Sealab Reissue

the problem with that is most people who are building studio replicas already have parts of the sea lab and not all of the sea lab parts are necessary to build a replica star wars craft I'm happy to buy just what is needed for the x wing millennium falcon and y wing and I think those parts are alredy available here . putting kit parts together for such builds would be a better idea , just my opinion
 
Tbh I find it hard to believe that that would be doable for less than 50$ anyways. Plus I'd any days prefer styrene parts to resin parts :)
 
I'm lucky enough to have picked up three complete, unbuilt Sealab kits over the years, thankfully before the word on that kit got out, and I still can't bring myself to use anything other than my own castings of the parts I need for any given pattern or model.

The problem with a kit being worth $500 today, for example, is that if it contains only one of a part that you need for a particular pattern or model build, then the replacement cost of that single part is $500. It's not $500 divided by the total number of parts in the kit, but $500 to replace that singleton part because you have to buy a whole new kit just to get that one part. And that's assuming the price of the kit doesn't increase, which it almost always does.

And the other problem with these rare kits is that I change my mind about future builds just about every year. What if I really do want to build that five-foot Falcon five years from now? I can't use up all of these parts with crazy replacement costs on this project or that project. It was difficult and expensive enough collecting all of these rare, vintage kits the first time around!
 
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This is why resin is a viable alternative in a lot of ways, even if it is not perfect. Take the Blockade Runner, if i remember what J told me right i think you would need 12 Sealabs. Even at the un realized reissue price of $50 it's $600 for those. For the first 2 installments of the resin BRunner parts it's 500 and you get ALL the kit parts for the entire engine section.

At the current 500 for an original thats 6 grand worth of sealabs?


-... . .- --.. said:
I'm lucky enough to have picked up three complete, unbuilt Sealab kits over the years, thankfully before the word on that kit got out, and I still can't bring myself to use anything other than my own castings of the parts I need for any given pattern or model.

The problem with a kit being worth $500 today, for example, is that if it contains only one of a part that you need for a particular pattern or model build, then the replacement cost of that single part is $500. It's not $500 divided by the total number of parts in the kit, but $500 to replace that singleton part because you have to buy a whole new kit just to get that one part. And that's assuming the price of the kit doesn't increase, which it almost always does.

And the other problem with these rare kits is that I change my mind about future builds just about every year. What if I really do want to build that five-foot Falcon five years from now? I can't use up all of these parts with crazy replacement costs on this project or that project. It was difficult and expensive enough collecting all of these rare, vintage kits the first time around!
Click to expand...
 
Mike - that is true ... If you're only going to build the BR .... But if you also want to build let's say an Escape Pod, a Sandcrawler and a Turbo Laser Turret ... Then the numbers turn
 
Sure, I did not mean to imply it was a cure all, just another instrument in the modelers tool box.


KrokoHunter said:
Mike - that is true ... If you're only going to build the BR .... But if you also want to build let's say an Escape Pod, a Sandcrawler and a Turbo Laser Turret ... Then the numbers turn
Click to expand...
 
resin parts are fine with me when the paint is applied you cant tell the difference providing the casts are done using non shrink rubber
 
Lorne told me that at the time, they would get their kits from a local supplier near the shop. Multiples of kits. Kits by the shopping cart - at one point it was kits by the POUND, lol. I suppose this anecdote is from later on than the initial Star Wars, but he said he liked to get to the shop an hour early, after the intern or whomever had replenished the shelves with fresh kits from the night before. That way the kits would be in shrink wrap, and he could grab five of "xyz" kit and know there would be at least five identical parts to grab and work with. Clever.

I was told they also got custom shipments from places like AMT of certain sprues from certain kits that they liked. Imagine calling Hasegawa and saying "I want 30 copies of the C sprue from "_____" kit". Mind blown, lol.

The Sealab wasn't a great seller when it was released, so it was relatively uncommon to find them even in 1975. He said the place had a "stack" of them, and remembers it was a good source for great shapes, and that they were aware even at the time it was an "off the wall" choice to use them.

They doomed us, from the start ;)
 
moffeaton said:
<<snipped other good stuff!>>

They doomed us, from the start ;)
Click to expand...

Priceless! Fortunately, not *actually* doomed... just frustrated. Good thing there is so much other stuff to take our frustration out on, eh?

Regards, Robert

PS: Jason, did you by chance take any measurements on the 'Orange Dot' B-Wing you photographed? I'm working a 1/48 scratchbuilt 'down scale' under Gen Modeling and would really appreciate any assistance on some key dimensions. BTW, the source for the engine bells is definitely the 1/48 Tamiya A-10 kit (parts 9,10 & 21) - a finding that was thanks to your pix from the ModelersMagic.com (Kurt?) archive. Fortunately, that kit is still in production ;^D

Cheers!
Robert
 
When I was 3, back in 1976, my godfather got me a battleship and a sealab kit. I have no clue what was the ship and what happened to it. But the sealab I built, and not well I might add. Had I only known...

Maybe this is covered, but just a thought. For certain rare/expensive parts, what about 3D scanning & printing?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
[POSSIBLE RANT]

It would be appreciated if this thread was kept at concerning a possible/plausible reissue of the Sealab kit ... and not whether or not resin parts are the better choice or not ... or 3d printing ..... and certainly not B-Wing refs ...

Common guys ..... this project had a really good backing last time .... we just didn't completely reached the goalline ...... so my reason for reviving this thread is "What do we have to do to actually reach the goal"


[/POSSIBLE RANT]
 
We 3D scanned it!
I don't have the scan data though - apparently no one seems to these days? Every few years I check with the guys to see if they ever had it or found it on an old back up... I guess it was lost to time.

rbeach84 said:
Priceless! Fortunately, not *actually* doomed... just frustrated. Good thing there is so much other stuff to take our frustration out on, eh?

Regards, Robert

PS: Jason, did you by chance take any measurements on the 'Orange Dot' B-Wing you photographed? I'm working a 1/48 scratchbuilt 'down scale' under Gen Modeling and would really appreciate any assistance on some key dimensions. BTW, the source for the engine bells is definitely the 1/48 Tamiya A-10 kit (parts 9,10 & 21) - a finding that was thanks to your pix from the ModelersMagic.com (Kurt?) archive. Fortunately, that kit is still in production ;^D

Cheers!
Robert
Click to expand...
 
This is the studio scale forum! Lately all bets are off and no one stays true to the intent of the board/thread ;)

I'm joking of course.

Unfortunately the backing was HALF what they needed. I don't think that bodes well for a do-over.

It's not gonna happen unless a company puts their neck out a little. I have been asking a half a dozen model companies (by email, and in person) for YEARS.

The recent attempt probably only served to solidify their suspicions that it would not be a good enough kit to invest the tooling in.

So to answer your question - you have to convince Round2 or some other model company to reissue the kit.

That's pretty much it. Sadly.


KrokoHunter said:
[POSSIBLE RANT]

It would be appreciated if this thread was kept at concerning a possible/plausible reissue of the Sealab kit ... and not whether or not resin parts are the better choice or not ... or 3d printing ..... and certainly not B-Wing refs ...

Common guys ..... this project had a really good backing last time .... we just didn't completely reached the goalline ...... so my reason for reviving this thread is "What do we have to do to actually reach the goal"


[/POSSIBLE RANT]
Click to expand...
 
Perhaps we should write some emails to Round2 then!?...

I don't know if it's just a weird idea from me sitting too much infront of the computer screen, but would an alternative, which would sell better, be to convince a plastic kit manufacturer to do "kits" for studio scale models? Pretty much the same as some resin casters do here, to supply rare parts for the Death Star tower and so on, but made from plastic for a larger community?

My feeling would be that IF Studio Scale modeling would be more accessable, in terms of cost, and also information, a lot more people would do it.

So imagine someone would do a parts bag for all kit parts you'd need for, let's say, an X-Wing, and supplied information what else you would need, I guess it would open the market to almost each modeler on this board interested in this subject (who are a lot, just take a look at all the Bandai builds at the General section). It would perhaps be the same production cost as two to four reissued Sealabs, but if the part IDs would be supplied (I don't want to reopen this discussion), the development of the new tooling would be compareable (3D-scanning makes no difference if you scan two sprues from one kit or several, smaller ones from different kits). There should be a fair margin for profit, too, as it would still be much less than if you had to buy all the kits on your own.

Sure, it would take away the "exclusiveness" of Studio Scale modeling, but I would not mind it for my part.
 
It would be a massive undertaking and need a skilled 3D guy, but these days Shapeways would a great place to get those parts. Then again, where do you draw a line of what to do and what to skip. It would cater the scene well overall, as its unlikely model companies will jump on this bandwagon.


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moffeaton said:
We 3D scanned it!
I don't have the scan data though - apparently no one seems to these days? Every few years I check with the guys to see if they ever had it or found it on an old back up... I guess it was lost to time.
Click to expand...

The tragedy! Let that be a lesson, friends! Do your backups often and fiercely.

Actually, by eliminating all possible resources that can be used to prove my B-Wing "wrong", I become invincible! ;^P

Thanks again Jason - if not for you and Jean's pics I probably wouldn't attempt this at all...

R/ Robert
 
mvmagic said:
It would be a massive undertaking and need a skilled 3D guy, but these days Shapeways would a great place to get those parts. Then again, where do you draw a line of what to do and what to skip. It would cater the scene well overall, as its unlikely model companies will jump on this bandwagon.
Click to expand...

That may indeed be the future of "studio scale" modeling if not all modeling. But until the costs come down a bit, the best balance is through multi-media production (if you're talking VLP - Very Limited Production - kits.) As for the Sealab, I believe Maruska has pretty much done the entire kit less a few parts. So, in theory you could print almost that entire kit...

moffeaton said:
There's no way this scene is big enough for that.
Click to expand...

Yup! Spot on... the temperament to actually build models is far rarer these days, and SS is a tiny 'sub munition' of the hobby.

Regards, Robert
 
Robert, I think you're spot on about model building future. I easily see 3D printers being a common household item in the future. I mean who would have thought 30 years ago that cell phones are almost literally used by everyone. In the future if someone needs a screw, they buy the model online and print it. Thats gonna be the case with model kits as well. Sure, its not gonna happen in the immediate future, but 30 years from now? Who knows. Ok, a bit off-topic here... Whatever form they will be, I'm on the lookout for Sealab & other rare kits that have given texture to my childhood dream vehicles-adulthood too! [emoji851]


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