False advertising in model kits

[noc5659]

I popped into hobby lobby and picked up the 1/72 academy f-16a kit #12444. The box art was nice and the completed kit on the side was well done with detail and nice decals. When I got home and opened it I was floored. It was some old yf-16 kit. Real piece of junk. I don't blame hl for it that's on academy. I was really looking forward to a nice quick build now it's tossed in the stash never go be built. Luckily I used a 40% coupon. Still model makers should not do that. My research now shows they reboxed it in a false box depicting their 1/48 f-16 c. Very disappointed.

 

[Grendels]

Don't buy Academy's 747 space shuttle kit, hands down the worst model I have ever built.....

 

[cargoman5126]

Have noticed that a lot of the Round 2 kits are curbside and others are old AMT kits reboxed and are the original molds from the 80's.
That are great for 1984 but for today are way outdated compared with other companies that actually put out the investment of new tooling..as always buyer beware...thanx

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Have noticed that a lot of the Round 2 kits are curbside and others are old AMT kits reboxed and are the original molds from the 80's.
That are great for 1984 but for today are way outdated compared with other companies that actually put out the investment of new tooling..as always buyer beware...thanx

But that has always been Round 2's MO. Reissuing the vast catalog of kits that encompasses AMT, MPC, Polar Lights, Hawk, and Lindberg.

With the vast catalog of kits that haven't seen the light of day some since the '80s and before, and are highly sought after as evidenced by the high prices they go for on places like Ebay, it makes perfect sense for them to re-issue these kits to build up cash to be able to cut new molds.

All the Round 2 re-issues have paid the way for some of the large scale (1/350) Star Wars kits, among others, as well as the restoration work needed to alot of the molds to bring the kits back to their original form as many were bastardized over the years by RC2.

Actually quite smart the way they are going about it. Use the sales from kits that are highly sought after by people that missed out on the kits in their childhood, to pay for molds of new kits, and not go in the hole for development costs. Win win for everyone.

 

[cargoman5126]

The point was that anyone new to the hobby thinking they are buying a new tooled kit are getting a reboxed kit. Just with resin,you want a new cast product not a recast..yes some like the older kits but if the person buying one of these kits will most likely not continue in the hobby due to the quality of the kit that is a reboxed 80's kit is far less than a newly tooled kit. Experienced modelers can get great results from them but those new to the hobby may get discouraged due to the work required to get the results to a modern tooled kit.
I personally love a few of the old AMT kits but the thread was about misleading marketing. Thanx

 

[Quaralane]

One of the BIG differences with Round Two, though, is that they come right out and say when a kit is a reissue.
They make that point perfectly clear in their marketing.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

The point was that anyone new to the hobby thinking they are buying a new tooled kit are getting a reboxed kit. Just with resin,you want a new cast product not a recast..yes some like the older kits but if the person buying one of these kits will most likely not continue in the hobby due to the quality of the kit that is a reboxed 80's kit is far less than a newly tooled kit. Experienced modelers can get great results from them but those new to the hobby may get discouraged due to the work required to get the results to a modern tooled kit.
I personally love a few of the old AMT kits but the thread was about misleading marketing. Thanx

That's just the thing, it isn't misleading when the come out and say that it is a re-issue.

Also, big difference someone doing a recast of a resin product, which usually denotes that they took an original, made a mold and recasted from the mold, then a company pulling out the original molds, cleaning them up and making more of that same kit. Same molds from before, just the kit hasn't been available for awhile.

Nothing wrong with that, and all model companies do it. How many PzIII and PzIV have Dragon issued? Guarantee there isn't a new mold for each different variant, they just create a smaller mold for the different parts. Ditto with Trumpeter, and their umpteen dozen different T-62s.

All companies do that, probably one of the greatest culprits of it is Hasegawa, still using molds from the 80s, pack a new decal sheet and new box art, but still the same old kit.

As a shop owner, I likely wouldn't suggest to a new modeler to start with a Round 2 kit, but then in reality, there aren't a whole lot of truly "new tooled" kits out there unless you are buying from some of the relative newcomers to the market like Takom, Meng, Tiger Model, etc, etc, whom don't have a large enough library yet, nor have been around long enough to re-issue a kit they have already put out. Rest assured in 10-15yrs if they are still around...I bet they will.

In the end...all the companies do it....the only way to get their investment back out of the molds is to keep pumping them out. At least Round 2 is willing to put the time and effort into cleaning up the molds, and bringing them back to their original issues that are highly sought after. Sure there are some dogs in their line up, but all companies have some of those.

 

[Biskup]

I totally understand and agree with you.
But there is also another side. What about really good quality kits which have really poor box-arts. After seeing those you don't want to event touch the model. But when you have it in hands it turns out it’s a really great kits.
Great example of this is Andrea Miniatures now days. Their new kits don't look good on box arts. Some even look like crap. But the kit's them self are great.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

I totally understand and agree with you.
But there is also another side. What about really good quality kits which have really poor box-arts. After seeing those you don't want to event touch the model. But when you have it in hands it turns out it’s a really great kits.
Great example of this is Andrea Miniatures now days. Their new kits don't look good on box arts. Some even look like crap. But the kit's them self are great.

Revell USA is another. Alot of times the box art is the built kit. And no offense to those that do them, but they could be alot better.