Posted by Paulo Roberto on December 3, 2010, 20:48:20
Hi Matty,
What do you think about the Revell kits for the SCB-125 Essex? They were released with several names (Lexington, Wasp, Oriskany, etc), with small differences on the air wings. I had the Oriskany many many years ago and thinking about building (and upgrading) one after the Midway.
Funny you should mention that precise kit, Roberto, as last week I finally probed the rumors about this kit, and got the true story, direct from Revell executive (operations manager?, project manager?) Ed Sexton, who told me the mold is indeed broken - sufficient that Revell has indeed cancelled its re-release.
However Ed told me many specifics - they're not any secrets - in an enlightening conversation of some length. The sole but major damage to the mold is a split in the (single-piece) hull - running the entire length of the keel, from stem to stern. The crack is sufficiently long/large as to not just create a huge burr along the keel but to actually shoot out so much (hot, injected) plastic as to starve the mold for adequate pressure/volume. (Not to mention make one helluva mess, I assume! )
Although such a large/long crack (like probably theoretically anything) can be repaired, the durability of such a repair cannot be guaranteed - at least, in this case, Revell's best subcontractor choice(s) for such repairs wouldn't guarantee it - to last through enough further usage to pay for itself. We did not get into just what that minimum, further production run, or the additional break-even cost(s) of this repair would be. However, one can reason that, by definition they would have to exceed - perhaps by quite a bit - whatever new production Revell had been considering, for an undamaged mold. All together then, you can see how the associated risks would snowball - clearly to a level Revell judges simply to be too great - so they have indeed cancelled the repop indefinitely. The hull is simply "gone", in terms of any further, cost-effective use.
On the other hand, note it is only the hull which is damaged - the rest of the sprues are all completely viable - and meantime, Matt Stein Models has been developing - what - hull corrections for exactly this mold, that's what! Which (more than) provocative coincidence immediately provokes some hypothesizing on several tantalizing possibilities - which takes us directly into "classified" territory, about which I can tell you nothing further for now. (But, no doubt you can imagine something(s) pretty close to, if not exactly, the ideas I am evaluating.) And of course, I will let you know ASAP, if/when anything concrete may actually come of this...
Meantime, there's older kits and/or boneyard fixer-uppers from eBay. And my development of hurricane bow corrections will go forward - now with even more reasons, not less, due to the above possibilities.
Cheers,
-Matty
Re: They definitely remain OOP - at least, for now...
And Ed has already lurked the Board here, as well as the specific thread on the Revell SCB-125 kit hull corrections, and his response was: "Looks interesting".
That, of course, is interesting - and now the ball is in my court - which Ed encouraged me to serve back to him "anytime". (Though of course I would also do all I could to respond, if they approached me with something first...)
Cheers,
-Matty
Re: They definitely remain OOP - at least, for now...
...Wow - this is like hearing that a favorite toy from your childhood won't be available for you to give to your kids.
Paulo, FWIW, you might want to try e-mailing the four Essex class CVs that are preserved as museums - Hornet CV-12, Intrepid CV-11, Lexington CV-16, and Yorktown CV-10 - to see if they have any of the kits stashed away in their gift shops. I've bought kits from museums by mail on a couple of occasions and always been satisfied. We definitely need to give props not only to Matt for getting in touch with Revell, but to the good folks at Revell for sitting down and talking with him to explain what's going on - that says a lot about the people over there and their attitude towards the hobby.
Am I correct in understanding then that the mold is repairable but it's not economically feasible to do so with the forecast sales? Also, does anyone know what the availability is on the big Lindberg Essex? I've got my Revell angle deck Essex, but I'm starting to think that maybe I need a nice postwar straight deck Essex as well. (Hint: Phillippine Sea CV-47 in full Operation Highjump rig with USAF C-47s on the deck...)
And I'm with Paulo - I can only imagine what's under development at BuStein.