By now you've all probably
heard the news that Bill Bosworth is
no longer with Accurate
Miniatures. This came as somewhat of a
shock to me personally because not a week before I was talking
to
Bill on the phone and he mentioned nothing of his impending "change
of life decision" and in fact had scheduled to submit to
a future
"Ten From the Bench" article. Like most of us modelers,
Bill is hard
not to like. Our first conversation went something like this.
"Hello Accurate Miniatures."
"Yes, I'd like to
talk to the person in charge."
"That's me, Bill.
What can I do for you?"
Yup, it pretty much was
that simple. I had to wonder why so many
rumors have plagued AM on the newsgroups, but then someone once
said
"idle hands are the Devil's playground" and what fun
would they have
if, with a simple phone call, they could get the straight facts
on
the matter.
"I want a 1:24th
scale 917 and I want a 1:24th Viper GTS-R" I demanded.
"Those would be great
kits and I sure wish we could make bring them out,
but its just not in AM's best interest to do them right now."
He went on to explain
that the cost of development of each model was astronomical and
unless you've previously worked in the industry or know something
about our hobby, they
may shock you. Roughly $500,000 was quoted as the price that goes
into an average
modern set of molds. That's a lot of money invested in those small
pieces of plastic
we have sitting on shelves or stored in attics. Paul Bedford,
the current president later
stated that "...the upfront licensing fees for the Viper
were just too much" which sure
as heck sounds like an admission that they have at least went
beyond the "just thinking
thinking about it" stage.
Both men have different
views on the McLaren, but each holds fast to the claim that it
was a failure for AM. Bill believes that the price of the kit
was a bit unrealistic
for "what the North American market will bear". Paul
thinks it was it's limited "nationalism"
(i.e. based on a Canadian-American series) that tanked the kit.
Neither seemed to think
that the complexity and assembly problems had anything to do with
it's limited sales.
When I casually mentioned to Bill that maybe AM should cut down
a bit on the complexity
of the kit it was met with the reply that" AM's philosophy
is to "create accurate miniatures,
that's our name." Paul nixed the subject as well. When suggested
that AM could do a two
tiered release, with a less detailed kit rolling out first, and
a "super-detailer" supplement
packs brought to the market later, catering to the modeler who
demands more detail, Paul
related that it wasnt feasible and not in line with AM's policy.
To the contrary, AM currently
uses short run resin transkits to convert a few of it's airplane
kits to depict different
models. It seem to me (and has for a LONG time) to be a win, win
situation for a model company,
but then again I'm just a customer and not in charge of a model
company. Strangely enough
Paul let slip a comment about a proposed, but now-in-limbo arm
of the company named
"Accurate Racing". The mind reels at the possibilities
that AR might have pulled off.
$30.00 Gulf 917 in 1/24th, anyone?
When asked the question
of what will the new AM kit be, both men were unanimous in the
answer of "None. Not any time soon, anyways." Which
in effect kills the much hoped for
NASCAR kits. The saturation of the market, especially in the die-cast
field has effectively
cooled the industry with regards to new NASCAR toolings. Bill
stated that the Taurus'
manufacturing tooling is finished, but didn't talk of the status
of the Monte's. Also of
note is that the "up front" royalties to Ford for the
Taurus have already been paid as well.
On a better note, Paul said that AM would be revisiting the NASCAR
issue in January.
I couldn't end the "interview"
without asking a hypothetical. IF AM were to bring out an
all new automotive kit, what would it be? Both men mentioned "classic
American cars" which
leads me to believe that even if things hadn't been turned upside
down recently, we still
wouldn't be seeing another kit like the McLaren or Gran Sport.
Next month we offer Mike
Quarterman of Motor
Racing Models a place at the bench.
Last modified: October
31, 2000
E-mail: gpma@home.com
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