A Sad Time In The 1/18th Collecting Hobby

[pickelhaube]

Hey Guys this could be the future of our hobby .

My friend and long time 1/18th Modeling Master Robbie P. of Oregon is getting out of the hobby.

He says because there is nothing on the horizon and partly because I am shut down creating new things.

He is now collecting 1/16 armor along with the huge 1/6.

I have been trading some of my 1/6 pieces for his 1/18th works of art .

Here are just a few of his creations on the custom thread.

http://www.warbird-photos.com/gpxd/view ... =9&t=22885

A sad time indeed.

Is this the future of our beloved 1/18 th ?

[Dauntless]

Not an armor collector, but Mr. Robbie P. does the finest work I've ever seen.

It would be interesting to see what he can do with a 1:6 vehicle.

At least a few 1:18 aircraft are trickling out these days.

[normandy]

Well it is unfortunate that your friend is moving on but I'm sure his talent will carry over to 1:16 and 1:6 scales.

I started collecting 1:6 years ago but early on found the scale size would limit my collection. I would have needed an aircraft hanger for all the armor and planes I wanted, plus the figures.

1:18 showed up at the right time for me. Now 13-14 years on production has all but stopped, but I'm still sticking with the scale. From time to time I pick up some armor pieces and set them aside for custom projects.
With the upcoming release of the Ourwar German figures that should keep me occupied for a while.

[maritime96]

I am sorry to hear that another one of our talented 1:18 artist is leaving the scale behind. I can't say that I blame him, lack of new product can doom any kind of toy or model line. As for me I am too deep into 1:18 to switch out now, so I will just live with whatever small nuggets pop up that I am able to get and enjoy what I have gotten so far.


Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

[flyboy_fx]

Unfortunately I too will be leaving 1/18 armor once I customize the remainder of my collection. I will have very few pieces of it left in favor of 1/35 and 1/16 scale...

[Jnewboy]

Sorry to say but I to am in the same boat as your friend Mathew. However I am not a total scale snob and can stand 1/18 figures and support vehicles in with my 1/16 armor collection. I still collect 1/18 aircraft because unlike 1/18 armor there is no other scale that is comparable. It was not so much that I gave up on 1/18 armor rather 1/16 just became to suductive to ignore. I realized that even if mathew could do two new tanks per year it would be a very long time before he could even catch up with what was already avalible in 1/16 much less all the new stuff that seemed to be coming out all the time. All of my favorite tanks were already made and well done in most cases or could be made perfect with Tamiya parts as replacements. Plus there are builders that are very skilled that make many kits to fill in the missing more rare ones like the su152 or the brummbar or Maus.

I am glad that Mathew had stayed true to 1/18 as those of you who did not switch over can continue to build your collections and hopefully will have more help from new talented builders like Aracula and others.

[Melvin]

DO not be sad, Ourwar is the new blood!

[snake]

Kind of sad to see that Matthew, but with the lack of many new releases, harder and harder to keep people interested in 1/18.

I have a ton of aircraft in 1/18 { 50 }, and no thoughts about getting rid of them at all.

But the scale needs new blood to keep going, and while a few might venture in, think many more are leaving. People leave hobbies all the time, so don't think that is as big an issue as some may make out.

But with the lack of new subjects, and like other scales, increasing prices, new collectors of 1/18 are getting fewer and further between.

Just the way it is.

[tmanthegreat]

We have to remember that 1:18 scale was always a fringe scale in the small-scale military collecting world, no matter how much we ourselves liked it. It NEVER sold well at mass retail and never really sold well in the wider collecting world.

The scale chugged along really from 2000-2008 with backing from some big retailers, but all the big discounts we remember at Wal Mart were a sure sign that it was not a popular scale or toy item. Once that big retailer support was gone, 21c couldn't survive and the scale pretty much crashed. The efforts of JSI, Merit, and BBI have really kept the scale going after 2008, but its been mostly high-priced repaints that have not sold well. We have not seen a rebirth of the "golden age" but then we have not seen things die out completely.

It is sad to see the apparent "decline" in the scale (especially from where it was several years ago) but the scale is not dead yet. The 2-3 1:18 aircraft repaints we get each year evidence that. I would love to see more armor, however, it seems that 21c's successor companies (Merit, JSI, etc) do not really seem to have an armor emphasis. Probably because a P-51 sells much better than a Sherman tank...

I'm not going to lament, but take things as they come. As can be seen in my collection, with aircraft and armor ranging in scales from 1:144 to 1:6, there will always be something to collect

[Tinman]

I am sorry to hear that another one of our talented 1:18 artist is leaving the scale behind. I can't say that I blame him, lack of new product can doom any kind of toy or model line. As for me I am too deep into 1:18 to switch out now, so I will just live with whatever small nuggets pop up that I am able to get and enjoy what I have gotten so far.


Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

You said exactly what I think as well, maritime96.

[maritime96]

I am sorry to hear that another one of our talented 1:18 artist is leaving the scale behind. I can't say that I blame him, lack of new product can doom any kind of toy or model line. As for me I am too deep into 1:18 to switch out now, so I will just live with whatever small nuggets pop up that I am able to get and enjoy what I have gotten so far.


Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

You said exactly what I think as well, maritime96.

Normandy and I have talked about this issue before. Without new items at an affordable price, we will never get any new blood interested in the scale or hobby. Pickle and the other guys make some amazing kits and customs, but I don't think you are going to get a new guy interested in starting out with a 2 or 300 dollar piece or kit. At the same time we can't keep the "old" guys interested when there is nothing really new being made. Melvin's figures are a great start and I can't wait to get them, but we are going to need more if interest is going to survive. Look at the harrier for the modern guys. How long as that been being dangled out there and shown in prototype from. But still it is not available for sale. As for me I am a WW2 guy, and if it wasn't for customs I wouldn't have gotten anything new in years now.

[Apache26]

If the demise of 21st Century wasn't the final nail in 1:18, how would the exit of one talented custom builder be the end?

I came to 1:18 because 1:6 became ridiculous. You want to talk about spending WAY too much for too little. 1:6 was attractive when I could get a Dragon figure for $40 - 50, and there was a huge variety of time periods and subjects to customize. Now, you're stuck at $150 for a super high quality figure. No longer is it feasible to build a platoon or squad. You can generally only get niche fanboy subjects, WWII or modern. And the idea of 1:6 vehicles has always been laughable. All of 21st's vehicles were deliberately underscaled. Finally, I find the 1:6 nude dolls with lingerie to be disturbing.

So I went to 1:18 well after it's heyday because I can still buy tanks and helicopters that don't require an entire garage of their own to store. Previously I disdained 1:18 because as a kid I was disapppointed that the GI Joe line went from 12" to 3 3/4". I still think big Joes are cooler as toys, but not as customizable collectibles.

Wal-Mart depended on kids to buy 21st's toys. I think 21st realized it had a market base with grown men, but it's poor quality control made their work less collectible - until they were gone. In reality, the people who will continue to drive 1:18 will be grown men like us. We may never get another 21st, but there will be builders who can appeal to people like us.

I've come to embrace the future with 3-D printing. It will be possible to think boldly (in terms of vehicles) and sell cheaply without worrying about whether or not kids will buy an inventory in the 100,000's to turn a profit for large corporations.

We ought to start seeing ourselves less as toy collectors than as a market for customizable scale models. If we think in terms of toys, we'll be disappointed that Hasbro is schizophrenic with GI Joe, 21st is dead, and neither BBI nor Dragon seem to want to venture back to 1:18. I've also returned to 1:35 models after a long hiatus. I like the work and challenge involved. There are amazing boutique 1:35 model makers who produce reasonably priced figures and vehicles for a good profit, and they are only targeting a small segment of hobby enthusiasts. I think 1:18 can, and should, do the same without worrying about whether or not another 21st will ever come back. This could make 1:18 more self-sustaining as a customizable hobby, and we'll see decal makers get involved. 1:18 will draw new enthusiasts, just as 1:72, 1:48 and 1:32/1:35 do, but they will be people who are in it for reasons other than mass produced Chinese plastic.