less common ship models

Yes, there are kits out there:

Japanese resin manufacturer "Kobo Hiryu" manufactures the following kits:

1/700 scale:
South Korean Navy Corvette "Po Hang"
"Singapore Navy Small Vessels"
Thailand Navy Frigate "Naresuan"
Indian Frigate "Khukri"
Indian Frigate "Godavari"
Malaysain Frigate "Kasturi"
Malaysain Frigate "Lekiu"

Combrig resin kits
1/700 Indian Destroyer Rajput

Most of the smaller navies that I can think of have used ships that were commissioned in larger navies. Notable ships are ex-British carrriers and escort / supply ships (India, Canada, Austrailia, Brazil, Argentina, Denmark) and US cruisers / destroyers /(Pakistan, Argentina, Chile, Taiwan, India, Mexico, [West]Germany, and at least one escort carrier to Spain.

Many of these capital ships have been kitted. And there are many aftermarket parts such as comminucation arrays, armaments, and even some upgraded superstructures that can be found to make a Gearing class destroyer represented as it looked in the Argentine navy.

I know I misssed a lot, but those were just some examples. Go to the local library and get the Janes book of warships around the world. It has just about every ship ever commissioned of every registered navy and all the navies the ship served under.

Here is also a website that has ship registers of many navies.
http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/

This makes for some interesting conversion projects eh?

Scott

Another reason is pure economics.

By the time you invest tens of thousands of dollars into a pattern, mold, packing, marketing, and production, you'd better make sure it's going to be popular enough to sell.

Many resin companies produce lesser-known subjects.

Jeff

I guess, most of these navies don't build themselves, but buy from the mayor prodcers such as GB, USA, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France or produce their designs under license. Subsequently the designs seen in those lesser navies will mostly be those of the bigger navies.
My 0,02US$
Cheers,
Guido