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Revell 2022 releases


Stephen

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On 1/2/2022 at 10:46 AM, Hook said:

Is it just me, or is the 'newness' of the 1/72nd Super Hornet slightly exaggerated

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

 

It's not really new, but nevertheless a good kit. Just wondering to what extent the excellent decal sheet it had included will be slashed...

 

Alex

 

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18 minutes ago, Beermonster1958 said:

Don't think so. I see nothing wrong with such a Vintage line, especially some of the Monogram kits.

As with Airfix Vintage Classics, nobody is obliged to buy them if they aren't interested.

 

John

 

Judging by the constant re-releases of old kits in Revell's catalogue over the last 10 years, I'd say they don't consider these "vintage", they just put them on sale in the standard line. Same for many Monogram kits that have appeared regularly in Revell boxes.

Revell did issue a number of "vintage" lines in the past but these covered even older kits, including many "box scale" examples

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The DHC-6 Twin Otter was re-released in their vintage line, and later as regular kits. I really don't mind, as it's a fun kit to build of a rare subject and I know what to expect, however, I remember as a kid buying Revell kits was like a game of roulettes. Some were old Matchbox kits with really crude detailing, while others were very nice new tools, and there was no way of knowing it by just looking at the box. 

Honestly? I'm happy with every new kit released, whether it be new tools or re-releases. It just means they are readily available again. One of the most fun builds I've had in a while was the 1:144 Boeing 727-100 (Germania boxing) which originates from the 1960's. If they did not re-release it a few years ago, I would never have thought of building a 727. 

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Edited by TheFlyingDutchman
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On 1/4/2022 at 2:18 PM, MiG-Mech said:

Revell vintage kits are not labeled as this

They should seriously consider doing it. Certainly hasn't hurt Airfix to do so ;)

Of course, what remains of the 'normal' line if they label the older kits as 'Classic' is another matter :D

 

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On 1/4/2022 at 2:18 PM, MiG-Mech said:

Revell vintage kits are not labeled as this, Revell has always old a/c kits in programm with ship rivets.

I did find a small leaflet in their repop of the Frog Canberra B(I).8 along the lines of "This kit is from an older mold, enjoy it for what it is". 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

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On 04/01/2022 at 02:17, Supersonic26 said:

Judging from their releases, Revell might as well be bankrupt. Two new tools for the next nine months and one is just a delayed 2021 release (the F-15). Even worse, no repops of their excellent early 2000s kits like the Fw 200 or Ju 290, no cooperations with Hasegawa or the likes (one of the last cooperations I can think of was Eduard's 190D for a significantly higher price, with fewer decal options, while the Eduard version is very much available) , no reissue of slightly dated but interesting kits from the 80s or 90s like the Privateer.

 

Then again, being disappointed by the new Revell lineup is a New Year's tradition at this point.

Makes sense 100% financially.  They are starting to release some models and working with the assets they pruchased.  Once they recover their investment and see this is a profitable  business, they will invest in more new releases.  simple as that.  Vintage line would increase sales in fact. 

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On 04/01/2022 at 07:18, MiG-Mech said:

Revell vintage kits are not labeled as this, Revell has always old a/c kits in programm with ship rivets.

You´re right.  Revell has to be honest and release older kits with some labelling saying so for kits from Frog, Matchbox and their own very old models.  Now, many of the Monogram line (late 70s onwards) are just as good as newer brands.  Why they should be branded as "old" just because some people can't deal with raised lines?

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22 minutes ago, JFM148 said:

Now, many of the Monogram line (late 70s onwards) are just as good as newer brands.

Erhm... in outline maybe (and not always) but detailwise... 
Again, running a 'Legacy/Vintage/Classic/whatchamacallit' line does not preclude you asking a good price for a still decent if somewhat obsolete kit.  It's more honest branding, and there are more manufacturers that should adopt such a moniker (looking at you, Italeri :wicked:)

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5 hours ago, JFM148 said:

You´re right.  Revell has to be honest and release older kits with some labelling saying so for kits from Frog, Matchbox and their own very old models.  Now, many of the Monogram line (late 70s onwards) are just as good as newer brands.  Why they should be branded as "old" just because some people can't deal with raised lines?

 

 

Soft detail, generally awful fit... these kits were great in their days but technology has moved on big time. They are old, others were already doing better in the '90s and the '90s were over 20 years ago.

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I think “soft detail, awful fit” is a pretty harsh verdict on Monogram kits. The 1/48 jets I’ve built were all good to build and looked the part when done. OK, so they weren’t Kinetic or Kitty Hawk, but then Kitty Hawk isn’t Kitty Hawk any more either…

best,

M.

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14 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

I think “soft detail, awful fit” is a pretty harsh verdict on Monogram kits. The 1/48 jets I’ve built were all good to build and looked the part when done. OK, so they weren’t Kinetic or Kitty Hawk, but then Kitty Hawk isn’t Kitty Hawk any more either…

best,

M.

 

I have bough almost every Monogram 1/48 jet after they issued the F-14, so nothing against them, they are a big part of my modelling life. However really the fit and engineering of most of their kits were considered not ideal already when these kits were issued. Detail was excellent but in terms of mould sharpness the Japanese were already doing better in the '80s. The difference is that the Japanese rarely added as much detail in their kits but when they started doing so the difference showed.

And yes, I know that we can't compare kits from one era etc. etc. but kits like the hasegawa 1/48 Phantom were issued 3 years after the Monogram ones and looked more modern. That was 40 years ago, today the state of the art is higher.

The real advantage of Monogram kits is that they covered subjects that have not been done by many others and often were not done too well: if I want an F-105 I may still prefer the Monogram kit over the Trumpeter one, if I want an F-102 I only have the Monogram option... but for a Tomcat or an Eagle ? There's way superior stuff around today.

American modellers at least can find these kits for very cheap, in Europe this is not always true, with the exception of Revell's reboxes that can be found quite easily.

I don't doubt that Revell will keep reissuing the old Monogram kits and I'm sure there are modellers who'll be happy. Personally though I'd like to see new kits of subjects like the F-102 and so on rather than continuous reissues of the old ones. Of course a reissue is a much cheaper option for the company...

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I would love to know how many Monogram 1/48 B-17’s have been sold to date, including other boxing’s. To my knowledge this kit has always been available and produced since 1975! I must say that I have really enjoyed building all those kits, and still do. In regards to vintage kits, a US based company has been producing kits from old Revell and other old molds, Atlantis must be doing a reasonable business, because they continue to rerelease a lot of those kits every year, so the market exists. I do a lot of “nostalgia builds”, just to reminisce the good old days and I really enjoy those builds irregardless of inaccuracies. I just build them OOB, cleaner than in my teen years, and generally hang them from the ceiling just like I did originally. There surely must be other modellers from my generation who do the same. 

I remember when recessed trenches became all the rage, and a lot of modellers inked in the lines because they could. It looked cool, but having spent a good deal of my life working on and painting real aircraft, I can safely say that butt jointed panels do not exhibit the gaps present in recessed panel line kits. We are talking hair lines or less, especially in the smaller scales ie. 1/48 or less. When I painted Beavers, Otters and other float equipped aircraft, I had to apply PRC compound to all of the fuselage panel joints. The seam was masked to 3/8” and the dark brown PRC was applied over the chromate primer. This was done by hand (bent finger) to ensure complete adhesion and keep the joint smooth. In 1/72 scale, that would be about .005” or .0075” in 1/48. and that would be what a 3/8” wide gap would look like in those scales. So in my opinion, neither is accurate and I really don’t care one way or the other, I just enjoy building the kits.

I encourage the kit manufacturers to continue with vintage releases, the market is there for my generation as long as we last. I am going to post some pictures on a different thread, so I don’t litter this one with a bunch of photos. I will come back and post the link when I have done that, if anyone cares to see my little hobby room and models.

 

link to some photos, I am the last post.

 

 

Jeff

Edited by MrB17
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5 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

 

 

Soft detail, generally awful fit... these kits were great in their days but technology has moved on big time. They are old, others were already doing better in the '90s and the '90s were over 20 years ago.

Some of their models, yes.  Others are way better than their "technological" more recent competition.  So again, Revell/Monogram is for people who likes to improve and work more in fit and assembly (the difficult and fun part for me).   I don´t mind and I don´t care if there is better (more expensive, sometimes inaccurate and very boring) kits out there. Many Revell kits are great and fun.  The only thing you need is more patience and be ready to enjoy the trip as well as the goal.   

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On 1/5/2022 at 4:48 PM, Hook said:

I did find a small leaflet in their repop of the Frog Canberra B(I).8 along the lines of "This kit is from an older mold, enjoy it for what it is". 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

The Canberra was one of a small batch of ex-Frog kits that Revell re-released simultaneously, others included the Shackleton and Blenheim. As I recall they were said to have cleaned up the moulds, which may not have been in great condition as they'd been sold to the USSR in 1976 and had been been circulating between different companies in Eastern Europe for around 25 years.  That may be why, on that one occasion, Revell made a point of advertising that the product in the box might not come up to contemporary standards. They've sold/are selling other ex-Frog kits (of Axis aircraft) from moulds that never made the journey to the USSR, without any caveat on the packaging.

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59 minutes ago, AWFK10 said:

The Canberra was one of a small batch of ex-Frog kits that Revell re-released simultaneously, others included the Shackleton and Blenheim. As I recall they were said to have cleaned up the moulds, which may not have been in great condition as they'd been sold to the USSR in 1976 and had been been circulating between different companies in Eastern Europe for around 25 years.  That may be why, on that one occasion, Revell made a point of advertising that the product in the box might not come up to contemporary standards. They've sold/are selling other ex-Frog kits (of Axis aircraft) from moulds that never made the journey to the USSR, without any caveat on the packaging.

Also the ex-Frog EE Lightning. The slip I had, apart from the bit about the old mould and having cleaned it up some, also said that it was only being released due to demand.

 

Paul.

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They did but in the case of the Revell Vintage Series it was the very fact that the kits were old that was intended to be the selling point. They were aiming to tap into nostalgia. It worked on me, as I bought the box scale B-47 and B-57 in the full knowledge of what I was getting and enjoyed building both of them purely for fun. In fact, with its brand new top-quality transfer sheet and cool black paint scheme, the 1955 vintage 1/81 scale  B-57 built into a very attractive model, even the moulded-in crew heads look OK under the canopy with snazzy yellow bonedomes. When Revell first went down that road in the 1980s, the view was expressed in Scale Models that while it was a great idea some of the kits selected (like the 1970s 1/32 Typhoon and Me 262) were really too recent to qualify.

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Ah well we’ve all been at shows and seen the Tamiya models lined up in immaculate liveries then the KP, AZ and Classic Airframes ones also nice and shiny, stroked our imaginary beards and thought ‘pig of a kit that, nice job’

 

and a subtle but unspoken nod of respect.

 

I mean imagine being brought up on a diet of Tamiya shake n bake. Never having put together an Airfix first tool Blenheim, a Williams Brothers C-46 or basically anything by Classic Airframes or Mach 2. 
 

we happy few, we band of brothers 

 

*exeunt stage left. Jerusalem plays.

 

FIN

 

Edited by TEXANTOMCAT
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5 hours ago, Beermonster1958 said:

My thoughts exactly.  I cannot really be bothered with kits where all you have to do is pour glue and paint in one end of the box, give it a shake and, a completed model drops out the other end! They're BORING! 😉

 

 

I love boring. I've done my time with filler, balsa and PVA. And there's a real skill in pouring that glue and paint - ain't as easy as people make out ... 😀

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On 04/01/2022 at 02:13, JFM148 said:

I am really glad to see Revell AG coming back little by little from the sudden bankruptcy in 2016.  Now with the new owners I hope they will rescue the brand with affordable nice quality models.  Monogram used to be a great company for those of us old enough to enjoy their products.  I also hope they release a Vintage line like Airfix is doing.

Some of Monogram's vintage and classic car kits (e.g. the Cord 812, Deusenberg & Packard) are still very decent kits, despite being from the early '60s.  The Mercedes 540K cabrio from that series was rereleased by Revell AG about ten years ago, but the rest have sadly not been seen for a long time.  A pity, as that 'Museum Pieces' series are well detailed (must have been amazing when initially released!) and go together nicely.  If Revell no longer has the tooling for the others, hopefully they were part of the batch that was sold to Atlantis, who are slowly working through and re-releasing lots of old Revell & Monogram kits.

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