Vlad wrote:1) I'm starting to regret buying/building the Samek 1914 Kongo. In fact the way things are going it might be worth avoiding expensive resin kits of major WWI classes until we know what else is coming. No offense meant to those manufacturers, but if these subjects are creeping into mainstream plastic it's a game changer.
2) A good 1/700 Illustrious at last! it's plastic so my wallet isn't groaning... My shelf space on the other hand... Uh oh!
This is one reason why I'm done with resin!
Mike Bartel
Problem is if we do not support the established Companies who have provided resin versions of niche subjects for years they will cease to exist. Then if the new plastic manufacturers do not survive then where are we?
I like resin anyway.
Bryan Johnson
'There are 2 kinds of ships, submarines and targets.'
Problem is if we do not support the established Companies who have provided resin versions of niche subjects for years they will cease to exist. Then if the new plastic manufacturers do not survive then where are we?
I like resin anyway.
The new plastic manufacturers have a better chance because it's easier to market and distribute plastic kits than resin kits. Some hobby distributors don't want to handle resin anymore because the supply is too unreliable and they can't get the discounts they need from the manufacturers. If they produce high-quality plastic kits, they'll be fine.
Problem is if we do not support the established Companies who have provided resin versions of niche subjects for years they will cease to exist. Then if the new plastic manufacturers do not survive then where are we?
I like resin anyway.
The new plastic manufacturers have a better chance because it's easier to market and distribute plastic kits than resin kits. Some hobby distributors don't want to handle resin anymore because the supply is too unreliable and they can't get the discounts they need from the manufacturers. If they produce high-quality plastic kits, they'll be fine.
Mike Bartel
On that note, I cannot ever remember walking into an LHS anywhere I have been and finding on the shelf a resin kit. No LHS, just like any retail business, cannot afford to have shelf space and money taken up by articles that do not sell. If there were a large common demand for resin kits I think you would find them on the shelves of your LHS. As an aside I would note that our types of subjects, model ships, warship or otherwise, seem to be allotted the least amount of shelf space in just about any LHS I have ever been in. I've been in several in which the inventory of ship kits would be dwarfed by my stash, which itself is not that impressive.
Bob M.
Give me a fast ship, for I would like to get out of harm's way!
Hobby shops may not carry many resin kits (I have seen some) but even so I find I have about 6 to 1 in my stash of resin to plastic. Without resin I would not have 1400 built and over 500 in my stash. I will keep building resin because plastic will never in my life time do many of the resin kits I have and enjoy.
BJohnson wrote:
Problem is if we do not support the established Companies who have provided resin versions of niche subjects for years they will cease to exist. Then if the new plastic manufacturers do not survive then where are we?
I like resin anyway.
As chargerman said, there are potentially thousands of subject plastic is unlikely to ever touch. And from what I've seen on this forum the resin manufacturers are very resourceful guys that have always found a way to bring something out, be it in a new company or whatever. There will always be a market for resin kits as long as they are high quality, they much just have to focus on even more niche subjects. I don't agree with buying resin for the sake of it, sentimentality or solely for supporting manufacturers, for those subjects where plastic has caught up.
robertmelvin;
During the 13 years I had my hobby shop (Massachusetts), in which I stocked about 150 to 200 model ship kits, including several IRON SHIPWRIGHT kits. I wanted to attract the dedicated, skilled modelers. I remember bringing in the 1/350 SEYDLITZ and ARKANSAS, plus several smaller tugs, minesweepers, etc. I also carried a good selection of GOLD MEDAL PE. I assembled a small tug, with the railings and such, but did not paint it, so as to show customers what is entailed in building such a kit. Well, over the years, many guys looked at them, but being unfamiliar, and/or lacking the will to try one, I sold only a few. I sold the two big kits, and special-ordered others. I simply did not have enough people in the greater Boston area who were capable of building with resin and PE. But I gave it a try.
As I have stated elsewhere in this Forum, stocking inventory is a very expensive proposition. With my model ships, HO trains, plastic kits, paint, and myriad other sundries, I invested big bucks, so I would have so much more to offer than my friendly competitors. And, I set up with my own on-line store! It was my hope that I would grow into a FREETIME, or a CABOOSE HOBBIES. But, there is a lot of long-established competition out there: online too! I closed down in 2011.
No store can stock everything. I am sure the owner(s) of FREETIME occasionally cringe when they add up what they've got in-house! (I am now one of HIS customers)
Moose, you ran an LHS right out of my dreams. There is one brick and mortar LHS about two hours away from me that I visit whenever I'm in the area. I've gotten to know the owner fairly well. He has had the same resin kits on the shelf as long as I have been going there. I've asked him about that and he told me that it was his experience that people who were very comfortable with injection molded kits were intimidated by resin kits. Having never built one, largely due to cost, I know that I find the prospect of taking on a resin kit build a bit intimidating simply because I haven't done one yet. Looking at Tehnoart's web site I will say that when the money gods smile on me I would love to try my hand at their USN destroyers, either Sumner or DeHaven. Someday, after I whittle down the stash of injection molded kits I have somehow managed to collect!
My impression is that resin kit modelers are a distinct minority as opposed to injection kit modelers. In fact, my experience in shopping at local brick and mortar hobby shops is that we warship builders are a distinct minority, if what fills the shelves is any valid indicator. In talking to other modelers I run into at model shops or sometimes on forums more focused on warbirds or armor, I have the impression that this is due less to a lack of interest in the subject matter than it is due to a certain intimidation factor that the PE and rigging needed to really make a ship model look realistic is somewhat intimidating to people who have never done it. I built a lot of warship kits when I was a kid, certainly not to the level of modeling that I strive for now, but then and I guess now as well, with certain exceptions, I don't have enough sense to be intimidated by the things that go into a good ship model.
It seems that resin kit builders will are and will be a minority within a minority. That is largely why I find some of this debate about "assemblers vs. modelers" to be detrimental to our hobby. Since if we don't buy them, they won't make them, anybody interested in ship modeling should be encouraged, and definitely not made to feel in some way second class, or not a real modeler, because we/they choose to build injections kits, with more or less PE and rigging than some would set the bar of being a "modeler". We need to draw people who are already doing other subjects to give ships a try and to make them understand that it is alright if you simply build out of the box, paint it as best you can, and perhaps try a little something new by way of skills and techniques with each new build. No matter how hard we may try, not all of us have the gifts or knowledge necessary to make each and every effort a museum quality result. "Modeler vs. Builder" builder debates do not help our hobby, or encourage others to give ship modeling a try.
Bob M.
Give me a fast ship, for I would like to get out of harm's way!
Rumour and news of the Ark Royal began quite a bit before the Alaskas, so I wouldn't consider the latter put on hold in favour of the former - maybe we'll hear something by next season, perhaps at the Nuremberg show.
Aoshima confirms in one of the asterisk points a the bottom of this page that the Graf Zeppelin we saw at the Shizuoka show is only a repop of the Revell kit: http://www.aoshima-bk.co.jp/product/4905083097984/
It's part of their "1/700 product line", but the scale, as it notes, is the original 1/720.
A pity about that Aoshima Graf Zep. Compared to HMS Hermes (historical combatant, IJN victim - but for all that, I don't suspect it's got all that much of a following), I suspect there'd be a better return on investment for new molds of a German aircraft carrier (never completed, but... German aircraft carrier. Enough said!) I guess going for the even lower-hanging fruit of licensing from someone else's old molds is an even better return on investment... but with the series of one-off carriers Aoshima has embarked upon recently, a truly new Graf Zep would be a definite winner.
If one looks carefully at the clip from the Beaver booth at Shizuoka hobby show this year it seems like Flyhawk is about to release their Royal navy aircraft set 2. One can "clearly" see the complete models on display.
In my opinion there should be anyway first kits of completed ships, not of purely fictitious ships. There are already three 1/700 kits of the never completed Graf Zeppelin: Revell/Aoshima, Orange Hobby and HP Models...
Newb question. How long between when these companies announce what they are doing do you expect to see the model available? I'm wondering how long it will be before the Flyhawk Moltke will hit the shelves.
No set standard, Mikasa. It depends on the company and how they announce it. For example, when Trumpeter announces an item in their annual catalog, the item may not come for another year or two. Yet, if they were to announce it on their website's "New Items" section, you can expect it in two months.
Flyhawk hasn't released enough subjects yet for us to make a determination on when the release date will be based on the context of the announcement. They're also a small company, and more subject to variation in expected arrival date even if we did have sufficient past experience to make that estimate.
It says they are taking new orders, and is a "New Mold."
Does that mean that the extravagant $100+ PE set that is available for the Akagi won't fit this one?
MB
OMG LOOK! A signature
Working on:
1/700 (All Fall 1942):
HIJMS Nagara
HIJMS Aoba & Kinugasa
USS San Francisco
USS Helena
USS St. Louis
USS Laffey & Farenholt
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 4 - 7
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 13 - 16
it's plastic so my wallet isn't groaning... My shelf space on the other hand... Uh oh!
