The Ship Model Forum

Any culture that supports endless iterations of mindless cinematic formulas like the standard "man rescuing his daughter from evil men, and killing 200 of them", can support endless iteration of Japanese warships, American aircraft carriers, and Bismarck. I can understand being fascinated by the night fighter variants of the German Bf 110, and wanting to have models of the myriad schemes, and configurations, but who builds 100 Yamatos? There must ne many.

A lot of competing 1:350 Yamatos (and occasional Musashi?) coming on to the market, but...

For crying out loud, must they [i]all[/i] be in as-sunk configuration? Instead of competing for a piece of the exact same market, how about grab the monopoly on the early versions that no one else provides? It's not like asking for a 1917-fit Arizona (much as I would enjoy that); there is certainly a notable market for an as-commissioned, Midway sortie, Guadalcanal campaign, etc. Yamato class kit.

- Sean F.

[quote]Is there any logic here that I am missing? Or are Border models just really unlucky and off all the IJN cruisers happened to choose the same one that Very Fire was working on?[/quote]


To paraphrase my own comments in my recent VeryFire Takao review, choosing iconic ships for one’s product line is a tried-and-true formula for many new model manufacturers, and Veryfire and Border are no different in this respect. They just happen to be focusing on IJN ships, and the potential markets for these are apparently large enough to sustain these efforts. Plus there is the attraction of using 3D printed technology to improve on certain aspects of earlier versions.

My two cents.

[quote="blw"]Maybe Very Fire is the source of the parts? It's happened before. ILoveKit stuff is, I believe, the same as Merit.[/quote]


No, totally different parts breakdown and composition. Border includes a lot of 3D Printed stuff in their kit, and they don't really do the multiple releases with increasing levels of non-plastic details - it's all or nothing, with a focus on reducing parts parts count while maximizing details (or so they say in ad materials, a dig at VF). So whereas there's only one Border Yamato, I see at least three VF Yamatos (Standard, Deluxe, and Advanced versions).

Maybe Very Fire is the source of the parts? It's happened before. ILoveKit stuff is, I believe, the same as Merit.

Can someone help me understand!

First Very Fire releases a new molded IJN Yamato and then a IJN Takao in 1/350. Fine these are great models, fine detail etc.

But then Border models comes and releases a IJN Yamato in 1/350. OK i get it, Yamato is a big battleship and there is a big market for such. But then the release a 1/350 Takao? Why???

https://www.bordermodel.com/en/Newproducts_News/479.html

Is there any logic here that I am missing? Or are Border models just really unlucky and off all the IJN cruisers happened to choose the same one that Very Fire was working on?