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Originally Posted by Shamous
I recently discussed the idea of bringing back all the old Estes scale kits with Ellis Langford and Bill Stine at the TARC booth. There are a bunch of us old guys that would interested. We are now older, have better skills, and most have some cash to buy them. Granted, this would probably have to be a smaller, limited run, but most of us BARs would love it.
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You hit on the secret--periodic, limited production runs of the classic scale kits would ensure that they would all sell, that all of us old-timers could buy the kits we either lost or couldn't afford (or didn't build well) as kids, and it would also generate interest among today's young model rocketeers (or space modelers, as model rocketeers are called in other countries). Those of today have never seen a Centuri 1:100 scale Apollo-Saturn IB or a 1:100 scale Apollo-Little Joe II kit, and would be amazed by them. (While I am thankful that Estes produced a 1:100 scale Apollo-Little Joe II kit in the 1990s, Centuri's 1:100 scale Apollo-Little Joe II kit was--with all due respect to Estes--a better and much easier-to-build kit, which was an excellent first scale model rocket for beginning space modelers [their 1:45 scale version, like Estes', was/is definitely for experienced builders!].) Also:
For new scale models of the type that I suggested in the opening posting of this thread (flying scale models of historic launch vehicles--such as the Atlas-Agena D--that come with same-scale plastic models of historic spacecraft that they lofted, such as Mariner 5; they could be displayed atop the launch vehicle models, perhaps inside clear plastic display payload fairings), producing them in periodic, limited runs would also confer those above-listed advantages to Estes and their older (and younger) customers. The production runs of these kits--and re-issues of the classic scale kits--could be offered in any of multiple ways. They could be produced in limited quantities and released on the dates of their most historic missions annually, or every two years, or every five years, etc. Plus:
The "launch vehicle plus spacecraft" kits that I suggested could be offered in these and other ways. For example, the Atlas-Agena D lofted several historic spacecraft--including Mariner 4, Mariner 5, and the five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. An Atlas-Agena D kit (possibly the same scale as Estes' Mercury-Atlas kit) could come with a same-scale plastic model of Mariner 4, and models of the other historic spacecraft the rocket carried (Mariner 5, Lunar Orbiter 1 - 5, etc.) could be sold separately. OR...the Atlas-Agena D kits could be offered with all of these spacecraft models included in them, or they could be "separately scattered" throughout the production run. That is, some Atlas-Agena D kits would include a Mariner 4 model, while others would include the Mariner 5 and Lunar Orbiter models. In fact:
Just as the latest re-issue of Estes' 1:100 scale Apollo-Saturn V kit now includes a 1:100 scale Lunar Module static model, a re-issue of the 1:100 scale Centuri Apollo-Saturn IB kit could come with a same-scale plastic model of the Docking Module that was carried aboard the Apollo-Saturn IB that flew in the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission. (This would also--since the Saturn IBs that flew in the Skylab program as well as ASTP had all-white first stages--provide alternate [and easier to re-create] paint schemes for the model [which could also, if desired, be painted and decal-ed to depict Apollo 7]. Many Centuri kits' instructions suggested "easy" and "challenging" paint schemes, which were described and illustrated in the instructions, and the re-issued Apollo-Saturn IB kit could continue that tradition.)