It might just be me.
I’m not an armor builder, and though I acknowledge the fine builds, the interest such machines can generate, and that armor is, I believe, second only to aircraft as the most modeled subject, there’s been a lot of tank heavy FSM issues of late. And, the annual issue is very tank heavy, or it appears to me, this year.
This isn’t a complaint, just an observation. Perhaps there’s a very good cycle of armor builds currently out there and within the confines of FSM issue budgets, that’s what’s good to go in right now.
I just noticed as I was reading through the current stuff, " there’s lots of tanks recently." Of course, being a ship, aircraft and sometimes space guy, like I said, it might just be me.
Anyway, keep up the good work guys.
I think FSM follows trends like any other magazine. Fact is, more companies are putting out armor rather than aircraft on a monthly/quarterly basis. As that market goes, you’ll see more emphasis on armor. Let’s face it, Dragon/DML puts out some obscure variant of a Tiger I or Panzer III/IV or Sherman all the time because they know there is a strong market for it. No different than Hasegawa re-releasing F-4 kits with molds from 1985 with new decals for different units/countries/etc.
As someone who does a fair amount of both, even the kits I have lean closer to the 60/40 armor to aircraft split, maybe even a bit higher. I think that most companies don’t release much in the way of aircraft because (my opinion) the licensing requirements from the A/C manufacturers.
The latest issue of FSM “New Products” shows about a 50/50 split in new products. I suppose Minicraft could go all “Dragon” and release every single airline livery 737 as a separate kit. I kid, of course, but that’s about how I see it.