Coming Soon from Atomic City's JoHan line of new kits

[slusher]

I like to see the 60 Plymouth wagon come back!

[Dave Darby]

15 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

What I do see is an immutable truth that new tooling makes my register go ding (Moebius Novas, Revell '71 Mustang) and clone tooling doesn't. 

But I think there is a big difference between sales at a locally owned hobby shop and big box stores such as Hobby Lobby. Locally owned hobby shops cannot compete price-wise with big box stores, due to their volume discount pricing, and the fact that they also don't depend solely on model kits to keep their lights on. The crowd that buys those clone tools isn't going to the locally owned hobby shop, when they can buy the same kit at Hobby Lobby with the 40 percent discount, The guys chasing Tamiya kits can't find them at Hobby Lobby, so they buy local. So quite honestly, you may well be comparing apples to oranges. It's kind of like saying such and such rare kit is going for 300 dollars on eBay, so it's sure to be a big seller if you reissue or retool it. Most of the time, those kits were rare because nobody was buying them. I'm pretty sure both Hobby Lobby and Round 2 know who their customer base is. You know what sells at your shop, but the big box stores and kit companies know what sells on the overall level.  I'll finish with a reminder that the model car industry isn't what it used to be, and tools with a high parts count are expensive.  That's why, when the the 71 Demon finally came out, it was a clone, instead of a new high detailed tool. It was the only way it could financially happen. It sure beats going without. The same applies to those old Johan kits. 

[Stef]

Imagine selling models for a living and being angry that some don't sell as well as others.

[gtx6970]

There was a time I wanted detail and more detail.  But as I got older and maybe even wiser , so to speak

 

I feel like I like the nostalgia part of it more than anything. I like to build models , but not ones that require a college degree to do so.

Do I want the finished product to be accurate to the car Im trying to replicate? Sure. Who doesnt

But do I worry about one vent window being 1mm wider that the other? Not a chance. If the finished product looks like what my mind envisioned. I'm good.

 

Take the recent MPC demon as an example. The engine in that kit is WAY underscale . But the body looks really nice to me now that they fixed the ft wheel openings compared to the original. So I'm for one tickled pink its back. And could care less its a basic lower parts count kit . Its looks great in my case.

I don't do contests.  Once they are done. I may take some pictures and post in social media. But Im not building  for the approval of the general audience.   I build for me and me alone.

They go in my case and my family can deal with them once I'm breathing dirt. 

 

Does it bother me this current company is riding on the nostalgia of the Johan name? not really. We all like the idea of Johan coming back. But face it. Its not happening. Most would complain of the quality if they did anyway

 

Jumps off soapbox now 

 

Model on boys and girls

 

I am off to the bench to work on my model kit

 

[thatz4u]

1 hour ago, gtx6970 said:

There was a time I wanted detail and more detail.  But as I got older and maybe even wiser , so to speak

 

I feel like I like the nostalgia part of it more than anything. I like to build models , but not ones that require a college degree to do so.

Do I want the finished product to be accurate to the car Im trying to replicate? Sure. Who doesnt

But do I worry about one vent window being 1mm wider that the other? Not a chance. If the finished product looks like what my mind envisioned. I'm good.

 

Take the recent MPC demon as an example. The engine in that kit is WAY underscale . But the body looks really nice to me now that they fixed the ft wheel openings compared to the original. So I'm for one tickled pink its back. And could care less its a basic lower parts count kit . Its looks great in my case.

I don't do contests.  Once they are done. I may take some pictures and post in social media. But Im not building  for the approval of the general audience.   I build for me and me alone.

They go in my case and my family can deal with them once I'm breathing dirt. 

 

Does it bother me this current company is riding on the nostalgia of the Johan name? not really. We all like the idea of Johan coming back. But face it. Its not happening. Most would complain of the quality if they did anyway

 

Jumps off soapbox now 

 

Model on boys and girls

 

I am off to the bench to work on my model kit

 

Well Said, Bill

[stavanzer]

1 hour ago, gtx6970 said:

There was a time I wanted detail and more detail.  But as I got older and maybe even wiser , so to speak

 

I feel like I like the nostalgia part of it more than anything. I like to build models , but not ones that require a college degree to do so.

Do I want the finished product to be accurate to the car Im trying to replicate? Sure. Who doesnt

But do I worry about one vent window being 1mm wider that the other? Not a chance. If the finished product looks like what my mind envisioned. I'm good.

 

Take the recent MPC demon as an example. The engine in that kit is WAY underscale . But the body looks really nice to me now that they fixed the ft wheel openings compared to the original. So I'm for one tickled pink its back. And could care less its a basic lower parts count kit . Its looks great in my case.

I don't do contests.  Once they are done. I may take some pictures and post in social media. But Im not building  for the approval of the general audience.   I build for me and me alone.

They go in my case and my family can deal with them once I'm breathing dirt. 

 

Does it bother me this current company is riding on the nostalgia of the Johan name? not really. We all like the idea of Johan coming back. But face it. Its not happening. Most would complain of the quality if they did anyway

 

Jumps off soapbox now 

 

Model on boys and girls

 

I am off to the bench to work on my model kit

 

Wisest Words said on this subject in many,many Moons.

Bill said it better than I ever could have.

Thanks!

[mikos]

On 7/10/2025 at 9:14 AM, gtx6970 said:

There was a time I wanted detail and more detail.  But as I got older and maybe even wiser , so to speak

 

I feel like I like the nostalgia part of it more than anything. I like to build models , but not ones that require a college degree to do so.

Do I want the finished product to be accurate to the car Im trying to replicate? Sure. Who doesnt

But do I worry about one vent window being 1mm wider that the other? Not a chance. If the finished product looks like what my mind envisioned. I'm good.

 

Take the recent MPC demon as an example. The engine in that kit is WAY underscale . But the body looks really nice to me now that they fixed the ft wheel openings compared to the original. So I'm for one tickled pink its back. And could care less its a basic lower parts count kit . Its looks great in my case.

I don't do contests.  Once they are done. I may take some pictures and post in social media. But Im not building  for the approval of the general audience.   I build for me and me alone.

They go in my case and my family can deal with them once I'm breathing dirt. 

 

Does it bother me this current company is riding on the nostalgia of the Johan name? not really. We all like the idea of Johan coming back. But face it. Its not happening. Most would complain of the quality if they did anyway

 

Jumps off soapbox now 

 

Model on boys and girls

 

I am off to the bench to work on my model kit

 

They can be simple, but put together they just looked very good.  The more chassis detail you have, the more fiddly the kit is to build.  The recent 3D printed kits found on ‘Bay are similar in detail and quality to the old Johan kits and they seem to be quite popular by offering subjects/models not offered by anyone else.  That was the niche of Johan.  They offered subjects/models no one else offered.  I would love to see some Johan kits cloned and reissued again in plastic.  Do it in a limited run.

Edited Sunday at 05:48 PM by mikos

[Luc Janssens]

There is some misconception here. Fewer parts don't necessarily mean a lot less detail. while lots of parts mean more. It's all about how you engineer a kit.

One example; in some 90s designed kits, you have a two-piece dashboard assembly, to be able to have the upper heating/cooling/ventilation vent engraving. Now it's one piece, yet has the detail too.

Form follows function.

Cheers

 

 

Edited Sunday at 08:49 PM by Luc Janssens

[Matt Bacon]

15 minutes ago, Luc Janssens said:

There is some misconception here. Fewer parts don't necessarily mean a lot less detail

Tamiya, for example, has always excelled at delivering outstanding detail in relatively few parts. The entire chassis and suspension of the 90s NSX is about 10 parts but builds up into a detailed and accurate replica that just needs some (quite involved) painting to bring it to life…

best,

M.

[Luc Janssens]

12 hours ago, Matt Bacon said:

Tamiya, for example, has always excelled at delivering outstanding detail in relatively few parts. The entire chassis and suspension of the 90s NSX is about 10 parts but builds up into a detailed and accurate replica that just needs some (quite involved) painting to bring it to life…

best,

M.

Sometimes in parts breakdown in general, not enough thought was given, into how to detail paint.

Like molded-in everything in the front facia of a car, where separate grilles would make it so much easier to paint.

IMHO, if you wish to make model building a pleasant experience, try to eliminate things that can cause frustration.

Just my 2 cents

😉

Edited 18 hours ago by Luc Janssens
Added photo.