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more re-pops in a down economy?


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It might be just me, but it seems like I've been seeing a whole lot more re-pops by model companies since the economy crashed. Not so much on the armor and aircraft (since accuracy is more of an issue there), but I've seen a bunch more re-popped car models and revell aircraft.

ecto-1a just came back out, rommel's rod, a bunch of those tom daniel show rods, as well as a bunch of other re-issue looking car kits that I've seen at the LHS and Hobby Lobby.

Makes sense because they don't have to make molds for a new kit and several of these are being picked up by people that are nostalgic for sometime they built a long time ago, or missed out on these kits due to being an infant. LOL

John

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Technically, "Rommel's Rod" isn't a re-pop. According to the instruction sheet, "No one knows for certain what happened so many years ago to the 'mysteriously disappeared' tooling..." so they tooled up an entirely new kit, even though it's a copy of the 'old' kit.

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I think the model manufacturers are taking a step they once did in the 70's and 80's to get the most out their old molds and rehash them on the market. During those days it was trying to pry some loose change from kids pockets before they ended up in the arcades. Now it seems to be for more nostalgia and the collector's kit market (high auction site prices) that has caused the manufacturers to repop these old molds for the more mature modeller looking to recapture their youth.

It's nice to see some of these old kits get repoped but for real world subjects it would be better for new up-to-date molds. IMHO those old aircraft, armour and naval kits are more toy than model.

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A lot of those are coming from Round 2, the new owners of AMT/Ertl, MPC, Polar Lights. It may be the economy, but it also may just be a way for them to get some cash to do more new tools.

Many of the re-issues are also cleaned up and modified, for example Revell added new wheels and side rails to their 1941 Chevy truck, new wheels and retooled Ardun heads (the originals were apparently poorly done) in their 1950 Ford truck and an optional 1938 grill in their 1937 Ford truck. The AMT 1950 Chevy truck added a push bumper and Texaco decals for a gas station service truck, the two AMT Ford Model T 3 in 1 kits were cleaned up and had many of the optional parts dropped over the years added back to the kit.

Aerofan, while some of the old kits were toylike, many are very good kits and stand on their own merits today. The old Monogram kits in particular are very solid models that can be compared favorably to a kit tooled recently.

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Aerofan, while some of the old kits were toylike, many are very good kits and stand on their own merits today. The old Monogram kits in particular are very solid models that can be compared favorably to a kit tooled recently.

Yes, Monogram and Hawk did some very good work during the 50's and 60's. However like most modellers, I've been more keen on the new tooled stuff with more detailing from modern tooling techniques.

Yet, I wouldn't mind reissues of the Monogram "Flap Jack", Snoopy's Sopwith, Bugatti and his arch rival "The Red Baron".

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