OK, so this isn't really a page with frequently asked questions. The whole web site is frequently asked questions!  This is, however, a page about the FAQ thread that ran at the top of the BB for two years.  It's also about a few other frequently asked questions about products that popped up on a regular basis and the answer to the ultimate question (no, not 42), what is the Most frequently asked question.  I've also thrown responses to questions about chase kits.

How It All Began

On 12/29/03, Pygar started this thread:

What would you put in a PL FAQ?

Pygar: We're seemingly all getting tired, and sometimes a bit cranky, over seeing the same stuff over and over, and clearly a FAQ is needed. A list of kits that won't happen and why would be a good start... Big Frankie and the TV Batmobile come to mind, and the reasons are different enough that they could serve as examples for the two parts of that FAQ... legal reasons and not enough probable return.

But there are other things, and more fun, that need to be pointed out to newbies, too, who would otherwise have to ask "Who's Lucille" and "Pardon *what* hamster"?

What would you put in such an FAQ, and how would you word it? What all keeps coming 'round again?

What Happened Next 

On 3/15/04, JamesDFarrow posted this thread which stayed as a sticky on the PL board until 3/7/06.  On that date, it was unstuck since much of the information it contained was out of date and no longer relevant since PL no longer existed.  The thread is still out there but we thought it should be preserved here as part of Polar Lights history.

JamesDFarrow: These are the most frequently asked questions that Polar Lights receives concerning their line of model kits, future plans, etc...

They have been compiled here, in one place, for easy reference. They have been reviewed and approved by PL and are deemed to be correct at this time. However, PL does retain the right to make corrections, additions, and/or deletions at any time, as situations may change.

POLAR LIGHTS QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 

1. Where can I buy Polar Lights models?
   Polar Lights models are hard to find if you are looking for a location that carries the full line. A wide assortment can be found at some on-line retailers, Polar Lights website and some independent hobby stores like Hobby Lobby. Most independent stores, if asked, will often order a specific kit if they do not have one in stock. However, you will usually find only the more recent kits at mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, and on-line retailers. For a list of on-line retailers you can refer to the following “Where To Buy” section of the Polar Lights web site: http://www.playingmantis.com/pl/where_to_buy.php
    

2. What does the Skill Level on the box refer to?
   The Skill Levels are classifications indicating the level of difficulty a model is assigned. Skill One Level models are usually snap-together kits, are generally easy to build, and usually don't require glue or paint. Skill 2 Level models usually require glue and paint and are generally of an intermediate difficulty to build. Skill 3 Level models require glue and paint and are generally for experienced modelers. They are not recommended for beginners as they can have hundreds of parts and may also include parts of different materials (resin, metal, etc...). There are exceptions to the above but these are generally the types of Skill Level kits that you will come across.
    

3. Where can I get Replacement Parts for Polar Lights models?
   If there were parts missing in the model you bought you can contact the Customer Service at 1-800-MANTIS-8 [number still works BTW]
    

   How can I tell if the Polar Lights kit I have is molded in Styrene or ABS (Acetyl Butyl Styrene) Plastic?
   All of our new kits since the Lost in Space® Cyclops™ have been injected in styrene. A general rule of thumb for identifying an ABS (Acetyl Butyl Styrene) kit from styrene is that styrene kits are generally beige in color. The earlier Polar Lights® kits molded in gray or "Glow" are ABS. ABS also bears a faint rubber-like smell when compared to styrene. However‚ as with most "rules"‚ there are some exceptions. While parts of the Lost In Space Jupiter 2™ are gray‚ it is styrene. The Snap Draggins™‚ snap together cars‚ which are molded in assorted colors and the Green Hornet™'s Black Beauty™‚ molded in black‚ are all styrene.
   
   As you know‚ most model kits on the market today are produced in styrene plastic. We chose to create our earlier model kits with ABS plastic. However‚ certain cements formulated for styrene do not bond well on ABS material. If the kit you are working on was molded in ABS plastic, the most common, or "tube", cements will not bond well because they lack the strong solvents needed to bond with ABS plastic. We suggest you use the following glues when assembling any kit molded in ABS:

    

   
   
   All the glues mentioned here are only a few of the glues available that work with Polar Lights® kits and are available at your local hobby‚ hardware store, or from your favorite hobby catalogue.
    

4. Which kits by Polar Lights® are not reissues?
   The following kits are not previous releases: the Jupiter 2, The Wolf Man™ (both cold cast porcelain and styrene versions)‚ the Psycho House® (Bates mansion)‚ the new Mummy™‚ all six Snap Draggins kits‚ the four KISS® figures‚ the Funny Car kits‚ the Legend of Sleepy Hollow™‚ the Crash Bandicoot™ snap together model, All NASCAR® kits, Phantom of the Opera™, Michael Myers Halloween™, Three Stooges®, Yellow Submarine™ (the Beatles), Scooby-Doo™ Mystery Machine, Jetson’s™, Titan AE™ Drej Alien, Speed Racer® Mach 5® snap and glue kits, 16” Godzilla®, and the C-57D™ Spaceship.
    

5. Will Polar Lights be re-issuing the Aurora Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Kit?
   Polar Lights has stated before that this kit is not currently in the plans for re-issue. The kit was not one of Aurora's finest efforts, is not one of the Universal Movie monsters, and does not represent the movie version of the characters. It has too limited an appeal to make it commercially viable.
    

6. Will Polar Lights be re-issuing the Aurora Gigantic Frankenstein (“Big Frankie”) kit?
   Again, Polar Lights has stated before that this kit is also not currently in the plans for re-issue. Like Dr. Jekyll as Mr. Hyde, this model kit has a limited appeal. Even if the kit were sold for $50.00 it is determined that there is not enough demand to justify to costs of producing it. It just isn’t commercially viable.
    

7. Why doesn’t Polar Lights re-issue the Aurora Batmobile from the Batman TV series?
   Polar Lights would love to re-issue the Batmobile from the Batman TV Series. Or perhaps even do a new release. Unfortunately, licensing cannot be obtained at this time. Perhaps one day, but not in the foreseeable future.
    

8. What about other Aurora models? Will Polar Lights be re-issuing any of those?
   Polar Lights does not own any original Aurora molds. Polar Light has never owned any original Aurora molds. Those original molds, that are known to exist, are almost entirely owned by Revell-Monogram. There are rumors of some few tools or pieces of tools that are in other hands, but for the most part all surviving useable Aurora tooling is in Revell-Monogram's hands.
   
   Polar Lights did market several original Aurora items produced by Revell-Monogram for us. Those kits are identified by their kit numbers all being in the 7500 series.
   
   They included Creature From The Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Mummy, Dracula, the Monster four pack (Creature, Wolf Man, Mummy & Frankenstein), King Kong , Small Godzilla, and the Forgotten Prisoner just to name a few.
    

9. Does Polar Lights plan on producing any more Figure kits?
   Figure kits continue to be a segment of the market that Polar Lights has no intention of abandoning. We have been trying to plan such kits on a regular basis and obtain appropriate licensing.
    

10. What are Polar Lights’ future plans and what how do you decide on what kits to produce?
    I wish I could share more details of our decision making process and future plans, but that's not possible. We simply cannot discuss those business details. We have been doing model kits for about 8 years now, and have tried to learn from experience. I can't share details of that experience with you, but it does dictate the direction we need to take.
    
    All we can say is that we will continue in the areas of:
    
    Figure Kits – Polar Lights is continuing to plan future releases.
    Sci-Fi Kits - Today we are firmly committed to several new Sci-Fi kits. The Star Trek License offers several more subjects that should make exciting kits. We think that there is a real demand for Trek kits and plan to continue producing them. There are also several other great possibilities for kits in this category.
    Car Kits – Polar Lights is a division of Playing Mantis and Playing Mantis is a car company. Cars are part of Playing Mantis. Cars are a natural for us and that line will continue to grow. It's safe to say that Polar Lights will be making more car kits along the way.
    
    I know that this is not as detailed as you would like but I feel we have shared a great deal more with you than any other manufacturer that I am aware of. I know of no other manufacturer in the Plastic model business that communicates this directly with customers.
    
    We are trying our best to make Polar Lights grow while continuing to provide kits to the segments of the hobby that have supported us all along.
     

11. Can we make suggestions as to what kits we would like Polar Lights to produce?
    We realize there are a lot of good ideas out there and we appreciate all the enthusiasm out there for helping us decide what to produce. We do read most of the posts on the Bulletin Board (BB), and it’s not just to play referee. We do try and listen to what our customers want. So feel free to make suggestions, but try not to be disappointed if they don't lead to a re-issue of your favorite old kit, or the creation of that favorite subject you have seen in a movie or TV show. We can’t do everything.

Other Product Questions and Notes

Several other questions came up occasionally over the past few years about PL model kits and even if they weren't being submitted, they were sure causing a lot of head scratching.

The Drej Alien

Dave Metzner: Just for the record, Drej Alien was not my idea, (it's a story I can't tell in detail. Just leave it as a licensor who did a great sales job on his property). Let's just say if we had it to do over again that's a kit among several that would probably never have seen the light of day. The sad thing is that it really is a pretty nice little kit, it's just, unfortunately, tied to a movie that was a - what's the polite word? - flop, yep that's the polite word I'm looking for, flop!

As with most companies in this business we have produced a pooch or two along the way. Like everybody else we are possessed of 20-20 hindsight, It's real easy to see our past mistakes (all we need to do is look at the stuff that sits too long in a warehouse!). Without going into a great deal of detail, I'm confident in saying there are between half a dozen and a dozen kits we've released (mostly old reissued items) that I'd never have done, had I known then what I know now.

It's this experience we've gained over the years that results in decisions not to do some kits that we keep getting asked for.

The 1:64 Batman Kits

Dave Metzner: The 1:64 Batman kit problem was never so much a case of poor consumer demand, rather it was a case of poor distribution. Those kits only got the wide distribution that most Johnny Lightning cars do in the last couple months, when Wal-Mart picked them up.

Part of the cause for reluctance on the part of big customers to take the Batman 1:64 kits was because we'd tried 1:64 die cast model kits before the Batman kits with less than sterling results. This had adverse effects on the Batman 1:64 Die Cast kit distribution with several of our bigger customers.
 

There are numerous reasons why any product can have disappointing sales performance. We've seen several of them up-close and personal. It's all part of doing business. Nobody hits a home run every time, not even Barry Bonds. Everybody produces occasional disappointments. In today's business climate it is important for a little company like Polar Lights to make every effort to avoid those poor performers.

War of the Worlds Kits

Chris W: Polar Lights back story time. Both Dave Metzner and Jerry Gustafson had spoken about doing War of the Worlds kits, especially the war machine. Jerry called to see if I could do box mock ups for a presentation that Monday. Over the course of a long week-end I did pencil sketches of possible designs for the kits as well as paintings for the lid wraps. I then had them printed out large format to adhere to PL standard box blanks and shrink-wrapped them for the final display. Because of time constraints I found a non-stop flight from Baltimore to South Bend (or Chicago? Jeez, I forget where I sent them) on Sunday afternoon and was able to get them on the flight for Jerry to pick up that afternoon at the airport. Unfortunately the buyers weren't convinced and the kit ideas never went any further.

Chase Kits Aka White Lightning

Arronax: Polar Lights regularly featured chase kits - usually every tenth (actually 12th) kit. Chase kits were molded in a different color to the "unchase" kits. Where a kit was molded in more than one color, the chase color was the predominant color. For example, the Spindrift was molded in red, green and clear. The chase version was white, green and clear. They did a similar thing with the Johnny Lightning die-casts called White Lightnings.  Chase kits are considered more collectable but really have no additional value unless you are a collector - then it's worth what you'll pay for it. Keep in mind the seller paid no more for it than a regular kit.

Dave Hussey: The models that were issued in a "chase" style generally have a small oval-shaped window in the lower corner of the front or back of the box. You can peek through the window to try and see if you have a standard version or one of the special "chase" ones.

Dave M: Most "chase" kits are 1 in 12.  There were originally 12 kits in a shipping carton.  The plan was one chase kit per carton of 12.  Big kits like Godzilla and NX-01 were 4-carton so chase kits were about one in every three cartons - I'm sure of these numbers because I'm the guy who decided how it was to be done.

After the RC-2 buy out the mix changed a bit.  I think it became 1 in 10 kits but won't swear to it. I sorta lost control of things at that point

The chase kits started with the clear bodied funny cars (the chase kits were clear red in those two kits).  Chase kits are only GLUE kits no snap kits came with a chase version.  This is why 1000th NX-01 has no chase version but the 1:350 NX-O1 does (white)

Definition from the Johnny Lightning website: A White Lightning is a highly sought after rare variation of our Johnny Lightning cars. They are produced at the rate of 1% of the production run (plus or minus 10%) and are randomly packaged into the cases shipped to stores. It does not necessarily have to be "white" to be a White Lightning. You may find one that has only a white chassis or perhaps the body is white or the wheels will say "White Lightning."

An interesting note of fact is that Playing Mantis/Johnny Lightning pioneered the "hunt" type car that has become such a popular item with collectors everywhere.

Most Frequently Asked Question?

This question was asked in the FAQ thread and evoked this response from Steve Iverson and, in typical PL BB fashion, a string of posts that reflected the warped sense of humor of board members.

SteveCultTVManIverson: "Why is there a ridge on the head of the creature kit?"  Followed by "Are you doing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?"

Pygar: Steve -- the ridge is there because (this is a little-known fact) Aurora's kit is of the Klingon version of "Creature from the Black Lagoon"!

Mark McGovern: Pygar, the purpose of a FAQ is to provide factual information, not hearsay. The ridge on The Creature's head has nothing to do with Klingons. The ridge was molded there so Polar Lights wouldn't have to pay royalties to Chris White for the use of his likeness. Harrumph.

Chris W: OK McGovern, funny guy, huh? I'd hate to see some errant bowling ball "accidentally" roll over your entry at Wonderfest...

Beck: PL's making a kit of a bowling ball ???

Mark McGovern: Now you got me shook, Chris. If that's the way you want to put it, there could indeed be a lot of bowling balls rolling around after some of the 'follically challenged' patrons leave when the Lizard Lounge closes.