Revell gets The Force Awakens Licence

[Jaitea]

As reported in Starship Modeller site :
Revell gets Force Awakens license

yorkie said:

As expected Revell announced at the Nuremberg Toy fair last week that they will be making kits from the Force Awakens. No further details yet though. They were only displaying their current Star wars kits to the public

It's heating up!!

J

 

[Wes R]

You'd think they'd just give it to Bandai considering they're already making kits.

 

[Mike J.]

Who knows. There may have been a bidding war. Or it's possible that Bandai didn't want to gamble on an 'unproven' license. Or they simply didn't have the capacity to bring out a whole new line of models besides the original trilogy ones...


-MJ

 

[blakeh1]

Bandai could still get the license for Japan. I don't see why they would get the Force Awakens license as well, otherwise, why get the current license they have. In fact, it may already include future licenses.

As far as I know, Bandai's current license only applies to Japan. Don't forget, Revell was producing kits while Fine Molds held the license. They were two different markets

Revell of Germany's license probably only covers Europe and they probably have a separate license for the US/North America. Not all kits they have released have made it to a US release

Revell's license probably expired around the same time Fine Mold's license did. They just decided to renew, while Fine Molds did not. Part of the new terms probably just adds on these new movies since they were not around when the original license was given

 

[Mike J.]

Also good points.

 

[rbeach84]

Whaaaa! No Fine Molds 1/48 Y-Wing! Sobbb!

R (sniff) Robert

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

No it's Revell so you'll get a 1/82 scale version and like it!

 

[Hunk a Junk]

I'm so relieved Revell has the license. I was worried we'd get models that wouldn't need massive modifications in order to get them to look even remotely like their on-screen counterparts. :wacko

 

[astroboy]

I'm so relieved Revell has the license. I was worried we'd get models that wouldn't need massive modifications in order to get them to look even remotely like their on-screen counterparts. :wacko

lol.

And we will be able to count on a consistent scale too!

 

[thorst]

The good thing about it is that they might turn up cheap after a while here in Germany.

 

[astroboy]

Out of curiosity, what was the best revell model out there? Was there any that were surprisingly really well done?

 

[crackerjazz]

Oh? Does that mean we won't be seeing any big Falcon from Bandai with the new dish?

 

[blakeh1]

The revell kits are actually surprisingly nice for the most part in my opinion (apart from the Falcon, but then again, it looks like they used the same exact masters/source as the Code 3 one).

The only real negative criticisms I have is simplified details to facilitate snap together assembly at a low cost and box scale. Even at box scale, you'll often find many subjects happen to wind up around the same scale, although that is usually not a standard and winds up being things like 1/53, 1/65 etc..

I fell they typically wind up more accurate in shapes than the old MPC/ERTL stuff, but not as detailed as Fine Molds/Bandai

But then again, even a company like Fine Molds was criticised for not having accurate detail. Look at all the work it takes to make their Falcon match the studio model

They are typically affordable (at least when in production and not sold by scalpers on eBay) and a great way to test your detailing skills. I feel much better experimenting with detailing a revell kit than an expensive fine molds kit and in a way find it more rewarding

I have a number of kits.

I think the general consenus for the best kits are the Easy Kit Tie Fighter and Venator Republic Star Destroyer.

Other than those two I liked pretty much every one I've seen except the Falcon. But then again, I've seen lots of great conversions and kit bashes of YT variants come from it

I liked the ARC-170 kit apart from the non existent cockpit details. but that was a fun and easy fix


The Y-wing was decent apart from the molded on pipes. But in some ways i think they got the shapes better than the fine molds one. The neck of the Fine Molds on feels too "fat" and the engine rods seem to long



The pocket snowspeeder was also a nice kit. A little mod to make the air flap raised


I think even with nothing more than a few added armor plates and replacing gun barrels and even the AT-AT with no other work done looks good once painted


The Pocket Kit Eta Starfighters are pretty good. I have them in the queue.

The Slave-1 kit was also a nice surprise when comparing it to the Fine Molds kit as far as details

Here is a build thread I have going
http://www.keeperoftheforce.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1184

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I agree the Jedi Starfighters, Venator, and ARC-170 were good. I just hope they realize adults are building these, not just kids.

 

[astroboy]

I wanna gunship!!!!!!

 

[thorst]

*Sarcasm on* I have the feeling that Revell first get some basic shape from distorted photographs, then look at pictures for details for some minutes, then delete all references from their hard drives and do the detailing out of their memory only. *Sarcasm out*

In the past five years, I bought so many Revell kits where I first thought: Uh, a nice kit!, then started comparing them to reference images and found inaccuracies in all size scales. from misshaped proportions to inaccurate panellines. I can understand this happening 40 years ago, but today? I have a bunch of Star Wars kits from them, but until now only finished the Sith Infiltrator. It can be turned into a nice kit, but the first comparison of the basic hull shape to the top view (found after 5 seconds googling) tells you that they did not try to get it right. There are exceptions, but that's my impression.

Thorsten

 

[blakeh1]

To be fair, Fine Molds got it's share of things "wrong" as well. I don't think they put out a single kit that has not had basic shape problems, or missing detail.

And they had direct access to the studio models and did painstaking research!

The X-wings fuselage shape, the Falcon mandibles, the radar dish etc...

Their stuff just looks "prettier" and more detailed so it tends to get a pass

I think the real difference is the market they are going for. Fine Molds is geared towards an older crowd, while Revell's stuff is kid friendly and a geared towards the beginner