Revel 2023 first quarter

[klr]

In terms of 1:72 releases, it looks as if Revell has fallen off the proverbial cliff. Last year, 12 of the 14 Revell kits I bought were second-hand or from a discount store (the latter all someone else's tooling*), and the other 2 kits had been in the catalog for years. The change of direction after the management buyout has been striking.

 

*Special Hobby, Toxso, and even Matchbox.

[IT_Man]

20 minutes ago, klr said:

In terms of 1:72 releases, it looks as if Revell has fallen off the proverbial cliff. Last year, 12 of the 14 Revell kits I bought were second-hand or from a discount store (the latter all someone else's tooling*), and the other 2 kits had been in the catalog for years. The change of direction after the management buyout has been striking.

 

*Special Hobby, Toxso, and even Matchbox.

 

Yes, I hark back to the years where we got the Ju 290, BV 222, Breguet Atlantic in a fairly short space of time.

[Piotr Mikolajski]

8 hours ago, klr said:

The change of direction after the management buyout has been striking.

 

It's not so much a change of direction as it is the consequences of a massive investment for a Revella buyout. Quantum Capital Partners is an investment company and expects a quick return on its investment, not to load another hundreds of thousands of euros into the company for a plethora of new moulds.

[Denford]

22 minutes ago, Piotr Mikolajski said:

 

It's not so much a change of direction as it is the consequences of a massive investment for a Revella buyout. Quantum Capital Partners is an investment company and expects a quick return on its investment, not to load another hundreds of thousands of euros into the company for a plethora of new moulds.

My embolding and italics, but I'm told that Airfix (or rather their holding Company) expect them to recover the initial costs in the first year.

[VMA131Marine]

14 minutes ago, Denford said:

My embolding and italics, but I'm told that Airfix (or rather their holding Company) expect them to recover the initial costs in the first year.

Hornby don’t have a holding company exactly they are publicly traded but have a majority shareholder: Phoenix Asset Management. That said, I’m sure Airfix set the size of their initial production runs and the price of the kit to repay the initial investment with some positive margin.

[klr]

16 minutes ago, Piotr Mikolajski said:

 

It's not so much a change of direction as it is the consequences of a massive investment for a Revella buyout. Quantum Capital Partners is an investment company and expects a quick return on its investment, not to load another hundreds of thousands of euros into the company for a plethora of new moulds.

I agree: I'm under no illusions about what usually happens after a management buyout*. But the decline of Revell that led to the buyout has left a gap in the European market. In certain subject areas, other companies are probably eating some of Revell's lunch: Eduard, IBG, Arma Hobby, even Airfix. But other than Airfix, I can't think of another company that could produce a new tooling of a large aircraft in 1/72 at anything like a reasonable price, the way Revell used to do. Maybe Zvezda, but for obvious political reasons, Zvezda may have difficulties in Europe and beyond for some time. Revell is one of the companies that has reboxed Zvezda kits, so that will be a problem for Revell as well.

 

*I must be one of the few forum members who has read Barbarians at the Gate, and it wasn't even required for my business degree ...

[Dennis_C]

9 hours ago, klr said:

I can't think of another company that could produce a new tooling of a large aircraft in 1/72 at anything like a reasonable price, the way Revell used to do.

Italeri or ICM? And maybe the return of Heller with new tool Hawkeye for the start became possible because of Revell's retreat?

[IT_Man]

On 01/01/2023 at 00:05, modelldoc said:

Here is another ovewviw:

 

 

https://www.kitreviewsonline.de/revell-neuheiten-2023/

 

modelldoc

 

Thanks. I like the comments about pricing in general. No idea what the thought is for some of the boxings, not sure many would spend that much for a "gift set".

 

I.e. the Eurofighter Pacific, looks great. But if the base kit is say £30, then allowing another £15-20 of PE. Is the other stuff worth that much more? It includes a trading card, but how many will realistically sell for that to be of use? Hasegawa one is listed for £53 before discount at the Big H for the same scheme, I'd be more likely to go down that route, or get AM decals for the available Revell kit!

[JFM148]

I am sorry if I do some reality check, but in a small hobby (market) like ours, companies need to make money to be attractive for investors, not for old modellers used to Tamiya/Eduard standard dark subject kits at 10-12 quid price tag like us. 

 

Revell is correctly focusing on sales volume, so I wonder How many Ju 290's and BV 222's it needs to sell in order to make some profit?   

 

My two cents...and sorry again.

 

  

Edited January 2, 2023 by JFM148

[Graham Boak]

7 minutes ago, JFM148 said:

I am sorry if I do some reality check, but in a small hobby (market) like ours, companies need to make money to be attractive for investors, not for old modellers used to Tamiya/Eduard standard dark subject kits at 10-12 quid price tag like us. 

 

Revell is correctly focusing on sales volume, so I wonder How many Ju 290's and BV 222's it needs to sell in order to make some profit?   

 

My two cents...and sorry again.

 

  

I don't know how many it needs to sell of any subject, but like any other subject it depends upon the price charged.  There can be more profit on one large kit that on several smaller ones, because the competition at the cheaper range is more intense so margins are forced lower.  Clearly there is no shortage of modellers prepared to pay large sums for their desired type.  Only Revell (and perhaps retailers?) can say how well these subjects originally sold: one guide could be that they haven't reappeared but another could be that you didn't see them in shops hanging around for a long time unsold.

 

I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean buy "standard dark matter subject kits". 

[Ventsislav Gramatski]

I will voice a mildly positive in opinion simply because I am very happy that Revell with release Bandai's 1/72 TIE Interceptor this year. That kit has become very difficult to find (in Europe, at least) and even less so at a reasonable price. I plan to take from my savings in March and get the Revell releases of the TIE Interceptor, TIE Advanced and Y-Wing while still possible (and complete my Star Wars 1/72 fighters collection). The 1/24 Mandalorian N-1 also gives me hope for a small scale version of the kit.

 

And an accurate, even if snap fit Bf 109G6 isn't bad news. Tamiya's kit is amazing but very expensive in Europe. AZ's are plentiful, tons of markings and are relatively inexpensive but all boxings besides the new mold G-10 and G5/6AS have shape issues. Academy's kit builds well and is also inexpensive well but has shape issues and simplified details. Airfix's is.. the less said, the better. For such a preponderant plane it isn't all that well represented in 1/72.

 

That small glimmer of optimism aside, seeing the current state of Revell is quite disheartening, and at a very inopportune time for the economy. 

 

Revell's kits were practically omnipresent in my childhood, they were cheap, and frequently quite detailed and decent to build.

[Alan P]

I'm very pleased to see the 1/144 Bundesmarine Fletcher-class Platinum Edition with Pontos etch set. A good move in my book.

12 minutes ago, Ventsislav Gramatski said:

Revell's kits were practically omnipresent in my childhood, they were cheap, and frequently quite detailed and decent to build.

Still are if you ask me. They still produce good models in 1/32, especially helicopters and WW2 aircraft.

[Piotr Mikolajski]

On 1/1/2023 at 10:44 PM, klr said:

But the decline of Revell that led to the buyout has left a gap in the European market. In certain subject areas, other companies are probably eating some of Revell's lunch.

 

Eduard has been on the market since 1989, as has Special Hobby. ICM since 1994, IBG Models since 2006, all of which thrived at a time when Revell was still releasing new good kits. On top of that, most of them did not actually occupy the niche that Revell did.

  

On 1/1/2023 at 10:44 PM, klr said:

But other than Airfix, I can't think of another company that could produce a new tooling of a large aircraft in 1/72 at anything like a reasonable price, the way Revell used to do.

 

There is a difference between technical capability, financial capability and willingness. Valom, Trumpeter, Special Hobby, Roden, Modelsvit, ICM, IBG Models and Eduard - all have the technical and financial capacity. Then again, in practice any company that can release a reasonably priced kit in 1/32 has it. Business decisions, on the other hand, clearly show that such models are rare. Even Trumpeter, which is probably the richest model company with the largest technical facilities, has not released too many such models since 2010:

• 2013 - 01637 - Focke-Wulf Fw 200C Condor
• 2015 - 01646 - Beriev Be-6 "Madge"
• 2015 - 01672 - Sukhoi Su-24M "Fencer"
• 2018 - 01687 - Tupolev Tu-128M "Fiddler"
• 2019 - 01695 - Tupolev Tu-22 "Blinder"

Of the other companies mentioned, four produce short-run models. Large kits are speciality of Valom and this is probably the only 1/72 manufacturer who has so many such kits in their catalogue. Special Hobby reissues its older models from 20 years ago, adding new small parts of much better quality to the old main parts. Roden releases such models once every few years - in 2014 C-123, in 2022 AJ Savage. Similarly Modelsvit, but here the models are already noticeably more expensive.
The other three make models from steel / metal moulds, which are much more expensive than short-run ones. ICM has returned to 1/72 scale with a Ki-21 model, although you can see from the catalogue that it sits much more firmly in 1/48 scale. IBG Models does not get into the subject of large aircraft in 1/72 at all, the same with Eduard - in both cases, companies focus on designing and releasing an entire family of aircraft rather than individual versions.

 

The problem with large models is fundamental - they are a sizable investment that pays off much more slowly than smaller models. An investment of similar size, in a dozen moulds, will be the whole family of Bf 109F, G and K from Eduard in 1/72. It is already clear that this will be a hit and will sell very well, and many modellers will buy a few or even a dozen these kits. At the same time, the same people will buy maybe one big model or probably will not buy it at all. The calculation is simple, especially as the return on such a large investment counts similarly - you need to sell some thousands of copies. It really is easier to sell 10000 Bf 109FGKs than 10000 Halifaxes.

[Homebee]

Revell 2023 complete catalogue is downloadable here

https://catalog.revell.de/pdfviewer/revell-general-catalogue-2023/

 

 

V.P.

[MiG-Mech]

Oh, Revell is going the Hasegawa's way and producing more cars.

Nice Mustangs! 

No, not the 90s! 🤦‍♂️

[71chally]

Nice to see the Breguet Atlantic reissued.

[chrisov]

3 minutes ago, 71chally said:

Nice to see the Breguet Atlantic reissued.

Wasn't that available a year or two ago as the Italian retirement scheme? Nice too.

[loloskymaster]

Surprise for this 1/32 Meteor F.3!

 

Lolo

[Homebee]

Like that 

Re-eleased - 1/48th - ref. 05650 - Northrop F-89C Scorpion -  75th anniversary

https://www.dominomodel.com/fr/p/117043643/northrop-f-89-scorpion-75th-anniversary/

 

 

V.P.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Homebee

[Homebee]

Associated to the Scorpion re-issue, two Aerocraft Models sets

- ref. ACM48058 - Northrop F-89D Scorpion - rocket wing pods

Source: https://www.aerocraftmodels.com/northrop-f-89-d-rocket-wing-pods-215-p.asp

 

 

- ref. ACM48059 - Northrop F-89H Scorpion - rocket wing pods

Source: https://www.aerocraftmodels.com/northrop-f-89-h-rocket-wing-pods-216-p.asp

 

 

V.P.