1/72nd scale. Did I make a bad choice?

I also started modelling on 1/72nd Aircraft kits. Even though i am now heavily into 1/35th Armour, my 1/72nd kits still out number my 1/35 by at least 2 to 1. Because i build Diorams, 1/72nd was the best choice due to space as well as the wide range of accesories to go with the kits. I can't say i have seen a drop in subjects, if anything alot more accesories are out there now than there were a few years ago. I admit i have seen some items in larger scales that i would like to see in 72nd. But there is enough out there to keep a 1/72nd modeller happy.

I think its more a case of 1/48th catching up with 1/72nd.  But of course, if more people switch or start on the larger scales, the market will dry up. I have noticed when taking part in GB's that those who only build the larger scales seem almost in awe of those of us that build 72nd. But as thats what i cut my teeth on, to me its just normal. And when i do larger scale stuff (i have just started buying a few 1/32nd scale kits) these should be easier as i am used to the smaller scale.

I don't mind 1/48th catching up, i just hope that what your suggesting doesn't come to pass and 1/72nd dissapears.

its never too late to change. i started with 72nd and now im realising AM accessories for 72nd are as rare as hens teeth. However its still a good scale for dios and stuff. just hard to find figures.

There are a few figure sets out there, guess it depends on what aircraft you build. But there are at least 3 WW2 German sets, 2 RAF and 1 US, plus a number of resin figures. There are alos quite a few modern figures out there. The poses sometimes ain't brilliant, but nothing a scapel and putty can't fix.

As for AM, a search on hannats brings up over 3,200 1/72nd aircraft AM sets. You can get just about everything from engines to cockpits, machine guns bombs and PE. Again, i guess it depends on what subjects your building.

I did the same search in 1/48th scale, and found just over 900 more items. Now that did surprise me, but i still wouldn't say 1/72nd is dead yet, and theres enough out there to keep us going.

Average age here is 40 years young, this may hold the clue to the answers you seek as smaller scales are tougher on eyes & finger dexterity.

I should make a mental note to build the small scales until I can not do so as easily.

* Average taken to the second decimal place, over 100 replies were used so it is very accurate.

Nothing a magnifieing headband won't solve. I found that out a couple of years ago when i returned to the hobby afetr a 5 year break. Before, i had never had a problem, but as soon as i started again, i noticed the strain on my eyes. I went a got a headband, problem solved.

But i will deffinatly concur with your mental note, i just hope its later rather than sooner.

72nd is definitely not dead nor going "south".  The internet has vastly expanded my access to AM and effectively I've been able to find everything I've ever wanted/needed to complete a subject.  I work exclusively in 72nd and with some releases coming from Asia I'm starting to get impressed with even the vehicles. 

Tim

By all means build whatever you enjoy doing,otherwise it becomes more of a chore.Like I don't want to do this but I got to get rid of these kits,that's no fun.I say make the switch.

If you feel guilty about all those 1/72 kits hanging around,just post them on ebay or one of the other sights that allow buying and selling.

anthony2779

By all means build whatever you enjoy doing,otherwise it becomes more of a chore.Like I don't want to do this but I got to get rid of these kits,that's no fun.I say make the switch.

If you feel guilty about all those 1/72 kits hanging around,just post them on ebay or one of the other sights that allow buying and selling.

Indeed,

To each his own! Build what suits your fancy, have a few in progress in case you need a change of pace. Nothing wrong with boxing up a kit & starting something new, just remember its harder to complete a kit if in this cycle.

Seems like a lot of us started with 1/72 first.. I am one of them too.. 

Mainly due to the cheap cost of 1/72 scale and abundant of selection too make. As a beginner, I don't want to spoil expensive kit and waste money..

As the skill improve and confident grows, I decide to switch to 1/48 even my display space is quite limited. I will say, i make the right choice. Even my wife is in awe of huge 1/48 model as I recently completed a F-14B which is very huge.

Currently the only thing that stop me going into 1/32 is cost and limited selection of models.

As for TS, I think its still not late if you decide to switch over to 1/48. For WWII propeller fighter ,1/48 is much better. But for huge modern jet like A-6E, F-15 or Su-27, 1/72 is still good for it.

Don't do it, don't make the switch to a larger scale. Build the odd one by all means, but stay true to the faith

And while the larger planes may be impressive, for me you can't beat seing one how you would see it on the ground. Being fixed, bombed up, re-fueled or anything you like. And the 72nd scale kits can be just as detailed as the larger ones, ok that detail is harder to see, but its still there. For me, an aircraft or piece of Armour are not complete until the dioram is finished. Thats the future.

And if to many people make the switch, the companies won't produce the stuff for those of us staying true.

I've been building since about 1956 when we had fit the box scales, solid wood kits, plastic kits with solid wings and other things.

There's nothing wrong with building 1/72nd.  I've been doing it since probably before you were born and still build in that scale.  Like you I have a space problem as well as a cost problem and the smaller scale works well.  If I can't find a aftermarket set for a particular kit I either build it stock or do it the old fashion way and make the parts myself out of plastic or thin metal and tubes.I find that peole these days are too dependant on aftermarket things they have to buy instead of increasing their skills by finding a picture and building what they need.  I have a supply of some resin and P.E. sets  for certain kits but for only a few. If there's a major change like a F-106B or TF-102 I have to rely on aftermarket.  But for things like cockpits, it would be nice sometimes but it's just not that important. 

I do occasionally branch out into other scales once in a while but that's either for a favorite aircraft I've been around (like the F-106) or piece of armor I drove in S.E.A., or a ship or piece of Science Fiction. 

I just started, I originally picked up a 1/72 F-111 and found it too small, both to work on and to my eye. I was getting quite frustrated so I stopped and got a 1/48 and I've been hooked since. Something about 1/48 just looks right to me, not too big and not too small. I also have very shaky hands and I'm only 25, they're just too small for me.

I could see doing at least one or two 1/32 WW2 era planes.

Well, I don't plan at this point to switch scales. It's what I started out with, though I do find myself strapping more magnification to my face than ever before. I like the way they look, lined up in a row together on the shelf as if they were part of some huge static display. My WWII planes even have a few 1/72 scale tanks nearby. My vision is not getting any better, but guess I will keep plugging away as long as I can. It just seems as if there is a shift in popularity, most likely due to the age group of the average modeler.

I started back a few years ago with the mindset that I would be building exclusively in 1/72, as my taste leans towards jet bombers / larger military aircraft. My first few kits worked just fine, B-1B, XB-70............ , however I found myself not much liking the sort of size that things like the F-111, TSR-2 & IV-A were coming out at, they were just too small when completed.

So going against my 1/72 ideal, I did a 1/48 TSR-2 & to be honest far preferred the way it came out. I have decided that since the look & size of the completed model is more important (to me anyway) than sticking to some rigorous scale ideal, that I will now be doing the smaller stuff in 1/48, while continuing to use 1/72 for larger stuff. There are quite a few kits out there that you will not get in 1/48 due to their large size - while I wet my pants at the though of a 1/72 C-5, I figure the same bird in 1/48 would be plain stupid.

Do what you want / like, get something in 1/48 & see how you like it - I don't think the Styrene Police will be knocking at you door for being Bi-Scale.

^My friend just finished Revell's 1/48 B-1, it's 36 inches long, and with the wings extended it's absolutely massive. It's now the center piece of his bookshelf.

I really want to to the the 1/48 B-58, I just don't know where I'd put it

Hi Jimbot58,

I'm all over the place with scales, but as with most of us, did learn on the old 1/72 airfix. The 1/48 scale is great for detail and it is sometimes nice to not have to squint. But paint me pink and call me silly, I still love my 1/72 scale. There is still a fair bit of variety out there and in most cases is still a fair bit cheaper than the larger scales. And then there is always E-bay.

Cheers-Leo

Let's be honest here.  We all know there's nothing wrong with 1/72 scale.  Heck some of my friends build 1/72 scale.  However, God's scale (1/48) is the way to go.   With the odd exception pick up at swap meets here and there of subjects I couldn't resist of course.  Temptation is so hard to avoid!!  In all seriousness I really like the balance that 1/48 affords between having enough space to do some serious detailing (unlike 1/72) without having so much space that it takes two months just to bring a cockpit up to snuff (1/32).  1/32 and AMS are not very compatible unfortunately.

I see no reason to stick to scale.  The first model I built when I got back into the hobby was a Fine Molds 1/72 TIE fighter.  My next kit?  A 1/32 Hasegawa F6F-5 HellCat, followed by another 1/32, a Hase A6M-5 Type 52.

Since then, it's been a mix of 1/48 (majority), 1/32, 1/72 and 1/35 armor.  My theory has been to build the kits that interest me in 1/48, subjects that I really like, or want to showcase, in 1/32 and special interest projects in 1/72.

For instance, most of my planes are 1/48 (P-61, 51, 47, F-4U, F8F, etc.); planes that I want to showcase are in 1/32 (visible Me-262, X-15A-2, X-1) and special projects are 1/72 (Blue Angles lineage, Hot Shots, etc).

-Fred

Why stick with one scale?

I build what I think looks cool. Maybe it's a a 1/72 Ar581 or maybe it's 1/48 Triebflugel or maybe it's a 1/35 Stug or maybe it's a 1/1400 Klingon Vorcha-class Attack Cruiser.

Don't limit your self to a single scale or a single subject. Build what interests you regardless of scale.

dcaponeII

 However, God's scale (1/48) is the way to go.  

Well, if thats the case, i am deffinatly avoiding 1/48th. Anything that he is involved with i stay away from

Well, i do prefer to stick to one scale, for aircrfat 1/72nd and armour 1/35th. Its not nothing to do with cost, not when you see 1/72nd kits around the £50 mark. Its mainly down to the fact that i build Dios and at that scale its alot easier to find all the extras i need. So other than the odd 1/32nd i have no intention of changing scale right upto the point that i go blind.

No...

I agree with Bish, I think a big part of the seeming neglect in 1/72 is just the other scales catching up.

Large kits are trendy right now (1/35 PT boat, 1/72 submarines, 1/32 aircraft, 1/72 Spruce Goose etc) but I'm sure 1/72 is not going anywhere, just taking a back seat for the moment.

It also seems like many of the manufacturers follow up their 1/48, 1/32 kits with smaller versions a year or two later, so if this year seem dominated by larger scales it just means we will be seeing the year of 1/72 down the road a bit.

It's just a matter of what you like. I love 1/72 because I'm not a big fan of spending 50% of the build time on the cockpit details. Also I love to put all sorts of external stores and I have found 1/72 is the way to go.

I love the exotic subjects available in 1/72 (many currently in my stash ) like the Pucara, Nimrod, Ching Kuo, Pilatus PC-7, Hawk mk 100...

Still on ocassion I buy and build 1/48 or 1/144 when I really like the subject and there is no 1/72 offering.

I think manufacturers are trying to make a bigger profit by making bigger and more expensive kits. But 1/72 is not dead, look at releases like the F-16I, F-100, Su-15, Su-27, Lynx and Seahawks helicopters.

First of all, I am not a one scale modeller. However, the majority of my kits (say 75%) are in 1/72. It is a nice scale: price/quality/space is good, possiblities for superdetailing. And most importantly a huge selection of kits and AM stuff.