Sorry to put this siubject here but I did not know where else to put it...

All of a sudden I see my favorite decal producers dropping like flies and going down in flames?

JWTBAM, BSR, 3 Amigos, all of a sudden its like a plague has inexplicably hit them and they are no longer producing decals....

This concerns all of us, even the kit manufacturers! I have bought many multiples of NASCAR kits becuase of the availability of afermarket decals. I am eclectic in subject choice but I do enjoy NASCAR modeling along with Pro Street, Rods and other subjects!

Now it seems this option has all of a sudden been taken away.....

Does anyone here knwo whats going on?

hey, I am wondering the same thing!
I just got my email newsletter thing from Southern Motrorsports,
and they did not announce their new decal stock because of (as they put it)

"YES, we do have new decals but due to the uproar that has been stirred up on a modeling board, we have taken our listings off our website for now and will not include them in our new items notifications that are being sent out for a while."

What the heck does that mean? Was it this board? What kind of trouble could be stirred up about marketing decals on a board that would have an effect on retailers??

Seems very gonzo. An uproar about decals???

Nobody caused a stink on this board!
More than likely, someone else brought to attention the NASCAR flunkies who's sole purpose in life is to squeeze every penny out of their marketing 'rights'.

Money talks, and 'you know what' walks!
Slixx gave up on NASCAR decals for this very reason. So sad.

Could also have something to do with the Alps printer situation. Many of these aftermarket decal makers use Alps printers. With the discontinuation of support from Alps and the shrinking supply of consummables, many decal makers will be SOL.

The ALPS situation may affect 3 amigo's and Nascals, but certainly not JWTBAM and the silk screened ilk...

I have emailed several people in the industry and I am awaiting an answer....once I get one I will let everyone know....

I am aware of at least one whom is being dragged into court for duplicating the decals that come in model kits.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Peyvhar
I am aware of at least one whom is being dragged into court for duplicating the decals that come in model kits.

Oooh, the plot thickens!

I don't see the point of duplicating kit decals..in fact why do that at all? Thats just plain stupid....

What I, and about several thousand of my closest friends want are the decals that DON'T come in the kits....

By the way Peywhar, who was the unlucky idiot who was doing this?

From the sources that emailed me they basically said it all started when 1 company decided to pull thier new line of decals....

How that suddenly worked against every other decal maker is still way beyond me....

I will not get into who's involved.

It is stupid, and unfair to whoever actually spent the time and money to originate the decals in the first place. All I can say is the party guilty of pirating has been caught before, and for now has ceased operation and it will either be settled out of/or in court. It's not one of the large operations you deal with regularly.
The other decals you mention, like Keith, Bugsy, Freddy or the other guys that come up with their own stuff.... I would hate to see the ALPs, or any other situation, hurt them. We all rely on these little guys at one time or another and when one hurts, we all hurt.

Well stated Peywar!

As an example, I am doing a box-stock collection of Nascar Models called "Nascar Does Hollywood". Its a colleciton of movie sponsored cars (real cars mind you! No phantoms here!) . I have 5 kits completed, a sixth in the works and 15 others to be built. I have already collected all but 1 set of the 21 decal sets needed. I just entered and won in a local IPMS show in the "collections" category with the 5 completed kits and easels and posters.

The breakdown of the decal manufacuturers is as follows:

2 are kit decals (Revell)
2 are Race Scale
1 is Slixx
4 are Just Want to Build a Model
12 are from Alps producers like 3 Amigo's, and Nascals

Of the 6 I have already decalled 3 are Alps, the other 3 are the Silk Screened decals of JWTBAM and Race Scale. The Alps decals look just as good as the others. So I truly understand that w/o the aftermarket Alps producers, this project could not have happened.

I hope to debut the entire collection (again all box-stock) complete with red-carpet base, scale movie posters on easels, stanchions and scale velvet rope, an "Oscar" (from a local trophy company) and a miniature DVD player showing previews from the movies involved at the Orlando Florida IMPS Nationals in 2008.(TENTATIVE-no official word on that event happenning yet-truly hoping though!) (whew!)

In a later post I will show the models I have already completed.

Heres something of note: Because of the availability of the aforementioned decal sheets I have bought 21 more models than I would have without them. Mulitiply that number by the number of others who have also bought extra NASCAR kits because of aftermarket decal availability and that comes out to a significant amount of the NASCAR model kits sold. Hell, I now order by the case whenever a new NASCAR kit comes out...

So Revell needs to take note and some how support the little guy decal companies that are selling kits for them!

QUOTE: Originally posted by DeLaunhardt
So Revell needs to take note and some how support the little guy decal companies that are selling kits for them!

You won't find any arguments against that here!
However, reality has shown us that the 'bean counters' that run the big companies, and NASCAR, need to make a ton more money than the mere pittance they would receive by scale model sales.
Now if these mean counters were model builders themselves,...... Just maybe!

QUOTE: Originally posted by MojoDoctor
Now if these mean counters were model builders themselves,...... Just maybe!

Oooops, I meant to say 'bean' counters here but maybe Freud would offer a different explaination for my bad typing.

money makes the world go round

Yes, But Revell needs to sell models tostay in Business and these decal makers do just that!

I mean think about it..I just bought 6 different 2006 aftermarket sheets...I'll be buying 7 2006 Earnhardt Jr. cars when they come out in December..thats 6 more than I would have bought with out the Powerslide and others aftermarket decals...

But if Revellogram is trying to sell models with decals that they've had to pay high royalties to obtain, they aren't going to be too happy about someone else trying to muscle in on their business by not paying said royalties.
Now, if someone is ripping off their work, they will obviously go after them with a full contingent of lawyers.