History of MK1 Predator Kits.

[Beaky Brigade]

 

My beard is not long enough to know this, but can anyone explain why the MK1 Predator was originally plastic before being replaced with IMO uglier metal / plastic hybrid variants?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Magos Takatus]

I wish I knew. I owned one of each of one of those, the first in my Blood Angel Army and the second when I switched to Crimson Fists. The turret of the second looked positively Orky in comparison to every other variant of the Predator.

[Leonaides]

To ditch the og predator sprue, and concentrate on plastic rhino sprues plus upgrade parts. Same formula as the og whirlwind with a metal top hatch and launcher, and the vindicator with its metal front end and gun. That was their formula for russes, chimeras etc as well. Probably they realised that people were only buying 1 predator but 2-3 rhinos and it streamlined their stock and design process slightly. 

 

At a guess... (speaking as an owner of one og, one box turret, 1 dome turret and 2 baals with the newer plastic turret, I prefer the og)

Edited November 15, 2022 by Leonaides

[Noserenda]

It was a change of direction, they moved from plastic only kits to hybrids for some reason, and a bunch of the old plastics kits went oop before the hybrids even came out (notably the land raider which skipped the whole hybrid era) which makes me think there was some specific issue because the cost of plastic kits is all up front, so it makes sense to keep them in production as long as possible. 

I dont think its a look thing either because on the Predator for example it all seems fine bar the bolter, which matched the rhino ones anyway which stayed around.

As for why the metal predator turret/sponsons changed so much? I think its primarily it changing material so they couldnt build it the same way without it being big ole lumps of permanently falling off metal, well, more than they turned out to anyhow. :D 

[Beaky Brigade]

17 minutes ago, Noserenda said:

It was a change of direction, they moved from plastic only kits to hybrids for some reason, and a bunch of the old plastics kits went oop before the hybrids even came out (notably the land raider which skipped the whole hybrid era) which makes me think there was some specific issue because the cost of plastic kits is all up front, so it makes sense to keep them in production as long as possible. 

I dont think its a look thing either because on the Predator for example it all seems fine bar the bolter, which matched the rhino ones anyway which stayed around.

As for why the metal predator turret/sponsons changed so much? I think its primarily it changing material so they couldnt build it the same way without it being big ole lumps of permanently falling off metal, well, more than they turned out to anyhow. :D 

 

Not to derail my own thread, but wasn't there a legend that the MK1 Land Raider injection moulds were lost at sea while being shipped to a factory where GW did their North American production runs?

[Noserenda]

Sounds plausible tbh, whilst ive not read a savage tell all, all the polite interviews ive read mention or hint at some utter madness during that era :D 

[Slave to Darkness]

The plastic pins holding the turret in place and lascannons in the sponsons were really thin, knock the tank too hard and you have fudged it. Lascannons and heavy bolters snapped off the Landraider easy back then as well. 

[OttoVonAwesome]

Metal was cheap back then. Simple as that. Logistically it made more sense as GW was a smaller company and they couldn't make the molds in house and had to make kits for Guard and Eldar. The trend continued for sometime for kits like the original Land raider crusader and landspeeder variants and other variant kits. Logistics really was the only reason.

[Magos Takatus]

I suppose another reason I didn't consider before was that it was about that time they introduced the Annihilator variant with a lascannon turret and heavy bolter sponsons. I imagine that the additional options in metal would be seen as an advance.

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by Magos Takatus

[Doghouse]

9 hours ago, OttoVonAwesome said:

Metal was cheap back then. Simple as that. Logistically it made more sense as GW was a smaller company and they couldn't make the molds in house and had to make kits for Guard and Eldar. The trend continued for sometime for kits like the original Land raider crusader and landspeeder variants and other variant kits. Logistics really was the only reason.

 

Yeah that's pretty much it. I can't speak for the land raider or predator but I do remember talk of them outsourcing the rtb01 marines to Matchbox who made toy cars.  I expect cheapness and more detail played a large part.

[Xenith]

Yea, I was thinking a combination of the tooling costs for plastic moulds, plus the speed and low cost of making metal moulds, combined with the low metal costs in the late 80's early 90s. GW kept a lot in metal and only really started to shy away from it with the insane tin price increase from Nov 2005 - Summer 2008 where it almost doubled in price. 

[lhg033]

On 11/15/2022 at 9:59 PM, Magos Takatus said:

I wish I knew. I owned one of each of one of those, the first in my Blood Angel Army and the second when I switched to Crimson Fists. The turret of the second looked positively Orky in comparison to every other variant of the Predator.

 

IIRC there were some pretty good Deff dread conversions at the time using the turrets for the body.

 

I was always jealous of my mates having the plastic predator though a young, teen, me didnt dislike the metal ones either.

 I'd always assumed it was an issue with the molds that they stopped these 

HH2.0 is hitting me hard for wanting to get the 'new' versions of these. I'm taking the ork view, boys before toys!

[AlexAbroad]

On 11/15/2022 at 11:39 PM, Beaky Brigade said:

 

Not to derail my own thread, but wasn't there a legend that the MK1 Land Raider injection moulds were lost at sea while being shipped to a factory where GW did their North American production runs?

I remember being told a variation of this by my local GW manager a year or so after it was discontinued. Although he said that the mould had been dropped and either damaged or outright broken beyond repair. 

[JeffJedi]

Not only the turret connection to the hull but the Autocannon itself was very breakable. The weapon mounts  on the Landraider as well.

[Toxichobbit]

That Imperial Fists predator is clearly a fake. It's grab rails haven't snapped and it still has all it's exhausts! ;)

[Dark Legionnare]

6 hours ago, Toxichobbit said:

That Imperial Fists predator is clearly a fake. It's grab rails haven't snapped and it still has all it's exhausts! ;)

Blast from the past...

[Brother Carpenter]

On 11/22/2022 at 5:19 PM, AlexAbroad said:

I remember being told a variation of this by my local GW manager a year or so after it was discontinued. Although he said that the mould had been dropped and either damaged or outright broken beyond repair. 

Yes this was what i was told as well.