Miscellanious ramblings.

[Ron Hamilton]

It seems to me like Revell is the only domestic model car manufacturer developing several new tools, as well as modifying and adding parts to other tools to produce new subject matter, and re-issuing former Die-cast Metal kits to Styrene plastic. Like it or not, this is an expensive undertaking that the other domestic model manufacturers are not doing on a large scale.

Sure, the re-constituted AMT is a major player in the game, but it seems to me, with the exception of the 2008 Dodge Challenger, they are doing re-issues of old, and not so old kits from their vast tooling, with some additional build variations ('60 Ford), and some beautiful box art (everything they have done so far), which collectors will buy, as well as the modeler who missed the kit(s) on the first run. I feel that if it was not for brilliant marketing efforts of Model King(Dave Burkett), Stevens International, and Hobby Heaven(Tom Carter), the limited runs of the older, significant, out of production tools would not have happened, and AMT/RC2/Polar Lights may have not been seen as a viable investment by Tom Lowe et .al.(Auto World). I applaud the company for the work they are currently doing with the old tools, and I hope they see fit to order up some new and exciting kits, as well as un-earthing, and restoring some prime, vintage old tools, as well as modifying the current tools into a new variant.

Lindberg had a resurgence several years ago with some decent new tools ('06 Charger variants,'53 Ford, '66 Chevelle SS 396, '64 Dodge 330, '61 Chevy Impala SS, Ford Crown Victoria, to name a few), and the re-issues of the old IMC tools, but I would venture to say that the old Pyro and Palmer tools were not too successful sales wise, as the subject matter appealed to the fringe element at best, and frankly those kits were not that satisfying to build. However, Lindberg seems to be hanging on too. I applaud them too on their efforts.

Everyone's kits are now priced higher, as the cost of petroleum products was said to be the major reason for the price increases earlier this year. Higher kit prices goes with the added costs of investing in the development of new tools, raw materials, labor, distribution and shipping costs, as well as licensing fees, so it was not just the spike in raw petroleum.

If you noticed, I did not mention the resurrected (or not) Jo Han(Okey Spaulding), or the various Resin kit and aftermarket detail part and paint manufacturers and suppliers. I have a different opinion of these companies, which I will not dwell on in this writing, however, I have supported them in the past by purchasing their wares, and will continue to purchase from them, as the subject matter, execution of said subject matter, and my wallet dictates.

In the past few years, the distribution channels of all of the manufacturing entities has been shrinking, as well as the available retailers(storefront and mail-order) in this business. Demand has also shrunk, as we(the modeling community)do not have the available disposable income to purchase as many model kits and supplies as we once did, even a couple of years ago. Of course there are several factors influencing these occurrences, most of them being beyond any single faction's control. We are in the midst of a serious recession folks, plain and simple. Some of us have been hit harder than others, but we are all affected.

I have been building and collecting model cars for over 45 years, and I am proud to say that I never stopped building, or collecting during that time period. I tend to be very critical of my own work, but not so much of other people's skill level, as I enjoy looking at, and getting inspiration for my builds from other builder's work on this site, no matter what their skill level is, and on the other modeling message boards, model magazines, shows, and the monthly model club meetings (M.A.M.A. and its affiliates). The comradery in our community is great, and we all have our opinions. Even though I am not directly connected to the model business as a retailer or wholesaler of kits or supplies, I am a consumer. I relish the release of the new kits, in the subject matter that I follow by the major model manufacturers, foreign and domestic. I buy most of the new releases, and give you my honest opinion of the said kit in the form of a written review, which is my opinion, and no one else's. Sure, some kits are pretty good executions of great subject matter, and some are less than good execution(but workable into a decent replica of the subject matter). Some modelers here will lambaste a kit(either in writing or verbally), without actually seeing the kit, but relying on the written opinion of someone they trust, whether or not the opinion is valid, so I take their opinion with a grain of salt. If you notice, unless the kit is an absolute abomination(and there are some pretty bad kits out there), I tend to stay positive in my reviews, as I try to look at the positive attributes of every kit I buy, and/or review. I look at each kit as raw material for a potential masterpiece. If the kit is terrible, I will write(or state)in my opinion as to why it is so.

I let the marketplaces decide whether the kit is worthy of my money, which I have less of each and every day.

Ron Hamilton

[Guest Gramps-xrds]

Ron I was just reading your post and got to wondering what ever happened to all the old annual kit dies AMT had back in the early 60s. Wouldn't it be cool if they still had them and re-issued those. When I was a lot younger I couldn't wait till those came out to get as many as I could. They had fords,chevys.buicks,corvairs,pontiacs,vetts and others I can't remember. It was a hard choice tryin to figure out which one to get first, before someone else got them. I even used to hide the ones I wanted in the back hoping no one would find them till I could afford them. Those were the days my friend. Knowing what I know now, it's unbelievable that they turned out so many kits every yr like they did.

God, am I feeling old. Hmm guess I am old though.

[Harry P.]

If you noticed, I did not mention the resurrected (or not) Jo Han(Okey Spaulding...

Ron Hamilton

And it's a good thing you didn't. The "resurrection" of JoHan has been reported for almost 20 years now, and we're all still waiting.

I think we all should just accept the fact that JoHan (at least as we knew it) is dead and gone. If there was going to be a revival of JoHan, it would have happened by now. Face it, JoHan ain't coming back...

[Art Anderson]

Ron I was just reading your post and got to wondering what ever happened to all the old annual kit dies AMT had back in the early 60s. Wouldn't it be cool if they still had them and re-issued those. When I was a lot younger I couldn't wait till those came out to get as many as I could. They had fords,chevys.buicks,corvairs,pontiacs,vetts and others I can't remember. It was a hard choice tryin to figure out which one to get first, before someone else got them. I even used to hide the ones I wanted in the back hoping no one would find them till I could afford them. Those were the days my friend. Knowing what I know now, it's unbelievable that they turned out so many kits every yr like they did.

God, am I feeling old. Hmm guess I am old though.

Probably most of that tooling was saved, at least for years. Some were modified, particularly those that were made into "Saturday Night Stockers", still others saw some welding up of details, then were reground for the next year's version, IF the changes weren't that major.

One thing to bear in mind though, and that is, AMT Corporation, as with MPC, was a company in business to make a profit, and to store, AND maintain suddenly obsolete tooling, particularly given that likely no one seriously believed that most of that old 1960's product would ever have enough popularity down the road, 2-5 decades in the future, probably didn't make much sense, no way that any inordinate expense for that could be justified at the time.

Back in the 60's, with the possible exception of some Chevrolet, and a very few Ford kits, the rather young market base at the time lost interest in this year's cars just as soon as the new cars for the next year hit the showrooms, and their model kit brethren began showing up on hobby shop shelves. In other words, come January 1960, very few of us wanted a 1959 Anything 3in1, we WANTED, and badly so, the NEW 1960 kits--so the leftover 59's on hobby shop shelves simply gathered dust, took up space, until they got shoved into the back room, or upstairs, to be brought out to pile on the tables in annual summer sidewalk sales--and even then, not all of them got sold, even at steep discounts. AMT tried reissues of older annual series kits, those simpified "Craftsman Jr" and similar kits, mostly sans any optional parts, and given that the concept never was seriously repeated, says a lot about the limited demand back then for such product.

Still, it is possible, I would think, for someone to dig out some of those old molds (and an awful lot of them still exist), pay the bucks to rehab, perhaps retool missing sprues, and reissue them once again. But the key here is that such has to be profitable, which at best (for most of them) is questionable, otherwise it would likely already have been done.

Art

[Guest Gramps-xrds]

An old man can still dream can't he.

[James Flowers]

An old man can still dream can't he.

I am with you there.