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Tom Cleaver
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Heads up re: Revell and Revell of Germany

March 30, 2018 · in News · · 18 · 1.9K

Hobbico, which owns both and Revell of Germany, went bankrupt awhile back.

Sales of the companies were held today (3/29/18). the Radio Control stuff and Estes Rockets received successful bids.

There were no bids for Revell or Revell of Germany. This likely means the companies will be broken up and their assets sold off. Probably the only items of value that will be picked up are molds of kits that haven't seen full market potential (a good example would be the Revell P-51D). Even if Revell of German is purchased, they will not have a US distributor, since Hobbico was the distributor (also of and Italerei - which will now become scarce and more expensive than they already are when they are finally picked up by someone like the Stevens International - purveyor of overpriced Trumper, and H-K Models kits).

This means it's not likely you will see any Revell 1/32 P-51D past the restock that arrived this week (at a price increase of $10) which are currently flying off the shelves.

He who hesitates to purchase a Revell or Revell of Germany kit he wants, will lose.

Reader reactions:
2  Awesome

18 responses

  1. Wow, that's news! Thanks for sharing.
    I hope some of the molds can be acquired by one of the newer manufacturers from Eastern Europe maybe since some of them produced good models. The other value must be their distribution channels because Revell is the typical kit brand you find in some high street shops. What is sad is that maybe, youngsters won't discover plastic modeling without Revell being around for that reason.

    I haven't looked at the books of Revell Germany but I'm curious now. I suggest you need to travel to the US for a due diligence on their books or is there a virtual data room?

  2. It's time to buy some Spitfires and P-51D in 1/32.

  3. That is sad to hear.

  4. This is very sad. Of course this means not only the new kits, but all the great classic Monogram and Revell kits as well. The death of an era, not just the end. Maybe Round 2 will step in buy some molds and release some of the classics.

  5. Thanks for posting Tom, it is sad news to hear.
    Hopefully a buyer will come forward but who knows.

  6. First Monogram, now Revell...soon everything will be foreign-made (and more expensive). 🙁

  7. MUCH more expensive!

    🙁

  8. Evil-Bay prices will go up on those gotta have kits...per the Great Carnac.

    A Hyperscaler posted some of the assets and liabilities that the company was having to pay and the royalties figures really jumped out. No wonder no one wanted to make bids. Buying a lot of I.O.U.s doesn't make business sense.

  9. @Stephen, you mean their debt load towards banks or bond holders? What you exactly mean by royalties? I have no idea how this company ended up this way. Hobbico has many brands so probably some are in the black but pass-on the surplus to brands in the red. Most likely they run consolidated accounts for Revell Germany so you can not have an idea how the latter co is performing. FYI I'm just curious, not planning to make a bid.

    Maybe the @editors can elaborate here but for sure modeling business is a tough market. Louis once said we live in the golden age of modelling: You better believe it bro! Large manufacturers like Revell outperformed to Chapter 11 by numerous Asian and Eastern European growth stories (with all respect I mention them) while having cost basis reflecting Western standards... Hard to compete with that. In distribution must be even harder with everything going HTTP...

  10. I had a brief look (I'm no accountant either). I think it's a bit hopeless and seems like filed to rid 117 MUSD debt. 75 MUSD bank owed and the rest for some investment fund ca. 42 MUSD. The royalties to Disney indeed are the largest chunk 175KUSD (for what? Star Wars? Any ideas?) but there are many others including Lockheed for instance... They are listed under section prepayments so probably done for the book year. In any event nothing left on the cash accounts (300 USD or so). What struck me is that total assets are about 9 MUSD compared to the debt load they have. They seem to have an inventory of over 3 MUSD of that amount. You can also infer from the filing who is making the molds for them. Accounts payable to Revell Gmbh are in excess 300 KUSD so in principle survivable for the European branch if you ask me.

    In any event I believe with this assets/liabilities ratio it's gonna take a miracle to have this co running soon given in the present format and viewing the market situation in which it is active.

    • They paid Disney a bucketload to do all the cartoon airplanes for the Pixar movies - a huge bust, since they didn't sell for diddly.

      Hobbico has themselves to blame. They stole ("borrowed") money from the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to buy Revell and do the licensing with Disney, and now that ESOP is what's completely bankrupt, so they did steal the employee's retirement benefits.

  11. BIG NEWS: REVELL OF GERMANY was successful in organizing their consortium for support, so they will continue on. Since RoG is the source of new kits (like the P-51D-5) that is good news. Got that directly from the guy who runs my LHS, who talked to his Hobbico rep this morning.

    • That is good news. RoG has produced at least some of the Monogram standards over the years, although at higher prices. Well hopefully they will buy up and produce more along with newer kits.

  12. Good bye to the Monogram molds...

  13. Revell of Germany seemed/seems to have a handle on developing new kits that are relevant to the modeler or European modelers. The U.S. side from what I am being told with regards to developing new kits where more interested in doing car models. With the last kit of aircraft being the Lockheed Ventura ? I often wonder about the bean counters and the folks who make and build kits. There always seems to be a disconnect with the bean counters. The old Airfix had them and the company got sold to people who payed attention to their customers and focused on making kits that are relevant. Same with Eduard there not so big as to lose sight of the people who buy their kits and they do seem to be connected to the people who count. The "Fan Boys" and normal modelers who love aircraft and models in general.

  14. There is hope in seeing the reissue of the Revell Hawker Hunter Mk 9 or 6 . Neat little kit and its big brother in 1/32nd ain't bad either.

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