Why Does AMT keep Releasing Same Kit With A Different Box

[martinfan5]

I sort of hope Round2 continues with the reissue's, as there are a lot of kits that I missed out on , and would love a chance to get them at not so high Ebay prices's.

[1972coronet]

I applaud Round2 for practically every-thing they create / recreate / restore ; the new tyres are without a doubt one of their finest investments !

For me , personally , it's a nostalgic encounter . Seeing many of those MPC annuals and AMT annuals from my childhood creates a warm rush of 5-Hydroxy-Tryptophen (serotonin) and D₂ (Dopamine ) and all of the fond recollections of innocence ; the basement toy department at Sear's ; the toy dept at Hinshaw's , and ; other toy stores at various malls .

That is what sells these reissues . I purchase them --old MPC annuals and AMT kits-- with complete knowledge of the kits' actual contents .

On the flip-side of the same hand ; the so-dubbed "Retro-Deluxe" releases ( think : 1960 Starliner , 1962 Catalina , 1970 Baldwin-Motion Camaro , etc.) are a splendid idea ! Now there's some evidence of functioning grey matter in Round2's art direction's think-tank !

Those days of Racing Chumps , RC2 , et al. , were a definite low water mark . I don't know whom their art director was , or whom approved that hideous box art arrangement , but it was ostensibly some-one who's probably in exile in Russia , sharing meatbread with Edward Snoden .

My only complaint about the hobby in general ? Three little words whose impact is atomic : Made In China .

And , for the record , I do not chastise Round2 , Revell , et al. , for their decision to *relocate* . Furthermore , I'll refrain from alluding to any political / economical rants in regard to my prior statement

( ) .

But , I divulge ...

[Austin T]

I sort of hope Round2 continues with the reissue's, as there are a lot of kits that I missed out on , and would love a chance to get them at not so high Ebay prices's.

That's a big one for me aswell. There would be no way I would be able to comfortably purchase kits like the gremlin, pacer, Ford race car hauler, and others without the re issues. A new tool would be cool, but I'm fine with taking a trip into the tooling archive full of kit's I never had a chance at.

[niteowl7710]

It's not like the "Retro Deluxe" reissues have been available in recent years either. The upcoming 70 B-M Camaro hasn't seen the light of day in 10 years (and has only had 3 releases total in it's history), and it sounds like they're finally actually putting the B-M decals in it this time rather than shrugging and wishing you the best in masking all that off and doing "free-hand". Draw up new decals, draw up a new box, plow some plastic into the mold. Make it and they will buy to paraphrase -- I know I'm in for one.

Running the easily "flipped" tools like the Starliner, '62 Pontiac, '62 T-Bird, '67 Shelby GT-350, and '69 Olds 442 all of which again hadn't been released in 10 years or more, let them get the cash to fix the Pacer, the Gremlin, the LN Car Hauler, the Pepsi Box Truck, Galaxie, etc.

[dieseldawg142]

......

Edited May 11, 2018 by dieseldawg142

[Tom Geiger]

The statement that the tooling has long been bought and paid for is inaccurate. Tom Lowe and Round 2 just bought the companies and the tooling with today's dollars. So they have a new investment in that old tooling and a real reason to work it to make it pay off. It would be silly to own all of it, and pay storage fees etc to maintain it, only to let it sit and go and issue all new kits.

We also don't know what we still haven't seen from that tooling stash. I'll bet there's still some stuff that's mismarked or sitting in the wrong tool. Has everything that's viable been done? Yes in the eyes of Tomica and the prior owner. They didn't know this market and made minimal investment. Dave Burket made more investment in the tooling than those owners and spent money to tool up parts that brought us some of the Model King kits. Now Tom Lowe is plenty market savvy and knows the subjects. He's most likely to invest the most into tools that will turn a profit. Time will tell.

[Harry P.]

The statement that the tooling has long been bought and paid for is inaccurate. Tom Lowe and Round 2 just bought the companies and the tooling with today's dollars. So they have a new investment in that old tooling and a real reason to work it to make it pay off.

That's true if you're talking about one company buying another. It doesn't apply when talking about a company reissuing it's own old models over again.

[rel14]

Your cost estimate is waaaaaaay too low. Not even close.

I'm Sorry i didn't do my math,, Could ya'll ever forgive me,? Happy New Year,,, if its not Happy,,Drink more,, you'll get there....

[niteowl7710]

The statement that the tooling has long been bought and paid for is inaccurate. Tom Lowe and Round 2 just bought the companies and the tooling with today's dollars. So they have a new investment in that old tooling and a real reason to work it to make it pay off.

I would question what he paid the money for...sure the tooling has value, well beyond the money it would bring simply scrapping it, but I'd also argue that without the rights to AMT & MPC the tooling would be worth far less. Sure Tom could have created TLM or just used the "Round 2" name or something and run the '70 Camaro, and then face a giant headwind of trying to explain that it's ex-AMT tooling that he's running under this unknown name, with no shelf presence and no reputation. But at that point it would almost be easier to start over from scratch, when you look at the near constant flack, and probably damage to their overall reputation Lindberg took reissuing those old Pyro tools under their own name.

A very similar situation to what Tom's own father did when he sold Tidy Cat to Ralston Purina. They could have bought a very nice litter product, and the facilities to manufacture it, but what they really wanted (and paid $200,000,000 for) was that "Tidy Cat" name to sell it under, as NEW from PURINA - CLEAN KITTY!!! would be a huh? what? moment in the market place.

Edited December 31, 2013 by niteowl7710

[Casey]

So are there any more chances of long-hidden old tools awaiting rediscovery, or has everything been gone through to the point where Round 2 can say that there's nothing left to recover? Was finding the partial '59 Imperial tooling a one-time fluke, and are there other partial tools known to exist?

I would think a complete tooling inventory would've been a necessary part of Round2 acquiring the AMT/MPC/Polar Lights assets from RC2, so I would bet they at least have some type of inventory or log, like Revell, Inc. does. Even with a complete list, it may only be accurate up to the last inventory/inspection date? I doubt Round2 would want to make that info public, though, and I can't blame them if that's indeed the case.

[ChrisBcritter]

Maybe, but it would be nice for them to tell us (the hobbyists who buy their models) what could and couldn't be done so we wouldn't have to waste our time asking and polling and petitioning for stuff they can't give us. Another hypothetical case in point: the '64 Olds F-85 Cutlass. It never became an AWB funny car or Modified Stocker. If the molds are gone, tell us. Maybe we'd want a new tool (as a 442!). If they exist, would we want it reissued? Ask us. How would that hurt them?

[Eshaver]

Great point Chris !

[ZTony8]

The '64 Cutlass WAS made into one of those altered wheelbase cars along with the Edsel,the Nova and the Mustang fastback.

[lordairgtar]

The '64 Cutlass WAS made into one of those altered wheelbase cars along with the Edsel,the Nova and the Mustang fastback.

I never saw that one.

[Brett Barrow]

Probably the most modified of all of the AWB cars, it lost its roof. Since it wasn't part of the batch of AWB's Model King reissued a few years back, I've gotta think the tooling is lost or unusable. I know it's one that MK wanted to do.

[Harry P.]

Good to see it's "fully" blown and not "half" blown...

[Force]

There are different versions and modified re-issues made of many kits by the different owners of the companys over the years and some of the tooling might not be in the model they were designed for originally as some kits share some tooling, and some has been altered beyond use, so it can be a hard task to find, sort everything out and see what's workable, so yes a complete tooling inventory must be essential to know what you have and where it is...and as Case says, they probably don't want to reviel that information publicly.

Round 2 doesn't only have the AMT and MPC tooling, they also have the old Ertl, the Lindberg and the Polar Lights tooling so it's a large chunk of tool steel to go over.
So I see more nice seldom seen and improved interesting re-issues in the future, and I for one welcome that....but sure, it would also be nice to see a totally new tooling kit now and then.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Force

[Luc Janssens]

Some people like to bash the Chinese, but they seems very good at copying things.

So I believe when it's economical feasible they can recreate the original kit, by copying an original and make new tooling,but again it's all about return on investment.

Also their way of tooling up a model kit is IMHO a huge improvement over the big steel blocks containing everything that have been used in the US 'till they moved manufacturing to the orient.

TheY use several smaller tools, which make them more hand-able, and also make it easier to create variations now or well into the future without messing with the original design.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Luc Janssens

[Force]

Yes, the Chinese can do good things if they want to, it's just the matter of quality demands and pricing as you get what you pay for even in China.

[Tom Geiger]

I would think a complete tooling inventory would've been a necessary part of Round2 acquiring the AMT/MPC/Polar Lights assets from RC2, so I would bet they at least have some type of inventory or log, like Revell, Inc. does. Even with a complete list, it may only be accurate up to the last inventory/inspection date? I doubt Round2 would want to make that info public, though, and I can't blame them if that's indeed the case.

Ah, but how accurate is the inventory? There have been several times when they thought they had something, only to find it was a different kit when they pulled the tooling out. I've been told there is stuff that you can't tell exactly what it is until they run a test shot. There are inserts that went to multiple kits that past owners weren't astute enough of the product to know what went with what.

And as I said above, Round 2 will go to greater lengths, and a larger outlay of cash, to restore old tools and recreate the missing bits. It's been said that kits typically are missing the tire molds, clear glass and red glass molds since these are run separate from the main tool that produces the kit. There is an investment to complete those kits, and we're more likely to see them than ever before.

[ChrisBcritter]

Probably the most modified of all of the AWB cars, it lost its roof. Since it wasn't part of the batch of AWB's Model King reissued a few years back, I've gotta think the tooling is lost or unusable. I know it's one that MK wanted to do.

(pounds head on workbench) Rats. Hey, maybe this was the convertible tool and the coupe might still survive?

Otherwise... oh, Mr. Holthaus...

Edited January 1, 2014 by ChrisBcritter

[Tom Geiger]

(pounds head on workbench) Rats. Hey, maybe this was the convertible tool and the coupe might still survive?

Otherwise... oh, Mr. Holthaus...

No, the convertible and hardtop tools were the same unit. The hardtops were run first, and the convertibles were the mid year releases.

Ever notice that the interiors in old hardtop kits are convertible interiors?

[hpiguy]

I would think a complete tooling inventory would've been a necessary part of Round2 acquiring the AMT/MPC/Polar Lights assets from RC2, so I would bet they at least have some type of inventory or log, like Revell, Inc. does. Even with a complete list, it may only be accurate up to the last inventory/inspection date? I doubt Round2 would want to make that info public, though, and I can't blame them if that's indeed the case.

Maybe, but it would be nice for them to tell us (the hobbyists who buy their models) what could and couldn't be done so we wouldn't have to waste our time asking and polling and petitioning for stuff they can't give us. Another hypothetical case in point: the '64 Olds F-85 Cutlass. It never became an AWB funny car or Modified Stocker. If the molds are gone, tell us. Maybe we'd want a new tool (as a 442!). If they exist, would we want it reissued? Ask us. How would that hurt them?

I agree with Casey.

And if they did just blurt out and publish all the names of the molds for golden oldies they had on hand, they wouldn't have the marketing surprise "Just found in the archives and ready for reissue in May!" kind of press releases.

You never show your full hand.

It must be working because they are expanding. http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/keynews/localeconomy/article_a9dd080c-4549-11e3-a715-0019bb30f31a.html

[tim boyd]

It must be working because they are expanding. http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/keynews/localeconomy/article_a9dd080c-4549-11e3-a715-0019bb30f31a.html

That's a cool story...thanks for the link...TIM

[george 53]

(pounds head on workbench) Rats. Hey, maybe this was the convertible tool and the coupe might still survive?

Otherwise... oh, Mr. Holthaus...

Chris, Check Kenny overt Bandit Resins, he has a 64 Hdtp popped from the original AMT kit, and it's COMPLETE except for tires an axles and engine. It's a VERY NICE casting and looks GREAT !!!