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Round 2 Model Kit Preview- iHobby
If I said our workload here at Round 2 is unbelievable right now, that would be an understatement of epic proportions. I barely have time to write this blog entry. I promised myself it would get done last week. Anyway, here it is now.
I just have minute to tell you about the Round 2 model kit preview we have going on at iHobby. We will be releasing our plan for the first half of next year. We’ll be bringing out around 50 kits by the middle of 2010. Around 20 kits will be genre (sci-fi/ pop culture) kits. Some have been mentioned in passing before and of course many have not. This just sets us up for a great 2010 with many more high profile releases to come later in the year. We’ll also be releasing our first print catalog showcasing all of our model kit brands.
Amidst our display, we will have a built mockup and hopefully a built test shot of our new 1/1000 scale Enterprise Refit. I hope to see everyone come out and take a look. To add to the incentive of just coming out and taking a look, I’ve got something special for a lucky sci-fi modeler- a test shot to take home of the new Refit kit. The only catch is that you have to write a review of it here and everywhere else on the internet that sci-fi models are discussed. So how will I know who to give it to? Just reply to this post. I’ll draw one of the names from the posts. Cut off for sign up will be Friday morning (when I leave for the show- no hard deadline so sign up sooner than later) You must be present to win Sunday at 1:00cst at the show.
I’m showing some pics of our finished mockup. It turned out well for being cast in all opaque resin. The decals you see are prototypes and will be tweaked to lighten them considerably. Notice the strongbacks are greenish gray, that’s why we keep calling this one the “Refit”.
http://www.ihobbyexpo.com/Consumer.html
Polar Lights model kit update: Enterprise Refit
Sorry I haven’t posted for a while. Things are pretty busy in Round 2 land. We are gearing up for our company preview in the Dallas Toy Fair as well a s iHobby coming up in October. I’m not sure whether I will make it to the show but everyone in the Chicago area will probably want to stop in and see what we’ve got coming up for 2010.
In the meantime, I just got in a revised mockup of our new Enterprise A Polar Lights model kit. The tooling is already underway but we needed this copy made up for our iHobby display. (if we are lucky, we’ll have a test shot on display as well) It is going right back out to Jim Small to be built up and painted.
The kit is really turning out nicely. Many of the detail revisions I’ve ordered have been made. Dealing with a kit at this scale has been pretty tricky because unless you see it first hand, you don’t really know what to expect detail wise. In addition to detail revisions (deflector dish and panel lines to name a couple), I also had a few adjustments made assembly wise. The nacelle grills on the previous mockup were assembled from the inside of the nacelle similar to our 1/350 version. I’ve had this changed so that they are inserted from the outside. This should help with painting I would think. The arboretum windows are the same way. Actually the only clear parts that insert from the inside are the pieces on top of the saucer. Another little change I made from the 1/350 kit was to have the chiller grills (I think that’s what you call them- the copper colored half football shaped grills on the sides of the nacelles) be made separate pieces as well so they can also be painted separately and inserted after all other painting is done. I hope this helps you guys out.
DISCLAIMER: One of the pylons was bent in shipping resulting in the nacelle sitting crooked. Also, some gaps look big in these quick photos. This is because the kit hasn’t been glued together. The gaps will easily disappear in the hands of a capable modeler. Oh, and the clear parts were incorrectly cast in opaque resin. Other than that, this is what you can expect in the kit.
1966 Batmobile Model Kit
I’m sure you’ve heard of our plans to retool the classic 1/32 scale 1966 Batmobile model kit. We even went so far as having a mockup created to match the old kit. Well, our plans have changed…
This arrived on my desk recently. Can you guess what this means?
Star Trek Model Kit: Vulcan Shuttle Surprise
Sorry to be away for so long. We’ve finally gotten through our yearly sales summit. It seems that our ideas for new model kit product for next year went over pretty well. Full steam ahead!
I’m heading out for a week’s vacation so it’ll be while before I get back on my regular blog schedule. In the meantime, I’ve prepared a couple more quick hits. The post following this one will be mysterious but probably incredibly exciting to some (hopefully most) of you out there.
Before I go, though here’s a pretty exciting little tidbit itself. When we release our Vulcan Shuttle Star Trek model kit later this year, it will feature brand new box art. We are very proud to announce that we have had the ship’s designer, Andy Probert, do a brand new illustration of the ship! We are pretty stoked. We will feature an interview with Andy on our website when the release date gets closer. So here is a sneak peak at the illo. Of course we will add the licensor’s mandated background elements and a few extra bells and whistles to tie the look into our other boxes. Hope you enjoy.
Star Trek models: U.S.S. Enterprise Refit 1/1000 scale
I have to admit, I’m hesitant to show this off. Not because I don’t want anyone to see it, but because I don’t want to hear any feedback at this point. The kit will undergo some revision before tooling that will correct some of the eyesores that may be pointed out. I’ll address a couple things up front but it is not a comprehensive list of issues. All issues are being ironed out as I write.
I’m sure everyone can see the chasm-like panel lines. I had the same reaction when I saw the images of the mockup come in from the factory. That is the primary reason I blurred the last set of images. After seeing it first hand, it isn’t as bad as it shows in a photograph. They will be worked on believe me.
The other huge issue to be resolved is the deflector dish. It is way too thick. I’m really not sure why it was so hard for the mockup folks to grasp. Like I said, it will be corrected. No worries.
The part breakdown will have a few revisions too but nothing that won’t be appreciated. Special attention is being paid to this kit from a painter’s perspective. I’ve tried to make it as paint friendly as possible given the size of the kit. I’m betting we will get some requests on these areas to revise the 1/350 kit to build the same way to make it easier to paint. These are the kinds of things we will really pour over in the development of our 1/350 TOS kit.
The mockup builds up great I think. If all goes well, we will have a U.S.S. Enterprise Refit 1/1000 scale buildup at iHobby in October.
Jinkies! We’ve been busy working on our Polar Lights model kits!
So, how’s it going for you guys? We’ve been incredibly busy around here and its tough keeping our heads above water. We’ve been finishing up lots of packaging and instruction sheets for upcoming Polar Lights model kits releases. I’ve missed having a chance to write about some of our recent developments.
We’ve been getting ready for a big sales presentation to our reps for all of our brands for next year’s products. It gives us a chance to fill them in on what we would like to do and get their input about our product. On top of that, we are putting together mini catalogs for inclusion in our model kits. We’ll be doing a full-blown print catalog in preparation for the big iHobby show in October. At that show, we’ll be unveiling our release schedule for the first half of next year. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about our plans.
I’ve been giving final approvals on tons of test shots including the revised C-57D saucer sections which will now assemble to be a bit more sturdy and hopefully alleviate some of the edge warping that was prevalent in the earlier issue. Mr. Spock is looking good and he has a collar now. Finally, the UFO sprues now have part numbers on them.
(Literally) I just heard that our second run of 1/350 Enterprise refits just came in and half of them are going right back out to distributors. Grab them while they are hot!
The thing I’ve been busiest with is the new Scooby Doo Mystery machine box and instruction sheet. I’ve had my hands in instruction sheets before but Bob usually handles the packaging. He says he really wanted to do it but he is juggling a lot. It was fun to do a package for a change. I had to deal with a licensor supplied style guide and we usually cringe at the thought. It wasn’t too bad in this case. Their new elements look pretty cool even though they aren’t as spooky as they should be. Rather than using as little of the style guide as possible, I actually used it to steer the rest of the design on the box sides, back and instruction sheet. I’m pretty satisfied with the results.
Well, back to work on to the C-57D instructions.
Star Trek Model Kits: Concept Artist Ryan Church and the New Enterprise
For those who follow the behind the scenes work that goes into the creation of some of our favorite modern sci-fi films, the name Ryan Church should be quite familiar. Ryan was one of the concept artists on the new Star Trek film, and had the special privilege (and huge responsibility) of redesigning the Enterprise. Ryan has contributed to some very noteworthy sci-fi flicks of the past decade or so, including two of the Star Wars prequels, both Transformers films and Steven Speilberg’s War of the Worlds, among others.
Ryan was kind enough to take the time for an interview, and reveals some interesting behind-the-scenes details regarding the development of the new Enterprise, as well as the creation of Spock’s “Jellyfish” ship and the U.S.S. Kelvin.
Click on over to round2models.com for the complete interview, and then hop on back over here to share your thoughts!
Model Kits: Drama on Altair 4 (in Glorious 1/72-Scale)
Here’s another sneak peek at our upcoming Forbidden Planet C-57D model kit re-release. We unveiled the Id Monster a few days ago – heightening the drama is the crew of the C-57D, laser rifles in hand; Commander Adams barking orders into his communications device and the lovely Altaira suitably distressed by the whole situation.
The figures, along with the ID Monster, really bring the kit alive by presenting a bit of the drama that is at the heart of the plot of Forbidden Planet, rightfully hailed as a masterpiece of mid-century sci-fi cinema. In addition, the small size of the in-scale figures really serves to highlight the massiveness of the C-57D. A true sense of scale is something we felt was somewhat lacking in the last release of the kit, in spite of the inclusion of Robby and the detailed interior. Adding the human element somehow really puts everything into context, and helps bring the story of Forbidden Planet back to the forefront.
As with the Id Creature, Jamie directed the creation of the sculpts, starting with a series of turnaround drawings for the sculptors to use as a guide, and then providing comments and further direction as the sculpts progressed. As with the Id, we received approval on the sculpts just last week, and gray resin castings were photographed, retouched and incorporated into the packaging graphics on the box bottom.
Model Kits: Forbidden Plastic
At long last, the ID Monster makes his styrene model kit debut! Here’s a sneak peek at part of our upcoming re-release of the Forbidden Planet C-57D Space Cruiser, which includes a few upgrades since the model kit was last seen on the market. The Id Monster is cast in clear plastic – which is the closest we can get to “invisible.” Included here are images of Jamie’s original turnaround drawings, the approved sculpt (a resin casting painted primer gray) plus a Photoshop simulation of the assembled monster, rendered as if tinted with a transparent red glaze (as if he is being made visible by the force field fence). At 1/72 scale, he measures a whopping 2” tall, which makes him 12 feet tall in “real life.”
Why a Photoshop simulation of the completed monster instead of an actual buildup? Well, it’s one of those weird cases where the packaging is due before we’ve even seen an actual test shot of the figure, as we just received approval from the licensor on the new sculpts last week. Our new packaging shows off a nice image of the buildup on the box bottom, so I felt it was important to have a semi-realistic representation on the package back. Tooling is commencing immediately, as the kit is due out in November – and that’ll be here before we know it!
New insight on Star Trek model kits gleaned from Wonderfest part 2
Further comments upon data regarding Star Trek model kits… On we go.
Disclaimer: This post refers to survey results. We make no promises to produce any subject mentioned at any time. Be good and we’ll see what happens…
The next segment of our survey asked about repopping some grey area AMT kits. Grey area from the standpoint of “would they worth doing?”. I was interested to get some feedback on these because they seem like good subjects to us but the kits do have many issues with accuracy. We are trying to determine which can be released with some adjustment to detail and which should be started from scratch or is it possible that people want them with warts and all. We found that some had lovers and haters and some were kind of “myeh” across the board. One interesting one was the 1/2500 ships. This had the nearly the least amount of “no” votes and by a huge margin had the most “yes” votes. Another interesting result was the Enterprise Cutaway. It was pretty even from “no” to “maybe” then shot up to a pretty substantial “probably” ranking then fell again to land second to last in “yes” votes. The others rated highest in the “maybe” category. 70% of people said the kits would at least need some work. So, this tells us these kits we felt kind of lukewarm about might get a lukewarm reaction if released. One of them is on our 2010 plan and had been before the show.
Then comes the juicy part. We asked about some general ideas for “smaller” kits meaning kits that would fit in a normal size box or maybe a double sized box. These would kind of be our bread and butter kits that would ideally come out at $20 - $30 price points. The possible answers came from some poles I saw on modeling forums. I kind of picked some of the higher-ranking results from those polls. Then Bob and I kind of threw in a few ideas we hadn’t seen batted about that we thought might be interesting. So, in no particular order the top five were… 1/1000 Klingon BoP, Kelvin, 1/1000 Reliant, 1/1000 K’tinga and 1/1000 Romulan BoP. Here was another case where there was a head and shoulders winner and quite frankly I had no idea what to expect. The 1/1000 Reliant was way ahead of all of the others. By my (unscientific) calculations, it scored 100 points above all others. The next three scored within 40 points of each other.
There was a more than 100-point drop between #5 and #6 rankings. #6-8 scored within about 10 points of each other.
Moving along to the big guns. These would be kits that would need to retail at higher dollar amounts. These would be more 1/350 scale kits or larger ships in 1/1000 scale for the most part. From all previous indications, I figured the K’tinga would walk away with this one. I just wanted to be sure this was the case when other kit possibilities were offered side by side with that one. While the results weren’t as drastic as the smaller kits, the Reliant won again by a respectable percentage. So the K’tinga had to settle for second… well, not quite, more like tied for second. The K’tinga actually came in third for the most “yes” votes. What other option would give it a run for its money? The 1/1000 scale Enteprise D. What about the Akira? It landed behind an accurate K-7 at 1/2500 scale. I was curious about the exploration set. The original kit is tiny, made for kids hands and inaccurate. Yet we often get people asking for it. So I threw out the idea of doing a full sized set. I wasn’t hoping for much and didn’t get much. I’m guessing the best plan is to stick to the ships. Oh, I also threw out a 1/12 scale bridge. Not very popular either. I’m wondering if no one picked up on the scale which would be a perfect set to go along with your old Mego figures…
To wrap up, we had asked what popular ships were left off of our “smaller” ship list. Seems like the Excelsior/ Enterprise B and Defiant from DS9 were the leading write-ins.
I’m probably pointing out the obvious when I say that I see a bit of a trend in these results. Regardless of the outspoken few who crave ships from certain series, it looks like subjects from the early movies win out over all other “generations”. I can see the charm of the early films. They might be my favorite incarnation if I had to choose. But I see outspoken fans out there that declare their love for the original series and likewise there are fans of later series that are also outspoken. I see people wondering about the Vulcan Ring ship and the Andorian Kumari from ST: Enterprise. General consensus is that it was the weakest series but it had some decent ship designs in it. (I’ve been watching some episodes and I don’t think its all that bad other than the whole idea that everything looks newer than it should timeline wise.) Likewise, there are big fans of Voyager and DS9 that didn’t focus as much on a ship named Enterprise and other fans who want more adversary ships. Just for fun, I’ve posted a poll on Starship Modeler to gain more insight into this. Again, this won’t keep us from exploring all of the different series. It’s just an observation.