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Polar Lights Model Kits: iHobby Recap!
Our shows for the year have wrapped up with our attendance at the international iHobby Expo last weekend in Chicago. October has been a busy month for us with our two biggest shows of the year falling within the same month. iHobby covers the entire gamut of the hobby industry and is open for industry days on Thursday and Friday and open to the public on the weekend. For the past few shows, I’ve ended up working on consumer days which suits me because I’d rather talk to the guys building the kits than sitting around a conference table talking to guys with ties on. It turned out that I was assigned to help set up the booth and then return to work the last day of the show and tear it down again. Overall the show seemed less attended than previous years and I was surprised to see many booths close up mid day on Sunday and some had closed up even before consumers even had access. (Shame shame on a couple of our distinguished competitors…)
At the show we announced our plans through mid 2011 and gave a sneak peak at a couple things beyond that. Let me run down the highlights…
Batmobile– With the kits going to tooling, we were able to unveil our packaging plans. All are still subject to licensor final review. Of course we showed off the beautiful Alex Ross painting in support of the kits. Many have asked about prints of the poster. Sorry to say that that is not allowed under our current agreement. We gave a hint at what will be included in the deluxe version of the kit. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, ask your friends who did. (yes, that is a tease)
Star Trek– As usual we had plenty of buildups and box mockups and/or preproduction samples on display. We featured a buildup of the Klingon Bird of Prey sitting comfortably atop its new landing gear as well as other buildups previously on display at Wonderfest. We announced the classic Klingon Battle Cruiser would return this year. We are looking into what little bits of accurizing we can do to the kit. Also announced was a re-release of the classic AMT Enterprise. Sure we brought that one back once already but we have put a nice spin on this one. We are calling it the Tholian Web Commemorative Edition. The kit comes injected in glow in the dark plastic along with the usual decal sheet complete with decal dressing to create the ship as the U.S.S. Defiant. To cap it off, we are including two new Tholian Web Spinners. We showed a buildup of the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-B and showed a coupld of the revised parts, specifically the lower saucer and rear deck. We had no announcement regarding the 1:350 TOS Enterprise though the kit is still under consideration. Though we did have a prototype of the new movie Enterprise, it could not be displayed due to an error in the output. I’ll be showing that off in my next blog post though and explaining why it couldn’t be displayed.
Marvel Comics- We showed a buildup of our re-release of the Captain America kit. We will also be bringing back Spider-man (actually sooner than Cap) and a few other Marvel surprises later in the year. We will be doing these kits in Comic Scenes style boxes complete with cardboard backdrops and full color comic book instruction sheets. The faces in the Captain America kit will be resculpted. One of the resculpts is shown on the buildup but is subject to licensor approval.
Strange Change- We’ll be bringing back the Vampire and Mummy versions in the first half of 2011. The buildups on display showed how great they look when a great modeler gets ahold of them. The kits function really well (though I had my doubts as I was putting together test shots.) Look for the Time Machine version later in the year probably. And please also note that these kits will be made in the USA.
Dark Shadows- All three kits will return in 2011 with Barnabas Collins leading the way. We had great looking buildups of the figure kits on display. We are planning on reproduction boxes and glue parts just like the good ol’ days and we’ll throw in both soft PVC and styrene sets of arms.
Leif Ericson- When we brought back the UFO kit, most people asked if or when we would bring back the LE. Here it comes complete with reproduction box art, clear engine parts and lights (this time LEDs.) What I would like a little bit of feedback on is would you guys like the engines injected in red or clear so you can paint them whatever color you want? Or maybe a couple different color options. I’m listening for feedback on this.
Man In Space set- This set of historic NASA spacecraft will return with its original packaging art as well as the cardboard gantry that had been included in the first release of the kit. We had a mockup of the gantry on hand but just ran out of room to display it.
KISS and Yellow Submarine- We’ll be bringing back the stars of each band in a series of pre-painted model kits. As you may see in the photo the packaging offers a different twist to appeal to collectors. We’ll be doing the Yellow Sub in a lunchbox tin later in the year and we are exploring the possibility of doing prebuilt models of these subjects as well.
So that’s the plan Stan… or Bobby… or Richard… or Steve… (I’m getting slap happy now after so much planning and work) Thanks to everyone who stopped by and were universally complementary of our display.
AMT Model Kits: A Little 3-in-1 History by Mark Budniewski
Recently, John Grezcula asked me if I’d like to contribute to the Round 2 Models blog. I’ve done some “around the edges” contributions previously, never anything like this though. I’ve been into model cars for as long as I can remember. I still have a few of my late Sixties builds; all of the survivors are AMT model kits–no surprise there, because they were my favorites back in the day.
Besides collecting the kits themselves, I’ve gotten into other items relating to AMT and MPC car kits, particularly the catalogs. In the early Seventies, the original AMT company made their dealer catalogs available to the public. This was done via advertising placed in a couple of the 1:1 car magazines. I’ve held onto the catalogs that I sent for starting in 1975, when I first learned they were available. The occasional earlier catalog, foldout, or single-page sell sheet turns up on occasion, and I am fortunate enough to have located some of those. The old Auto World mail-order catalogs fill in the gaps where no AMT or MPC catalogs exist, or where I haven’t found them (yet!).
Back in the day, it was nice to know what to expect in the way of new releases in the coming year, and when to start looking for them. Today, looking through these and the old Auto World mail-order catalogs, you can get a pretty good history of our corner of the model car hobby.
Many of the AMT and MPC car kits we have looked forward to seeing again have been in and out of the lineup many times over the years, with changes in box art and the occasional parts alteration in order to appeal to new generations of builders and collectors. In some cases, you might not know how far back they really go. Here are a few pics of earlier issues of some current Round 2 AMT car kits. Next time, we’ll get into the particulars of one or two of them.
First: AMT 25th Anniversary (1973) catalog illustration of the ’49 Ford and Mercury. The Tournament of Thrills series included the 1950 Ford convertible also. An authentic set of thrill show jump ramps was included, but this issue saw the custom options deleted from all three kits. Future issues would see most, if not all, of the customizing options restored to these kits… just the way they should be! The ’49 Ford was first released in 1962 (though it doesn’t appear in the ’62 catalog). The ’49 Mercury first appeared in 1963. If there is a ’63 catalog, I’ve yet to see one.
Second: The 1975 catalog saw both of these classic AMT kits returned to the lineup with the customizing parts restored and the thrill show ramps deleted. The catalog illustrations were often done quickly; note the similarity of the ’49 Ford to the earlier Thrill Show illustration! The Seventies-style side exhaust setup shown here did not make its way into any issue of the Ford. The Mercury illustration with the blue custom car was never used on any kit box, and shows the Merc with mag wheels that were never in any issue of the kit.
Third: The 1971 catalog shows a partial selection of AMT’s dragster kits. Of the four shown, three are currently available from Round 2, and the fourth was reissued a number of times and can still be found. Though the nostalgia craze had not yet caught on with drag racers, the Double Dragster was still hanging in there. 1971 would mark its final appearance in an AMT catalog… until now, of course!
Star Trek Model Kits: Enterprise B Improvements
Hi all. I know I’ve already announced the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701B is due out towards the end of the year. What I haven’t been able to announce until now was our plans for the kit.
Unlike many of our other reissues, this one will not include Aztec decals but we will be expanding the markings a little bit and will probably add Lakota markings. The more significant changes will be made to the kit parts themselves. We are reworking the surface detail of the secondary hull deck, add the recessed rectangles on each side of the front of the deflector trench and removing the recessed windows on the lower hull. The ones present weren’t accurate so we’ll add them back into the decal sheet. The rear of the neck will be bent appropriately. Lastly, we’ll be replacing the lower saucer with an all- new part. We’ve had Angelo Bastianelli of Gizmotron models work up the digital file for the part and it looks much better than the old one. It features a more accurate neck attachment and better lower sensor dome. The next step is having the factory do a mockup of the part for me to check out. I’ll keep you updated on these and other Star Trek model kit developments…
UPDATE: Since writing this blog post, I’ve gotten a nice surprise. (Actually this project has been a nice surprise overall in that it is moving at a nice pace with no serious problems… yet.) The mockup from the factory arrived just yesterday. It looked great. I took a couple quick shots and sent it back. So here are a couple shots of the mockup which was cut from the digital file.
One of our most exciting Star Trek model kit projects in development is also one of the most difficult ones to show off. I received test shots of the metal legs that will be included in our upcoming release of the Klingon Bird of Prey.
The legs are metal to help support the weight of the kit. Styrene would have probably bent or broken. We had “Crazy” Ed Holt (modelnutz on the forums) finish up his versions of the landing gear and with a few minor adjustments, had them tooled up. I’m still waiting to see the plastic parts but I couldn’t help but share this when it came in today.
(BTW, this is blog post #50. I think I just dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back.)
Star Trek Model Kits: Klingon Spy Attacks K-7 Space Station
Our offices have been infiltrated by a Klingon spy who has it out for the K-7 Space Station. He has attacked twice. I already had to do emergency repairs to our buildup, once to have something to display at Wonderfest. We recently had a meeting where we sat out our products in our conference room and the poor K-7 was returned to me in miserable condition once more.
Please be on the lookout! No Star Trek model kit will be safe until this devious saboteur has been apprehended.
Star Trek Model Kits: The Eagle (well maybe just a bird) Has Landed
We ordered a big batch of tooling to be moved from our Dyersville warehouse a couple months ago. We heard earlier this week that the factory had received the tooling and we were told to expect test shots from the tools soon. Well, the first one arrived today and low and behold, it was the Romulan Bird of Prey.
It had one little bit of flash on it but other than that, it was immaculate. She went together really well. A few parts could use some extra locator pins and the parts will be numbered. We’ll open the hole in the belly to accept the base. Once the plasma weapon and clear domes are added in place of the nacelle balls, she’ll be good to go. This is another case of it not being a super accurate Star Trek model kit but it is a nice representation of the subject.
Star Trek Model Kit: Vulcan Shuttle Surprise
Sorry to be away for so long. We’ve finally gotten through our yearly sales summit. It seems that our ideas for new model kit product for next year went over pretty well. Full steam ahead!
I’m heading out for a week’s vacation so it’ll be while before I get back on my regular blog schedule. In the meantime, I’ve prepared a couple more quick hits. The post following this one will be mysterious but probably incredibly exciting to some (hopefully most) of you out there.
Before I go, though here’s a pretty exciting little tidbit itself. When we release our Vulcan Shuttle Star Trek model kit later this year, it will feature brand new box art. We are very proud to announce that we have had the ship’s designer, Andy Probert, do a brand new illustration of the ship! We are pretty stoked. We will feature an interview with Andy on our website when the release date gets closer. So here is a sneak peak at the illo. Of course we will add the licensor’s mandated background elements and a few extra bells and whistles to tie the look into our other boxes. Hope you enjoy.
Model Kit: Tidbits shmidbits Vol.3
Bob posted a “special features” post awhile back about the Star Trek Enterprise E box art meant for the mass market. These would be larger stores to make sure the model kit offers a point of difference from the hobby shop version.
As he stated in that post, I was fortunate enough to do the hobby version box art. The Star Trek licensor has established a style guide to ensure the look of their brand that calls for us to use one of their supplied backgrounds. So I had a dilemma, do I just paint the ship or the ship on a background. I wanted a finished piece when I was done so I went ahead and did a full background too in hopes that someday the whole piece could be used somehow. The piece was a bear to do. 80% of it was a struggle just because I hadn’t picked up an airbrush in years. I didn’t start feeling good about it until about the last day or so as I worked on it. Looking back now, there are some things I wish I had done differently but overall it turned out pretty well. Here is a look at the entire piece with background and the lettering overlaid in photoshop.
Model Kits: Tidbits shmidbits Vol.1
Sorry I haven’t posted recently. I’ve been super busy reviewing test shots for Forever Fun (Take a look foreverfunblog.com to check out new product coming down the pike later this year.), upcoming model kits and jumping in on some packaging to meet a deadline that managed to sneak up on us.
In the meantime, I’m gonna churn out a few quick hit blog entries. I’ve got lot’s of stuff to write about but not enough time. I still want to keep folks interested and coming back so even though my next few blogs may be short, they’ll be worthwhile. So here we go.
The first test shot buildup of the backdated Mr. Spock model kit. You’ll see a nice little detail we have added but may also find the little detail we missed. (It should make its way back into the model kit… hopefully… eek!)
Model Kits… Larger than life!
Hi all, I’m Mike and this’ll be my first post to the Round 2 models blog! I’m the guy who lays out the box art for most of the mass vehicle model kits. I get the pleasure of photographing the professional buildups of our model kits for the photos you see on our kits. Being a shutterbug in my personal life as well, it’s a real joy to be able to present these amazing kits to the world through photography for Round 2.
Most of our model kits use the standard 1:25 scale box size. However, AMT-632 is huge, so we needed to enlarge the box! Though still 1:25 scale, this truck crushes any other scale models in its path. The 1988 TNT Motorsports National Points Champion was Everett Jasmer driving his USA-1 Chevy Monster Truck. I love the details on this truck that make it look larger than life. The realistic tires, the detailed suspension, and the USA-1 decals all come together to create the ultimate model kit. It’ll be as much fun to assemble as it was to photograph this monster!
