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

[dieseldawg142]

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Edited May 11, 2018 by dieseldawg142

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Indian Chief....

Triumph Speed Twin....

Harley "Very-Leaky"....

Some nice dirtbikes....

Kawasaki KZ1000 for the Mad Max MFP

[Harry P.]

My guess... 1/25 scale motorcycles would sell in pretty limited numbers. And that's where the dreaded licensing costs rear their ugly head. Harley, for one, it notorious about protecting their name and image... they would probably charge a lot to license scale model kits of their bikes.

I know there are large-scale Harley kits, but maybe the economics don't work for 1/25 scale?

[chunkypeanutbutter]

I know Maisto sells some Harleys in 1/24 or fifth, but I can never find em at Wally World. 1/16 diecast is no problem to find. 1/24 - 1/25 is a different story.

[LDO]

Another guess- it's the same reason we don't see many 1/48 scale cars. It's half the size an already popular scale. Not many people want to put a motorcycle next to a car/in a pickup bed. Just like there are not many people who want to put a car next to an airplane.

[bbowser]

They sure would be cool for dios or pickup loads. I would think they would have a limited number of parts in 1/24-5. If HD wants to be greedy, how about a Victory or any number of V-twin clones out there?

[62rebel]

they'd be critical to a diorama of Cledus Snow in "Smokey And The Bandit".

[FASTBACK340]

It just seems so easy to do (in comparison to full car kits) yet so elusive! Frustrating almost…. I look at a Ross Gibson engine kit and visualize all that resin re-arranged to look like a ______ motorcycle. Similar engineering, similar sized package, similar amour of material, similar market segment, if not more. I've paid for those R-G engine kits and would pay the same money for a comparatively detailed Hard Tail or early Knuckle Head. Not to knock the R-G engine kits, but just making the engineering / material amount comparison. And I'm sure as Harry mentioned licensing would be a costly necessity. Again, it's frustrating…..

On a similar subject: Nine local club owners on Long Island are being sued over non-payment of royalties from having cover-bands play recorded material live without permission. THAT'S what our society has sunk to as far as cash-grabs in the name of compensation. You can play a song on You Tube all day, but don't pick up an instrument and play it live for, more often than not, free…..

[jbwelda]

cracks me up when people make statements like that about the music industry. maybe a little research beyond the faux headlines would help. fees have always been charged by music publishing houses for live performance. most clubs pay a flat fee but any band performing in a public place is required to file a set list with ASCAP or BMI and pay royalties on cover songs. it goes for the rolling stones, it goes for toots and the maytals, and it goes for Podunk cover bands in backwoods bars. high profile establishments especially have to be sure this gets done. this is nothing new, what is new is club owners are more frequently neglecting to do what is required and they are now being sued by the music publishing houses. that's the short version.

there are numerous modern motorcycle kits in 1/24 scale available, pretty much all from overseas. I have an airfix Honda 500 modern road racer bike in front of me. paid about 10$ on ebay. there are lots more where that came from too, of many modern and pre-modern era bikes. unless you are making a distinction between 1/24 and 1/25, and I dont think you should be seeing as how the difference is pretty minuscule, perhaps a bit more research on this subject would be in order as well.

jb

Edited October 27, 2014 by jbwelda

[FASTBACK340]

I've been a musician for over 40 yrs and know all about copyrights. What's new is the sudden rise in lawsuits. There's no more lucrative record company hustles, no more radio paying full royalties, satellite pays less.... Pandora pays even less. The scene is changing and they're scrambling..... the "record industry" is going away.

[1930fordpickup]

So if harley is charging to much go to the others for less money . They will still sell , not like hot cakes but as John has said simple molds compared to a car. Then again why not make it their own brand.

They could call it the MPC 1200 street sled.

[Bob Ellis]

You need to look for 1/24, as they are few 1/25 motorcycles ever done. Same holds true for scooters.

[chunkypeanutbutter]

I would love a 1/24 or 1/25 scale Supermarine Walrus.

[Lunajammer]

To me it comes down to wheels. Pretty much all 1/24 scale motorcycles I've seen look like toys. Almost exclusively because they can't get the (spoked) wheels right with plastic. If they upped the price a buck or more and used photo etched rims, people would marvel at how great they look.

I agree, maybe Harley Davidson (et.al.) could keep the licensing and market it themselves with contract molding. If it looks right, I'd love to have a couple.

[Aaronw]

They've been included in a few kits.

Monogram did a couple of dirt bikes with a Datsun pickup, and there was a Honda trail bike in another kit but I don't recall which one. I remember somebody posted a model truck in the under glass area awhile back that had some sort of older Harley or Indian type bike in the back, but don't remember if it came from a kit or was a diecast they picked up somewhere.

[LDO]

You could look for this:

...but it's not cheap.

[RancheroSteve]

Those Heller/Airfix bikes are fun to build - kind of a nice change of pace. I've done a couple and have a couple more in the stash.

Yes, it would be cool to see more (and varied) bikes in this scale, but they are pretty tiny - there's only so much detail you can squeeze in.

[lysleder]

This is a 1/24 Zundapp by Tasca. All plastic, even the spokes.. This is not my build though, but I picked up one a few months ago. It has more parts and detail than you ever really wanted. It is kind of similar to the ICM Admirals in execution.

[PARTSMARTY]

I LOVE HEARING ALL OF THIS. I'M A BIG TIME HOT ROD/BIKER GUY.BUT TO BE HONEST I THINK 1/25 SCALE MOTORCYCLE KITS ARE A JOKE.I LOVE BUILDING BIKES BUT THERE HAS TO BE MORE DETAIL AND SIZE THAN THESE TOYS.JUST MY OPINION !!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE OLD REVELL 1/8 SCALE KITS-THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT-YEA-LOL

[Daddyfink]

Someone asked about bikes in small scale, not what we prefer.

[Greg Myers]

How about all four Revell "Parts Pack" bikes in one box? BSA , Harley, Triumph, Honda. How could they not make money ? All the work is done, just box em up , do some nice art work on the box and get em on the shelf.

Edited October 28, 2014 by Greg Myers

[jbwelda]

the funny thing is...there is just as much detail in a 1/24 (or whatever) scale motorcycle as there is in a (same scale) automobile. so where is the logic for claiming "THERE HAS TO BE MORE DETAIL AND SIZE THAN THESE TOYS."? granted, 1/8 scale is bigger (duh) and so more easily detailed, but I think the miniature aspect of the smaller scale is kool.

jb

[Deano]

And that 1/8 scale motorcycle just doesn't look right parked along side my 1/25 scale cars in my 1/25 scale shop.

[tim boyd]

Most of you have seen this already, but for those who have not, here's a LINK to my Fotki album with about a dozen built 1/24th & 1/25th scale motorcycle models. Most of these can be acquired via the usual sources, at generally reasonable prices (the one exception being the Revell Parts Pack Harley Chopper, which commands $50 to $200(!), depending on the auction).

The comment above about the lack of accuracy of 1/25th scale wire spoked wheels is, I think, a valid one. However, take a look at the cycles in the album and you'll see a number include modern mag-style five spoke wheels (and the like), which do not suffer from the above issue...

And....they offer a great basis for kitbashing (this being a chopper-styled build based on the Harley DynaGlide in the Revell 2001 F150 Harley Davidson pickup kit).

I have several of the Heller/Airfix 1/24th scale GP1 kits referenced above, and I concur that they are excellent kits; well worth the effort to acquire and build.

Thanks for looking...TIM

Edited October 29, 2014 by tim boyd

[Ron Hamilton]

You could look for this:

...but it's not cheap.

I had a couple of those kits. One I sold on Ebay, and got twice what I paid for it. The second one is still in the stash, waiting to be built, and it is not for sale, and I regret selling the first one.

Edited October 29, 2014 by Ron Hamilton