IHobby Follow Up

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I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what was at iHobbyExpo, so let me elaborate on some of the information.

Revell is releasing the original Creature from the Black Lagoon kit, not the Monsters of the Movies kit.   With regards to the knights, they told me they would see how the first two kits do before considering the others.   Take that with a grain of salt.

Yes, Moebius is going to do a kit of the International Lonestar Truck.   That, along with the Hudson Hornet and the Chrysler 3000 will be out in late 2010 if all goes well.    Wonder Woman will be a direct copy of the original Aurora kit.   Superboy will be the original issue with the engraved “S” and nameplate.   The other Galactica kits were only listed on a computer display.  No photos.  The Viper box on display was a mock up pending approval from the licensor.     No photos of the Lugosi Dracula either as it is still in development.   There are plenty of other products in the works that were not announced at the show.

Polar Lights’ new Batmobile is planned to be more accurate than the Mattel diecast.   Plans are not finalized yet, so details such as what kind of engine have to be worked out.   It will not be a scaled up version of the Aurora car.    The Star Trek 1:2500 set with TOS, Refit and B will combine those three models from the old Trek ship sets.   The 1:2500 scale Enterprise C, D, and E will be issued individually.   All the 1:2500 kits will be converted to snap kits and may include decals.  Some of the raised details may be removed.   The K-7 will most likely be a straight reissue with some enhanced decals.   Making the kit “accurate” would pretty much require an all new model.   For the reissue of the 1:1400 Enterprise D, they want to remove the raised panel lines and include Aztec decals but that is still not finalized.      There are also plans for a limited edition clear version of the Enterprise D.  The Psycho House is supposed to include a light kit.   The Munsters Living Room will be a glow edition.  There are plans for more Trek kits in the future, including more reissues, possibly more new kits. The 1:350 Classic Enterprise is still in the planning stages for a future release.  All this information should be considered tentative and subject to change.

Monarch Models was not at the show this year.

Lindberg did not have any new genre kits to announce this year.   I was told the Visible T-Rex kit is still going to come out but molds were being transported to the US for production.  If you recall, this was announced at iHobby two years ago!

Overall, there were fewer booths at the show this year and many of the manufacturers had smaller displays.  Attendance on the public days was reported to be up this year.

I got to see a bunch of old friends including Michael Benolkin from Cybermodeler, Mat Irvine the author of Creating Space, Dean Milano, Tom and Rob from Iwata, Larry, Scott, Tom and Eric from Pegasus, Dave and Frank and Joanne from Moebius, Jamie and John and Bob from Round 2, the one and only Jimmy Flintstone, plus a bunch of people that were customers of the Cult shop and visitors to the CultTVman site.