Jo-Han

[StevenGuthmiller]

17 minutes ago, Richard Bartrop said:

All the more reason to make models based on orphan makes.

Studebaker, Hudson, Nash, Kaiser, Packard, etc?

But doesn't someone still retain the rights to these names & designs?

Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Mercury & Plymouth are all gone as well, but I'm sure that the "big three" still have the rights to them.

Just asking.

I have no problem with a few old Studebaker & Packard kits!

 

Steve

[Ron Hamilton]

Fortunately for me, I was able to buy all of the JoHan kits I ever wanted. One promo has eluded me, and that is the 1967 Chrysler Imperial Crown Coupe.

[martinfan5]

6 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

Nothing has changed.   Jo-han is still dead.  

[Rob Hall]

19 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Studebaker, Hudson, Nash, Kaiser, Packard, etc?

But doesn't someone still retain the rights to these names & designs?

Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Mercury & Plymouth are all gone as well, but I'm sure that the "big three" still have the rights to them.

Just asking.

I have no problem with a few old Studebaker & Packard kits!

 

The Hudson brand is owned by FCA, from the AMC acquisition 30 years ago, presumably Nash also.  Who knows where rights to Studebaker, Packard or Kaiser ended up..probably close to zero demand for kits from those long dead marques, though,  AMT has reissued 3 Studebaker kits in recent years..

[SfanGoch]

The Nash/Rambler and Kaiser/Willys Overland trademarks are also owned by FCA. Roy Gullickson owns the "Packard" name as it applies to cars. The Studebaker trademark is owned by DATA ACCESS.

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

The Hudson brand is owned by FCA, from the AMC acquisition 30 years ago, presumably Nash also.  Who knows where rights to Studebaker, Packard or Kaiser ended up..probably close to zero demand for kits from those long dead marques, though,  AMT has reissued 3 Studebaker kits in recent years..

 

59 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

The Nash/Rambler and Kaiser/Willys Overland trademarks are also owned by FCA. Roy Gullickson owns the "Packard" name as it applies to cars. The Studebaker trademark is owned by DATA ACCESS.

That's what I assumed.

So regardless of how long dead a marque is, someone is most likely still going to be due royalties of some sort.

 

Rob, you're probably right about demand for this sort of kit........in today's market.

I believe that in the not too distant future, 3D printers and the software to produce nearly anything that you can imagine, will be common place & inexpensive.

Remember how much a flat screen television cost just a few years ago?

I think that someday, not too far away, you'll be able to buy the design for nearly any scale, & any make or model of automobile on line, plug it into your home 3D printer, and print out that 1/8th scale '58 Chevy that you always wanted.

 

Steve

[1930fordpickup]

The employee's walked off with the molds because they were not getting paid and owed money. It does not make it right but if the story is told tell the whole story/ rumor.  

[martinfan5]

42 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

 

That's what I assumed.

So regardless of how long dead a marque is, someone is most likely still going to be due royalties of some sort.

 

Rob, you're probably right about demand for this sort of kit........in today's market.

I believe that in the not too distant future, 3D printers and the software to produce nearly anything that you can imagine, will be common place & inexpensive.

Remember how much a flat screen television cost just a few years ago?

I think that someday, not too far away, you'll be able to buy the design for nearly any scale, & any make or model of automobile on line, plug it into your home 3D printer, and print out that 1/8th scale '58 Chevy that you always wanted.

 

Steve

1/8th?,  what about 1/24th scale or 1/25th scale ?

[SfanGoch]

1/8 scale is nuthin'. How about a 2/5 scale (40% of the 1:1) 3D printed 1927 Miller 91?

[Richard Bartrop]

When you don't have to sell thousands of identical kts to break even, a lot of subjects start looking viable.  Never mind a '58 Chevy, what if your special itch is say, a 1905 Pungs-Finch?

[SfanGoch]

That would make for a nice kit. 

[Richard Bartrop]

And of course 3D modeling software keeps getting cheaper and more powerful.  There's a very basic 3D program bundled with the latest version of Windows.  Making an accurate hyperdetailed model still won't be easy, but it will be within the realm of possibility for more people.

[thatz4u]

Okey Spaulding says that he has molds for several Johan kits, & misc. parts & reissues them as money allows......

his email is.....okeyisnow@gmail.com

he can answer your questions...........

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 hours ago, thatz4u said:

reissues them as money allows.

Really?

When was the last time that happened?

I guess "money hasn't allowed" since about 1988!

 

Steve

[Greg Myers]

Yes their bodies are great, chassis not to exciting.

The engines on the other hand are really well done, lots of detail, at least on their later releases.

The Mavericks especially.

Edited March 17, 2018 by Greg Myers

[Luc Janssens]

19 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Really?

When was the last time that happened?

I guess "money hasn't allowed" since about 1988!

 

Steve

In '03 Okey released the Ramler wagon and one or two other kits, I remember the year because he was at the RCHTA show back then, as well as at the Hobby Heaven party, Dean Milano and I threw at Dean's Model kit and Toy Muesum in downtown Elmhurst.

What I don't remember is, if those kits were repackaged old stock, or actually produced by or for him.

Edited March 17, 2018 by Luc Janssens

[Rob Hall]

Just now, Luc Janssens said:

In '03 Okey released the Rambler wagon and one or two other kits, I remeber the year because he was at the RCHTA show back then as well at the Hobby Heaven party Dean Milano and I organised at Dean's Model kit and Toy Muesum in downtown Elmhurst.

What I don't remember is if those kits were repackaged old stock or actually produced by or for him.

The other was the curbside version of the Chrysler Turbine Car, IIRC.   I assume those were repackaged X-EL era kits?   

[boss 302 mustang]

I believe Rob is correct on that.  I don't think Okey was able to run anything.

[StevenGuthmiller]

6 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

In '03 Okey released the Ramler wagon and one or two other kits, I remember the year because he was at the RCHTA show back then, as well as at the Hobby Heaven party, Dean Milano and I threw at Dean's Model kit and Toy Muesum in downtown Elmhurst.

What I don't remember is, if those kits were repackaged old stock, or actually produced by or for him.

Okay, that was 15 years ago.

Probably repackaged stuff would be my guess.

I don't think I would expect much of anything else over the next 15 years.

 

Steve

[Luc Janssens]

3 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Okay, that was 15 years ago.

Probably repackaged stuff would be my guess.

I don't think I would expect much of anything else over the next 15 years.

 

Steve

Except maybe selling off leftover parts?

I remember him doing so at the last Birmingham model show, I visited back in '05.

I sometimes wonder if ever a drawing will show up I did in the '90s, of a Caprice police car, I sent in to Jo-Han and maybe ended up in the archives, to be sold off on ebay LOL

[MrObsessive]

Okey was at last years NNL East in New Jersey and he seemed to have a fair amount of Johan stuff for sale. Most of it looked to be NOS X-El promos in their boxes, but it's curious that he's got a bit of items leftover at this late date. I ended up getting a beat up '55 Pontiac Starchief hardtop body and bumpers, and a PE set for 1968-70 AMX's.

[thatz4u]

I got some Comet chrome & a 69 AMX from him last year in Dayton