reisused molds

In the Classified Marketplace of the "Editorial Issue" is an add for a book titled Plastic Aircraft Kits of the 20th Century. The add says it lists many kits and kit companies. I do not know if it will tell you of re-issues but it might be a help.

Chris 

It takes experience and just paying attention to the forums and reviews to figure it out. In today's instantaneous web world, if a company is releasing an all-new tooled model of a subject, then it is preceded by a lot of speculation, online buzz, pictures of test shots, box art photos and the ever present experts critiquing it based on test shots. If the kit being released has already been produced but outdated, you will see eBay and the online trade forums fill up with the older kit being dumped in anticipation of the new release.

Very rarely is a totally new kit just sprung out upon the market. It doesn't make sense not to create a stir in the market and make the kit a hot item before it even hits the shelves.

Certain companies almost always have someone else's kits in their box. Companies like Italeri, Revell of German, Hobbycraft, Zvezda and many Eastern European manufacturers always reissue other manufacturer's kits. Airfix too, at least in 1/35 scale, they do not have their own line and are almost always someone else's kit.

So when a company like Revell of Germany announces the 1/35 scale M3A1 White Scout Car, you know without even opening the box that it is the old Peerless Max kit.

Why? Well, if it was a new-tooled kit, some modeler expert that is near an actual White Scout Car would have told a friend that he was working on a new kit. That friend then drops hints on the various websites he frequents that there is a new scout car coming. Then the assembled experts start speculating on whether the kit is a new tool or reissue. Someone at a major show/event reports they saw the test shots and that it is not the old Peerless kit, and so on.

It's real hard to surprise us with a new kit in today's global world.

For the record on the M3A1 White Scout Car, it was first released by Peerless Max (#3507) in the early 70s. Airfix then released it around 1976 followed by Italeri. During this time it was retooled to delete the canvas cover and the crew figures were removed as well.

Testors then released it in the yellow box in the 80s. Italeri reissued it in the 50th Anniversary of D-Day box in 1994. Italeri reissued it again before the molds were passed on to Zvezda. They released it without the cover and then retooled a cover and released it again.

Currently, Revell is releasing the latest version with the cover. I've still got an original Peerless version and the 50th anniversary version.

I think it's a good idea. It's probably best to start a tread in the various forums.

Organisation wise it should be a bit like the aicraft terminology tread. Everyone can contribute but someone must summarize it.

Maybe some sort of standard/template can be handy. Sorted on scale, subject. Example:

1/72

Supermarine Walrus: Matchbox [1st release date], Revell [2nd release date]

Heinkel He-70: Matchbox [1st release date], Revell [2nd release date]

1/48

 T-6 Texan: Occidental [1st release date], Heller [2nd release date]

Fiat G-91 Gina: Occidental [1st release date], Heller [2nd release date], Italeri [3rd release date]

I think this is specific enough to be on the different forums. Just start a "reissued aircraft kits" tread in aircraft, "reissued armor kits" tread in armor, "reissued helicopter kits" tread in helicopter,  etc. Then it is not the same post...

If you put all the different types of kits together the list wil be to long and unuseable. At least thats my

You'd be better off contributing to the Scale Model Wiki. Anyone can upload information, articles or reviews regarding model kits.

http://www.scalemodelwiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Rob Gronovius wrote:

You'd be better off contributing to the Scale Model Wiki. Anyone can upload information, articles or reviews regarding model kits. http://www.scalemodelwiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

WOW I didn't know that that existed.

Imagine that all the info/review on SMAKR, aeroscale, armorama, aircraftresourcecenter, hyperscale, cybermodeler, internetmodeler, modelingmadness, scale lynx etc. would be put there. One single site, containing all the information available! No more searching around.

Maybe we can round op the info here in the forum and then add it to the wiki. Or is putting it directly in to the wiki better?

Add it yourself. Data input is not so bad when you do a little at a time. If you have info and you know it to be correct, feel free to submit. But if you are not sure, it is better to get a little research done before you input.

The problem with a website like FSM is that when a question is asked, three or four members will answer with what they think is the right answer, not trying to mislead anyone, but they end up posting inaccurate information.

The problem with Wikis is that around the same time, three different individuals announced that they had just started the "first" Scale Model Wiki. And these are just the three I know about. There's got to be others out there as well.

The original link I posted was first announced on 2 July 2006. Then this one came out of 13 July 2006 as the "first": http://www.modelafv.wetpaint.com/

Then 15 August 2006, this one was announced as the "first" scale model wiki: http://scalemodels.wiki.com/

After number 3 was announced, I just started rolling my eyes every time I saw another annoucement of the "first" scale model wiki. I figured to stick with the first one since I saw it first, but someone will eventually post that they have seen an earlier version somewhere else.

Personally, I think it is a great idea and should have catapulted out there, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of input. I've made a couple of entries, but that's about it.