How Revell Gambled on Dune...and Lost!
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2024
- How does a line of plastic models based on a big-budget sci fi epic, itself an adaptation of a classic novel that had already sold millions of copies, fail so hard that the kits nearly became an urban myth? Join me as I look back at how plastic model kit producer Revell gambled that 1984’s “Dune” would be the next Star Wars…but lost big!
Of the three licensed Dune kits that Revell produced, I’ve only ever built the Ornithopter. I’m still editing several “Vintage Build” videos documenting the construction of this unique kit, as well as a “Showcase” video featuring the completed build. You can find all my Dune-related videos at • Dune
This video was edited with Hitfilm Express, an amazing, easy-to-use, and most of all FREE video editing software package available from www.fxhome.com. No more Windows Movie Maker for me!
Special thanks to:
Brick Mantooth ( / palitoy ) at www.plaidstallions.com for their nostalgia-inducing photos of vintage hobby and toy stores. If this video appeals to you and/or you grew up in the 70s or 80s, trust me…Plaid Stallions is the site (and channel) for you.
Allen B. Ury (www.fantasticplastic.com), Mike Walston, and Marco Scheloske for the images of their Dune builds. You can find more pictures of their work on one of my favourite online places: www.starshipmodeler.com.
Jeff-Z and Smokey the cat for (www.Jeff-Z.com) the use of their photo. Check out Jeff’s site for a lot of cool blog posts about self-described “eccentric hobbies”.
Clips:
"Dune" (1984), Universal Studios / DeLaurentis Entertainment Group
“Star Wars” (1977), Twentieth Century Fox
“The Black Hole” (1979), Walt Disney Productions
“Alien” (1979), Twentieth Century Fox
“Fang of the Sun Dougram” (1981), Sunrise Animation
“Battlestar Galactica” (1978), Universal Studios
“Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” (1979), Universal Studios
“Star Trek” (1966), CBS Television Productions
“The Elephant Man” (1980), Paramount Pictures
“Eraserhead” (1977), American Film Institute / Libra Films
Music:
“Sci Fi”, Bensound Music (www.bensound.com)
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): uppbeat.io/t/paul-yudin/illum...
License code: QNC2W0IIAGOSABU4
“80s-90s-ish”, Stolting Media Group (www.nicknimmin.com) - Розваги
I would really like to see a 1/72 Ornithopter kit from the new Dune.
Any model of the new Ornithopter would be great…but 1/72 would be a perfect size for sure!
Good news, they exist now, there's both types and the harvester.
Made by Meng
Yep, Meng released a 1/1200 scale harvester, as well as the Atreides and Harkonnen Ornithopters in 1/200.
Even better news, a 1/72 Atreides ornithopter is being released by Meng in April 2024!
I can report that I saw a manufacturer's mock-up of the Atriedes Family Transport at a hobby industry show in Chicago in 1984, so I know the kit was planned. Also, thanks for featuring my Ornithopter build (although you spelled me name wrong. Common mistake.)
Crap! Sorry about the spelling error, Allen! I'll go back into the vid to fix it soonest!
I think the transport would have been a really unique model, and nice contrast to the other kits in the line. Ah...what could have been...
Allen - any chance you guys in Fantastic Plastic could do a resin version of the Ornicopter??
Dune was one of my favourite movies ever... loved the production design too, very weird, retro-futurism yet futro-retrisim
My appreciation of the Lynch film waxes and wanes depending on my mood, but I completely agree about the production design…a fever dream of surrealism!
I've wanted the Sandworm kit for years, but looking at the pics I would probably be better off scratch building it. 🤣😂
LOL, I know! The only decent builds of it I’ve ever seen are ones where the modeller does *extensive* modifications to it. I’ve still gotta hand it to Revell, they tried to capture an almost impossible subject to create a kit out of. Perhaps if they went with a smaller scale they could have gotten the proportions better.
Phenomenal editing quality for a first video. Keep up the great work, I'll certainly be checking out all future videos!
Very kind, thank you! I hope you enjoy my future content!
I would have liked a Spacing Guild navigator aquarium kit.
That actually could have been pretty cool…kinda like a ship in a bottle.
@@scaleicons damn… might be a good project. The tank glass will be the hardest part.
I don’t know…it might be possible to wrap thin strips of transparent styrene stock to get those curving sides. The trick would be making sure the plastic didn’t craze where it curves. The more I think about this the cooler it sounds…
I purchased all three kits when they came out years ago. I built the ‘thoper and sandcrawler, but could not bring myself to build the worm - it was too badly designed. In hindsight, I wish I had left all three in the plastic and could be a few hundred dollars richer these days.
But I’m like you; I really liked that Harkonnen ‘thopter. I built it, added a few extra details, but it didn’t last long on the shelf. Moving and bad handling broke off the antenna and guns. It now resides in a box, waiting to be parted into other spacecraft.
The sandcrawler might still have a bit of a future. The wheels are rather close in shape to the beetle-like spice harvester and I’m hoping to cast a few more (seven more, to be exact) to be the starting point of a large scratchbuild of the harvester. That will get them ooh-ing and ahh-ing at Wonderfest!
I wish I could track down an *affordable* sandcrawler, there’s something very unique about the design. No doubt your ornithoper didn’t last because of that incredibly brittle plastic. Thanks for writing in!
Beautiful video! While I never bought any of the original Dune kits, I do remember my local SF hobby shop having them in 1985. But not in any great numbers. By comparison the Robotech Defenders and Changers kits had much wider availability.
Thank you so much! Like I said in the video, I never saw any Dune kits on the shelves in 85 either…but quite a few of Revell’s Robotech kits were stocked in my LHS. They were my first intro to mecha, as the original Japanese kits hadn’t made their way to Edmonton at that time.
So glad I came across your channel! Excellent work. Thank you! Subscribed ☺️
I’m glad you found my channel too…and glad you’re enjoying what I’m creating! I’m a new channel, and have a lot of fantastic ideas in mind so keep watching! Thanks for the feedback!
With the new film series, Meng is trying again.
They sure are…in fact I just read that they’re releasing a 1/72 scale Ornithopter in April!
Great video Scale icons! Believe or not I saw a Revel Dune Ornithopter model kit 2 years ago at a hobby shop across the state line here in New York ... it was going for about $60 bucks. Sort of unfortunatly I chose to purchase the Moebius Model Kitf Ranger 1 from Interstellar ... which right next to it. I enjoyed building the Interstellar model. But do wish I purchased the Dune Harkonnen Ornithopter model kit.
Thanks, David. Wow…$60 is an amazing price! You must be kicking yourself! I’ve been down that road many times myself. Keep your eyes open…you never know when the universe will drop a rare kit in front of you.
To some extent though, it does seem to me Revell didn't really think about what somebody, and perhaps more importantly what a youth, would want. That would be the "hero" ships. I agree picking vehicles that had practically no screen time and were incidental to the story made little sense outside of inherent play value to things with working wheels. Aesthetically going for the Atreides transport would have probably been a better bet: it has way more screen time, is associated with the hero, and looks really great. It's perhaps telling that MPC didn't do TIE fighters until '97. Yes, there are a lot, but they are all identical and piloted by faceless pilots. Now Darth's TIE was a totally different story.
Also it is unfortunate that while there's much that is great of the aesthetics of Lynch's version in many ways the 'thopter designs fall very short of the book description and the classic Shoenherr illustrations for the story. That's not Revell's fault though, that's just what they had to work with. In that respect the Villeneuve version's designs are better for an SF vehicle fan and much closer to the book.
Agreed 100%! The Atreides transport would have been a much better choice than the sandworm diorama. I think you’re spot-on regarding the decision to build ground vehicles. As for the Ornithopter…I still think it’s an unusual and eye-catching design, and it’s one of my favourite builds, but yeah…not much like the book description at all (but imagine those stubby little wings buzzing like a hummingbird’s). The Villeneuve designs are very cool, and I’m hoping for some major love from a kit producer when Dune Part 2 is released in 2024!
It’s also why Bandai stopped offering complete mobile weapon lineups after the original series, and it took a while for even the ones in that original series to be finished. These days, the other Mobile Weaponry are trickled out over the course of HGUC at best.
Fantastic channel, thank you for what you do!
Thanks, Scoops! I’m glad you’re enjoying my content!
Incidentally, I just watched Dune a few nights ago. It was the extended, "Alan Smithee" version. Fantastic video and I've just posted a link to this on my own stupid channel. I'm sure you will do a video on Alien/Aliens kits, and you can send me an email about that. I worked a brief stint at Aoshima five years ago and went to Fox Plaza to pitch a proposed model line to their licensing agent. I never saw the actual kit toolings but I know that they still have some of them, languishing in one of their warehouses. I may be able to answer some questions if you have any. They obtained them from Tsukuda after they went bankrupt. Looking at Yahoo Auctions Japan, the Tsukuda kits rarely ever show up, but the Halcyon and Aoshima kits do.
Hey, stevethefishdotnet…thanks for the great feedback!
I actually am planning several videos on Alien/Aliens kits at some point in the future. I’ve built several (as you can probably see from my channel intro). I will definitely drop you a line when I get round to researching and writing those vids!
Very cool...I remember these models, wish I had them now!
They’re sure hard to come by, but keep your eyes open at flea markets or model shows…you never know WHAT you’ll find!
I would want those models now.
And I can't wait till you do the the robotech models. I still have some of those and the comic.
I hear you…my ornithopter build was very satisfying, despite the challenges and shortcomings posed by the kit. I’d love to get my hands on that sand crawler too!
I bought all 3 of them in 1985. Still unbuilt. Soooo glad I bought them. :-)
Now THAT’S an investment. The only question to ask yourself now: sell or build?!
Great Video!
Thanks very much, John! It's my first-ever video and I sure learned a lot about editing. I have lots of other videos of a similar nature planned...but I have to finish editing the rest of the videos chronicling my Ornithopter build.
You gotta be kidding! Those models are really cool! I always liked them! They stand out because they're totally different than any sci'fi models we've ever seen. And what about the new dune models? They're even better! I love them because they look clunky so far away in the future!
Luca, I agree…those designs are pretty damn cool (well, except for maybe the Sandworm as it appears out of the box). I wish the designs from the new movie were available as mass-produced kits as well…but I think the industry has changed significantly since 1984. With WB having announced Part 2, and with the “Sisterhood” series being developed for HBO, perhaps a major manufacturer like Round 2, Revell, or Bandai will come to our rescue with some new kits.
Great video and very interesting. It's a pity that the movie and the models failed as hard as they did. While not my favourites, they truely are unique designs.
Thanks! Like everything else in the movie, the designs are definitely unique.
Pro-tip: If the movie sucks, the model probably will not sell...
Yep, that’s a good indicator, LOL
Very informative video. Isn’t there a new version of the movie Dune coming out soon. Do you think there will be a new generation of Dune plastic models?
There sure is! WB's big budget prestige release is finally coming out in October of this year. I'm hoping some new kits will be released, from what I can see in the trailer there are some interesting designs. I haven't heard of any licenses being picked up by the big producers yet, but fingers crossed.
God I would to get those now!!!!
I think I am the 593rd subscriber. What did I win?! I want a revell Battlestar Galactica, Galactica. A cylon raider, a vipers. A Bandai stormtrooper, and a sandtrooper.😛👍
I’ve got a box of old Marvel Comics “no-prizes” in the basement…I’ll send you one 😉
Maybe revell should've made decent molds. 🙄
I can’t speak to the quality of the moods for the Sandworm or Sand Crawler, but the mold for the Ornithopter wasn’t *terrible*…detail was surprisingly sharp, there were definitely a few fit issues with assembly. The real problem was the quality of the styrene…it was as forgiving as peanut brittle!
@@scaleicons 😄 I've heard revell spoken of as a scratchbuilders dream specifically for the fit issues.
Detail has always seemed fair and I'm still recycling tarp bundles and scattered panels found at the bottom of my bits box from my wonky m113. If the individual pieces takes glue at all. 🤪
Edit(2): like it's not 90s italeri levels of distrust but I'm cautious on approach cause at minimum the thing should be joinable or what are we even doing. 😄