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

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 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.

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

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...

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.

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 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'm gonna stick with 1/35th.

Steve

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'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.

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

Like me.

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..

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.