Vice President level, but also between jobs as well.

One of the exercises was to search through your experiences and hobbies to see if this could be part of your new career. I told the group I was a model builder, and thought it might be fun to own a hobby shop.

Immediately this became the group project. To investigate and write a business plan. So this group of very senior executives gave it a go.

Very quickly they way over complicated my simple dream. One guy called someone he knew at a company that owned shopping centers and got an offer to start with FOUR prime locations, no rent first year and company would contribute towards renovations.

They figured out budgets and how to finance the whole thing. This started to get scary real! These guys knew business, how to pull favors, negotiate and retail.

Where did they fail? Staffing! The budget was all minimum wage help with a store manager for each location at $10 an hour! They had no idea of the special knowledge required to run such an operation. And they couldn’t make their business model work where anyone earned a living wage. Done!