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Revell of Germany shutting its doors?

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  • Member since
    June 2006
  • From: Tampa, FL USA
Revell of Germany shutting its doors?
Posted by The Mad Klingon on Monday, April 19, 2010 7:35 AM

Hi there:

I attended the IPMS Region 11 show this past weekend over in Coco beach. While parousing the dealers room I came across RoG 1/35 Tank Destroyer Jaguar 1. Cool little piece of armor. I know it retails for about $30 so I asked the vendor (Tank Rats) what he was asking. He said $40. I assumed he was confusing the model with another so I pulled the box off the wall and showed it to him. He again said it was $40. I explained to him the model retails for $30 and you can get it for $25 on eBay.

He explained to me that RoG was having financial difficulties and they recently closed their doors and another company (he told me but I can't recall) it acquiring their molds. He went on to tell me that the $30 Jaguar kit I was interested in was going for $60 online and he wouldn't sell his three for less than $40.00. He did try to show me these so-called exaggerated prices on eBay but discovered they kits were going for about $25. I was skeptical so I asked some of the other vendors at the show if they had heard the tale. It was news to them. When I got back to my room my club and I check online for any additional information and found none.

RoG site is up and running, there are no articles that I can find online and I don't recall any talk of this on the major discussion boards and the vendor's we asked had not heard of this major development so I am thinking Tank Rats was blowing smoke up my skirt.

I am posting this long winded tale to find out if there is any validity to what I was told. Is Revell of Germany out of business or was the dealer just trying to pull the styrene over my eyes?

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: Neenah, WI
Posted by HawkeyeHobbies on Monday, April 19, 2010 8:01 AM

Sounds like BS to me. RoG is a strong company.

Gerald "Hawkeye" Voigt

http://hawkeyes-squawkbox.com/

 

 

"Its not the workbench that makes the model, it is the modeler at the workbench."

  • Member since
    March 2006
Posted by simpilot34 on Monday, April 19, 2010 8:31 AM

HawkeyeHobbies

Sounds like BS to me. RoG is a strong company.

EXACTLLY!!!,I read the model mags from all over and that would be front page news and have heard zilch about it!!! I suspect he was just trying to get the best price he could and was hoping somebody was gullible enough to bite!!!2 cents

Cheers, Lt. Cmdr. Richie "To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving the peace."-George Washington
  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Monday, April 19, 2010 8:32 AM

Ditto having heard nothing of the sort...

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: 41 Degrees 52.4 minutes North; 72 Degrees 7.3 minutes West
Posted by bbrowniii on Monday, April 19, 2010 2:53 PM

You know, I've never had any dealings with them, but this is the second incident (at least) in the past couple of month where someone has had some rather unsatisfactory interactions with TankRats.  The last one, as I recall, was someone who could not get an order filled and could get no response to e-mails (does that sound right?).

This incident seems like them trying to artificially inflate the cost of a kit.  Hmmmm.... seems kinda shady to me....

'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing' - Edmund Burke (1770 ??)

 

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Monday, April 19, 2010 3:21 PM

More shenanigans from a vendor whose reputation is less than stellar.2 cents Revell Germany is a powerhouse akin to Tamiya, Italeri, Dragon, Revell USA, etc. Any model store I visited in Europe was dominted by them. If they were going belly up, it would be all over the model related web in a flash.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    June 2006
  • From: Tampa, FL USA
Posted by The Mad Klingon on Monday, April 19, 2010 3:22 PM
After our conversation with TankRats we decided to email RoG and here is the response:

From: tkoss@revell.de
To: xxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:03:13 +0200

Dear Mr B

Thanks for your question - but your information is not true. In fact we have increasing investments into the hobby business, more than 80 novelties in the year and we are not planning to decrease our efforts in the future.

In fact we are developing some additional promising lines, have entered successfully the RC segment and therefore are looking optimistic to the next years.

Best regards

Thorsten Koss

So there it is folks... direct from the horse's mouth.

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Monday, April 19, 2010 3:32 PM

BTW, you are very correct about the retail price as well. I picked up that same kit at a LHS a few months back for around the price you mentioned. It is a neat looking vehicle.

http://www.revell.com/germany/military/80-3088.html

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Bridgeview, Illinois
Posted by mg.mikael on Monday, April 19, 2010 5:11 PM

The Mad Klingon
He did try to show me these so-called exaggerated prices on eBay but discovered they kits were going for about $25.

Sounds like like the fool just proved himself wrong with that slick move.

After he proved himself wrong, you could have simply said, "good going Sherlock." Stick out tongue (Yeah, terrible joke.)

"A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan next week." - George S. Patton

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  • Member since
    September 2015
  • From: The Redwood Empire
Posted by Aaronw on Monday, April 19, 2010 9:27 PM

I've found that many store employees seem to think if it isn't on their shelf or easily available through their distributor it doesn't exist. This is not just related to models, I've run across it with books, movies, boots etc.

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Bridgeview, Illinois
Posted by mg.mikael on Monday, April 19, 2010 9:39 PM

Aaronw

I've found that many store employees seem to think if it isn't on their shelf or easily available through their distributor it doesn't exist. This is not just related to models, I've run across it with books, movies, boots etc.

I run into that problem at the library of all places. They don't have a healthy selection of military-related books(yet they have freakin' five Clinton memoirs.....I don't care to read about his sexual adventures.)

Thus because of the shortage of military books I always have to order books from other libraries. Their usually pretty good about it, but sometimes they give me a response of "are you sure this book exists?"Dunce D'OH Obviously, it exists because I saw it on Amazon retailing for $29.95.....geez.

"A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan next week." - George S. Patton

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