[Magesblood]

with your resurgence of classic Trek kits, how have the sales been? Would you say this could be a trend into the coming years with new and old kits alike?

I'm also wondering about sales numbers. Would you say that the Trek kits you've produced to date have met or possibly exceeded the original sales of that particular kit be it AMT/Ertl or Polar Lights?

I guess in a nutshell what I'm asking is:

if the kits you've produced to date have been better in sales than the original run?

Will there be more Trek kits if sales meet or exceed projections?

Also, if we were to see other Trek kits in the future, do you think that the company could have the foresight to retool each to address inaccuracies from the originals? Take the Romulan BoP for example; the fore end of the nacelles is grossly inaccurate and didn't come with a forward emitter.

Thanks for your time and attention!

 

[MadCap Romanian]

I would just like to say that as an owner of a small hobby shop (Monster Hobbies) in a small town of High River, Alberta, Canada, that the release/re-release of these new Star Trek kits has helped my sales out tremendiously, especially the "Old Box" reprints.

I also built a large display of Star Trek models from your company for a window display in the local Public Library, which has had some very positive reviews. (link to article : http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=277765)

I'm glad all these Trek kits are coming out again. I'm just hoping to see more "Great Timing" on kit releases like these. (JJ's Trek film, plus the Remastered TOS series and the AMT/PL kits being released/re-released are all good timing for one another.) I just hope you'll also tie in other models with DVD/Movie releases and keep this level of "Fun" high up there.

I'm sure that with the AMT/MPC/PL steel mold accumilation in your factories, that you could potentially keep this ball rolling.

I also concur with Magesblood - Some retooling of eariler inaccurate kits could do wonders, especially with the new CNC machines. Some of the primary candidates for this would be the MPC car kits of the 1970's, especially the General Lee kit, which was full of flash, gaps, uneven wheels, missing parts (To the actual TV car) inaccurate roof design and more. Just cleaning up the mold to eliminate the flash isn't enough. Bringing this kit up to date and addressing these problems, possibly making it more like the Revell 1969 Dodge Charger, would greatly help your sales out.

ThanX again for al the wonderful work your doing and I hope to see more from you in the years to come!

Trevor Ursulescu
Monster Hobbies

 

[CaptFrank]

Ooh, ooh!
Can anybody post a question for Round 2 here?

Well, I'm going to, anyway.

The Akira - class kit was scrubbed because of some kind
of scale issue. (That's what I heard.)

Could you simply ignore the scale, and issue a kit that would
produce a ship 18 - 20" long when finished?

Some of us don't care about scale.
We would just like to have the kit.

 

[jbond]

I think the problem was they wanted to issue a kit around 12 inches in length and discovered that the scale would result in a kit more like 18-20 inches, which they did NOT want to do.

 

[MadCap Romanian]

I would also like to see Round 2 continue where AMT left off before AMT was bought by [email protected] Mainly, they were working on bringing out a 1950 Oldsmobile and 1951 Studebaker in 1/25th scale.

 

[John P]

I would also like to see Round 2 continue where AMT left off before AMT was bought by [email protected] Mainly, they were working on bringing out a 1950 Oldsmobile and 1951 Studebaker in 1/25th scale.

... and a 1/350 K'Tinga.

 

[Richard Baker]

Nobody expects a mass production kit to be 100% accurate, but if some of the glaring issues could be fixed (like mentioned with TOS BOP) that would really help. Those original kits were OK in their day, but they also cost less than $5.00 new back then too. I would love to get a second chance with a kit especially if the tooling was updating.

.

 

[PhantomStranger]

Magesblood- Sales on Star trek have been pretty strong for us. They compete pretty well against the automotive subjects. We still have to make strides as a company to increase sales. (then who doesn't) I'm sure we are no where near sales from back in the Playing Mantis days. The market has changed substantially and you all know what I mean- Fewer and fewer retailers carrying model kits.

As long as sales stay strong, we will continue making the kits. We have a lot of ideas we would like to follow through on but we are limited by the amount of money we can invest. With growth each year, you should see more and more new product.

Speaking specifically to the Romulan Bird of Prey, we would hope (I can't stress that word enough) to add the emitter and accurized nacelle domes. Then one day we would hope to do an all new totally accurate kit in scale with our other offerings like 1/1000 scale... Need to find that old RBoP tool one of these days...


MadCap- I'm glad our product is doing well for you. We do pride ourselves on handling the packaging with as much care as the product inside.

If you haven't checked out our release of the General Lee, I would encourage you to do so. I'm not a "car guy" but I understand this release is more accurate than in the past.


CaptFrank- We still have hopes to do the Akira at 1/1000 scale which would be 18" long. We just don't know when we will be able to do it at this point. When it comes down to choosing between that and another big subject like a 1/350 TOS E or a 1/1000 Enterprise D the Akira gets shadowed a bit.


John P- a 1/350 K'tinga? What a novel idea. Maybe some day after a 1/350 TOS Enterprise.

 

[Magesblood]

Magesblood- Sales on Star trek have been pretty strong for us. They compete pretty well against the automotive subjects. We still have to make strides as a company to increase sales. (then who doesn't) I'm sure we are no where near sales from back in the Playing Mantis days. The market has changed substantially and you all know what I mean- Fewer and fewer retailers carrying model kits.

As long as sales stay strong, we will continue making the kits. We have a lot of ideas we would like to follow through on but we are limited by the amount of money we can invest. With growth each year, you should see more and more new product.

Speaking specifically to the Romulan Bird of Prey, we would hope (I can't stress that word enough) to add the emitter and accurized nacelle domes. Then one day we would hope to do an all new totally accurate kit in scale with our other offerings like 1/1000 scale... Need to find that old RBoP tool one of these days...


MadCap- I'm glad our product is doing well for you. We do pride ourselves on handling the packaging with as much care as the product inside.

If you haven't checked out our release of the General Lee, I would encourage you to do so. I'm not a "car guy" but I understand this release is more accurate than in the past.


CaptFrank- We still have hopes to do the Akira at 1/1000 scale which would be 18" long. We just don't know when we will be able to do it at this point. When it comes down to choosing between that and another big subject like a 1/350 TOS E or a 1/1000 Enterprise D the Akira gets shadowed a bit.


John P- a 1/350 K'tinga? What a novel idea. Maybe some day after a 1/350 TOS Enterprise.

Thank you ever so much for that. Very encouraging!

and the 350th Klingon, Oh please oh please oh please!

 

[Model Man]

John P- a 1/350 K'tinga? What a novel idea. Maybe some day after a 1/350 TOS Enterprise.

And let's not forget that 'Reliant in any scale' polling you did this past year, eh?

Congrats and wishes for great success to you folks!

 

[Seashark]

Phantom Stranger -

I, as I'm sure many others, greatly appreciate your participation here and on Starship modeler. I also appreciate Round 2's commitment to sci-fi and Star Trek in particular; keep it up. :thumbsup:

As for the Akira issue, would it not be possible to simply release a 1/2500 scale version? That way it fits with the rest of your general product line-up (1/1000 box wise), doesn't break the budget too much and can be in-scale with your re-releases of 1/2500 enterprise's, including the Star Trek 09 Enterprise.

 

[Richard Baker]

1/2500 is too small for this ship IMO. I have a 1/1400 resin kit and it is a decent size for lighting and adding deatil if it was styrene, though 1/00 would be even better- I would love to be able to add the forward and aft shuttle bays.

.

 

[CaptFrank]

Phantomstranger responded with:

CaptFrank- We still have hopes to do the Akira at 1/1000 scale which would be 18" long. We just don't know when we will be able to do it at this point. When it comes down to choosing between that and another big subject like a 1/350 TOS E or a 1/1000 Enterprise D the Akira gets shadowed a bit.

That would be perfect!

I understand about the priorities. We need a 1:350 scale
U.S.S. ENTERPRISE!! So, keep working on it!

Thanks for answering.:thumbsup:

 

[raser13]

have you by chance thought about tooling a 1/2500 nx-01 to finish out the set of enterprises? i realize that it would be really inky dinky but it would be nice to have the whole set.

 

[Landru]

That would be so good if Round2 could re-release the old TOS BOP. I've always wanted to take a crack at it, but with it being so expensive, I have never bought it.

Phantom, even if Round 2 just released the kit as it is, without any modifications, there would be a really good market for aftermarket parts to complete the kit. Really it would be better to have a modified kit, but still.

 

[phicks]

Phantom - Will the 1/1000 Abramsprise likely be the last NEW Star Trek kit for 2010?

 

[Richard Baker]

Phantom - Will the 1/1000 Abramsprise likely be the last NEW Star Trek kit for 2010?

It's a 1/2500 scale kit- 1/1000 would be far too big as the NuE was almost the size of the E-D in the film.

.

 

[derric1968]

phicks - What Richard said is correct. It's 1/2500. As for NEW Star Trek kits, Round 2 made it clear that all their announcements at iHobby were for the first HALF of 2010. We still don't know what they have planned for the second half. Those announcements are likely to be made at WonderFest this summer. So, one or two more new Trek kits are still a possibility.

 

[phicks]

Please excuse my slip of the scale gentlemen! And while I am aware that releases for the second half of 2010 will be made at Wonderfest, I am just wondering if they already know there won't be anymore new kits in 2010 after the Abramsprise. My impression was that the next kit they have confirmed is a 1/350 TOS Enterprise, but that R2 always said it would not come out until 2011.

 

[Spockr]

phicks - What Richard said is correct. It's 1/2500. As for NEW Star Trek kits, Round 2 made it clear that all their announcements at iHobby were for the first HALF of 2010. We still don't know what they have planned for the second half. Those announcements are likely to be made at WonderFest this summer. So, one or two more new Trek kits are still a possibility.

Their blog seems to confirm the possibility of other Trek kits later in the year

"We’ve currently got 36 on our plan for 2010 including new subjects from the latest Star trek movie"

Notice that "subjects" is plural...

Read the rest here: http://www.collectormodel.com/

I'd love to see a Jellyfish model