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Another "No Find"

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  • Member since
    November 2005
Another "No Find"
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 12:54 AM


I hope these images load. They are two pics from satcos site. The HILUX LIFTUP PICKUP! There was a HILUK 4 RUNNER on the site yesterday but it has been removed. The pickup is out of stock no doubt to the fact that it has swampers in the kit. I have come to the sad conclusion that I will never get anything that I have wanted for quite some time now. It puts a real down poor on my "get back into the hobby" parade. Has anybody seen this model? How long has it been since those swamper tires were available to buy? I just wanted to build some really nice vehicles for everybody to enjoy. Maybe put one in a show and win. That was a little dream of mine when I was younger. Anyway, here's the story from SATCO:
As situation stands the Japanese manufacturer is not interested in doing anything about a US license. SATCO would have to have the license. It would not be profitable for us to spend very much time on the issue and we would not pay any royaltys or fees for a licences for a model kit tire. There are some other issues involved, as well, that have lead us to conclude that, at this time, is not really not worth the effort and expense which would be required to resolve the product license questions.

Regards,

Rodger Sill
SATCO
How about that. Of course with no response from my last post I thought I was the only guy who wanted these tires. I build more than off road trucks. Maybe I should talk about those other builds here. Where can I go to talk off road? Thanks for your time fellas/ladies as the case may be. I'll be starting my own website shortly. I haven't completed any models yet but I'm gonna have a guest gallery. Will some of you send me some pics of your models to put in there?
  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: Upper left side of the lower Penninsula of Mich
Posted by dkmacin on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 5:55 AM
Sorry Rodger,
I haven't seen that kit, ever!
I am confused about the Japanese manufacturer comment. . .the kit manufacturer or the tire manufacturer? Are tread patterns copy righted? What's to stop your company from making close mock ups of tires? I would like to see tires for pick ups other than streets but not as big as the swampers. And as I am dreaming, I would like to see regular snow tires for model cars and some neat snow tires for the WRC car kits, even gravel tires would be a welcome addition.

Don
I know it's only rock and roll, but I like it.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 6:48 AM
I apologize for any confusion. Rodger is the rep. from SATCO. That's the letter from SATCO. After I sentmany requests regarding the problem as to why swampers have been pulled from the market, that was there response. I'm just a regular modeler, my name is Doug. There are apparently copy rights on treads. The company that makes the actual full scale 1:1 tire is a company called INTERCO. It is my assumption that INTERCO discovered the sale of mimiature tires that resembled their tires and forced SATCO to stop production until a license agreement was made and INTERCO was paid by SATCO. So on and so forth. As stated in the letter to me from SATCO "It would not be profitable for us to spend very much time on the issue and we would not pay any royaltys or fees for a licences for a model kit tire." To pay royalties is to state that there is a patent or copy right on the tires. If you would like to se the tires you can go to www.americansatco.com Even though they are out of stock and have no intentions of producing anymore, they still have photos and iformation available. Or you can go to the real ones at www.interco.com Again I'm sorry for leading you to think that I was the man who wrote the letter. Here's to the return of super swampers and the like. Major corporations sure know how to give a Black Eye [B)] to a hobby.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 6:51 AM
THATS WWW.INTERCOTIRE.COM
IT'S MY MISTAKE. USE THIS LINK TO SEE THE ACTUAL TIRE.
SORRY
  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: Upper left side of the lower Penninsula of Mich
Posted by dkmacin on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 7:02 PM
Sorry Doug.
But my question remains to SATCO, why not make up your own tread pattern?
Having big 1:1 companies pull this on a modeling company is really low. . .but I believe it has been done before, JEEP, GOODYEAR, FORD, DODGE, et al and let's not forget the time SAE couldn't use the name BATMOBILE in the contest they ran for a "Build the Batmobile contest." They had to call it the "Build the kit # 7724 contest."
Hopefully this to shall pass and SATCO can get back to supplying tires. Maybe we should let interco know how we feel?

Don
I know it's only rock and roll, but I like it.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 7:31 PM
Don,
That was my intentions with my first post on this matter. There's one called "looking for a tire and wheel company" and mine is right below it but I can't remeber the name. INTERCO doesn't have email so I suggested that anyone who wanted to write letters could send them to me and I would mail them. If it's just me and you...we can wirte 2 letters a piece just like Andy did in "The Shawshank Redemption" and mail 4 letters a week. Here's one little webpage I started but have had no results.
http://www.geocities.com/scaledreamz/SWAMPERSwanted.html
I have this site in my favorites because it won't turn up on any search engine. I'm not sure what I did wrong, you'd think that just by typing in "swampers" would flag it. That is the name of the page. Anyway, write letters and tell others to write letters. Lets get the tires back. Thanks for your posts. Anybody else have any advice?
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 7, 2003 8:05 AM
Greenfrog,
I've got a set of these super swampers and they are very nice. They are hollowed out rubber and when the completed 4x4 is sitting on them it gives it a great appearance(like it actually has weight).
I did a little snooping on e-bay for STACO and HILUX and it did turn up some results, unfortunately its not the one your looking for. I have seen both the kit that you mentioned in the box and built up and it IS a great looking truck, even if there is no engine detail and the steering is on the right hand side!
All I can say is keep hitting e-bay every so often and it may turn up.
Good luck!
Carlos
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 7, 2003 11:12 AM
Well, Carlos, I appreciate your time on the matter. I asked SATCO about the models and have yet to get a reply. I think that they're tired of hearing from me. I'm almost certain that, if enough people get involved) these tires will be manufactured again. Would you be interested in writing a letter or two? Or perhaps you somebody who would be interested. It's free, I don't reckon there's anything to loose. Anyway, thanks for looking for me.
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