Does the tooling for the Revell 'Grease' motorcycles exist?

[southpier]

Motor City Resins has an Ace Henderson & sidecar

[Don Sikora II]

I've built two of the Heller Moto GP bikes. They really are nice little kits with surprisingly good decals.

[FASTBACK340]

Thanks for the info on the Heller kits! Although an in-scale bike they are, I'd still love to see current-tool H-D's, a Victory, Indian, etc.

And Marty. C'mon dude…. joke? And loose the CAPS please.

[tim boyd]

I'd still love to see current-tool H-D's, a Victory, Indian, etc.

Me too!

The last gen DynaGlide in the F150 kit is not too dissimilar from today's Dyna family.... this was my near-stock build of that kit, with more chrome added and actual Harley Davidson parts department three-sstage "Purple Haze" touch up paint (this color was offered on certain production Harleys circa '07 or '08 as part of their mid-year special paint program; I used it as a stand-in for the Concord Purple color that was a production color for Harleys back on '01 or so).

Between the Maisto and (especially) the Hallmark 1/24th scale Harley die casts, one could kitbash a pretty current Harley bike or two... but again, it would be good to have a straight kit buildup available. I've mentioned this to the model companies. Although they haven't said the following, my educated guess is that between the Harley licensing costs and the lower MSRP such kits would have to reflect, the business case for justification is just not there. Too bad....TIM

Edited October 30, 2014 by tim boyd

[Agent G]

For all who believe 1/24 or 1/5th scale lack detail, try 1/35th scale.

This little gem is part of a two kit boxing by Tamiya. The main kit is a German sdkfz 222 recon armored car and this NSD 350 with dispatch rider.

Granted the spokes are overscale, but everything else is pretty darn good.

Mustang1989 built a 1/48th scale BMW with sidecar in the "All the Rest" community builds. It too is full of exquisite detail.

My point is not only can it be done, it is being done.

G

Edited October 30, 2014 by Agent G

[FASTBACK340]

This might be a good 3D printed project.

[southpier]

now I don't feel so bad if I build a four wheeler and one of them isn't touching.

[DrGlueblob]

Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland sells a nice 1/25 Triumph. Photoetch spokes are very nice. Here's what you can make from just this one type of motorcycle..

Chopper

Bobber

Flat tracker (Short track, mile, TT or half-miler)

Desert Sled

Drag bike

Café racer

Road Racer...

[FASTBACK340]

How are those Miatso Harley's? They advertise 3 or 4 variations with different pick-ups. I'm not expecting museum quality, but are they workable?

[tim boyd]

John...I think you are thinking of the Brookfield Guild models. They were paired with a dropped Chevy Suburban (early 1990's), a Ford Super Duty DRW, and a Ford Super Duty SuperCab. The Harleys are pretty nice models - worth it if you can get the combo at a decent price.

As for Maisto, they literally made a hundred or more different Harley 1/24th die casts ( I have most or all of them); they are moderately detailed and priced well, but they have not been manufactured new (that I can determine) for probably 3 or 4 years now.

The Franklin Mint 1/24th Harleys were probably the best of the bunch (as you would expect), and priced accordingly. They were available as a set, and also in a separate color scheme for one of their bikes, as part of a Harley shop diorama....TIM

Edited November 22, 2014 by tim boyd

[1/24DragAndStreetCars]

Im thinking about making a resin pit bike kit, and also a custom chopper. Any i terest i. A custom trike?

[jbwelda]

I would consider the chopper especially if it were a early 60s HA sort of rat bike without a big extended front end, but with a nice rake to the front frame tube. could probably get a few different versions out of something like that

jb

[English Jules]

i dont do bikes at all, not my thing, just like the real ones. But i do want a NYPD bike i have seen on pics, and LAPD, CHP etc would be nice too. To be next to a cop car or traffic stop

[tim boyd]

Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland sells a nice 1/25 Triumph. Photoetch spokes are very nice. Here's what you can make from just this one type of motorcycle..

Chopper

Bobber

Flat tracker (Short track, mile, TT or half-miler)

Desert Sled

Drag bike

Café racer

Road Racer...

Here are some photos of the R&M Triumph in painted/assembled form....

Built as the Restored Stock 1962 Triumph Bonneville 650 3 in 1 version...

Here's the kit built as the 3 in 1 Custom version (note the apehangers, cafe racer seat, and different tailamps)...this one was built from a glue bomb AMT kit with the R&M kit parts where the originals could not be saved....

More photos of both at the link

I also built the R&M Triumph in the 3 in 1 Bonneville Streamliner version (this was a how-to feature in Model Cars magazine about 7 or so years ago...)

TIM

Edited November 6, 2014 by tim boyd

[jbwelda]

if anyone is interested, right now on ebay the Revell Grease double kit of the Triumph and BSA are available buy it now for 50$ plus approx. 10 shipping. basically a great deal, and the kit appears pretty mint. check it out if you want to pick up these parts packs motorcycles

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Revell-Grease-2-1-25-scale-BSA-and-Triumph-Motorcycle-kit-MIB-/291288723603?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item43d2293093

jb

[Casey]

Why? Why don't we have these?

Not enough people want them. I doubt tastes have changed that radically since 1997, at least not enough to make selling these viable in 2015, but I submit this news blurb from SAE as proof:

[pack rat]

Not enough people want them. I doubt tastes have changed that radically since 1997, at least not enough to make selling these viable in 2015, but I submit this news blurb from SAE as proof:

I think the "Parts Pack" label was what killed the bikes back in '97.

IIRC the engine parts packs were on the hobby shop shelves when the bikes were announced, and my LHS STILL has a few of those left.

[jbwelda]

thank you Casey for coming up with exactly what I was talking about some time ago: in 97 I guess it was they were going to release four cycles in one box. SAE had a photo of the box I think in the prior coverage of the announcement that they were bringing them out. but then not.

you cannot tell me there is more "interest" in a Pacer (but that's AMT or MPC or whatever) or some multiple reissued tom daniels "show rod" than in a set of four motorcycles that have rarely been reissued all the way back since the sixties. simply cannot be. especially because it implies that they know where the molds are, that they work, and that they are complete and usable.

what it says right there is "weak pre-order performance" whatever the h e double l that means, just sounds like a lot of dealers didn't have any foresight to order a case or two. kinda really pretty stupid if so especially considering the dreck they evidently DO pre-order. I know everyone says this (and no one probably ever does it) but I would buy a case of them myself and I am pretty sure they would end up outselling say the ninth reissue this century of some tri-five cheby. no matter what the brainiacs who judge pre-order performance might predict.

jb

[Chuck Most]

I fail to see how there would be too little interest in these to justify running them. I'm sorry- even if you showed me the research and the hard data, I'd still have a hard time seeing it. I don't know if they'd break any sales records, but I'm convinced they wouldn't exactly "tank" if they hit the marketplace. Yes, from what I've heard the reissued engine parts packs did exactly that, but a standalone car engine and a complete motorcycle kit isn't quite an apples-to-apples sort of comparison. And regarding that... here in 2014, Round 2 seems to be doing pretty well with their parts pack reissues, and even Moebius has gotten their feet wet in that department. Maybe in 1997 these bikes would have been a dud, but I'd say they stand a much better chance today than they did then.

Seems like the kit manufacturers are pushing the reissued plastic as fast as they can bring 'em out these days. Even examples which were just reissued a few years previous. Maybe now is the right time for these to come back. All I can say is annoy the living carp out of the online vendors, the local hobby shops, and of course, Revell themselves. Make some noise. If the tooling is still viable, and Revell sees enough demand, what's stopping them from bringing them back?

[southpier]

this fellow does a credible job with diecast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_6DleBPdfI

[Casey]

On 11/30/2006 at 11:03 AM, Matt T. said:

They were a Harley/Honda combo and a Triumph/BSA combo, in 1/25. Those would be neato to have back!

 

Here's your chance, kids (not mine): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Model-motorcycles-1-25th-scale-motorcycle-junkyard/333602135844?hash=item4dac3c9f24:g:OOUAAOSwTL1ewuC5

[Jack L]

Does Atlantis have the molds for the Revell 1/25 motorcycle parts packs

[Mark]

20 minutes ago, Jack L said:

Does Atlantis have the molds for the Revell 1/25 motorcycle parts packs

That's a distinct possibility...if they do, they will very likely make an effort to issue them in order to make use of their investment.  The only thing in the way might be licensing.

[Casey]

5 minutes ago, Mark said:

 The only thing in the way might be licensing.

I'm sure they also have an old Pyro or Lindberg H-D kit they could also reissue to make the licensing hit a bit lighter on their wallet. Heck, they might even have the Addar Evel Knievel motorcycle mold, too. 🤔

[tim boyd]

I agree with Mark.  Revell ran test shots of the tooling for all four bikes around 1999, but supposedly a lack of interest from distributors killed a reissue at that time (plus the reissued engine parts packs were not selling very well).  

There is quite a bit more interest in classic motorcycles today (particularly Triumph and BSA bikes) to the degree it supports several international magazines.   I think that would be a good subject for Atlantis as they work their way through the Revell tooling bank they purchased....

TIM