Is 1/48 scale armor the wave of the future?

1/48 isn't the future for me as a builder at least. I like 1/35 for the fact that it presents things in a manageable scale (for me at least) and while Tamiya is choosing to go this route, the other three big producers (Dragon, Trumpeter, Academy) as well as Italeri and AFV Club are wedded to 1/35 for their forseeable future. Rather than find a way to reduce their prices and remain competitive in the 1/35 arena, Tamiya is trying to do the same while opening up 1/48 as an exclusive market. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see their 1/48 kits priced in the same "cheaper" range as Dragon's 1/35 for example. Add to this the fact that Tamiya is going with link and length and it doesn't hold much appeal for me to try them out.

I agree with you Eric that the armor/AC dio combination potential is over-rated. The group that would build both AC and armor together as well as construct dios is a pretty limited market segment I would think.

I think 1/48 stuff will appeal more to those of us that also build 1/48 aircraft..
I don't think it will take over 1/35, but it will be big..

It is a stepping stone for those who just cannot stop building the little armor.

Like me.

I'd by the 1/48 if on for space considerations. i'm runing out of space and pretty soon, if not already, i will not have anywhere left to display my 1/35. I also have kits of other scales too. i finally had to take the 1/48 I do have and put them on my desk at work because I am short on space in the livingroom entertainment center. However since i now have about 3 more 1/48 in various stages of completion I still have a potential space problem. I haven't tried 1/72 but it is now very much in the forseeable future though they won't replace my 1/48.

I'm a bit sceptical about the new 1/48 scale. I think that the succes of the new "little armours" will come only if other manufacturers choose to follow Tamiya and create in that way a large and varied market... how many kits Tamiya alone will be able to introduce every year to stimulate the interest of the modellers?

1/35 scale offers so a large amount of conversion kits, detail sets, metal barrels, separate and workable track links.... that I'm wondering how much time the new 1/48 standard needs to achieve a comparable mass of correlate stuff....

Regards,
Luciano B.

I'm gonna stick with 1/35th.

Steve

I build a lot of 1/72. If the detail is alot different I might find myself with a new scale. But one thing is for sure, I will always be building 1/72 and 1/35, no matter what.

I like building 1/72 so I could be tempted to try some 1/48.

I don't have alot of space right now so I have sort of put aside my 1/35 projects and just been doing the small stuff.

I plan to try it to see what its like.

I hope not. 1/35 is about the limit of smallness I want to work on. Bigenough to have fun with the detail bits but small enough that with some careful consideration can fit comfortably in the alloted display space I'm given by my wife.

Who knows though, if it is the wave of the future, we may have no choice. Till then I want to keep an eye on DML, Trumpeter and some of the newer companies gearing up to see what they will be releasing.

Given the reasons that Mr Tamiya gave J-hulk, that it was a cost saving and was decided as a new marketing angle (less expensive kits generating more sales) it may be the view of things to come.

great.......first computers are made micro small, now models.

Not for me!

I have over 150 armor/vehcle kits sitting in the closet and they're all 1/35 scale. Even if there were never another 1/35 scale kit produced, I have plenty to keep me busy over the next 10 years or more.

Enjoy your modeling...

How about 1/19th or 1/63rd or 1/79th?

I guess with a 1/48th armor you show a SdKfz 251 guarding an airfield full of 1/48th Me-109's. But little or no autos in 1/48th, other than the Kubelwagen. So the pilots would have to walk into town to their favorite watering hole!

I have often wondered why there is not a 'universal scale' to present more than one type of modeling genre? Oh yeah...other than 1/72nd!

Glenn

I think its all to do with Hamburgers !!!! There is a universal price that people are willing to pay for a hamburger. No-matter where you go the price is generally the same...now if Mr McDonald want to make more money he cant up the price of his burger due to cost the top price people want to pay, therefore, he has to put less meat in his burger to make more money...i.e. Mr Tamiya is just doing the same with his models....puting in less plastic. Now heres another thing have you noticed, the introduction of 1/144 armour ???? is there a trend going on here? I dont see too much of a connection between aircraft and armour in so far as scale goes. Is there really that big a market for mixed aircraft armour dios? Poeple do it today with 1:35 and 1:32 anyway. We would never dream of expecting aircraft to swit\ch to 1:35 or armour 1:32 (but this would be the solution if mixed subject were the issue). I think its all down to pricing we will soon see a new pricing scheme. 1:35 will go up 1:48 will take the place of 1:35 and 1:72 will go up too....leaving 1:144 to fill that void. And what will the future customer do...well they will keep on buying our standard Burger i.e. the pocket money 1:144 and the sensable 1:48 because they are the RIGHT price.

For me personally, I don't see a need for the new scale. I don't blow through modelling projects fast enough to be priced out of the 1/35 market. If I want a change of pace and wish to build something out of the box for cheap, Dragon is putting out some pretty decent stuff in 1/72.

As far as the pricing considerations, I don't always understand where Tamiya is coming from anyway. Their M4A3 Sherman circa 1981, is a decent kit that retails for just under 20 bucks. Their newer M4 (Early Production) uses a lot of the same sprues as the earlier M4A3, but retails for about twice taht of the earlier kit. It's a good kit and I don't regret having purchased it, but considering all the common parts with the earlier and far cheaper M4A3, I wonder if there it's retail price is artificially high? If Tamiya feels that it won't be able to sell its 1/35 kits because their price is so much higher than Dragon, I wonder why they would expect to do brisk business in 1/48 which I'm guessing would only be somewhat cheaper than Dragon's 1/35. I figure that a majority of serious builders would kick in a bit more money to build Dragon 1/35 rather than Tamiya 1/48.

However, the one bright spot here could be with younger modellers. I know when I was a kid, I couldn't afford good kits such as those from Tamiya and was forced to build mostly Revell, a lot of which were pretty second rate. If they're inexpensive enough, they might provide a good source of decent kits for todays kids, giving them something inexpensive enough to afford, while also being big and detailed enough to allow them to develop their skills.

I hate to say that I would welcome a 1/48 scale as I build almost exclusivly 1/48 scale aircraft and wouldnt mind posing an armed HMMWV next to one or Avengers doing ABD. I aslo like the idea of 1/72 dios with cargo planes loading armor. A 1/48 or 1/35 C-130 w/ HMMWV's rolling out the back would be rediculously huge. That said, I wouldnt mind seeing more 1/35 scale helo's for armor dio's either

hmmmmmmmmm cargo plane loading armour eh ..... very interesting.......would need some fine detail in the cargo bay..... and some nice little light armour pieces. Maybe doing a TALO drop off ..... getting my juices going here

As I mentioned in another forum, I think that there are many estalished aircraft modelers who will view this as a good move and use the 1/48 vehicle kits to build interesting dioramas. They only have to build one new kit and put it with an aircraft that they may have already completed. However, I think there are fewer established armor modelers who will view this as a good move. For an armor modeler to build the same diorama, they need to not only build a new aircraft kit (a genre they may not enjoy), but also shift scales and build a new armor kit. There are established armor modelers out there who will make this shift...I'm just not one of them.

Enjoy your modeling...

I don't think 1/48 is intended to replace 1/35. I think they've discovered 1/48 to be an untapped market and that 1/35 has been over saturated by all the recent releases. They have quite a selection and panographing the 1/35 kits down to 1/48 should be much cheaper than creating new kits in 1/35.

1/35th all the way for me!

as for mr tamiya, they make quality kit but it's all brutally overpriced.

they had better watch their behind, otherwise soon people will just buy hassy/trumpeter/dragon...and they will become irrelevant...AND they take an age to release new stuff!!

I hope we don't see a major shift. Among other reasons, those stubby things on the ends of my hands don't handle the small stuff very well. If Tamiya want to add a scale, so be it, but if they want to move from 1/35 to 1/48, I think they'll be in for a hiding. AM being as important as it is now, a lot of modelers will avoid kits if they can't buy AM for them. All the AM manufacturers work in either 1/35 or 1/72 or both. I don't think they're going to want to change just to suit Tamiya.

QUOTE: Originally posted by buff All the AM manufacturers work in either 1/35 or 1/72 or both. I don't think they're going to want to change just to suit Tamiya.

Perhaps, but another market opens for them guys as well. Question is: will it be cost effective for them? Well, someone is bound to pour their resources into it.

QUOTE: Originally posted by tigerman QUOTE: Originally posted by buff All the AM manufacturers work in either 1/35 or 1/72 or both. I don't think they're going to want to change just to suit Tamiya. Perhaps, but another market opens for them guys as well. Question is: will it be cost effective for them? Well, someone is bound to pour their resources into it.

I think you're going to see a hide-and-watch approach on this front for at leas the first year as they monitor sales and #/type of kits released and their popularity or lack thereof. AM stuff requires a certain critical mass of demand to be profitable, same as with the kits themselves. Current AM mfgers can cover lower demand on certain items on the 1/35 scale arena with broader more popular stuff because the market is broad enough to allow it. 1/48 being as new as it is will definitely see a trial-by-fire while still in its infancy. Only time will tell on whether this turns out to be the greatest decision or greatest flop of all time in the modelling world.

Somehow, I don't see a major shift to 1/48 armor happening any time soon. True, Tamiya is pushing at it, with, well lets face it, a mediocre at best listing so far. The rest of the 1/48 armor offerings are very limited as well. It will take years for manufacturers to begin to put out some of the things wanted in 1/48. Now, unless through these years people stop buying 1/35 armor, I do not see it losing it's crown.
As for me, I'm going to stick with 1/35. Pleanty still out there for me to buy and build, even if they stopped making them now. And I feel that most armor fans will wish to stick with their 1/35 offerings.

I build almost exclusively in 1/72 for aircraft and armor and I have some of the new 1/72 ships (LVT and Revell's U-boat) high on my priority list. The appeal of this to me is to have that universal scale for comparison accross genres and for the opportunity of diorama building though I have not yet delved into that. I recently picked up Revell's Ju 290 and plan to have a couple of light armor pieces rolling out of it. Or how about some tanks rolling out of an LVT (this is now possible in 1/35 I realize)? The big concern for me of course is display space. As someone mentioned earlier, at 1/48 a military transport with armor would require a table top rather than shelf space. Or how long would a 1/48 U-boat be? I doubt I would switch to 1/48.

Now if only somone would make an electric train set in 1/72 scale...

Dave

I agree that 1/48 will have its own market. But for me, I'll stick with the 1/35 for the time being.

Well, perhaps some vehicles for dios with aircraft in 1:48 (jeeps, kubelwagen, GMC,etc..)...only this...
I like 1:35 scale for military models that´s it....

And here I've been the whole time, foolishly waiting for 1/25 scale to make a comeback...

well I build both A/C and Armor, I remember Tamiya was mostly Armor and very few A/C but now I guess the powers that be in the Tamiya Corperation wanted to expand their views and dab into the A/C modeling business, and back in the 70's Tamiya DID run 1/48 scale Armor kits but then 1/35 scale became the norm for Armor and 1/48 for A/C, also Bandai produced 1/48 scale Armor and I think even today they still do it but it's not really in the U.S. market, I'd like to see the 1/48 Armor and even 1/72, because I really don't have that much space for Both A/C & Armor (and I think it'll make one realize on the size of a tank to a plane or helo if they share the same scale)

QUOTE: Originally posted by J-Hulk And here I've been the whole time, foolishly waiting for 1/25 scale to make a comeback...

Never fear J-Hulk, there's always 1/16!

Speaking of which, what have you been doing with your T34? [:0]

Well the way i see it what more can Tamiya possibly produce in 1/35 that really isn't a variant of something that isn't already out. There are a few odd-ball vehicles and such that have not been produced but how much demand is there for them. I guess the only logical step IS to try another scale... It would seem to be the only way the military model portion of the company can survive. Many of the kits they have now are older kits or retooled older kits. There is not enough new armour to fuel the market for Tamiya. It's not like the auto industry where new cars and variants pour out almost monthly. just my