# I hate to bring this up again but where's Sinbad?



## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I know this has been beat a dead dog with a stick but there has been nothing posted in the last few days about Sinbad. We know he was on the ship heading to Canada but haven't heard the latest. Whoever had insider information can you let us know what the latest status is? Also, if you have any further information on the Ghost of Castle Mare as well I am curious as I suspect others are. By the way, I am not upset or ticked off because of the tardiness of these kits, I have plenty to keep me busy, simply curious. I appreciate any late breaking news.


----------



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

He's in the same place as the rest of the Monarch models. Limbo!


----------



## Night-Owl (Mar 17, 2000)

Last I heard and I forget where I read it, Sinbad was on the boat from China and between clearing customs, shiping and the various other steps he should be showing up late June or early July.


----------



## louspal (Sep 13, 2009)

Night-Owl said:


> Last I heard and I forget where I read it, Sinbad was on the boat from China and between clearing customs, shiping and the various other steps he should be showing up late June or early July.


After 2 + years of delays and snafus it really makes you wonder how much is saved by producing these kits in China. Can't say I have any first hand experience in these matters, but it makes you wonder...


----------



## AuroraFan1 (May 14, 2009)

Well it sure looks like it will be worth the wait!

Plenty to build in the meantime!


----------



## Jimmy B (Apr 19, 2000)

louspal said:


> After 2 + years of delays and snafus it really makes you wonder how much is saved by producing these kits in China. Can't say I have any first hand experience in these matters, but it makes you wonder...


Which is why I almost did a cartwheel when I read Atlantis is producing the Zorro kit here in the good ol' USA.


----------



## AuroraFan1 (May 14, 2009)

Jimmy B said:


> Which is why I almost did a cartwheel when I read Atlantis is producing the Zorro kit here in the good ol' USA.


How True, How True!

Even if it costs a few bucks more, at least I know it will be in my grubby hands!

Customs can be a big pain in the..................


----------



## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

I would just like to see us making this stuff again! Is it really worth the savings after bearing all the time and pain? 
Can't wait to see Sinbad! And I'll buy a couple when he does come!:thumbsup:

Chinxy!:dude:


----------



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Not only that....but it emploies AMERICANS! (And hopefully Canadians if everything goes alright!)


----------



## Zathros (Dec 21, 2000)

Jimmy B said:


> Which is why I almost did a cartwheel when I read Atlantis is producing the Zorro kit here in the good ol' USA.


*atlantis knows what they are doing..when they announce a kit, it actually comes out in a reasonable amount of time...

Z
*


----------



## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

Zathros said:


> *atlantis knows what they are doing..when they announce a kit, it actually comes out in a reasonable amount of time...*
> 
> *Z*


Thank the Styrene God for that one:thumbsup:


----------



## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

Trevor, wasn't it a great time in our countries when the Aurora's were made in the US and Canada? Oh the good old days. Wish we would do that again!:thumbsup:

Chinxy!:dude:


----------



## bim1204 (Mar 6, 2010)

i think monarch has us all snowed !!! how much does one think it will cost to bring a kit to the table , tooling cost , instruction sheet design, box art , ????// 10,000 , 20,000 maybe we should all kick in and start a company ourselves , sure know it will make money and best ill know when the dam thing is coming !jimmy


----------



## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

if I found out about a movement to make these models here in the USA, I Would gladly kick in to this company without a second thought. I'm so tired of hearing these models HAS to be made overseas  , we need jobs in this country and this would be one small step. Karl


----------



## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

starduster said:


> if I found out about a movement to make these models here in the USA, I Would gladly kick in to this company without a second thought. I'm so tired of hearing these models HAS to be made overseas  , we need jobs in this country and this would be one small step. Karl


You said a mouth full Brother!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

bim1204 said:


> i think monarch has us all snowed !!! how much does one think it will cost to bring a kit to the table , tooling cost , instruction sheet design, box art , ????// 10,000 , 20,000 maybe we should all kick in and start a company ourselves , sure know it will make money and best ill know when the dam thing is coming !jimmy


Good idea. Put your money where your mouth is and all that. _Really_ good idea.


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

bim1204 said:


> i think monarch has us all snowed !!! how much does one think it will cost to bring a kit to the table , tooling cost , instruction sheet design, box art , ????// 10,000 , 20,000 maybe we should all kick in and start a company ourselves , sure know it will make money and best ill know when the dam thing is coming !jimmy


For an existing company with all the machinery, labor, etc lined up a mold for a reasonable size kit is in the $80,000 - $100,000 range.


----------



## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

djnick66 said:


> For an existing company with all the machinery, labor, etc lined up a mold for a reasonable size kit is in the $80,000 - $100,000 range.



Which just shows what an expensive business injection moulding is. Monarch has to go where it's cheapest to make them.


----------



## Zathros (Dec 21, 2000)

SUNGOD said:


> Which just shows what an expensive business injection moulding is. Monarch has to go where it's cheapest to make them.


*true, but the key is to actually put them out, and not just keep announcing them..delays happen..but two years is pretty long...
if it takes this long to produce a sinbad kit, we can forget about the MOM jekyll and hide kits for the foreseeable future..

Z
*


----------



## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

In Scott's defense he does have a regular full-time job that most likely takes most of his time. This is after all a part-time venture for him.


----------



## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

Zathros said:


> *true, but the key is to actually put them out, and not just keep announcing them..delays happen..but two years is pretty long...
> if it takes this long to produce a sinbad kit, we can forget about the MOM jekyll and hide kits for the foreseeable future..
> 
> Z
> *



To be honest I don't have any interest in the MOM Jekyll and Hyde but yes, let's hope Sinbad's out soon and Monarch can speed up production on the other kits too.

What date was Sinbad supposed to arrive again?


----------



## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

Ohhh, ye of little faith.


----------



## Todd P. (Apr 12, 2007)

bim1204 said:


> i think monarch has us all snowed !!! how much does one think it will cost to bring a kit to the table , tooling cost , instruction sheet design, box art , ????// 10,000 , 20,000 maybe we should all kick in and start a company ourselves , sure know it will make money and best ill know when the dam thing is coming !jimmy


What exactly would be the point? As far as I know, Scott hasn't collected any money for the kits that have taken so long to come out.

And as others have said, $20,000 doesn't come close to paying for production of a kit.

I've said before and will repeat it: Even if Nosferatu were the only Monarch kit to ever reach hobbyists, that alone is a huge contribution to the hobby. From what I know, Scott spent more than he made on that kit.

He started Monarch because Polar Lights was getting out of the figure-kit business and there were no indicators at the time that anyone else was going to step in and fill that niche. Do some digging in Hobby Talk's archives and you might see the postings he made back then; I think his username was "33RacineRoad" but it may have been slightly different. It was the address of Aurora's factory.

He found out about Moebius at the same time as the rest of us. Moebius plainly went on to be a much bigger operation, a full-time endeavor for the very talented hobby businessman who started it.

Still, Nosferatu's success with hobbyists helped prove to Revell and Round 2 that it was worth their time to make more monsters.


----------



## Auroranut (Jan 12, 2008)

Try 31 Racine Road....

Chris.


----------



## Todd P. (Apr 12, 2007)

Thanks for the reminder. Here he is. Check out his posting history.


----------



## Jimmy B (Apr 19, 2000)

Tic........
Toc......
Tic.......
Toc......


----------



## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

Jimmy B said:


> Tic........
> Toc......
> Tic.......
> Toc......


Next stop, the Twilight Zone! :jest:


----------



## Todd P. (Apr 12, 2007)

And yet despite his jeering, I expect wolfman to have the Sinbad kit built, painted and displayed on 12 different forums before Aug. 1.


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Only 12? Guess he must be taking a coffee break...


----------



## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

Todd P. said:


> And yet despite his jeering, I expect wolfman to have the Sinbad kit built, painted and displayed on 12 different forums before Aug. 1.


Thats the plan as will probably break my neck to get it done soon as get it in the mail or picking it up at the local Hobbystore:thumbsup:


----------



## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

deadmanincfan said:


> Only 12? Guess he must be taking a coffee break...


Coffee noway not enough caffeine for me.I gotta have pepsi cola:thumbsup:


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Should have known...my bad, Dan... :wave:


----------



## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

deadmanincfan said:


> Should have known...my bad, Dan... :wave:


No problem.:thumbsup:


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

...if I could still find Jolt cola my build output might almost equal half of yours! :freak:


----------



## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

deadmanincfan said:


> ...if I could still find Jolt cola my build output might almost equal half of yours! :freak:


I tried that stuff once man did it have me bouncing of the walls:freak::jest:.


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

I had a female friend BEG me to buy her a 12-pack of it once only to find out she couldn't drink it 'cause it made her heart race. Maybe their slogan should have been, "With REAL sugar and TWICE the caffeine...NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED!"


----------



## Todd P. (Apr 12, 2007)

Sadly, in the time it takes me to type this sentence, Dan will complete more models than I've built in the last two years.


----------



## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

Todd P. said:


> Sadly, in the time it takes me to type this sentence, Dan will complete more models than I've built in the last two years.


:thumbsup:


----------



## wolfman66 (Feb 18, 2006)

deadmanincfan said:


> I had a female friend BEG me to buy her a 12-pack of it once only to find out she couldn't drink it 'cause it made her heart race. Maybe their slogan should have been, "With REAL sugar and TWICE the caffeine...NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED!"


Buddy of mine had the same happen to him when he drank Jolt Cola.


----------



## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

My original thread has degenerated into a caffeine junkies thread and a whiners thread! LOL Actually when I posted it I really just wanted to find out the latest news on when we would see Sinbad on the shelf. Since we knew it was on the boat I thought maybe someone had the latest news on when it was going out to the stores. If anyone knows the answer to that I would be interested.

By the way, I have had a couple of trips over the last year and a half which I bought a 16 ounce energy (caffeine) drink on and the stuff did work. One was a straight through from Austin,TX starting at 5 AM after about 5 hours sleep to Merritt Island, FL and after I guzzled the drink west of Tallahassee I didn't get sleepy and felt very much normal until I arrived about 1 AM. I have only used these twice and both times I felt great and wasn't sleepy. But I would only drink one for something like that, never drink those things on a frequent basis.


----------



## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

OK - I'm getting discouraged here! I really thought that from what the guys at Wonderfest told me I would have Sinbad by now. Now I have to say that I'm content for now cause I'm working on Round2 ST K-7 Space Station with putting in LEDs and all! But I just thought Sinbad would be out by now. Sad, just Sad! And you know that the ghost isn't coming in 60 days like they said. Oh well!

Chinxy!:dude:


----------



## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

Oh ya! And by the way - I'm on my third cup of coffee now and it's not even 8am!:drunk:

Chinxy!:dude:


----------



## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

I posted this on the Cool News thread last night...
Hi Denis

I hope to have positive confirmation this very week. And news regarding the ghost very shortly too (good news).

Scott


... just letting you know what I know...
Mcdee


----------



## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

mcdougall said:


> I posted this on the Cool News thread last night...
> Hi Denis
> 
> I hope to have positive confirmation this very week. And news regarding the ghost very shortly too (good news).
> ...


Thanks, those were the kind of words I was looking for. Hopefully that means they are in Scott's hands and he now just needs to get them out to the stores. And that will be great if the Ghost follows as planned. The Ghost is the one I desire most and put a pre-order in on 2 years ago. I do understand what Scott goes through doing this and, personally, have never griped about the delays. I have plenty of kits to keep me busy. But it will be nice to have two really neat kits for future builds.


----------



## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

Scott - does that mean that Sinbad might be out by the end of this week or the begining of next week? Now that would be GREAT news!:thumbsup:

OK - now I need another cup of coffee over this one!:freak: Yep! I'm bad!

Chinxy!:dude:


----------



## mrmurph (Nov 21, 2007)

Maybe Sinbad sailed all 7 of the seas before finally making it to shore. 
What a great sculpt. Think I'll go back and peruse the WIPs on this one.
Ahhhhhhhh! Noice.


----------



## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

Chinxy said:


> Scott - does that mean that Sinbad might be out by the end of this week or the begining of next week? Now that would be GREAT news!:thumbsup:
> 
> OK - now I need another cup of coffee over this one!:freak: Yep! I'm bad!
> 
> Chinxy!:dude:


Even if it docks this week.
It still has to get offloaded.
Clear customs.
Shipped to distributors.
(which means clearing US customs)
Sent from distributors to the vendors.


Patients.
IT will be here when it gets here.


----------



## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Everyone is getting these things made in China these days. Any model company that "looks" on the ball (as in getting product out fast) has played it smart and did not pre-announce projects in the pipeline or share test shots with us. 

The people that are complaining right now are putting the model companies in quite a spot -- you get mad if you don't know what's coming, and you get mad if you do know and it takes a long time.

And when they DO share test shots, everyone picks them apart, starts making suggestions, starts expressing likes and not likes, etc. 

I would imagine that any model company putting up with this would feel very discouraged by the way we sometimes treat them or talk about them. I'm sure that's how I'd feel if I had MY money on the line on this type of business venture.

If it were MY model company... I would not share ANY information until I had product in hand and boxed up ready for retail sale. You can't change things or make suggestions THEN! And I think there would be less whining and "suggestion" offering (you SHOULD do this, or you SHOULD do that).

Anyway, this is just my opinion and something I feel should be at least considered the next time you think about complaining. After all, it's not YOUR money on the line! The model companies take BIG financial risks to keep us all happy and building their wares.

Sinbad will get here when he gets here. We'll just have to wait until that day. I think most of us will survive.

--Henry


----------



## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Agreed...:thumbsup:
Mcdee


----------



## g_xii (Mar 20, 2002)

Me? I'm so HAPPY they are putting out what they are putting out, I just don't see the point of complaining! Nothing good will come out of it, and it could hurt our "inside info" a lot if the mfgr's decide to stop sharing info.

--H


----------



## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

g_xii said:


> Me? I'm so HAPPY they are putting out what they are putting out, I just don't see the point of complaining! Nothing good will come out of it, and it could hurt our "inside info" a lot if the mfgr's decide to stop sharing info.
> 
> --H


If I had a model company I would probably quit sharing info the waty they are sometimes attacked. Years ago we never knew what was coming out usually until it showed up on the shelves. I know we get excited by these releases coming but you would have to be pretty thick-skinned to take some of the comments made to these companies. I for one am grateful to have even half of whats come out and whats in line. Just a few years ago we were pretty much dead in the water for new styrene kits. Many thanks to Monarch, Moebius, Round 2, Pegasus, Atlantis and all the others who are giving us way more than I ever assumed would ever be available again!
Steve


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Like I have said before... the main player companies DO NOT advertize new kits months or years in advance. If you see a Tamiya kit on display at a show in Japan, at Nurnberg, etc. you can be assured that it will be on the shelf in a matter of weeks. They do not offer up test shots, mock ups, etc. 

Its a two way street with advance info. For whatever reason, some companies feel they should somehow engage their audience along iwth way with previews, in progress shots, mock ups, etc. However, it opens them up for legitimate criticism. You put it out there dangling on a hook and yes someone will respond. It isn't fair to say ok here is a WIP shot of our new project (perhaps with obvious mistakes, odd feautres, etc. ) and then not want or accept the comments that come in. Also, if you are going to show something in advance, take your own photos! Do not let someone casually take some craptacular photos of your newest WIP mock up for the official unveiling. Perhaps that was the case with one of the new Moebius figures. The figure itself may be a lot better than the poorish photos indicated. People said what they felt based on the poor figures Moebius allowed. Of course they got all bent out of shape but hey, they could have made a better photo themselves for people to go by. And some companies have the guts to admit their kit sucked and will redo it in whole or in part. Criticizm of Trumpeter's 1/32 F3F-4 Wildcat resulted in the initial run of the kit being withdrawn from sale while an essentially, new from scratch mold was cut. Tamiya reworked their A6M5 Zero in 1/32 scale considerably after some initial comments revealed the kit was based on a mocked up museum plane and had some incorrect detailing. Likewise, Tamiya redid the wings for their Gloster Meteor jet after the kit's initial run. Academy corrected the FUBAR wheels in their M3 Lee tank and offered free replacement sprues to customers that bought the original run of kits. Most recently Eduard replaced the canopy in their 1/32 Messerschmitt 109 E after heavy criticism from online modelling forums. Was their original canopy wrong? YES. Did they listen to their critics? YES.

Instead of whining about critics, those companies stepped up to the plate and actually improved their product.


----------



## MEGA1 (Jul 18, 2000)

*Kits*

You have to make new kit announcments so distributors can start pushing the product and creating some buzz. I would not make anything if a certain amount was not pre sold through distributors and other retailers. You have to get a feel for the product from the wholesale customer who is buying it. It take at least 1 year for a kit to come out of china more if a new sculpt. Zorro can be done quickly because mold exists and is here is the USA. It is just a matter of getting on schedule which is always tight.


----------

