I finally was able (once again) to get a weekend off, so the wife and I took a ride to Aiken, SC and Augusta, GA (part of the reason for the ride was to reconnoiter a possible driving route for an upcoming event). While in town, we stopped in at the HobbyTown USA in Augusta. Dave has a large selection of kits, the largest selection I've seen since I left South Florida. So, I wasn't really surprised to see that he had several new kits as well a a whole mess of reissues in stock. Some random thoughts follow…
I like what Round Two Models is doing. In case you haven't noticed, they acquired the rights to several manufacturers' catalogs from years gone by, including AMT, MPC, and Polar Lights. Dave had the reissue of AMT's 1/25 scale 1976 AMC Gremlin X in their "Original Art Series". You get the same AMT plastic from years gone by, and they also include an 11" X 14" print of the artwork less any other copy–no logo, no other text, just the artwork. I just had to pick the kit up, since this is just the type of kit I grew up building. The plastic parts are quite nice–no flash, very nice, very clean. It looks like it will be a fun build, too. The other things about this kit that caught my eye was that Round Two encloses a small fold-out catalog of their products as well as a postcard that asks the buyer "What do you want to see from Round Two Models?" It warms my heart to see a company is once again willing to listen to their customer base. The other Round Two products that caught my eye were a Limited Edition of the 1/16 scale Dodge Charger in the guise of a "Street Charger"–rumor has it that the NASCAR version (the Petty Charger) will be released shortly. Also, their 1/25 scale Big Rig collection has been joined by the reissue of the Diamond Reo. Very nice…
The other kit that caught my eye at HobbyTown USA was the new Revell 1/48 scale PV-1 Ventura. Twenty years ago, I would have been all over this kit like a fat kid on a box of Krispy Kremes–I lived for 1/48 scale WWII aircraft, and the Ventura was one I would have loved to build back in the day. Since then, I have switched scales to 1/72 for multi-engined subjects, but the Revell kit still interests me by the fact that is is a new release from the re-re-reborn Revell. By all accounts, it is quite the kit. I'm happy to see Revell back in the game. I'm also happy to see Revell reissuing recent kits (if you call 10 year old kits "recent") like the 1/48 SB2C, P-47N, and the Prowler/Intruder series. If that doesn't wake you up, have you seen some of the Renwal kits that Revell has been reissuing? Sweet…
Then there's Moebius Models. If you haven't seen them in stores yet, their 1/25 scale kits of the 1952/1953 Husdon Hornet are out, and they are very nice, indeed. My wife preordered the Tim Flock 1952 NASCAR version of the kit, and I am impressed. Build reports from the Internet are saying wonderful things about this kit and its 1953 street version brother. Next up from Moebius is a 1955 Chrysler 300, and I can't wait to see it.
Even better? All of them are offering some sort of newsletter or modeler's club. Nice, right?
I think what we're seeing here is a return of hobbyists having a say in how model companies are run. Back in the days of Lew and Royle Glaser (Revell), Jack Besser and Bob Reder (Monogram), Joe Giammarino and Abe Shikes (Aurora), to name but a few, the model companies were run by modelers and hobbyists. There was a sense of business behind them–after all, if the company made no money, they were out of business–but the driving force was the hobby. These folks were hobbyists themselves, and they knew what they wanted to see. They'd research a subject, and if they thought it would sell, they'd design, tool, and produce the product.
A lot changed, and not for the good, when Nabisco bought Aurora and Mattell acquired Monogram. The hobby people were either out for good or shunted to the side while the businessmen made the product decisions. Now, granted, not every hobbyist running a company had the Golden Touch–when Royle Glaser began running her late husband's company, she did some trimming, since Revell had a huge catalog, but was never very stable financially. But in the end, Revell, too, was sold to a business group. With the departure of the hobbyists, these companies did continue to thrive for a while. But things weren't as rosy, I guess, as they appeared. Monogram merged with Revell. They were bought and sold several times. The Monogram name has all but gone away for new kits. The last new aircraft kit from Revell (not Revell-Germany!) that comes to mind was the 1/48 scale F/A-18E and F kits from around 2005. The names MPC and AMT all but disappeared when Racing Champions acquired the company in the late 1990's. Nabisco liquidated Aurora in 1977. Hawk Models went away, many of their kits reappeared in Testor's boxes.
Recently, though, things have been looking up. J.Lloyd International has the Lindberg, Hawk, Weird-Ohs, Frantics, and Silly Surfers lines in their catalog. Round Two, as we've discussed, has AMT, MPC, and Polar Lights under thier banner, and they have been busy reissuing kits from years past. Moebius is going quite well with their Sci-Fi, vehicle, and various comic book and movie character kits. With the Revell release of the Ventura, one can only hope they are on the road to many more new releases and reissues of their kits from back in the day.
Add to all this the recent releases and reissues from Dragon/DML/Cyber-Hobby, Hasegawa, Trumpeter/HobbyBoss, and Tamiya, several new issues from Italeri along with their extensive back catalog, the availability of Fujimi kits once again in the United States, Academy's releases and reissues, Roden's ever-expanding line of kits from WWI crates to airliners to, well, whatever strikes their fancy…and that's just airplanes, folks. We haven't begun to discuss autos in depth, let alone armor and ships.
If there is any modeler out there who can't see that we are living in another Golden Age of modeling, they haven't been looking very hard. I, for one, am being reenergized…
On another note, I'll be once again heading out to our comany's Dallas facility for a week. I hope to have more time to see the area than I did last November. No rest for the weary…
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.