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Why Doesnt Hasegawa Re-Release the 1/48 A-4B/C/K/KU/N?????


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I wonder why Hasegawa hasnt re-released any of the early Skyhawk 1/48 kits???  They are very desirable and they would sell well overall.

 

Say an A-4B Falklands, A-4KU Free Kuwait, A-4N IDF and Maybe the A-4C  adn A-4K New Zealand AF.

 

What do people think?  Hasegawa usually likes to re-release stuff all the time  WHY not the Skyhawks??


Steve,

Edited by scorvi
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  • scorvi changed the title to Why Doesnt Hasegawa Re-Release the 1/48 A-4B/C/K/KU/N?????

More like  some Voodoo to influence the outcome of the decision  LOL

 

IT just seems to make sense for Hasegawa.  I think they would sell?  Look At the secondary market!?>!

 

...And its not like Hasegawa doesnt re-release things a lot  Seriously!

 

Steve,

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In the study of business, you must assume rational behaviour. If Hasegawa is in business then you must assume that they want to make money.  Lots of people say they are a small company and they do what they want, but they must want to make money.  So therefore, the idea to re-release the Skyhawks must not be as profitable as it appears(I personally think it would be profitable).  Or they have the world’s dumbest accountants that don’t understand the business, which if what was mentioned above about insolvency is true they just might have bean counters at the helm. The is possible third reason, they did a deal with Eduard to have Eduard release the Vietnam Scooters edition, there might be a no compete clause stating they can not re-release their own boxing until a certain date is reached(I think we would be long past date by now).  
 

This comes up all the time with Tamiya and the “Why is there no two seat F-16, it would be a license to print money”, war cry. Since we can not account for “personal reasons” of Mr. Tamiya, we can only look at the business case.  It either must not be as profitable as we think, or someone in the marketing/accounting department doesn’t know how to do their job. 
 

This how I rationalize it anyway, as I wait for two seat F-16s, and an early Skyhawk. 

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1 hour ago, habu2 said:


Citation?

None. Just a fellow modeler said to me they had filed. He follows these sorts of things. I'll ask him where he heard it. 

 

Ok, I asked my friend for specifics on what he told me.  He could not remember the modeling site where he had read it. He did correct himself to saying it was in reorganization. Whatever that means. Maybe they have other things occupying their attention now.  

 

I just did a google search for any info on any sort of bankruptcy or reorganization and came up with nothing. My friend may have misunderstood what was being published at the time. Hasegawa seems to be for all intent and purposes doing just fine. Disregard my previous post. I should have verified it myself before posting that. 

Edited by jpk
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It's not like model companies have hundreds of molding machines churning out their whole catalog 24/7. They have to think what makes money for them and plan what to re-release and put on their machines. If they're molding new sci-fi and construction machines frequently then that might what's selling and making money for them.

 

There's also the other reboxing deals and contracts in place mentioned. Like the Eduard scooters LE. There's the Hobby 2000 reboxings from which they've molded a certain number of sought after old kits like the short nose phantoms and F-111. We don't know how many and how profitable they're. Only their people will know.

 

And after watching Doog's Models videos about about most anticipated kits and KH closing. There's a dichotomy with slight overlap between the most vocal modellers, the silent majority and those who really vote with their money.

 

They could do a mass re-release of these models, see a surge in sales, saturate the market, fill the stashes of whoever wanted them and see their sales dive bomb again.

 

As for your A-4 question. Their A-4M is scheduled for re-release in late July.

http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/product/pt33/

 

Edited by Inquisitor
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6 hours ago, Inquisitor said:

It's not like model companies have hundreds of molding machines churning out their whole catalog 24/7. They have to think what makes money for them and plan what to re-release and put on their machines. If they're molding new sci-fi and construction machines frequently then that might what's selling and making money for them.

 

There's also the other reboxing deals and contracts in place mentioned. Like the Eduard scooters LE. There's the Hobby 2000 reboxings from which they've molded a certain number of sought after old kits like the short nose phantoms and F-111. We don't know how many and how profitable they're. Only their people will know.

 

And after watching Doog's Models videos about about most anticipated kits and KH closing. There's a dichotomy with slight overlap between the most vocal modellers, the silent majority and those who really vote with their money.

 

They could do a mass re-release of these models, see a surge in sales, saturate the market, fill the stashes of whoever wanted them and see their sales dive bomb again.

 

As for your A-4 question. Their A-4M is scheduled for re-release in late July.

http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/product/pt33/

 

You first of all cannot run an injection molding machine 24/7, maybe two eight hour shifts five days a week unless you have a hundred of them. Due to the expense alone, I doubt they use thirty. Injection molding machines are some of the most expensive machines to use out there; even though many CNC machine centers are double in price. The issue starts out with heat, and heat is it's enemy. So hot that many plants don't even have a heating system. Most all are hydraulic, and they use multi stage pumps that cost the price of a Corvette. The hotter the get the shorter life span of the pumps. You just can't keep running them (even in winter). Add to this; your also paying for a 50 to 100 horse power drive ( the GPM of the pumps at high pressures serious ruins you electricity bill). Then when you break it (it will happen regularly), you can't put John the shade tree mechanic on the job of fixing it. Their schematics can often be an SOB to study. Machine life at two shifts a day is about seven years, but have seen a few go ten to twelve years under well maintained conditions. The average shop gets about five to seven years. 

 

Big injection molding plants run machines eight to ten hours a day and switch off to another machine doing the same parts. Then you factor in mold life! Heat also eats up molds unless they are water or water glycol cooled. The water cooled molds are almost double in cost to manufacture. I doubt a model airplane company uses water cooled molding. Be nice but expensive as well. I went on a tour once in one of the largest injection molding plants on this planet, and they must have had a hundred fifty large injection molding machines in there. Everything was airconditioned, but there was also not heat in the building. The oil went thru several cooling systems on the roof and in the back of the building. They said they spent a quarter million every summer on pumping systems alone. For them it was pocket change. The place had it's own power substation! (many others do as well). Hasegawa is a small company compared to the big players, so I'm guessing they have to watch where the money goes closely. Maybe we should simply give them a break

gary

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Cat4 makes some resin conversion parts to model the A, they also make some B and C parts. Might be an easier route at this point to back date the E. I think steel beach made conversion parts for the B and C at one point as well. Maybe Darren can chime in about those. 
 

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A tip: those of you who would really like to get these Skyhawks may try to send emails with this proposal to Hobby 2000 who rebox a lot of Hasegawa (and already has a bunch of Fujimi Skyhawks reboxed in 1/72):
https://hobby2000.pl/index.php?controller=contact
If they see that the demand is considerable, they might be more eager to add these to their release list.

Edited by caughtinthemiddle
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I did have a B/C conversion for the E kit, but unfortunately Steel Beach has been shuttered, as I've moved to a small townhouse with no place to cast. To be honest, I'm hoping someone will do a conversion that's 3D printed. That seems to be the future of modeling.

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You can NOT use a resin nose conversion either since Hasegawa has two different fuselage halves for the E and B/C kits.  A few differences in length and details so you can just pop a C nose on an E   Unfortuantely

 

Steve,

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On 6/13/2021 at 5:02 PM, is it windy yet? said:

In the study of business, you must assume rational behaviour. If Hasegawa is in business then you must assume that they want to make money.  Lots of people say they are a small company and they do what they want, but they must want to make money.  So therefore, the idea to re-release the Skyhawks must not be as profitable as it appears(I personally think it would be profitable).  Or they have the world’s dumbest accountants that don’t understand the business, which if what was mentioned above about insolvency is true they just might have bean counters at the helm. The is possible third reason, they did a deal with Eduard to have Eduard release the Vietnam Scooters edition, there might be a no compete clause stating they can not re-release their own boxing until a certain date is reached(I think we would be long past date by now).  
 

This comes up all the time with Tamiya and the “Why is there no two seat F-16, it would be a license to print money”, war cry. Since we can not account for “personal reasons” of Mr. Tamiya, we can only look at the business case.  It either must not be as profitable as we think, or someone in the marketing/accounting department doesn’t know how to do their job. 
 

This how I rationalize it anyway, as I wait for two seat F-16s, and an early Skyhawk. 

 

I think the least profitable for Tamiya in case of a two seat F-16, wouldn't be the tooling itself but the necessary investment for new decals + new packaging +marketing +stock, when you compare it with the quantity you can sell.

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The C was reissued briefly in 2019 ... it was blink and you miss it.  I did not realize it was over two years ago until I double checked. When Hobby Boss released their 1/48th A-4 I hoped we would have an alternative to Hasegawa's highly irregular release schedule. They have released the M, E, and F but no early skyhawk yet. 

 

I love Hasegawa, but the variants I want to build are always the hardest to find, so it is very frustrating sometimes. 

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