Rubicon Models acquiring selected Neucraft Models products - CV11 170420

[Rubicon Models]

Rubicon Models had acquired selected Neucraft Models products,
and will continue to produce them in resin at a later stage.



Enjoy!

[tyroflyer]

I'm not sure what the implications are. Does this mean there is no hope of ever seeing the Renault tanks in plastic from Rubicon?

If the intention is to produce a range of 1/56 resin vehicles we would never see in plastic, because the sales figures wouldn't justify it, then I guess I'm happy although a little perplexed.

If it means we might see some resin components to modify Rubicon plastic models to less common variants then great.

[ripley]

Well done ! I was hoping somebody would pick up their line . I just found out about Neucraft a short while ago only to find that their going under . It would be nice to see the Otter picked up as well , as its a very nice kit . If possible I would like to see the turrets sold as separate items , maybe with a resin base to use as Panzerturms on the Atlantic Wall There's just so many small resin and metal companies out there as well as after- market , decals , detail parts and conversion kits , you can't know of them all .  At least once a week I find some cool piece I'ld like to get only to find the companies site is gone and the parts selling for big bucks on ebay 

[Ballardian]

Also very glad to see someone pick these very nice kits up (plus I missed getting the Citroen CV11 the first time around - definately want a couple of these).

[lou passejaire]

i was a great fan of Neucraft models from the beginning , the french AT guns are stunning too ...
did you plan to release the models with decals ?

[Rubicon Models]

i was a great fan of Neucraft models from the beginning , the french AT guns are stunning too ...
did you plan to release the models with decals ?

We are looking into doing some decals for the French light tanks.  It will depends on the time we had for this little project.  We are also making minor changes to the Neucraft models to make them more historically accurate.  Once completed, we will start making them available again in resin.

[tyroflyer]

It will be interesting to see how this goes. I have a Warlord Renault R35 which is okay for the wargame table. Will Rubicon compete on quality or price (or both). I don't have a Neucraft kit to know whether it is better than the Warlord one. I am confident a Rubicon plastic R35 would have been better. The Warlord R35 was bought when there was a discount and posted free by placing an order over 50 pounds, so competing on price isn't easy. Perhaps someone has a Neucraft R35 and a Warlord one and can give a quick overview on how they compare.

Nonetheless I wish Rubicon well because if the ex Neucraft models are a success we might see more resin vehicles and components that are unlikely to be made in plastic (in this scale anyway, all sorts of odd things appear in plastic in other scales).

[ultravanillasmurf]

I wish them well.

I have never seen the originals so I have no idea of their quality.

I have had some dodgy resin kits (including one I bought at Salute last year). My top standard is the Empress own brand  kits (not the HLBS ones). As you are at Salute this year, have a look at them.

[ripley]

Last time I looked  ( last wkend ) the Neucraft site was still up , go there and check out the kits . One tank comes with two different turrets ( vision ports ) , long and short guns as well as open or closed commander hatches . The other has the tail skid and some stowage bits , IRC , tarp , spare road wheel . Really nice kits IMO , real sorry when I heard they were closing down ,though I was SOL ,  now I can still get one from Rubicon

[Pinky]

I'm not in the market for resin tanks - I think it's a poor substitute for plastic when it comes to vehicles, and better suited to terrain and accessories.  But I think you'll find that Rubicon will be able to produce very high quality resin casting.

[tyroflyer]

I guess I'm not as adamant as you Pinky and prepared to give resin a chance. However I share your misgivings. I think underlying my thoughts are any hopes of these tanks being produced in plastic are now further away, if ever. Funny, when it comes to the figures I'm not a fan of plastic at all and far prefer metal.

[ultravanillasmurf]

Resin has its place, but it has it to be good resin and the master has to be of good quality.

One kit I bought at Salute appeared to have been cast in either Aero(tm) or Gouda(tm). Others are cast in Edam(TM) and you spend hours trying to get them straight.

[ripley]

And while the masters for plastic kits will last for years , Tamiya is still using theirs from the 70s ( ok the accuracey of the kit is questionable , but the plastics perfect  ) Resin , with its soft RTV molds is only good for a limited number of clean casts . It seems many try to maximize the number of kits out of a mold and the kits tend to start loosing crisp detail and you get thicker mold lines and flash . Metal molds are the same , some of the Warlord metal tank bits seem to be  1/2 detail part , 1/2 flash , and so badly molded its hard to figure out what the piece is supposed to be . A company that makes limited runs and renews their mold regularly  usually charges more for their product . Do we even want to talk about the quality of some of the resins ?Some are like concrete , others  , as smurf said , cheese 

[ultravanillasmurf]

If you want longevity, have a look at some of the Kitmaster kits that are still available. Admittedly some are looking a bit worse for wear after fifty odd years and three plus owners.

[Rubicon Models]

This is very true that injection moulds last for years, but you need a very good storage facility to store them in pristine condition; otherwise, like all metal, will rust to dust!

With the advancement of design technology, most modern studios now use computers to design or sculpt their vehicles and figures.  To prepare parts for production in either resin or metal, we merely print a new master for moulding. Of course, you must not stretch your moulds to their limits; otherwise the quality will not be acceptable.

Before we started Rubicon Models, our specialty is resin and metal castings and duplications for OEM customers all over the world.  We are quite confident we will be able to do a good job!