I have had a similar suspicion recently. If you look at the new releases (at least in FSM), it seems that ship model releases are definitely down vs. 10 years ago. Like many of the replies already state, space can be an issue for displaying the finished product, and I really am not prepared to drop to 1:700 scale with my declining eyesight and less steady hands. Having served as a surface warfare officer in the early 90s, we had so many more varieties of ships: the Belknap and Leahy class cruisers, Spruance and Kidd class destroyers, Perry and Knox class frigates, Ticonderoga class cruisers, etc. Now, most navies are standardizing on a design or two, which limits the variety of ships you can build (see: Arleigh Burke class). I personally would like to see more Cold War ships, but that is my personal bias. I’m building the USS Hornet for my dad, who served onboard in 1959. After that, I will build the USS Chandler and USS Enterprise, my two ships. Collectively, these three will probably take me the better part of the next half decade (if not longer). That too can be part of the problem–there’s not much in the way of instant gratification when it comes to shipbuilding–no Weekend Editions here! For that reason, I build aircraft and have at least 1-2 helos or planes going in parallel to keep things interesting. I would love to see more ship models, but my guess is that the model companies would build them if there was demand, so I would say that the decline is real, sadly.
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