Is Their Loss, Our Gain?

[indy]

With Revell pulling completely out of NASCAR modeling within the next two months. It seems only right that we start bugging Revell about doing more IndyCar subjects. I mean they have a few historical subject and I think Revell would love to market a Danica kit. If they could get us a kit of the next generation Dallara then the aftermarket guys will step up to make sure we have the Penske, Ganassi, Andretti, Foyt, Panther, etc schemes that we want!

I really don't even see this as a negative to the resin based guys and the rest. A plastic kit brings more guys into the IndyCar hobby and then they want to branch out beyond the common IndyCar which is where Lance, Bill, and the rest will continue to thrive!

Should not be too hard to find the Revell email address on the NASCAR board - so what do you think guys? How about a writing compaign!?!? Let's be pro-active into getting our niche of the hobby back in gear.

Jordan

[macsparty]

Hey Jordan,

I actually wrote to Tamiya a while back with this very suggestion, pointing out that after all, all the cars are powered by Honda, and there is a Japanese driver in the field. I got a standard, thank you for your interest, we will consider the input from our valued customers response.

If I recall, someone in the industry has pointed out on boards before that Indy car kits have always been poor sellers for some reason, even during the "glory years." When I look at some of the obscure topics that there are kits for, though, it always kind of amazes me.

[indy]

For some reason I was thinking this year was the last for the current Dallara so I was thinking Revell could have an agreement in place to do the 2010 Dallara!?

They did a good job on the ChampCars and the aftermarket responded - I am hoping (10+ years since their last kit) that the new unified US open wheel IndyCar might be an appealing opportunity.

Jordan

[illeagle10]

This is something that I had been after for years. I've written many letters and have met a number of model company representatives at model shows. Starting in the early eighties when I made these requests I was always told that Indy cars changed their body styles to often and it wasn't profitable since they changed from year to year, were as NASCAR body styles stayed pretty much consistant from year to year. I was pleasently surprised when Monogram and AMT did their cars of the late 80s. Then suddenly they stopped producing them after about two years. Most likely since body styles changed again. It's a shame that someone didn't produce the 90 Lola. That car stayed somewhat the same for a couple of years. A few minor modifications in tooling could have given us a good looking Lola for a number of years.

Then we were surprised by Tamiya with the 93 Lola. As with many of their other toolings that the Japanese do it might seem that the basic kit was set up to incorporate changes. Some minor additions in tooling could have given us a nice 94 and possibly 95 Lolas. It never happened. It didn't take long though for after market decals to show up on the scene. Thank God! At around that time, 1993, I spoke with a representative from Tamiya at one of the shows. I was under the understanding that they had considered a Penske, but the rights to reproduce the sponsor name were astronomical and if they were going to do the car they wanted to do it right. We've seen the problem with that name for years to come. As on the Minichamp Diecast cars in 1/18 scale. A 93 Penske was much the same until 1997. We could've had some fun with that car! I wanted to point out to the representative that the Dick Simon Lola wasn't exactly correct, but since I was asking for something, I didn't want to make an enemy.

Then came Revell with their Reynards. It was great to see these cars and see that someone was modeling....an Indy Car.....or at least parts that could be used on a cottage industry produced Indy car. Of course with that statement the split was here between Indy Cars and Champ Cars. Now in this economic downturn for all motor sports, it is yet to be seen weather or not someone will produce another Indy Car. In retrospect, the smart move would've been to produce an 05 Dallara. It's been basically the same car for the last four years, except for some minor changes. We could've had some great fun in 1/25 scale, just like the diecasts in 1/18 scale. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20.

Even though we've heard it over and over again, I will also give my thanks to Bill and Lance for keeping us sane with their kits during these trying times. Thanks also goes to Mike for his decals. I'm sure if any other kits are ever produced Bill and Lance will find a way to give us the updates or modifications for other cars and Mike will come through with the decals. Heck! Bill and Lance have produced cars we would probably never ever see from model car manufacturers! Mike has given us some great liveries for our favorite drivers. Keep up the good work guys. And please if there's a model manufacturer out there that cares, please give us more Indy Cars!

Well that's my two cents worth! Jim

[Deleted]

I'm all for an Indy kit. However, from what I saw at the hobby show in Chicago this year Revell seems to be in bed with George Lucas. Wow to go from Jabba the Helton to the maker of Jabba the Hutt must mean some fun times in the fees department ;D