MPC trikes

[stavanzer]

Well, Mike, my choice of kits was just off the top of my head. I should have picked different examples, perhaps.  My point, was mostly that we hobbyists are told constantly we we ask for this kit or that kit to be revived, "that tooling dollars and effort are extremely limited and must be rationed due to their scarcity". So, what ever it is that is mentioned, the fallback, is "That will never generate enough interest/Sell in large enough quantities, to justify the effort".

So, when mentioning ANY older tool, that a group seems interested in, the shutdown from some folks is always "Scare Tooling Dollars/ only so much time for new projects, ect". Now, I have no doubt that this is all very true. Round2 is now a smaller Company that the old AMT was. Resources ARE indeed very limited. There ARE many more potential projects than time & money to devote to them.  That is what makes this kit so puzzling to me. Due to the price vs content ratio alone, it seems like a poor choice. Round2 lately has been all about "value-added" items in many kits lately. Witness the Go-Cart in the '60 Chevy and small trail bikes in the '86 Elky and '77 Dodge Pickup. The bare starkness of this kit surprises me. No Trailer, no extras, no Add-Ins. Just one, not-very big Trike, and some fancy decals. All for a suggested retail just under $30.00.

All this talk about "Scarce Resources" and we get THIS?

I'd have thought that those "Scarce Tooling Dollars" would produce a bigger profit if spent on a different subject matter.  But, I'm not an expert, and my knowledge of this business is imperfect at best.. I do know, if I had been making choices of subject matter for Round2, they'd have been bankrupt in 2016. LOL

[Casey]

On 8/7/2015 at 3:01 AM, ratnasty said:

 

I just noticed the Mail Box and Digger trikes include a set if 10"(or so?) deep Motor Wheel Spyder rear wheels. ?

I'm sure I could find a new home for the Honda four-cylinder engine, too.

[stavanzer]

So, which came first, the Digger Trike or the Tom Daniels T-rantula?

[Richard Bartrop]

14 hours ago, alexis said:

So, which came first, the Digger Trike or the Tom Daniels T-rantula?

www.scalemates.com says the T-rantula first came out in 1968, and the Digger Trike came out in 1971.

[stavanzer]

Thanks Richard. I never trust Scalemates, but that sounds about right.

[Phirewriter]

The MPC trike kits were based on models constructed by Denny Johnson. You can clearly see the T'ranchula body was used on the original model. If you go to the contest and show thread and look up Tim Boyd's coverage of the last Toledo NNL he (along with some other members) has some excellent coverage with notes, etc... Denny's models along with Richard Carroll's and Ira Dahm's were some of my favourites from that time. BTW Denny also conceived the Zinger's brought out by MPC.

[Daddyfink]

These kits are not really aimed at the serious "I must build everything stock" set or the "I only like Brand X cars" types. They are aimed at model builders who like variety and who built them as kids, like me! 

They are fun and quick builds, nothing to bury yourself too deeply in or worry about accuracy. Some may do that, but not the majority. 

Not everything has to be a serious adult model, and I am glad to see them coming back! 

[Richard Bartrop]

Oh, they do look like fun, and some of the parts, llke the Spyder wheels look like they might have kitbashing potential.

I am balking at the price, though.  $30 US roughly translates to "you have got to be kIdding" Canadian.

[Daddyfink]

On 10/28/2019 at 4:14 PM, Richard Bartrop said:

Oh, they do look like fun, and some of the parts, llke the Spyder wheels look like they might have kitbashing potential.

I am balking at the price, though.  $30 US roughly translates to "you have got to be kIdding" Canadian.

Yes, the price is nuts! Maybe if they where a pack of two per box! 

[Casey]

Looks like the Mail Box Chopper is going to have some company in 2020:

MPC-893

1/25 Taco Custom Trike

 

[Tye Brown]

On 10/29/2019 at 10:14 AM, Richard Bartrop said:

I am balking at the price, though.  $30 US roughly translates to "you have got to be kIdding" Canadian.

And "tell'em there dreaming" Australian lol

[OldNYJim]

On 11/4/2019 at 5:18 PM, Casey said:

Looks like the Mail Box Chopper is going to have some company in 2020:

MPC-893

1/25 Taco Custom Trike

 

Ohh, awesome!!  I’ve been waiting for this one to get a re-do 

Kicking myself for trading away one of these that I picked up for $5 a few years ago...like others have said though, I’ll think more than twice if it’s priced at $28 ?

[stitchdup]

I wouldn't mind one of them just for something different. But I'm scottish so I dont think my wallet opens that far. Like the old joke says, copper wire was invented by 2 scotsmen fighting over a penny

[RancheroSteve]

I received my copy of that other magazine in the mail today. The Round2 ad inside the front cover has pictures of the Mail Box Chopper and the Taco Trike (listed incorrectly as 1:8 scale) down near the bottom and the words, "The trick trikes are back from MPC . . collect all six!" (emphasis mine). No dates given.

Looks like they're (so far) going with the RetroHobby artwork, so if and when the Black Max and Cobra Chopper happen, I'll be curious to see what artwork they use for those.

[Daddyfink]

9 hours ago, RancheroSteve said:

I received my copy of that other magazine in the mail today. The Round2 ad inside the front cover has pictures of the Mail Box Chopper and the Taco Trike (listed incorrectly as 1:8 scale) down near the bottom and the words, "The trick trikes are back from MPC . . collect all six!" (emphasis mine). No dates given.

Looks like they're (so far) going with the RetroHobby artwork, so if and when the Black Max and Cobra Chopper happen, I'll be curious to see what artwork they use for those.

Hopefully they will stick with the original art for the last two bikes. I am not too fond of the Retro art boxes. 

[OldNYJim]

20 hours ago, RancheroSteve said:

I received my copy of that other magazine in the mail today. The Round2 ad inside the front cover has pictures of the Mail Box Chopper and the Taco Trike (listed incorrectly as 1:8 scale) down near the bottom and the words, "The trick trikes are back from MPC . . collect all six!" (emphasis mine). 

That’s AWESOME news!  I’ll be picking up all of these...did some of them come with variations on the decal sheets last time around to make different versions (say, a Pizza Trike instead of a Taco Trike or something along those lines)?  I vaguely remember something like that but I might be way off...

[RancheroSteve]

45 minutes ago, CabDriver said:

That’s AWESOME news!  I’ll be picking up all of these...did some of them come with variations on the decal sheets last time around to make different versions (say, a Pizza Trike instead of a Taco Trike or something along those lines)?  I vaguely remember something like that but I might be way off...

The RetroHobby 2005 re-issues came with some elaborate and rather beautiful newly-tooled decal  sheets. No idea what they have planned for this time around.

Anybody got shots of the original decal sheets?

[tim boyd]

Here's the full story on the first two reissues of the MPC Trikes which are coming very soon......TIM 

[Mark]

21 hours ago, RancheroSteve said:

 

 

 

21 hours ago, RancheroSteve said:

Anybody got shots of the original decal sheets?

The original MPC decal sheets were very small and simplified.  Remember these kits retailed for $1.50 when car kits were usually $2.25.

For example, the Roth Mail Box kit sheet had only the Mail Box logo for the upper rear corner of the body on each side, in only two colors as I recall.

[OldNYJim]

On 1/11/2020 at 5:13 PM, tim boyd said:

Here's the full story on the first two reissues of the MPC Trikes which are coming very soon......TIM 

Thanks so much Tim!  Can’t wait to get my hands on these!  How soon is soon? ??

[tim boyd]

22 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Thanks so much Tim!  Can’t wait to get my hands on these!  How soon is soon? ??

Jim...glad you found it of use.  Typically in the past when Round 2 has sent out sample kits, they show up at the stores and websites about 4-6 weeks later....I actually got these before the holidays but just got around to deciding to post the images last week, so I would guess the "ready" clock is already well running down on these two....TIM 

[OldNYJim]

4 minutes ago, tim boyd said:

Jim...glad you found it of use.  Typically in the past when Round 2 has sent out sample kits, they show up at the stores and websites about 4-6 weeks later....I actually got these before the holidays but just got around to deciding to post the images last week, so I would guess the "ready" clock is already well running down on these two....TIM 

Amazing - I wasn’t sure of the rough schedules that they run on, so your knowledge is appreciated!  Thanks Tim!

[OldNYJim]

Looks like these will be around the $25-a-piece mark from the couple of places listing them for pre-order, for anyone else who’d been wondering 

[Impalow]

That MailBox trike kit is really fun...

The engine is spectacular, with some minor detailing (plug wires, fuel lines and velocity stacks) it comes to life quite nicely.

I'm excited to build a few more of the trikes, as well as the kit bashing opportunity.

[tim boyd]

Heh Eric....your Trike model looks very, very cool.  Thx for sharing!  TIM