[pabianice]

Greedhead alert. SHAME on them.

[HolgerDansk]

Model Railroading hobbyists have run into the same thing with the Union Pacific, which is now demanding a fee from model companies in order to reproduce their logo.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

I don't see how they can get away with this, since it is not generally their intellectual property. Most of these items have been designed at the behest of the U.S. Military and paid for by the U.S. taxpayers.

[shellshocked]

Anbd another childhood hobby shot to hell.

[LTCJ]

A personal observation:
Had it not been for my love of model airplanes and tanks as a kid, I seriously doubt I ever would have gotten two engineering degrees and gone on to work for the defense industry (or the military, for that matter).

I thought there was a practical limit to my opinion of "suits". Speaking as a former kid and current father of a son, a pox on these blood sucking worms.

[Junior]

Oh, fudge. This is going to impact the tabletop gaming community like no one's busines..

[RandallFlagg]

YAAAGGGHHHH!

I'd better get my Peleliu model quick!

[Professional Engineer]

Bloody hell. Now what's Spiderboy going to blow up in a few years?

[Paul C. Jesup]

Using copyrights to screw the producers and consumers, I see they are taking a page from the MPAA/RIAA. And since OUR taxes dollars paid for the real vehicles, I think they owe us a refund.

By the way, I personally collect and build models myself, mainly sci-fi imports (Bandai Gundam) model kits, and I also think this is both extortion and a ripoff.

I think model kit makers will start moving factories to China over this.

[Fzob]

Well once these idiots are out of business they will sell the rights to someone that will again supply a demand. Just give it time.

[Drago]

Nothing on the Revell site about it...they currently have 48 military model aircraft kits listed. See:
http://www.revell-monogram.com
Site may not be updated much tho., and there is no "latest news" section there either.

[LetsRok]

What about my "Monster model" kits? Are the studios going to want a royalty for a Frankenstein, Wolfman, or Dracula model?

[fella]

Tell the greedheads that photos and drawings of their "intellectual property" will make them a lot more money of course newspapers, books etc. will all disappear too.

[avg_freeper]

Do you have the link to the original article?

[marblehead17]

ping

[jim_trent]

This has been happening for some time. It is not something that is unexpectedly new. I collected model airplanes in the late 1950's to late 1960's. Many of the 1/72nd scale WWI and WWII fighters cost 49 cents. Midsized bombers cost 98 cents. Larger bombers were never over $2. Of course, the 1/48 scale were more. I could afford them on a weekly newspaper delivery boys salary.

When my kids were in their early teens, I wanted to introduce them to plastic models. I found that they were more expensive than what you would expect from inflation alone. That has been 10 years ago, but they basically priced themselves out of business. My kids were not interested.

I know that new moulds cost a lot more now, but most of what is being made is being made from the same moulds that were made 40 years ago. They should be paid for by now.

[Tribune7]

The new U.S. Army Stryker armored vehicles are not available because of royalty requirements.

And how much did the taxpayer pay in development cost? Our intellecutal property laws need reform.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Diana in Wisconsin]

But can we still get the glue? That's the best part about model building, IMHO. ;)

[Barney59]

Such a sorry and wasteful loss to the children of today. For these shortsighted corporate lawyers to eliminate 'real-scale' models from our children's shelves is a travesty...

I've gone out of my way to try and purchase "REAL" toys not these strange bubble shaped plastic crap they have for kids today...

Time to buy up the old stock i guess!

[SZonian]

This is a cryin' frickin' shame! I'm starting to get my son (who prefers aircraft) interested in models, and now these b******s want royalties too boot!

I'll get him into armor (my preference) instead!

Cheers!