More pics of the AMT F+F Supra

[hector9976]

gfd

[freakray]

Originally posted by hector9976
gfd

[OPM]

Originally posted by flyonthewall


Its not mine!

luckily - otherwise you should think about closing sas

[Camber]

Id really say the owner of revell doesn't really cares how accurate it is, Hes probly in his mansion right now swimming in an olympic size pool of money. Thats why people who make their own body kits get the job done so much better

[B16EF]

Originally posted by Camber
Id really say the owner of revell doesn't really cares how accurate it is, Hes probly in his mansion right now swimming in an olympic size pool of money. Thats why people who make their own body kits get the job done so much better

You mean AMT??

[Camber]

Originally posted by B16EF


You mean AMT??

Yea, my bad

[Layla's Keeper]

Actually, AMT is in SEVERE financial trouble.

You see, here's the deal. The folks at Dyerville, back when it was still AMT/Ertl (as opposed to RC/AMT), spent a HUGE amount of money on state of the art tooling for such wonderful kits as their 1962 Pontiac 421SD, 1968 Chevrolet El Camino SS396, and 1957 Chrysler 300C. These kits had it all. Frames separate from the underbody, heater-fuel-power steering lines. Thin brackets for underhood accesories. And were mostly of cars that hadn't been kitted before or whose kits were horribly inaccurate and out of date.

Unfortunately, they didn't sell well, either.

Facing a huge backlog of unsold stock (not many people, as it turns out, want a 1971 Dodge Charger R/T) and the fact that their tool cutting team had bailed at the end of 2001, AMT had but one choice: sell the company. The willing buyer was Racing Champions. The diecast company. Ultimately, all RC wanted was the Ertl "American Muscle" lineup of 1:18th scale diecasts (a competitor to their own diecast). Thus, at the moment, RC is trying to dump AMT and turn a quick buck by clearing out kit warehouses and cashing in on fads.

It is predicted that these F&F kits, along with last year's pleasing Ala Kart and 1958 Plymouth Belvedere kits, will be the last all-new kits from this once proud giant amongst model companies. It's a sad day, honestly. But there is one good spot of news.

Most of that brilliant team of tool cutters from AMT that started with the 1:16th scale Cord 812 and 1:25th scale 1966 Chevrolet Nova kits and ended with the 1962 Ford Thunderbird is now cutting tools at Revell.

[B16EF]

Thanks for the history lesson
Seriously...

[Layla's Keeper]

No problem. Always happy to oblige. ^_^

Here's an interesting factoid, too. The first AMT kits with engines and opening hoods were a 1960 Ford Pickup and Chevy Pickup in 1960.

[endlesskev86]

LOL!!!

man i hate anything to do with F&F anyways............ and too see the the shit quality of it right now brings a smile to me!

[hirofkd]

Originally posted by bah humbug
Yeah, it really gets you down. Even revell did a better job on their eclipse kit. But of course, correct me if I'm wrong, they had to miss something such as hood scoop.

And we AAALLLL know that if Tamiya made the kit it would be so awesome!

I wish someone important who worked for Tamiya visited Af so that they could here our cries.

I never worked for Tamiya, but I did tell them about our cries.
It's just that we can't make 30,000-50,000 people buy a particular car model, these days.

The really sad thing is someone from Af, FOTW, can do better than a big modelling company such as AMT.

Not really a bad thing. Otherwise, the scratch and mod guys won't be needed.

[Mean_B16]

All I can say is :apuke: that is not pretty.:bonghitte

[daggerlee]

Originally posted by Octagon
Actually, AMT is in SEVERE financial trouble.

You see, here's the deal. The folks at Dyerville, back when it was still AMT/Ertl (as opposed to RC/AMT), spent a HUGE amount of money on state of the art tooling for such wonderful kits as their 1962 Pontiac 421SD, 1968 Chevrolet El Camino SS396, and 1957 Chrysler 300C. These kits had it all. Frames separate from the underbody, heater-fuel-power steering lines. Thin brackets for underhood accesories. And were mostly of cars that hadn't been kitted before or whose kits were horribly inaccurate and out of date.

Unfortunately, they didn't sell well, either.

Facing a huge backlog of unsold stock (not many people, as it turns out, want a 1971 Dodge Charger R/T) and the fact that their tool cutting team had bailed at the end of 2001, AMT had but one choice: sell the company. The willing buyer was Racing Champions. The diecast company. Ultimately, all RC wanted was the Ertl "American Muscle" lineup of 1:18th scale diecasts (a competitor to their own diecast). Thus, at the moment, RC is trying to dump AMT and turn a quick buck by clearing out kit warehouses and cashing in on fads.

It is predicted that these F&F kits, along with last year's pleasing Ala Kart and 1958 Plymouth Belvedere kits, will be the last all-new kits from this once proud giant amongst model companies. It's a sad day, honestly. But there is one good spot of news.

Most of that brilliant team of tool cutters from AMT that started with the 1:16th scale Cord 812 and 1:25th scale 1966 Chevrolet Nova kits and ended with the 1962 Ford Thunderbird is now cutting tools at Revell.

Sounds a lot like what happened to Fujimi and their Enthusiast models in the late 80s. I guess this is what happens when you let passion get in the way of financial sense. :o

[Layla's Keeper]

Yep, same scenario. The really bad thing is that these kits were of subjects "modelers" had been asking for.

AMT/Ertl put more stock into what Scale Auto Enthusiast's annual "Most Requested All New Kit" poll had to say than any other company. Problem is, SAE's core readership is balding, middle-aged guys who're buying back their youth. These are guys who lived with big block Chevys and Six-Pak Mopars. They actually experienced the muscle car and chrome eras. But, as evidenced by the "how to build an import" article in SAE's October 2001 issue, these guys are WAY out of touch with the current trends in modeling. AMT missed the wave when they could've scored big. Then, when new management came in, they decided that the poser route was the best way to a quick buck.

Simply put, because a bunch of baby boomers (not to put that generation down personally) couldn't build a 1960 Ford Starliner, we've lost our chance to see what one of the biggest and most prolific model companies in the world could've done for us.

[Veyron]

Originally posted by Octagon
Yep, same scenario. The really bad thing is that these kits were of subjects "modelers" had been asking for.

AMT/Ertl put more stock into what Scale Auto Enthusiast's annual "Most Requested All New Kit" poll had to say than any other company. Problem is, SAE's core readership is balding, middle-aged guys who're buying back their youth. These are guys who lived with big block Chevys and Six-Pak Mopars. They actually experienced the muscle car and chrome eras. But, as evidenced by the "how to build an import" article in SAE's October 2001 issue, these guys are WAY out of touch with the current trends in modeling. AMT missed the wave when they could've scored big. Then, when new management came in, they decided that the poser route was the best way to a quick buck.

Simply put, because a bunch of baby boomers (not to put that generation down personally) couldn't build a 1960 Ford Starliner, we've lost our chance to see what one of the biggest and most prolific model companies in the world could've done for us.

I agree with you strongly on everything except for AMT being prolific, AMT just isn't what it used to be. The F & F models are an attempt to strike back at the success Revell has had with the Integra and Civic's, a wake up call if you will. Funny what you said about SAE's readership is so true! Most of them hang out on another model forum and at the same time AFer's were viewing the Supra pics with disappointment, the other forum was praising it and saying how good it looked, in other words what should be AMT's target market(youth) feel ripped off by their poor execution of a model of the most popular cars ever to be modeled. Marketing people are suppose to be in touch with the targeted consumer to find out what they want within reasonable parameters and execute the product with total staisfaction in mind. Everybody familiar with SAE knows that it's readership is a narrow, and narrow minded, segment of the model market so why the hell do these marketing people miss the mark over and over? Do we want chassis that screw to the body(Revell), wheels that are too small(Fujimi), and misshaped bodies(AMT Supra), Japanese cars in 1/25 scale(both)? Well if we don't how come this is what we the buyer get? How do we reach these so called marketing research departments to get them to hear the right people who know the subjects they are producing?
I would buy AMT's Supra eventhough it's 1/25 if it looked right, I can fix small wheels and fill screw holes if I need to and be stasfied with a decent body, but I'm not going to buy a model that is obviously going to take hours of body shaping to fix their screw up. Maybe I'm premature judging these early pics but I'm not confident the final production will be improved because the market segment they are listening to is already raving about it, so AMT doesn't have any incentive to. I guess some people just like crap, so that's what they'll get and WE have to live with it. Okay, I'm done.

PS. One of AMT's master artist went to Trumpeter and they are soon releasing a '60 Pontiac Bonneville, '63 Chevrolet Nova and an '83 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in 1/24 with full detail! This dinosaur has sold them the same poor marketing ploy that plagues the other model companies.