Wasnt there talk about 72 road runner ? they were gonna retooled? what happen with the ideal ?

[drksd4848]

Yeah, I think that’s probably about right.

[niteowl7710]

18 hours ago, sak said:

If its any constelation, the subjects I would like to see will never see the light of day either.

Any one in particular?

17 hours ago, drksd4848 said:

Yeah, I’ve seen those. They look pretty good. I guess you would have to have each individual piece 3-D printed. So any individual with a decent 3-D printer could make his own 1/25 scale model. Which makes me wonder, if a shlub with a good 3-D printer can take those plans and make his own, why couldn’t a company with more resources do it on a larger scale?

Well the shlubs and the file designer aren't paying licensing to Stellantis...

[unclescott58]

I too would love to a styrene version of the ‘72 Road Runner. I’ve always loved the front end on that car. In my opinion it looked better than the’71. Front and rear.

[drksd4848]

5 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:

Any one in particular?

Well the shlubs and the file designer aren't paying licensing to Stellantis...

Uh.... yeah.  True that.  They *are* paying licensing for other Mopar Stellantis stuff.  Anyone know if that's a blanket agreement, or do you have to pay per car?  As in, the 72 Duster has to have a separate deal, the Coronet has to have a separate deal, etc.  The Road Runner would be a double wammy I guess, because you need  Mopar Stellantis AND Warner Bros. 

Edited Tuesday at 05:34 PM by drksd4848

[Mark C.]

5 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:

Well the shlubs and the file designer aren't paying licensing to Stellantis...

Sounds like a great way to ensure that nobody ever gets to build any of these again.

Is it typical for the cottage industry to pay licensing to the car companies?  There have been a lot of low buck low volume “kit” producers (i.e. our many wonderful resin kit producers who have been putting a spark into our hobby for decades) who I can’t imagine being large enough to be able to afford a licensing deal with the automakers, not to mention just the legal fees involved, so what’s the deal there?  Seems like it would kill off most of our aftermarket if that were the case.

[drksd4848]

36 minutes ago, Mark C. said:

Sounds like a great way to ensure that nobody ever gets to build any of these again.

Is it typical for the cottage industry to pay licensing to the car companies?  There have been a lot of low buck low volume “kit” producers (i.e. our many wonderful resin kit producers who have been putting a spark into our hobby for decades) who I can’t imagine being large enough to be able to afford a licensing deal with the automakers, not to mention just the legal fees involved, so what’s the deal there?  Seems like it would kill off most of our aftermarket if that were the case.

If you check out the box and decals, I think you'll see the automakers trademark on all of the printed material.  They have to pay for that.

One thing I would say, what the cottage industry has in it's favor: they can mass produce polystyrene kits.  For me personally, I would much rather work with a model made out of polystyrene than resin. Resin will do when there is nothing else but it's tougher to paint, it breaks easier (I have found) etc. Plus it never seems to fit right and always looked slightly "off" compared to the polystyrene version. I also did a little research.  On ebay there ARE people selling complete 3D printed resin 71-72 Road Runner kits... at $80 to $120 a pop!  A polystyrene kit?  $29.99.  I'll buy a R2 72 Road Runner kit  @$30 over a pricey resin kit all day long.  No brainer.  Be nice if they made one I could buy though.

Edited Tuesday at 06:31 PM by drksd4848

[Mark C.]

7 minutes ago, drksd4848 said:

If you check out the box and decals, I think you'll see the automakers trademark on all of the printed material.  They have to pay for that.

One thing I would say, what the cottage industry has in it's favor: they can mass produce polystyrene kits.  For me personally, I would much rather work with a model made out of polystyrene than resin. Resin will do when there is nothing else but it's tougher to paint, it breaks easier (I have found) etc.  I also did a little research.  On ebay there ARE people selling complete 3D printed resin 71-72 Road Runner kits... at $80 to $120 a pop!  A polystyrene kit?  $29.99.  I'll buy a R2 72 Road Runner kit  @$30 over a pricey resin kit all day long.  No brainer.  Be nice if they made one I could buy though.

By "cottage industry", I meant small producers of resin kits, etc.  I have a few from different producers, and don't recall ever seeing any trademarks on them (not saying they don't exist, could be just that I have a crappy memory).

I consider the mass producers of styrene kits as the mainstream industry, and yes, I tend to prefer their nicely packaged, generally well engineered, relatively inexpensive kits to ones from the aftermarket, but it's all about subject matter.  Some subjects will never be produced by a mainstream manufacturer, so it's either the small producers or nothing.  If the auto industries' legal departments ever decided to bring the hammer down on the small producers, then we would probably go back to the days of scratchbuilding them yourselves, or we would have to all become 3D kit designers (and not share or sell any of our files for fear of legal action).

[drksd4848]

13 minutes ago, Mark C. said:

By "cottage industry", I meant small producers of resin kits, etc.  I have a few from different producers, and don't recall ever seeing any trademarks on them (not saying they don't exist, could be just that I have a crappy memory).

I consider the mass producers of styrene kits as the mainstream industry, and yes, I tend to prefer their nicely packaged, generally well engineered, relatively inexpensive kits to ones from the aftermarket, but it's all about subject matter.  Some subjects will never be produced by a mainstream manufacturer, so it's either the small producers or nothing.  If the auto industries' legal departments ever decided to bring the hammer down on the small producers, then we would probably go back to the days of scratchbuilding them yourselves, or we would have to all become 3D kit designers (and not share or sell any of our files for fear of legal action).

Sorry... misunderstood what you meant by cottage industry... mostly because I often wonder where a company like Round 2 sits in terms of size, scope etc.

So as far as *that* cottage industry is concerned, it's likely not worth it for the auto companies to go after these guys with lawyers.  What's the gain? How much money do they make?  Probably not much.

[niteowl7710]

2 hours ago, drksd4848 said:

Uh.... yeah.  True that.  They *are* paying licensing for other Mopar Stellantis stuff.  Anyone know if that's a blanket agreement, or do you have to pay per car?  As in, the 72 Duster has to have a separate deal, the Coronet has to have a separate deal, etc.  The Road Runner would be a double wammy I guess, because you need  Mopar Stellantis AND Warner Bros. 

There's usually a master licensing agreement that gives you the trade dress items (name, logos, et al), and then each individual item has to be given approval of its own.  If memory serves me from hours and hours of listening to Salvinos JR folks discussing it at length only GM still has an in-house licensing department.  Both Ford and Stellantis contract out through 3rd party services.  

Should also be noted as it was being discussed in another thread.  Having licensing to do a diecast of (insert your scale here) doesn't automatically give one the right to reproduce it as a plastic kit.  The licensor always has last right of rejection for any project at any time and this entire thing might come down to Round2 not wanting to pay Warner Bros. fee, or Stellantis having no current interest in seeing a '72 Roadrunner reproduced by another company - giving that exclusive right to SJR for their NASCAR items.

[niteowl7710]

1 hour ago, drksd4848 said:

Sorry... misunderstood what you meant by cottage industry... mostly because I often wonder where a company like Round 2 sits in terms of size, scope etc.

So as far as *that* cottage industry is concerned, it's likely not worth it for the auto companies to go after these guys with lawyers.  What's the gain? How much money do they make?  Probably not much.

There have been some cease and desists sent out over the years to various resin companies.  Both GM and Ford have done that, and since they have in-house legal counsel it doesn't cost them anything since they're already paying those lawyers anyways.  What is Joe Blow in his garage going to do, fight it? On the basis of...I can't even imagine what basis.
 

Wouldn't be so easy to do with a digital file being made by a guy in Eastern Europe, there's a tangle of laws there between the U.S and the EU.  Plus, it's not a tangible asset, it's just a series of "pictures" in a computer until someone presses the "go" button on their Elegoo. Plus as so many people have found out, once something is on the internet, it's always out there.  Even if you did cease and desist Andrey over any given car file, the car file is already owned by dozens, if not hundreds of people who can just send it to each other.  They might have a better chance at going after the "Print for Fee" guys who are selling the full printed kits on eBay but even then, most of them are again in the EU other than Iceman.

[drksd4848]

Niteowl,

Great posts! A lot of insight in there. Thank you.

There are obviously ways you could release a Road Runner kit and get around the extra licensing.  I know there was a 1/25 '74 GTX kit that circumvented Warner Bros, but eventually got released as a Road Runner kit, even with a Road Runner figurine.  Monogram did an end around Warner Bros with that highly detailed 1/24 Plymouth Satellite that was clearly a Road Runner.  Johan and Monogram had a Superbird kit with no Road Runner decals.  The name Superbird is NOT a Warner Bros property, but the decals are.

So I wonder how Round2 handled their previous Road Runner kits.  Could they absorb the cost of the double licensing fees because the tooling was intact?   With the 71/72 Road Runner you would have to pay the extra WB licensing AND pay for the new cloning/tooling.  I have no clue what the budget is for producing a new kit to get the pricing right for the ROI; there may not be enough ROI for it. 

However you could clone it and call it a GTX to avoid Warner bros - the money that would be spent on the licensing could be directed toward cloning/tooling.

Which is why the point you made about Salvinos is interesting... I wouldn't be surprised if THAT is a sticking point.  They may have an exclusive deal with Stellantis on that particular kit.

Anyway, this is all over-thought wild speculation.  I have no clue about any of this.  I do enjoy over analyzing it though - strangely enough.

 

Edited Tuesday at 09:15 PM by drksd4848

[Mark C.]

Probably why JR calls it the Chrysler Plymouth (or something like that) vs Road Runner, but then they also have to have Petty licensing, NASCAR licensing, etc…

Edited Tuesday at 09:48 PM by Mark C.

[Ragtop Man]

The names and images do the selling on the box - unless you are working deep in the lunatic fringe of the hobby. 

 

[Ragtop Man]

On 9/27/2025 at 9:55 PM, tim boyd said:

Interesting discussion on the flaws of the MPC Road Runner.  While I don't disagree with the accuracy critiques, I still think the original annual kit and the 1987 reissue could turn out a very passable scale replica, as seen here with both 1971s and a 1972 annual kit...TB

Well - imagine IF the team that cleaned up the '68 Coronet gave the '71-3 RR/GTX/Satellite ... and tuned up the simple platform chassis of the '60 Nomad StaWag the same treatment. 

I can't see how it WOULDNT be a big success with both the craft chains and lunatic fringers. 

In other words, you don't need a Richard Petty tatoo to see the commercial possiblities.

But that's just me... 

[drksd4848]

1 hour ago, Ragtop Man said:

Well - imagine IF the team that cleaned up the '68 Coronet gave the '71-3 RR/GTX/Satellite ... and tuned up the simple platform chassis of the '60 Nomad StaWag the same treatment. 

I can't see how it WOULDNT be a big success with both the craft chains and lunatic fringers. 

In other words, you don't need a Richard Petty tatoo to see the commercial possiblities.

But that's just me... 

I agree with you 1000%. There are ways around in the extra licensing fees.  They proved that they can clone models to replace the damaged or missing tooling. They know that there would solid demand for this kit. So there must be a real legitimate reason why it hasn’t been rereleased. 
 

Another question I’d throw out there: can two companies release a kit of the same car at the same time? 

Edited Wednesday at 03:38 PM by drksd4848

[sfhess]

39 minutes ago, drksd4848 said:

Another question I’d throw out there: can two companies release a kit of the same car at the same time? 

AMT and Revell both launched 67 Chevelle kits at about the same time.

AMT, Revell and Lindberg all released versions of the 1997-ish Ford F-150 close together.

[Can-Con]

6 hours ago, drksd4848 said:

I agree with you 1000%. There are ways around in the extra licensing fees.  They proved that they can clone models to replace the damaged or missing tooling. They know that there would solid demand for this kit. So there must be a real legitimate reason why it hasn’t been rereleased. 
 

Another question I’d throw out there: can two companies release a kit of the same car at the same time? 

 

5 hours ago, sfhess said:

AMT and Revell both launched 67 Chevelle kits at about the same time.

AMT, Revell and Lindberg all released versions of the 1997-ish Ford F-150 close together.

In the late '70s and '80s EVERY model company had it's own Pontiac Trans Am models. AMT, MPC, Revell, Monogram, Ertl, Entex, Lindberg, etc, etc, etc.

[stavanzer]

11 hours ago, drksd4848 said:

I agree with you 1000%. There are ways around in the extra licensing fees.  They proved that they can clone models to replace the damaged or missing tooling. They know that there would solid demand for this kit. So there must be a real legitimate reason why it hasn’t been rereleased. 

Probably that it isn't high enough on the list yet, of kits to be re-tooled.

My best guess, is that the many comments here have been seen and noted by the Folks at Round2. But, they have not said anything, because they don't want to Tip their Hand-create false hopes-Start rumors.

When (or IF) they are ready to let us know about any future plans for the tooling, they will let us know. Until that happens, this is all just idle speculation.

It's like Twinkies. Lots of Fun, but No Real Calories.