I was at the LHS today, and shot the breese with “the boys” for about an hour. Of course the “hot” topic was Tamiya’s marketing plunge into the 1/48th releases, supposedly about to take us all by storm. I gotta tell you, my informal straw poll wasn’t very encouraging. There were quite a few armor guys in today and they seemed to think that Mr. Tamiya should take note of the Bandai 1/48th craze a few years back…pop! then fizzle. I got the impression that giving up on 1/35th (“the perfect scale for armor”) was going to be a tough sell. Especially with Dragon, Academy and even Trumpeter releasing a huge variety of kits with all the goodies in 1/35th. I know personally, I don’t want to go any smaller than 1/35th. Thoughts?
I think, that smaller, is harder, and less detailed in the box. Therefore, I am all for 1/35, and I do know, that smaller kits can have good detail, its just that Im not wild about tweezers!
If I’m correct 1/72 used to be the staple for aircraft, now it’s 1/48. 1/18 diecast cars are big sellers. The pattern is set, enthusiasts prefer detail which shows up better in larger kits and models. I for one, will not be disappointed to see Tamiya fall on their rears.
I know I’m not going to be buying any 1/48th scale stuff any time soon, if ever. It has taken me decades to collect all the things that I want to build in 1/35th. I have dozens of bins, boxes and bags of spare parts, fiddly bits, arms, legs, diorama supplies, decals and everything else one needs to play with. I’ll be dipped in dog doo if I’m going to do this all over again in another scale. [#dots]
I don’t think that any scale is “doomed”. If some garage kit of an extremely interesting subject came out in 1/60 scale, someone would buy it. I wouldn’t, but someone would.
I just think that Tamiya is potentially shooting itself in the foot. As more and more modelers begin to associate Dragon, Academy, et al, with the latest and greatest in 1/35 scale, even some of Tamiya’s impressive 1990’s era kits will begin to become obsolete. I don’t believe that their sales of 1/48 scale kits will make up for this loss in revenue.
I have 200+ armor, soft-skin, and gun kits in my stash and they are all 1/35 scale. Well, except for one 1/72 scale Dragon Tiger I and that kit will be donated as a door prize during our local modeling show next year. Based on the reviews I have seen thus far of the Tamiya 1/48 releases, even if they were 1/35 scale, I don’t think I’d be buying the kits.
id like a few jeeps or kubelwagens, if there on offer but thats it
the price of the 1.48th kubel is £9.99 and the 1,35th is £10.99
i prefer 1.35th and with the new kits coming out Tamiya can go and jump
Im building the 1/48th tiger right now and I think its a great build. Their cheaper in price you fit more boxes of em in your stash and when there finished you can store more of them in your display cabinet. What more can you ask for?? : 0
I will problably get at least one of them when I get home just to see what all the hubbub about. I like to build 1/48 scale aircraft dios, and a select few 1/4 scale vehicles such as a duce and a half, willies jeep, and a humvee would be great. As for modeling pure armor, 1/35 scale gives me more visual appeal for my dollar. Just my two cents.
1/48th is the staple of Aircraft now, but the last couple of years has seen an explosion in 1/32nd kits, thanks to Hasegawa, Trumpeter and to a lesser extent Tamiya. To me the only drawback to bigger is room to display. I like 1/35th because you can detail the heck out of them and not go blind in the process. I personally will not be buying any 1/48th kits just because I think 1/35th is the perfect size- not too big not too small
The new Tamiya 1/48 armor kits are great. Beautiful detail, nice prices. I’ve got the Tiger I and M4 Sherman, and I’ll be getting the M4A1 and M10 when they are released next month.
Having said that, however, 1/48 is a bit too small for me.
Me likes me armor big![:D]
I find it interesting that there is already talk of this new wave of 1/48 armor being “dead” when it’s only been out for a month or so now. A bit premature, I think.
Give it a chance!
Frankly, I love Tamiya’s kits. Yes, they are expensive but I really enjoy not having fit problems. I wished they would release some more 1/35th on a pace closer to Dragon’s.
Tamiya may be able to establish a niche with this scale with newer modellers but I think most who’ve already invested heavily in tooling and supplies (not to mention stashes) of the 1/35 stuff will stick with that scale as opposed to branching off into 1/48. I agree it’s still way too early to see how this will all play out but I don’t see too many established builders switching sides with the likes of Academy, Dragon, Trumpeter, AFV, etc. all too willing to fill a gap left by Tamiya in the 1/35 realm.
I think, that they did this so they could tie their planes and tanks together-like joining the dark with the light side. Nice to know, you can now do a tiger getting strafed by a p51, without going crazy with an old kit…but…i like my scale, since parts aren’t to small yet(also i break and drop a lot, so smaller is not better for me)
I think 48 is good of your making diramas but when you want to see what a piece of armor really looks like then 35 fits the build.You can do more with 35 on srcatch building then in 48.Digger
I like the price of 1/72 kits and some are pretty detailed. (dragons new stuff)
The only thing that I would use 1/48 would be for a dio of a crashed plane. But even then I would have no figs for it, and I could just as easily go into 1/72 wich will save money and space.
I like 1/35 because of whats stated above. You can detail the heck out of them. And, There are a ton of accessories i.e. figs, buildings, Etc.
So, I dont think I’ll be in for any 1/48. There is really no reason to.
I like the 1/48 stuff (have a Tamiya Kubelwagon I won as a door prise) Tamiya is bringing out lots of nice detail in these kits, but what I dont like is the price. I saw the Tiger 1 kit at my hobbie shop and it was almost 30.00 dollars, I thought they were doing this cause of cost. I can buy a 1/35 Tiger on line for almost the same amount. I think its nice to have another scale cause I’ll build anything but I want to see some value for my money too.
I personally think they should make aircraft(maybe just fighters) in 1/35 instead of armour in 1/48. However i will give the 1/48 stuff a go just to see if my digits can cope… we shall see.