Some questions on Double kits

[Greg Myers]

Did these kits go for the same amount as a regular single kit ?

It seems like it would be a losing proposition.

Are there any current Double kits out? Do they go for the same amount as a regular kit?

I know the "Racing Combinations" are higher priced.

Edited October 25, 2018 by Greg Myers

[Greg Myers]

Resent "Racing" combos 

[Greg Myers]

AMT seems to be the most prolific, however Revell had a few nice ones in the past.

[Greg Myers]

Most bang for the buck, if you didn't already know, is the "Tin" version of the AMT Double Dragster. With it's extra chrome tree you can do three dragsters with the addition of a few crossmembers to the second dragster frame.

[Greg Myers]

How many double kits did I miss? 

No, just double blowers here 

[Greg Myers]

These two are kind of obscure

[Greg Myers]

and the Tee Bucket has a few iterations 

Edited October 25, 2018 by Greg Myers

[Ace-Garageguy]

The price on my original issue Ala Kart double kit is $2.00

A contemporary '36 Ford is $1.70.

The Aurora double '34 Ford was $1.98.

The Revell double kits pictured were $2.00.

By comparison, a '61 Falcon annual was $1.39.

[Mark]

The AMT T-buckets, Double Dragster, Ala Kart/'29 Ford, and XR-6/'27 Ford retailed for $2.  Back then, some AMT single car kits were $1.49, others (like the Styline kits) $2.  So the double kits were a pretty good deal at the time. 

The racing teams were usually $3, but many of those had a tow car based on a Craftsman Series kit which sold for $1 separately.  The altered wheelbase cars were $1.70 apiece at the time, so for $3 you got $2.70 worth of car kits and a trailer.

[Snake45]

3 minutes ago, Mark said:

The AMT T-buckets, Double Dragster, Ala Kart/'29 Ford, and XR-6/'27 Ford retailed for $2.  Back then, some AMT single car kits were $1.49, others (like the Styline kits) $2.  So the double kits were a pretty good deal at the time. 

Exactly as I remember it. 

[Mark]

Those Revell double kits compiled from the Parts Packs were a pretty good deal too, even though some of the parts trees were silver plastic instead of plated (and the dragster chassis were obsolete by then).

I'm pretty sure the AMT/Heller doubles with the European cars were $3.  Those were out around 1970 if I remember right.  Those didn't go over too well, you could still find them a couple of years later.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The Willys/'32 Ford was also $2.00, while the somewhat rarer '28 Ford sedan single kit was $1.50.

The sweetest deal of all were the Revell doubles.

The parts packs they were made up from retailed for $.69 each, and you got 9 in each box...so you got about $6.50 worth of stuff for 2 bucks.

2 frame kits, 1 body kit, 2 engine kits, a tire pack, a wheel pack, an axle and suspension pack, and decals.

And there was stuff left over.  

Edited October 25, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[Greg Myers]

maybe that's why they were a one shot deal. 

[Mark]

2 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

The Willys/'32 Ford was also $2.00, while the somewhat rarer '28 Ford sedan single kit was $1.50.

The sweetest deal of all were the Revell doubles.

The parts packs they were made up from retailed for $.69 each, and you got 9 or 10 in each box...so you got about $7.00 worth of stuff for 2 bucks.

Revell blew out some of the Parts Packs by putting them into assortments.  I've got one of those, can't recall offhand when they were sold but I'd bet they were done before the double kits, with unsold leftover packs.  Aurora did that too; I've got a pack that includes one each of their three packs (Ford engine, custom wheels, and custom grilles).  The grilles are interesting; they molded fairly big rectangular pieces with different grille patterns, and you were supposed to cut them to the needed size/shape.

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 minutes ago, Greg Myers said:

maybe that's why they were a one shot deal. 

It would be interesting to look at the dates of the Revell doubles relative to the introductions of the parts-packs.

Many of the parts-pack bits made appearances in other Revell kits too.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Funny...when I got back into this stuff some years back, the parts packs were cheap, and I bought up a lot of them.

I'd been gone from the hobby for decades, and was really happy to see so many of the classics still around.

Some of the asking prices now are 10X what I paid then. 

[Mark]

I'm pretty sure the Revell "parts pack" based doubles were out in '66.  I've got a '66 catalog, should dig it out and take another look.  The individual packs were phased out during '65, I'm certain none are in the '66 catalog.  Some of the parts were altered for the double kits (the Fiat body has a hole in the hood as I recall).  The double kit bodies are molded in white instead of the "fiberglass gray" used for the parts packs.

[Richard Bartrop]

And let's not forget that just because something in the same scale, that doesn't mean it's the same size.   A Model T or a Topolino is tiny compared to your typical mid-century American passenger car.   A stock T and a hot rod version, or two t based hot rods, or two dragsters fit in the same sized box as a promo based annual kit, and it looks like they use about the same amount of plastic.   It would not surprise me if the reason for doubling them up was so people used to a kit filling up the box would still think they were getting their money's worth.

 

[Tom Geiger]

6 minutes ago, Richard Bartrop said:

And let's not forget that just because something in the same scale, that doesn't mean it's the same size.   A Model T or a Topolino is tiny compared to your typical mid-century American passenger car.   A stock T and a hot rod version, or two t based hot rods, or two dragsters fit in the same sized box as a promo based annual kit, and it looks like they use about the same amount of plastic.   It would not surprise me if the reason for doubling them up was so people used to a kit filling up the box would still think they were getting their money's worth.

 

Bingo!  I once had a conversation with Bob Paeth, who worked for Revell in the 1960s.  He said they were very aware of "perceived value". Boxes were a standard size. What was the perception when a kid opened a box and it was 3/4 empty?    That led to the double kits of these small cars.  It's also the very reason there was a Tiki Hut in the Roth Surfite kit!

[Richard Bartrop]

This is why, when the talk turns to doing a '26 Ford roadster,  I think tossing in the bits to do a stock version would not add that much to the expense of the kit, yet would broaden its appeal.

[iamsuperdan]

As an FYI, the search function is a wonderful thing. Four existing threads on the subject of double kits, two of which the OP created. 

 

Just saying.

 

 

 

[Greg Myers]

All dated three to four years ago buried in the Past where most don't go or even think to go.

Nothing like a fresh perspective. 

Just trying to keep this board moving.

With these constant reminders that someone may have visited a subject once or twice before seems counterproductive.

Again, these threads may seem like more of the same but "Similar in content" may be a better description. If you look at the three presented, they do cover different aspects of the subject. So, as has happened so many times before, let's just lump them all together.

Please forgive me for dredging up the past, just think of it as a reissue, not unlike the countless reissued kits our hobby thrives on.

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by Greg Myers

[Casey]

Edited October 26, 2018 by Casey

[Casey]

[Lizard Racing]

In addition to the Ferrari/Porsche double, there was another European racecar double. It was a Formula 2 Matra and a Formula 3 Brabham. I bought both of these in the '70s and wish I had another.

There was an Indy double by AMT, which was the  '63 Watson roadster and Lotus boxed together. Please excuse the condition of the box, it holds all my Indy car parts from 40 years.