Enough of reissues.....

[rattle can man]

older subjects are mainly the kits that I am interested in, but something that hasn't been re-released  in a long time. If a re-release is done with only decal changes from a kit re-released 5 years ago, I probably won't be buying.

[bobss396]

Some of these ancient kits went dormant for good reasons. The molds are worn or missing parts would be my worst case scenario. 

Any tool drawings, nothing stored on CAD, could be missing or incomplete. Trial runs would have to be made to sort them out.

Master models at one point existed for many kits.

Mold repair is largely a lost art. I have seen parts trees where repairs have been made in the past. 

We are in the digital age. Things like 3D scanning exist to help translate the model geometry to a CAD format. Processes like wire EDM make molds less labor intensive.

All of us would like to see reissued kits made with fresh tooling. Look at the '65 Chevelle AWB as an example. That appears to have new tooling, the body is a lot crisper. The parts trees are laid out a lot better.

It all boils down to profit and ROI. New tooling is not cheap and thousands of kits have to be sold. I have always wondered how many molds exist for any one release.

[Dave Ambrose]

We need to keep a couple of things in mind. The model car market is very fragmented. Kits that sell well in the US don't generally sell in either Europe or Japan. Conversely, Japanese and European automotive subjects aren't huge sellers in the US. Armor and aircraft don't have this problem to the same extent because those modelers will generally build both ally and adversary. Some of this is evolving. Japanese car subjects are getting a following in the US. 

Also, at least in the US, these kit runs are not very big, and downright miniscule compared to what was produced in the 20th century. Creating the mold is the most expensive part of kit development. The mold blanks alone can run into 5 figures. Add machining, rework, and polishing, and you're lucky to break even on the first run. Moebius has a solid strategy for this by making their kits with openable hoods, and no engine. It allows for aftermarket detailing, but vastly reduces the amount of mold development cost and risk. 

[Luc Janssens]

1 hour ago, Dave Ambrose said:

Moebius has a solid strategy for this by making their kits with openable hoods, and no engine. It allows for aftermarket detailing, but vastly reduces the amount of mold development cost and risk. 

Think you mean Round2, Dave 😉

Cheers

Luc

[niteowl7710]

4 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

We need to keep a couple of things in mind. The model car market is very fragmented. Kits that sell well in the US don't generally sell in either Europe or Japan. 

I think you'd find most of the European folks here would offer up body parts of which they have two of to get an easy and reliable supply of America subject matter car kits. 

The same goes for Japan, which has an entire subculture devoted to American cars, the problem there is while they can get the kits they're hideously expensive with the export costs and the currency weakness against the USD. Same thing for Australia where you can generally find American kits, but they cost 2-3x what they cost here for the same reasons.

[bobss396]

2 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

Think you mean Round2, Dave 😉

Cheers

Luc

True, but what Moebius has done is quite novel. Those Ford truck kits have great commonality between them.

This cuts down on costs quite a bit if you don't have to reinvent the wheel with every kit produced.

Many years back, molds were made on manual machines, out of likely 410 or 420 stainless steel. Tough stuff to work on. Then heat treated which introduces another whammy into things.

Very thin detail mold sections are fragile and can fail with being subjected to many heat cycles. Look at some old AMT parts frames, sometimes you can see where a section was fixed.

Today, we have CAD and CAM to make things easier. EDM came along in the 1970s and wire EDM made mold work even easier and faster.

There is still considerable "grooming" that goes with every mold fabrication. Hand polishing is inevitable to get smooth finishes. Sometimes I see milling cutter makes on parts, where it will be hidden when assembled.

[Dave Ambrose]

6 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

Think you mean Round2, Dave 😉

Cheers

Luc

My mistake. You are correct. 

[Dave Ambrose]

3 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:

I think you'd find most of the European folks here would offer up body parts of which they have two of to get an easy and reliable supply of America subject matter car kits. 

The same goes for Japan, which has an entire subculture devoted to American cars, the problem there is while they can get the kits they're hideously expensive with the export costs and the currency weakness against the USD. Same thing for Australia where you can generally find American kits, but they cost 2-3x what they cost here for the same reasons.

Those are some interesting points. Seems like Round 2 would want to help develop those markets. Not much they can do about the currency exchange tho. There used to be a lot of non-tariff barriers to imports in Japan but I don't know if those are still in effect. I wonder if they could find an in-country retailer to carry their products, and reduce the cost to consumers?