Do japanese makers re-release old kits ?

[Young iron]

As a huge fans of american cars, I do build Amts and Revells with great pleasure. Fortunately, they re-release their kits quite often but...

...as a Mercedes-Benz fan, I wish Tamiya, Fujimi and Aoshima re-popped their old 300CEs, 600SECs, Lorinsers, Kameis and AMGs. But it seems they never use old mods again.

Is it true ?

[CJ1971]

They do. It just depends on the demand? I have noticed Tamiya has re-released a lot of their old kits.

[Rob Hall]

They reissue old kits all the time...esp. aoshima.

[Young iron]

Really ?

I'm surprised, because everytime I check website such as Hobby search, interesting kits like Tamiya Jeep Wranglers or Mercedes 600s always show a "Long sold out" mention.

500SECs, BMW E30s and Jeep Grand Cherokees would be quite successful now...

[martinfan5]

Really ?

I'm surprised, because everytime I check website such as Hobby search, interesting kits like Tamiya Jeep Wranglers or Mercedes 600s always show a "Long sold out" mention.

500SECs, BMW E30s and Jeep Grand Cherokees would be quite successful now...

Yes, but it just depends on the kits, and if the tooling is still around, your best bet is to check Ebay, a lot of hard kits can be found on Ebay at times.

[Rob Hall]

Some of the Tamiya mercs were reissued in the last 5-6 years, the jeeps have never been AFAIK...

[SSNJim]

I've seen the Jeep Cherokee on shelves in the last year or so. I know Tamiya has reissued both the Countach LP400 and Porsche 961 recently too.

[jaymcminn]

The Japanese manufacturers rerelease kits all the time. Most of Tamiya's F1 kits have been reissued, most recently with things like PE parts and seat belts. Some of the Aoshima kits are 40 years old, having been issued by several manufacturers. Most of the old Fujimi Enthusiast kits are still sporadically produced as well. It all depends on whether or not the manufacturer feels the demand is there.

[Greg Myers]

Yes if it wasn't for Tamiya rereleasing their 1/16th F1 kits I wouldn't have a complete set.

and the Fujimi Enthusiast series : http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59619

Edited August 31, 2014 by Greg Myers

[DrGlueblob]

ESCI (Italy?) also had a early Benz SUV, fun kit too.

[fumi]

Some of the Tamiya mercs were reissued in the last 5-6 years, the jeeps have never been AFAIK...

Something to do with the Jeep license I believe. In their military product lists all the 1/35 Jeep kits are removed, even the product number disappeared. For their new 1/48 series they made a "1/4 ton 4x4 light vehicle" instead.

For Mercedes kits, the SLK and the 2 SLRs are current, and the 3 AMG kits gained a 89xxx limited edition series number and were last reissued in 2008. The rest are technically still in the catalog, but are unlikely to be reissued.

Edited September 1, 2014 by fumi

[Bob Ellis]

I got a re-issue of a Tamiya CB750 that was released back in the 1970s. It took 30 years.

[samdiego]

Some of those kits lose nothing in comparison to today's tooling. The above mentioned CB750 is an awesome kit. The original included a drive chain that went together exactly as the 1:1 with metal links. (I still have the parts from an original chain that I was to young and impatient to assemble at 10 years old). Another favorite of mine is Tamiya's Renault Alpine A110

[Bob Ellis]

That is a good point about the Tamiya CB750; it got slightly simplified after 30 years. If you didn't know about the chain with individual links, you would think the re-issue was exactly the same.

[Snake45]

They sure get their money's worth out of their airplane and tank molds over the decades, that's for sure.