# Round 2 has officially aquired Polar Lights, AMT, and MPC



## derric1968 (Jun 13, 2003)

Interesting news. Round 2 now owns Polar Lights, AMT and MPC outright. I'm not quite sure what to make of it just yet but it sounds like it has the potential to be good news. It sure would be nice to see these guys get back to making newly tooled kits.

Click here for the story as posted on Cult's site.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Good news but I had been under the impression they owned them for the last year or more. Their website has shown these brands for quite a while now. So it appears they were producing them under the labeling of the original manufacturer using licensing rights from Tomy? Now they own them outright which can only be a better deal for hobbyists as Round 2 shows more stability and interest in producing models than the owners of the brands did these days.

Bob K.


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## Solium (Apr 24, 2005)

Congrats to Round 2. They have been doing an excellent job with their reissues. :thumbsup:


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

I thought they already did own them outright. Could be a good thing........but there again.........does that mean less competition?


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## LGFugate (Sep 11, 2000)

There is really no change in the number of competing model companies with this purchase. Round 2 was doing all the producing and selling for the brands it was leasing anyway. the purchase just means that they no longer have to get permission to do what they want to with the brands and the assets associated with those brands.

Larry


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

I wonder if this means there are toolings that they access to now that they didn't before...


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## MonsterModelMan (Dec 20, 2000)

Fozzie said:


> I wonder if this means there are toolings that they access to now that they didn't before...


:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

MMM


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## spock62 (Aug 13, 2003)

This is good news!


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

LGFugate said:


> There is really no change in the number of competing model companies with this purchase. Round 2 was doing all the producing and selling for the brands it was leasing anyway. the purchase just means that they no longer have to get permission to do what they want to with the brands and the assets associated with those brands.
> 
> Larry




Hopefully it'll be a good thing then.


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## Jay Chladek (Apr 17, 2001)

Well the main thing about this arrangement is before, there was an arangement between the two companies. Technically, Round 2 had access to all the tooling catalog, but they still had to liason with those who technically still owned the toolings. It was a pretty interesting pairing to say the least. 

I would compare this news to say finally hearing that a company such as MPC who had for years been offering stuff under the MPC/Ertl banner (after being acquired by Ertl in the late 1980s) finally becoming a part of AMT with the kits being offered by AMT/Ertl fully. Technically, not much changed. But, there could be bigger changes in store for the future and perhaps it might mean faster movement on some projects.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

With the tooling in their own posession there may be more motivation to produce certain kits or pursue projects without having to work with another outfit.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

This may also smooth out legal and licensing issues that means less money spent for costs not associated with the actual production of model kits. Certainly this shows a continued committment of Mr. Tom Lowe to the hobby he's done so much to keep alive. I'm all for it! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## swhite228 (Dec 31, 2003)

djnick66 said:


> With the tooling in their own posession there may be more motivation to produce certain kits or pursue projects without having to work with another outfit.


On Oct.11 Round 2 anounced their "1 Run of Fun" program which is ment to deal with kits that have a cult following but would be too costly to produce as a full run. It sort of reads like the old Revell /Monogran SSP program.

From the R2 website...
"Round 2 is proud to announce the start of their “1 Run of Fun” program with the release of the MPC Strange Change Series Mummy and Vampire and AMT’s Bigfoot Creature model kits. In the 1-Run program, select special interest models will be reissued in a limited quantity via one production run."

Kits will be done in 1 small run and marked with a 1 Run of Fun sticker and released. When sold out that would be it.

The MPC Street Charger is the 1RoF kit for December, and marks the last time the kit will be issued as Round 2 is going to restore the molds to their original Petty Nascar configuration.

The fact that R2 now owns the molds from AMT, MPC, as well as Polar Lights gives them access to kits dating back to the 50's...AND the ability to change those molds , or to restore them to the original configuration without dealing with the hastle of dealing with the owners to get permission.

R2 also got the rights to the names Polar Lights, AMT, and MPC, as well as all the original art work for the boxes and instructions.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

Did I accidently enter a time Warp? This posting is well......ancient.


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## falcondesigns (Oct 30, 2002)

dreadnaught726 said:


> Did I accidently enter a time Warp? This posting is well......ancient.


Considering that they just announced this a week ago,I'd say you were Lost in Space.....................


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## derric1968 (Jun 13, 2003)

dreadnaught726 said:


> Did I accidently enter a time Warp? This posting is well......ancient.


No, actually. This is indeed new news. You see, before now, Round 2 was simply leasing those brands from RC2/Learning Curve/TOMY. Now, Round 2 owns them lock, stock and barrel.

It seems that TOMY is not interested in the model kit business.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

I stand corrected


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

That's great news about the 1/16 Petty charger.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

derric1968 said:


> Interesting news. Round 2 now owns Polar Lights, AMT and MPC outright. I'm not quite sure what to make of it just yet but it sounds like it has the potential to be good news. It sure would be nice to see these guys get back to making newly tooled kits.
> 
> Click here for the story as posted on Cult's site.


I think that it`s old news.


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## kenlee (Feb 11, 2010)

Perhaps the Barris Bed Buggy will be re-issued now, this was one of the earliest models I remember building that I was really proud of how it turned out.


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## starlord (Mar 30, 2011)

MPC at one time made model rockets with plastic fins and other pats but sill with the paper body tubs. I have to ask, are those kits going to come back?


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## derric1968 (Jun 13, 2003)

bizzarobrian said:


> I think that it`s old news.


Why would Round 2 issue a press release on December 2, 2011, to announce old news?

If you read my post at the top of this page, and read the story at the link in my original post, you'll see why it's new news.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

starlord said:


> MPC at one time made model rockets with plastic fins and other pats but sill with the paper body tubs. I have to ask, are those kits going to come back?


I remember those... I can't see them making a comback, though. I am also not sure if they were an actual MPC developed product or another product that MPC just sold. For example, all of MPC's military models were reboxed Airfix of England kits.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

djnick66 said:


> I remember those... I can't see them making a comback, though. I am also not sure if they were an actual MPC developed product or another product that MPC just sold. For example, all of MPC's military models were reboxed Airfix of England kits.


I believe they were MPC products. They made a Russian Vostok and an American Titan IIIC. I had the Vostok when I was in high school and it was a flying weapon waiting to reek its' wrath on people underneath it! Both were extremely heavy being made of plastic and the inner paper tube, required to prevent the plastic from melting when the parachute ejected, and the small black powder engines at the time barely got the things high enough to eject the chutes. I remember only flying that Vostok once or twice because of that. I could barely get the rather large parachute, necessary to lower the thing safely, into the paper tube which was a relatively small diameter. Personally I am going to build a totally plastic Soyuz and have no desire to buy an MPC flying rocket these days even though I still fly rockets.

Bob K.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I had the MPC Vostok it was a POS. The engines were just printed on the fins so it was all flat. Actually I think I still have that somewhere... I had some Cox rockets too


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

djnick66 said:


> I had the MPC Vostok it was a POS.


This one?

http://www.ninfinger.org/models/mpcvostok/MPC_Vostok.htm

I had one, and thought it wasn't so bad for a model. I use the little nozzles for greeblies now.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Yes thats it. AND now I recall I had two Vostoks. The MPC plastic one looked half way decent. But I had another crappy one with flat fins with detail on paper or decals. There are some ads for the MPC rockets in old Scale Modeler magazines from the early 70s


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I think the other one you are talking about Dave was an old Estes kit from the early '70s. It was rather pathetic and the strap on boosters were simply balsa cutouts with a printed paper glued on for detail. So they modeled a 3D tube as a 2D fin. I never owned one as I knew it was a rather pathetic imitation of what it should be. Here's a link to take refresh your memory:

http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=18628


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Yup thats it. It actually flew VERY well. So as a rocket it did good and better than the clunky, heavy, MPC plastic one.


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## Jay Chladek (Apr 17, 2001)

Those indeed WOULD be nice kits to see come back out again as the MPC Titan IIIC was the ONLY Titan IIIC ever issued in styrene as I recall. Estes did a very nice Titan IIIE many years later, but the MPC kit was all plastic. Both kits were 1/100 scale if I recall correctly. I almost considered getting the Titan when I saw it on a vendors table at IPMS Nationals in 1994, but I was too broke at the time.


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