Elm City says:

“Maybe I’m asking you to speculate, or maybe you could ask Tom Lowe if you don’t know the answer, but if diecast cars and models make equitable money, then why did Ertl buy Playing Mantis and then shutdown the model division, but keep the diecast cars going? I had assumed there was more money to be made in diecast cars with the popularity of Nascar and America’s love of the automobile, but please correct me if I’m wrong!”

And how many years ago was this???

First off, NASCAR licensing for styrene or diecast is pretty much dead in the water, because Nascar wants too much $$$ for the licensing. To the point that no one will touch it because they aren’t going to make any money at it. Case in point, the Model King re-releases of Nascar Monte Carlo, Torino, Laguna and Cyclone. All fictitious decals because the licensing was too much. Case in point #2….Revell announces that they are giving up the NASCAR License because the asking price is too high.

Not to mention the fact that one of the major reasons why the AMT/Ertl brand was up for sale for so long, was because it was an all or nothing package, they knew that the plastic market was alot stronger than the die-cast, so they were trying to “dump” the diecast with the plastic line, to get rid of it, because they knew no one would buy just the diecast line alone. There were lots of inquiries for the plastic line, but no one wanted the diecast that went with it. The high price of Zinc (a major component of the diecast bodies) made it non-profitable to continue producing them.

Personally I think Round 2 are doing a great job, sure we would like to see everything “Right Now” that is just the nature of us modelers, we don’t like to wait. However I too would rather wait to get a “Right” kit, then have a piece of junk come out tomorrow. From what I have seen of the R2 kits so far, and from the numbers of them I have sold in my shop, not to mention kits that people want, but can’t because they have been sold out already…..it is nice to see someone finally breathing some life and enthusiasm into the models.