2012 PRODUCTS REVEALED - INCOMING KITS FROM REVELL-MONOGRAM

From Mat Irvine:

Here’s a look at Revell-Monogram kits for release in 2012. I’ve previously  mentioned the recreated Renwal Blueprint series, with the futuristic Teracruzer and Mace missile, but there’s much more coming down the line.

Car kits

First up, the lime-green 1932 Ford 'Rat Roaster' (above) shown at October’s International iHobby Expo in Chicago was a taste of things to come, as the car will soon be released as a brand-new 1:25 scale kit. In fact, there’s a feast of US wheels coming our way, as the Rat Roaster will be joined by a 1950 Oldsmobile Coupe, representative of an automobile marque that has largely slipped through the running boards until now. This fully-detailed kit, seen as a test shot at iHobby, will have various build options, including the choice of finishing as a plain-Jane stock version, or hopped up as a mild custom. Both the Ford and Oldsmobile should be available early 2012.

Metal to plastic Corvette

The 1962 Corvette will also be available around that time. It isn’t totally new, having been issued before, but it previously had a metal body, and was made as a ‘Route 66’ machine. The new kit will be all-plastic, but various updates should freshen it up. And there’s more, even if at first glance we seem to have had a 1957 Ford before, but not this version, the Ford Custom. This may seem very similar to other 1957 models, but is actually shorter, and with different details.

SSP two-packs

Amongst the SSP (Selected Subjects Program) releases will be two duo kits (above), the 1:48 scale Mercury and Gemini spacecraft, and a pair of deeply cool-looking 1:25 scale Tony Nancy dragsters. 

Underwater Demolition Team

For fans of things that float comes a reissue of the 1:32 scale UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) boat, complete with frogmen. This will be released as a Revell kit, as it was last time around in 1992, though it had started life as a Monogram kit, back in the early 1960s. Even then, it was very detailed and comprehensive, features which were typical of Monogram kits of the time. It was titled: ‘US Navy Frogmen’, and came complete with a five-man underwater demolition team, a rubber liferaft, and the UDT vessel. Now you still get the liferaft and figures - they have full scuba gear - but the UDT boat takes pride of place. As the kit is made to a standard scale, even if you don’t build it ‘as intended’, it could still be very useful as a supply source for a range of bits and pieces - support for other models you might have planned.

More info here.

Renwal mentions in SMN here.

Revell-Monogram at the 2011 iHobby Expo. Note products from Revell-Germany are displayed at right.

Bill Lastovich of Revell-Monogram adjusts a display.

COLD WAR WARRIOR RETURNS - MACE MISSILE FROM RENWAL

SMN report:

Mat Irvine spotted the next Revell reissue of a classic Renwal military kit when he was at the iHobby Expo  recently. It will be the futuristic Teracruzer and Mace missile set, and as you will read in Mat’s article later today, there’s been a sea-change at Revell where packaging is concerned.

Original boxes revisited

Instead of the photo-style ‘History Makers’ packaging previously used, the Mace and other kits are now being treated to a revamp of the original Renwal boxes - and that’s excellent news, for they really were designs of their time, and deserve to be seen again.

Mace - an early form of cruise missile

Inside the brightly coloured box of the 1:32 scale Teracruzer and Mace kit, you get 278 components, including a combat crew of five figures, three of whom are shown below.

Cold War warrior
The Mace was a nuclear-tipped winged missile, launched straight off its transporter-launcher with the aid of a rocket booster, which dropped away after a short but powerful burn, after which a turbojet engine cut in for the cruise portion of the flight. Typical speed was around 1050 km/h (650 mph), and maximum target range some 2250 km (1400 miles). Renwal correctly prefixed the Mace with the tactical missile designation TM-76 (see cover art) though this was changed in 1963 to MGM-13, denoting the  mobile launch version - the CGM-13 could launch straight from a storage container.

Big, soft tyres

The MM-1 Teracruzer was a balloon-tyred transporter, those massive rubber do-nuts (named Rolligons) allowing for off-road travel, even across ploughed fields - just the terrain found in Germany where the weapon system was deployed. Having said that, experienced opinion from a serving officer of the time reckoned that a nine-man crew was needed, and that they were based mostly on hard-standings, with shelters: “...to keep the weather, especially Germany’s freezing fogs and snow, off the ‘birds’”.

Farewell Mace

The last Mace missile was decommissioned in 1969, but Teracruzers haven’t disapppeared entirely. They can be found here and there in civilian jobs - apparently one still works hard in an Alaskan gold mining operation!   

Welcome return

It’s a real pleasure to see these old kits coming back in their original packaging - just wait until the Mace hits the stores, and don’t forget to read about the Renwal Atomic Cannon in Mat’s upcoming article...