*Inj. molded plastic* Upcoming Ship Kit Releases

[Dan K]

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10578101

[drasticplastic]

No, it says there are 6 sprues, each having 3 aircraft, so 18 total.

Can't count, or can't see...take yer pick!

[drdoom1337]

What's going on with the Joy Yard Iowa class? I want to build a 1944 NJ without using the Tamiya kit (I've done this before and I don't really like that kit). The Very Fire New Jersey is more of a Korean War fit. NJ never saw combat in WWII like that. The Joy Yard kit looks like it's designed to encompass all of the Iowa's during WWII with the bridge being made of PE.

[NGaged]

The JY Missouri has been out for some time on eBay (I have 2! )

It was a limited run of 3000 so I'm not sure if there are more (or if additional kits were produced) but you should pop over there and check.

[MorgenergyModels]

Hello all;

I've been lurking this thread for a while now and wish to thank you all for keeping me updated on new products, you're doing God's work!

I would like to do my own bit and share some potentially bad news regarding a rather ghostly product we haven't heard news of since it's announcement: Trumpeter's 1/700 HMS Belfast. I've seen a few replies on this thread asking where on earth it's gone, and hope this provides some ideas or information.

I work a couple of days a week at the local model shop, basically helping out with oddjobs so things go smoothly. Sometime before the Covid-19 lockdown closed us down until further notice, we received a visit from a Bachmann representative; For those who aren't aware, here in the UK (and I assume the rest of Europe?) Bachmann - the model train giant - distributes many plastic kits, including Trumpeter stuff, under the Pocketbond banner to trade. This was an ordinary trade visit but The Bossman, knowing my interests, informed me that if there were any kits I wanted, now was a chance for him to order them for me. I didn't have anything in mind - I've too many vessels in the shipyard, and not even getting them at trade price could tempt me, I'm being a good boy. I took a chance, however...

I asked the fellow: what has become of Trumpeter's 1/700 Belfast? It was announced years ago, and many kits have since come and gone! He didn't know much, but advised me to check the Pocketbond website whilst there in the shop by searching it for the kit's product code. All that came up was the same old thing: an empty image, no info and "coming soon", for both the kit's 1942 & 1959 versions.

"Well then, that's all we know. We only know what they tell us.".

So, what does this potential insider info suggest? Well, it says something when not even the business partners of Trumpeter know what's become of this much anticipated model. It's not good news at all and suggests, to me at least, that the kit has possibly been tossed aside? I can't imagine another reason as to why it's taken so long just to get no updates from our Chinese friends. It's presence in the Pocketbond catalogue, however, certainly speaks volumes. I would advise you all to do what I've since started doing and stop getting one's hopes up for Trumpeter to release this kit, at least anytime soon!

Take care, y'all, and see you around the forums~

[Miguel]

The truth ,nobody knows , as the models appear in the latest news section of their website http://www.trumpeter-china.com/ , will take a couple of months to hit the shelves.
But eventually someday will come,your Belfast is like the 1/350 Nelson /Baltimore classes ,they been announced almost 3 years ago and still no show,but I am confident because there are not much models left to show in the Trumpeter's catalog. So a little patience is needed,pretty sure they are not so far.

[EpsilonZer0]

Morgen, Trumpeter doesn't tell their distribution partners release dates. They only inform partners via price list updates, and then its on pre-order or already on sale. They really know as much as we do.
Best bet to find out what is going on you have to search the Chinese message boards. I sometimes find stuff on Baidu.

https://tieba.baidu.com/f?ie=utf-8&kw=% ... &fr=search

Hello all;

So, what does this potential insider info suggest? Well, it says something when not even the business partners of Trumpeter know what's become of this much anticipated model. It's not good news at all and suggests, to me at least, that the kit has possibly been tossed aside? I can't imagine another reason as to why it's taken so long just to get no updates from our Chinese friends. It's presence in the Pocketbond catalogue, however, certainly speaks volumes. I would advise you all to do what I've since started doing and stop getting one's hopes up for Trumpeter to release this kit, at least anytime soon!

Take care, y'all, and see you around the forums~

[MorgenergyModels]

Morgen, Trumpeter doesn't tell their distribution partners release dates.

Crikey, that's unfortunate, dare I say a bit dangerous. Is it normal practicethroughout the world/hobby? I can't imagine how much bother it causes a model shop and it's clients..

[SeanF]

The truth ,nobody knows , as the models appear in the latest news section of their website http://www.trumpeter-china.com/ , will take a couple of months to hit the shelves.
But eventually someday will come,your Belfast is like the 1/350 Nelson /Baltimore classes ,they been announced almost 3 years ago and still no show,but I am confident because there are not much models left to show in the Trumpeter's catalog. So a little patience is needed,pretty sure they are not so far.

I don't know about that... the 1/32 scale TBD Devastator has been in the catalog for well over a decade now...

- Sean F.

[maxim]

Morgen, Trumpeter doesn't tell their distribution partners release dates.

Crikey, that's unfortunate, dare I say a bit dangerous. Is it normal practicethroughout the world/hobby? I can't imagine how much bother it causes a model shop and it's clients..

It make sense to inform the distributors only, when there is a definite release date for a kit.

[Guest]

Whilst ever one company has announced a subject, no other companies will consider releasing it - Agree with it or not, it's just a business tactic to keep your competitors at bay.

[SeanF]

Whilst ever one company has announced a subject, no other companies will consider releasing it - Agree with it or not, it's just a business tactic to keep your competitors at bay.

Bull. And I'm not just talking about the "eveyone makes one" subjects like Tigers, Shermans, Mustangs, Messerschmitts, Bismarcks, etc. . Zvezda then Trumpeter Dreadnought. Academy then Trumpeter Graf Spee, Warspite, and Indianapolis. Many limited-appeal tanks (Neubau Fahrzeug, KV tanks numbered higher than 2, etc.) Not just the big Chinese makers either. Aoshima and Fujimi both doing 1:350 Kongo. There's a logic to the theory, but in reality it doesn't play out with any sort of consistency. Clearly it IS a business tactic - but one which clearly not all model companies agree with, either.

- Sean F.

[ninjrk]

Whilst ever one company has announced a subject, no other companies will consider releasing it - Agree with it or not, it's just a business tactic to keep your competitors at bay.

Bull. And I'm not just talking about the "eveyone makes one" subjects like Tigers, Shermans, Mustangs, Messerschmitts, Bismarcks, etc. . Zvezda then Trumpeter Dreadnought. Academy then Trumpeter Graf Spee, Warspite, and Indianapolis. Many limited-appeal tanks (Neubau Fahrzeug, KV tanks numbered higher than 2, etc.) Not just the big Chinese makers either. Aoshima and Fujimi both doing 1:350 Kongo. There's a logic to the theory, but in reality it doesn't play out with any sort of consistency. Clearly it IS a business tactic - but one which clearly not all model companies agree with, either.

- Sean F.

It does seem to be rather inconsistent on the injection plastic side. I have talked with several resin manufacturers that it does affect them much more broadly. I knows of at least three masters for resin kits that I have seen in progress that got killed when an injection plastic version was announced. For two of them, the injection plastic kit has never been released.

[Timmy C]

Perhaps the "no repeats" rule applies for smaller manufacturers when the existing option was put out by a significantly larger competitor, but does not apply when the competitors are roughly equal or the other option was put out by a much smaller manufacturer. Certainly both Zvezda and Academy have a smaller footprint globally compared to Trumpeter, and Aoshima and Fujimi I'd say are roughly equal. Meanwhile, Very Fire, a small company, has publicly stated to the effect that they're not going to make cruisers that are even just rumoured to be in progress by Trumpeter.

[paultosney]

I think Timmy C might be onto something there.

• A big company releases something and another company comes out of nowhere with the same thing - oh dear, unfortunate, but not too big a deal.
  A small company releases something and another company comes out of nowhere with the same thing - that could be a problem as their return on that investment may not cover the next set of development costs.

[SeanF]

There's also the case of the small company deciding to take the risk of competing with the big company's existing release with a better product. Consider the aforementioned Very Fire's opening act of offering a 1:350 Missouri in direct competition with Tamiya's - and with a third company, Joy Yard, also declaring the same subject at the same time! Consider Flyhawk's Scharnhorst in 1:700 and Prince of Wales in 1:700 and 1:350 also. The existing kits likely kept competitors from even considering it for a long, long time... but hurrah for them all in overcoming it in a "We can do it better!" spirit. To a limited degree, I recall there were even some resin makers back in the day that would take on an existing subject in that same spirit - I recall seeing, for example, a nice 1:700 resin Bismarck about 20 years ago, when the only other offering was Aoshima's (but fact was, there was an existing 1:700 offering)

Now, given all this... How about we get a new, state-of-the-art 1:350 Arizona? THERE'S some low-hanging fruit ripe for the plucking! Got that name-recognition mass-appeal and easy-to-supersede competition... come on, Flyhawk, Very Fire, heck, even Trumpeter... (Not that I don't want to see new subjects, but seriously, Arizonas are a perpetual seller... not as good as Bismarcks, of course, but it's like money left on the table)

- Sean F.

[Hugh Williams]

There's also the case of the small company deciding to take the risk of competing with the big company's existing release with a better product. Consider the aforementioned Very Fire's opening act of offering a 1:350 Missouri in direct competition with Tamiya's - and with a third company, Joy Yard, also declaring the same subject at the same time! Consider Flyhawk's Scharnhorst in 1:700 and Prince of Wales in 1:700 and 1:350 also. The existing kits likely kept competitors from even considering it for a long, long time... but hurrah for them all in overcoming it in a "We can do it better!" spirit. To a limited degree, I recall there were even some resin makers back in the day that would take on an existing subject in that same spirit - I recall seeing, for example, a nice 1:700 resin Bismarck about 20 years ago, when the only other offering was Aoshima's (but fact was, there was an existing 1:700 offering)

Now, given all this... How about we get a new, state-of-the-art 1:350 Arizona? THERE'S some low-hanging fruit ripe for the plucking! Got that name-recognition mass-appeal and easy-to-supersede competition... come on, Flyhawk, Very Fire, heck, even Trumpeter... (Not that I don't want to see new subjects, but seriously, Arizonas are a perpetual seller... not as good as Bismarcks, of course, but it's like money left on the table)

- Sean F.

On the subject of new models: Trumpeter release HMS Belfast (Town Class, 3rd group) and then go on to (apparently) release two differently armed Dido AA cruisers and 'C' class cruisers. Great, but I can't quite see the logic in that, when the design for HMS Belfast parts would provide many useful parts for RN Colony class cruisers as well as the other two groups within that class. Still, the Didos and C Class cruisers are most welcome. The funny thing is that Trumpeter are going through my wish list submitted years ago, no doubt the same applies for other modellers' wishlists, too.

[MorgenergyModels]

, given all this... How about we get a new, state-of-the-art 1:350 Arizona? THERE'S some low-hanging fruit ripe for the plucking! Got that name-recognition mass-appeal and easy-to-supersede competition... come on, Flyhawk, Very Fire, heck, even Trumpeter... (Not that I don't want to see new subjects, but seriously, Arizonas are a perpetual seller... not as good as Bismarcks, of course, but it's like money left on the table)

- Sean F.

Same with 1/700. The Dragon is good, but can be pricey and hard to find. The only other option is MiniHobby/HobbyBoss, which IMO is only good for the beginner, kitbasher, or the downright insane - like me

Surprised it isn't available in the Waterline Series, seems to be the only properly famous BB they haven't yet featured.

[Miguel]

Finally is on pre order ,maybe a couple of weeks

https://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/data/3ywey ... h5zz8.html

[drasticplastic]

...
- Sean F.

Same with 1/700. The Dragon is good, but can be pricey and hard to find. [/quote]
If you want to make the Dragon 1/700 Arizona even more pricey, scrap the kit down to it's second deck level and toss all the armaments - now you have basically the hull. Buy a wooden deck; replace all superstructure and main armaments with Model Monkey grey resin (higher definition printing) components; replace all secondary and tertiary armaments with 3DModelParts; replace all boats with PetrOs Modellbau (Shapeways) selections; use Eduard PE set; some minor tweaking of details. Or...wait until Flyhawk releases a 1/700 Arizona!