Any thought,s on Revell?

[Giorgio N]

Hmmmm, I'm thinking Revell may be a juicy target for Hornby if Hobbico want to offload . . .

regards,

MArtin

Considering that Revell Germany alone used to have revenues comparable to the whole Hornby group, it would not be an easy target. When Hornby acquired Airfix this brand was worth 1/10 of RoG, acquiring Revell would require a totally different investment. Of course stranger things have happened in industry

[mike romeo]

A**ed up post. Sorry.

Edited November 1, 2015 by mike romeo

[John Thompson]

Speaking of Revell, has there been any sign of activity on any of the thousands of suggestions they got on that "Share Your Dream" survey/poll/whatever that they were running a few months ago? Too soon, perhaps?

John

[sroubos]

Too many suggestions for models they didn't have in their back catalogue I suppose

[sinnerboy]

surely they must do a Do17 to go with the 88 & 111 at somepoint?

A nice new Ki61 would be good too.

oh and

As an analogy, an Austin Allegro has always been capable of getting you from A to B,

I can assure you that that was not always the case

[modelldoc]

Ask the staff at Telford, they know all about the first quarter 2016 and offer its.

modelldoc

Edited November 1, 2015 by modelldoc

[Geoff_B]

To be honest Revell are probably in the re-definition phase, the Hobbyco take-over brought them back under the global wing at the expense of probably some of their own key people, Hobbyco may well have passed down instruction to focus on the market they know (the US one) which is why the Cars appeared to fair better then the other ranges. This year is Star Wars and the Force Awakens so they have brought over the Revell DE SW kits, bought in Fine Moulds ones and developed fresh kits for the toy end of the market to cash in.

However they did open up the request website, and once the SW spike has run its course (we may get more SW after the Movie is released for the 2016 range !), i expect they will try and develop a few more new kits in the standard ranges and scales we favour.

So they are likely to come back bouyed up by the SW cash.....

[SeaVenom]

Too many suggestions for models they didn't have in their back catalogue I suppose

Speaking of Revell, has there been any sign of activity on any of the thousands of suggestions they got on that "Share Your Dream" survey/poll/whatever that they were running a few months ago? Too soon, perhaps?

John

Well one suggestion which got some of the highest voting (the Space 1999 Eagles) has been done by Round 2 so I wonder if they'll be gutted they didn't get the licence for that?

[Plastic Bonsai]

It baffles me that Revell puts out superbly engineered kits such as the Hunters, Lynx's and Hawks are really good prices that end up discounted and remaindered though the large scale Luftwaffe aircraft not so much. Is it possible they simply over produced for the UK market or missed some opportunities?

May I suggest a few minor changes that could have made the kits just that little bit better?

Separate pose-able flaps for the Hawk, markings for some 50 series Hawks, and some CBLS?

Hunter 2 seater cockpit - the split is there and those old 6 inch rockets that the Airfix kit had in abundance. there was a lot of plastic for the Mk 58 special weaponary.

Lynx Markings for the HMA-8 for that unmentioned extra sprue in the Lynx 88 boxing and the rotor fold means I could fit 3-4 where only one will go and those rivets that everyone had to add.

How about some pilots figures as well - I think the Red Arrows Hawk would have looked great with crew.

Revell make some stunning, well engineered kits and I'm really hoping we finally get a replacement for the original Airfix 1/72 Hawk in their new release that has separate flaps and cbls as well (hopefully?) and reissue those 1/72 Hunters we all should have bought ( a two seater version as well).

When they find their feet again I hope they can see their way clear to doing more kits with a German connection in 1/32 - Harrier GR/Ts, Jaguar GR/Ts, Buccaneer, Lightning F2A (with the bits for visiting F6's) and F4K/Ms if HK don't come up with the goods and the F-4s in 1/72 if Airfix don't either.

[SeaVenom]

From what was discussed before some idiot decided to sue Revell as he reckoned they copied his kit for the 1/32 Hunter so that might have stopped them from doing more 1/32 kits like the Lightning.

[Truro Model Builder]

Gents, please note that the owners of Revell are Hobbico, and not Hobbyco. The latter is shorthand for The Hobby Company Ltd., the UK distributor for Tamiya, Italeri, Dragon and Zvezda among others. Hobbico is a US manufacturer and distributor of primarily R/C products.

With regards to Hornby acquiring Revell of Germany, I suspect they might be interested if, as I mentioned in a previous post, the model kit element of the company was sold off. In such a scenario, Hobbico would no doubt wish to retain the Revell brand and the European distribution network for the R/C line, so a potential buyer would end up with a huge range of mouldings -those owned by Revell of Germany and not Revell USA- and possibly part of a design team in Germany. They would not be able to use the Revell name, and assimilation into an existing range would take some time.

If Hornby was the buyer it would be very interesting to see how that would happen, and which items Hornby would release under the Airfix banner with the existing distribution network and UK subject bias. In any case I think that there would be a general shortage of Revell-originated products for a while, and items would drip feed into the Airfix range over a number of years. There would be much to consider, even down to box shapes, and Airfix would be producing items that have rarely been in their line before, such as 1/24 cars and 1/32 aircraft. Of course, they might look to sell a lot of these items to other companies to retain their core ranges, along with other moulds that they would not consider to be 'good' enough to be issued under the Airfix brand. It could be the end of Matchbox moulds.

As I said it would be an interesting exercise.

Edited November 2, 2015 by T7 Models

[Heraldcoupe]

some idiot decided to sue Revell as he reckoned they copied his kit for the 1/32 Hunter

I thought it was established that Revell did copy his work without acknowledgement or payment.

That wouldn't be acceptable in any other industry, why should it be acceptable in this one? If I take umbrage at piracy of my work, does that make me an idiot too?

Cheers,

Bill.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Heraldcoupe

[thepureness]

I thought it was established that Revell did copy his work without acknowledgement or payment.

That wouldn't be acceptable in any other industry, why chould it be acceptable in this one? If I take umbrage at piracy of my work, does that make me an idiot too?

Cheers,

Bill.

first time I heard this story, trying to find something about it online, but can't seem to find anything

[Plastic Bonsai]

That "idiot" was Mr Frank Brown who produced the wonderful Echelon Hunters and Lightnings in 1/32.

http://designer.home.xs4all.nl/models/hunter-32/hunter-e1.htm

As the Revell Hunter looked to be a very close copy of the Echelon Hunter, even though it was a vac-form, then seeking some recompense for this use of his great work was justified.

I think an apology is in order.

It should be noted that other model manufacturers are guilty of plagarism as well.

[Dennis_C]

I recall Gordon Stevens (the founder or RarePlanes) also mentioned he had to sue some bad guys for piracy.

Some Czech manufacturers - Sword in particular - are known to use older kits or kits+conversion sets to produce their own models. Interesting to know how they ensure copyright compliance?

[AntPhillips]

From what was discussed before some idiot decided to sue Revell as he reckoned they copied his kit for the 1/32 Hunter so that might have stopped them from doing more 1/32 kits like the Lightning.

Idiot is hardly the right term for one of the legends of the cottage industry. Without the likes of Echelon and Rareplanes producing state of the art vac-forms that put many injection moulded kits to shame, the hobby would be in a very different place today.

[phantomphan92]

Something I've wondered about Revell for a while, what percentage of their kits are actually their own moulds?

I see an awful lot of Hasegawa, Italeri and Matchbox in there (we've even got an ex Airfix now as well).

I'm sure someone will tell me its a lot less than I think?

[JohnT]

I hadn't heard about Revell copying or possibly using Frank Browns Echelon Hunter.

What a shame Trumpeter didn't follow suit and copy his Lightning paying him for the privilege of course!!

[SeaVenom]

That "idiot" was Mr Frank Brown who produced the wonderful Echelon Hunters and Lightnings in 1/32.

http://designer.home.xs4all.nl/models/hunter-32/hunter-e1.htm

As the Revell Hunter looked to be a very close copy of the Echelon Hunter, even though it was a vac-form, then seeking some recompense for this use of his great work was justified.

I think an apology is in order.

It should be noted that other model manufacturers are guilty of plagarism as well.

I'm certainly not going to apologise. Why should I apologise to someone who in all likelyhood stopped a major injection moulding company from giving us more British jet kits in 1/32?

[NAVY870]

I'm certainly not going to apologise. Why should I apologise to someone who in all likelyhood stopped a major injection moulding company from giving us more British jet kits in 1/32?

Because calling somebody an idiot for protecting their own work is very poor form.

[Albeback52]

I'm certainly not going to apologise. Why should I apologise to someone who in all likelyhood stopped a major injection moulding company from giving us more British jet kits in 1/32?

How exactly do you arrive at the conclusion that the gentleman concerned stopped "a major injection moulding company" producing more British lets in 1/32. It did not prevent said major company producing a 1/32 Hawk. Admittedly, the range of such kits is a bit thin but, to my knowledge, Echelon only produced two 1/32 kits. Your accusation then that one man and a small company is guilty as you have charged surely has little basis in fact

Allan

[JohnT]

I'm certainly not going to apologise. Why should I apologise to someone who in all likelyhood stopped a major injection moulding company from giving us more British jet kits in 1/32?

With respect I am not aware that there is any evidence for that assertion. To put matters in context Frank Brown produced very accurate and high quality vac models of two subjects, the Hunter and Lightning in single seat and two seat version, at a time in the history of our hobby when no mainstream manufacturer was ever likely to. At that time an injection 1/32 Hunter/ Lightning was just not in anyone's crystal ball. Full stop, period.

In any event their production set the bar for vac models and has rarely been equalled today and never bettered.

The suggestion that the production of his limited run models prevented the production of mainstream subjects is so remote as to be discounted from consideration

[snowen250]

Out of interest how did they copy his work? Surely if he got the shape spot on, and so did they, that is merely them both copying the real thing? Rather then one or another?

No axe to grind, just interested. The tooling would obviously differ, as would the way the parts fitted together due to the medium used. So I am intrigued!

Simon

[Heraldcoupe]

Out of interest how did they copy his work? Surely if he got the shape spot on, and so did they, that is merely them both copying the real thing? Rather then one or another?

I have only read this on forums, including this one, don't take this as a firsthand account.

As I understand it, Frank Brown was consulted by Revell and supplied a sample of his kit when the Revell Hunter was first mooted. THings went quiet without further communication, until Revell's Hunter kit became official and was released. There are likely to be other details, but the one I know is the rear cockpit bulhead. The Ecehelon kit has spurious ribbing detail; I don't know why it was included, but the Revell kit replicates it faithfully.

Cheers,

Bill.

[AntPhillips]

I have only read this on forums, including this one, don't take this as a firsthand account.

As I understand it, Frank Brown was consulted by Revell and supplied a sample of his kit when the Revell Hunter was first mooted. Things went quiet without further communication, until Revell's Hunter kit became official and was released. There are likely to be other details, but the one I know is the rear cockpit bulkhead. The Ecehelon kit has spurious ribbing detail; I don't know why it was included, but the Revell kit replicates it faithfully.

That's pretty much my understanding of it too.