Pictures of Japan Hobby Show up at JSI website

[Dauntless]

Easy for you armor fans to say.

Give me some 1/16 aircraft and I would be buying that as well.

[Jesse James]

It's a pivotal year for me too. If i don't see some real serious signs of life from 1/18 armour i'm going to commit whole hog to 1/16 armour and get rid of my 1/18 tanks and they'll be no turning back. Enough is enough, i say.

I'm pretty much there myself... I think should 1:18 resurge to some degree I'm still there, and definitely on figures regardless, but even on the armor front I'll still be around.

I'm thinking of just thinning my 1:18 armor herd and selling off duplicate stuff rather than selling off everything. I may throw in the towel on modern too as my heart's just not with modern stuff save for maybe a Humvee or Bradley as a centerpiece. Beyond that though I'm thinking that stuff may go.

The 1:16 RC stuff's outstanding... Paint aps aside, you get a lot of value there and so I'm anxious to hop on into it. Especially since I'll mostly have this stuff on display more than out running it... though I'm sure I'll have a dedicated runner of a couple items.

I'm anxious for that first 1:16 item but I've got a lot of my "funny money" tied up for the next couple months, so I'm just not committing. Otherwise I think I'd have had a jagd something by now.

[digger]

You guys better start looking for deals on those RC vehicles. It seems FOV is your best chance for new vehicles and judging by the LAV they are not aimed at our market. Off the top of my head, you have a lot of vehicles to replace just in your WWII collection. You're also going to need all new figurs, so I would start looking for 1:16 Imperial Marines, USMC, BoB, DAK, Wermacht, FJ, 101st, 82nd, 2nd ID, Rangers, pilots, drivers, etc..

Panzer IV
Panzer V
Panzer VI
Pak 40 Hanomag
Stuka Hanomag
Pioneer Hanomag
Troop Hanomag
Kubel
Pak 40
88mm

Early Sherman
Late Sherman
Troop Halftrack
M16 Halftrack
Willy's Jeep
Command Car
1.5 ton Truck

[Ta-152]

Is the owl the one with the spotlight? I went to a museum and there was an 88 and next to it was a huge spotlight painted in the same color. I was planning on making one to match my 88 but hopefully, I can just buy it.

The Uhu was an I/R spotlight. Without seeing it, i'd say the one next to the 88 was a searchlight.

[aferguson]

well the game plan on any switch over to 1/16 armour is to just do it for tanks (ie fully tracked vehicles) halftracks, armoured cars, jeeps etc i would keep 1/18. And figures too would still be 1/18. Not perfect i know but the best compromise i think, after giving it a lot of thought.

However, i'm not quite ready to give up on 1/18. As i said, i'm giving it this one last year. JSI has been making noises about doing 1/18 armour and the new 21c could well have the KT molds. FOV has been a disappointment but that doesnt mean they haven't got things planned. We've been going through a couple of tough years, toy-wise, due to high oil prices and then the recession. Plans could merely be on hold, not cancelled. I have to believe that FOV's first series of armour sold very well, especially the WWII stuff; so one would think they would want to continue the line, to some extent.

Anyway, by Dec 31 i'll have made my decision. 1/16 armour certainly has appeal, but it's not perfect either. Lots of repainting, which i don't like doing and they are on the big side. So i'd rather stay with 1/18 but based on its 9 year track record it's been sputtering at best. But due to expense and hassle considerations, i'm giving it one last chance. What i really want to see is a 1/18 T-34. Odds are against it and that alone coud be the deal maker or breaker.

[Mitch]

Agreed - i am going to give it this year yet, hoping (praying?) that the 1:18 King Tiger comes out, a T34 or something else would be good too.
Probably won't make the change to 1:16 because to me anyway it's kinda like having a bunch of movies on VHS and then DVD and now having to get the same ones on Blud Ray. Not gonna happen.

How many Shermans and Tiger 1's does a guy need? I want variety!!!

[aferguson]

well, unless you're going to mix 1/18 and 1/16, which with tanks ain't great, the best way to get variety will probably be switching to 1/16.

Because of the cost involved in switching and emotional investment i've made over the years in 1/18, i've decided to give it this one last year and blindly hope for a miracle.

[Jesse James]

What Aferg said, more or less...

My plan Dig, is to just buy 1:16 and sort of display it separately, but since 1:18 is kaput mostly, I'm not broken hearted. 1:18 figures all seem to fit in well with 1:16 tanks too, so I'm not disappointed with that. What I'll likely wind up doing is storing my 1:18 tanks, or giving them their own little display shelf (and boy howdy, it'll be a little shelf since not much every came out).

At that point I'll move figures and support stuff around 1:16 tanks as I acquire and display them. That way the figures will have the most variety to go together. I think the support stuff looks ok with the 1:16 tanks, or rather it's good enough for me.

For me I just want the best variety to display with the figures and things... From trucks to jeeps and all that stuff, all the way to the variety of armor they're supporting. The only thing that may hamper my plans are 1:16 support vehicles then like the quad .50, but I'm not sure I'll buy those since 21st actually put a little more diversity in halftracks and things out there. For tanks though, I've got a few Panzers, a couple Tigers, S1 Panther, some Shermans... That's it.

I've always liked the figures best, as kind of the core, so now I just need to find the vehicles they'll look best with, and that'll be 1:16 armor as I start picking it up. It's something to do in the interim I guess.

And if 1:18 tanks and other items begin rolling out again I'm still there... I'm dropping modern armor/support stuff though. I want the figures still, but the vehicles I'm calling it quits on them. I'll take any figure they throw out there though.

[forcerecon85]

Should I be excited over the Easy Rider Huey? Any idea if they will focus on other aviation company? Will they continue the 173rd Airborne theme and do the 335th Cowboys Avn?