Testors Report

By Michael Benolkin

Testors Corporation is continuing to operate well in these lean times in the hobby industry. For 2001, they will continue to focus their energies in the die-cast auto kit market, as well as broadening their line of hobby paints. Testors will also continue to be the North American importer/distributor of the Italeri line of kits.

The only plastic kit news from the Testors line is that they are planning to re-issue their 1/72 B-2A Spirit bomber in a Hobby Shop Only (HSO) Value Pack.

In the die-cast world, they have a variety of automotive kits ranging from 1/43 scale to 1/18 scale, plus a 1/6 scale Indian motorcycle. There are no further releases announced for their line of die-cast aircraft kits.

Price increases among the line of Pactra, Model Master, Floquil and Poly Scale paints appears to have settled down. The folks at Testors explained that many of the paint line prices had not been adjusted in several years, and with the consolidation of the various paint lines into the Testors line of products, adjustments were necessary. These increases offset the costs of small packaging (small bottles), environmental compliance, and continued development of new colors and formulas.

Last, but certainly not least, Testors is supporting a new campaign called "Hands On Thinking" (HOT) to get modeling back into our kids' world by linking parent-teacher organizations with hobby clubs, identifying good role models who can trace their career successes to model building in their youths (and who can articulate these experienced in front of young audiences), and special programs to get kits into the hands of prospective young modelers. For more information on HOT, contact Amy Munice at (773) 973-2077.