Poll: State of the Hobby

[aferguson]

ok, so where is 1/18 military going over the next, say 5 years?

[B17Fortress]

A product here and there will be released, but never like the good ol' days.

Unless we find a magic genie!

[Airacobra]

I really hope I'm wrong but I believe there will be a few releases every now and again but nothing like the golden era of 1/18. I am just glad I was around during that time period. I still remember the first time I saw a 1/18 109 and P-51 at toys r us. I was used to building 1/32 scale model aircraft and was blown away by the sheer size of those planes. I never thought I would eventually own planes as large as the 1/18 Avenger and F-14.

[gburch]

I voted for "sputter" ... which I think is true, unless someone can come up with a new business model. I have ideas about that (As a lawyer, I help people start and change businesses, and I see a LOT of interesting ideas about how to organize and finance businesses, although they usually involve a lot more zeros than would be required to get things done in 1/18). Maybe I'll start a thread on that ...

[pickelhaube]

Sputter

[tmanthegreat]

I voted the "sputter" option. It seems to be the best description of the current state of the hobby. 1:18 certainly isn't dead - but it certainly isn't the glory days of 2000-2002 or 2005-2007 anymore.

Nevertheless, BBI is back in the game with a new repaint just out and another down the pipeline; JSI is out there with their F-14 and their few stolen repaints. There's still what's really a somewhat diverse variety of 1:18 soldiers and armor and some aircraft to be found at small retailers (the leftover stock from the good old days) and that is supplanted a few newish items like some of the Bravo Team stuff and JSI rehashes. Lots to be had on ebay and around here. And yes, still a few modern 1:18 items at mass retail (e.g. Target).

Nothing really new and no regular new releases, but enough to keep the hobby sputtering.

[Grilledcheese]

Yeah, definitely sputter.

I sure would have bought an A-10, though. I would buy a 1/18 Mi24 Hind too.

So in other words, I'm out.



Jeffrey

[normandy]

I went with rebound, IF the economy turns around then I feel there is a good chance companies will start producing once again.

[CW4USARMY]

Sputter . Only thing new I see in the future is Pickel's Ho229.

[Threetoughtrucks]

Sputter, sorry but sputter.

Nothing would make me happier than having to sell some of my 1/6 stuff in order to make room for new 1/18 stuff.

TTT

[Jnewboy]

There is hope for the airwar in the future but the ground war has been lost to 1/16 (sorry but it is true)

[normandy]

After the Ho- 229 and if I can find a Me- 163 Komet, I think my 1:18 air war will be over. Now if someone comes out with some Luft 46 in that scale thats a different story. Oh and the 1:16 Elephant is the only one in that I'll be getting.

[aferguson]

i dunno about 1/16 either. It seems to be sputtering too. Virtually nothing new in 2 years. Matorro KT and Sturmtiger both out of production. No follow up KV2 to the KV1. Nothing announced. The upcoming JT being elusive and probably a fair bit more expensive. The only options are VERY expensive conversion kits and full kits in resin. I'm thinking it's not going to be nearly as good as everyone was expecting.

I'm not saying 1/18 armour is the place to be but i think there still is life in the old girl. Lots of people are discovering 1/16 isn't so great. The figures look like children beside the vehicles, save that one huge headed, way oversided XD german tanker figure. So there's still a market for 1/18. And if Bravo or somebody starts pumping out inexpensive 1/18 armour again, it will sell. Same can be said for a 1/18 KT. And with the popularity of the 1/18 Flak gun, and the excitement created by the bootleg dark grey repaint, maybe it will stimulate Dragon to release the 1/18 sdkfz 7 they've been sitting on for 8 years now.

Time will tell..

[Threetoughtrucks]

I have just noticed Mato's 1/16 Sherman and the M-16 quad .50 halftrack. Both look super especially the working quad. Are they old stuff or new?

I'm not following 1/16 too closely but I am buying as I see nice stuff. Even though my Grandson hunts down my remotes and just think they are great, giving PopPop a heart attack running his Mato King Tiger into furniture.

I bought my Grandson a 1/6 RC Humvee last year but my Grandson perfers 1/16 to play with, he thinks the Humvee is too fast so he leaves the Humvee to his Dad, and me.

TTT

[Jnewboy]

For Armor fanatics there is nothing to compete with 1/16 so in that regard its not going anywhere. I understand that money is a major issue, but before the Walmart/21st cen explosion of cheap well made large scale prebuilt models they had always been expensive, Large scale is meant for large pockets, Hobbyists and collectors must realize this, getting a 1/16 Tank that is also RC for $100 or $150 is a bargain in my opinion, no one is forcing anyone to stay in this large scale, 1/35 kits are much cheaper and still very cool especially when in dioramas

Even if large companies are staying away because of the economy, the cottage base of conversion kits will always be there. Thats why I like 1/16

There is no 1/16 option for the airplanes, just 1/18, So for now, 1/18 planes have there place, besides I have to many to switch at this point.

[aferguson]

well, Bravo team still makes 1/18 tanks that retail for $40 or less. They don't have as many opening hatches as the 21c tanks had when they were that price but they are still nice, accurate, decent tank models. Many people don't care about the r/c features offered with 1/16 tanks, so that is of no appeal.

Going forward, if there is any hope of 1/18 armour continuing it's going to have to be either with short run higher priced resin kits, like PH makes or follow the Bravo team scheme of reasonably inexpensive, even with shipping costs. PTE is pretty much the same as Bravo, but not quite as good and a bit cheaper still.

As for 1/16, i bet it is not going to be nearly as good in the future, as has been predicted. I think the KV1 bombed at retail, which is why there's no KV2, even though it would be a better seller than the KV1. There are probably so many KV1's around still that HL doesn't want to release the KV2, because that will kill KV1 sales altogether. When the KV1 finally sells out then you might see a KV2. Trumpeter released their T-34's in 2006 and yet still haven't made a follow up kit of an su-85, or anything else based on the t-34 chassis. Surprising, but it probably means the T-34 didn't sell all that well. The WSN T-34/85 came out years ago but was never followed up by an r/c T-34/76, again indicating that the /85 didn't sell all that well. If russian armour didn't do well in 1/16, then there's no way british armour will. So going forward you may still see a smattering of basic german tanks, like a hetzer and perhaps one or two US tanks, like a chafee but i bet that's it. And there won't likely be wirbelwinds, brummbars, jagdpanzer iv's etc in 1/16, except for the expensive resin conversion kits.

So what i'm saying is that 1/18 armour still has a future if done inexpensively, like Bravo Team and PTE are doing. But if done with lots of detail, like 21st used to do, then they'll be too expensive and won't sell well. The price has to be kept to under $50, in my opinion. If it can be, then i can see 1/18 armour being quite popular. There hasn't been anything new in 1/18 armour for years, except the flak, and yet people are still gobbling 1/18 tanks up on ebay, in big lots and Target and the bravo team stuff on etailer sites, so it has a good following.

[MG-42]

............ it's over ! ! ! ... w/ maybe one airplane , re-paint that is , every 5-yrs. ???

... How does one survive ? ... on hopes & dreams alone ?


- MG

[Dauntless]

Well I voted "it will rebound but a shadow of what it used to be" really what's the difference between sputtering along? I am pessimistically optimistic.

BBI at least is re-issuing the BF109G and the F-16 so it's not dead yet, but maybe on life support. I hope Allgo can at least release the 1:32 planes "in the pipeline" on their website to show us they are still viable, then maybe hope for a 1:18 item later.

[snake]

I went with stutter.

The last proper 1/18 release was the JSI F-14.

The other JSI and BBI F-16 are simply repaints of existing molds. I can see these companies doing these repaints every now and again, and keep the 1/18 hobby barely alive with these "new releases".

But I sincerely doubt that we will see actual new molds being done, until the worldwide economy really improves. The majority of 1/18 collectors are in North America, and particularly in the US, collectors have been spoiled by the Walmart prices. And will be hard to convince them to spend more than they were used to, for these repaints.

I was really hoping for the JSI F-15, and Su27, but I don't think that we will see these anytime soon.

Smartest 1/18 new release for any company. F-4 Phantom.

[TankAce]

There is hope for the airwar in the future but the ground war has been lost to 1/16 (sorry but it is true)

It is truth,the 1/16 is ahead right now,because they are radio controled,but 1/18 will always be ahead with the articulated figures.

[ram04]

I would have to say sputter, I got in right at the end, made my first big mistake by not buying more when the Monkey dumped their inventory, their prices were great, just the shipping was high, anyway there is still models to be found and a few manufacturers are still putting something out, right now it seems the customizers are where its at if you want something different.

As far as 1/16 Armor, I wish they would make static versions, seems there would be a market for this, I would think without the electronics the price would be very reasonable.

[Tinman]

It'll never be what it was. That strange, happy (for most of us) confluence of Walmart and 21C is not be seen again. Hopefully an occassional release from FOV and JSI will keep us alive. I think I'm done with repaints, though.

[hotrodrock]

I myself don't see much of a market for even cheap 1/18 because as has been stated, there just isn't enough detail. I have a small collection of more than 20 1/18 planes and I'm just not buying another repaint. As far as armor, I have gone over to the 1/16 side primarily because of all the accessories available for customizing. Tigers, Panthers, Panzer III's and IV's, Stugs, and Jagdpanthers are all plentiful for under a hundred bucks which includes shipping. 1/18 figures look very good with them. Not sure about some of the comments that said some of the 1/16 didn't sell well such as the T-34. They are hard to find so someone bought them and are keeping them. I only found 2 for sale on ebay so there was certainly not a surplus of them. Don't know how many of the KT's were made, but they are impossible to find (talking about the Mattos) so the ones that were made certainly sold.

[aferguson]

Well, being hard to find is not an indicator of popularity. The 21st tanks didn't sell well but the ones that are now out of production, like the panzer iv, is hard to find.

The Matorro KT will no doubt be back in production at some point....i was referring more to the T-34 and KV-1. With no follow up variants to either, especially a KV2, this tells me they didn't sell very well, otherwise there'd be a /76 and at least a MODEL KIT of an su-85 or something.

As for the figures, i guess it's an 'eye of the beholder' kind of thing, because i think the figures look like children beside the 1/16 tanks...and that's including the 21st figures, except for the huge headed tanker guy. It's a matter of personal preference and i certainly wouldn't criticize anyone for using xd figures with their 1/16 tanks but i don't like it and i suspect there are many others who don't as well, which leads me to believe there is a market still for 1/18 armour. We'll see if the Bravo Team rumour pans out or not.