Small Scale Military Headquarters

If, in fact, 21st really is gone - and I'm not placing any bets 'cause I've been down that road before - what does that leave us in 1/18?

The Tried and True:

Admiral seems to be hanging in there, I have every expectation that we will continue to see products from them, although few, far between, and more expensive than in the past.

FoV - I wouldn't be surprised to see these continue at Target, with maybe some new offerings around the holidays. Although toy-like, I'm sorry I didn't pick up that halftrack.

Chap Mei keeps making new things, but distrubution is awful. And much of their stuff isn't really 1/18, but toy-scale.

bbi - big question mark. A few months ago I would have bet we would see more from them, at least new figures, but now I really don't have any guess. I still wish for a Spitfire, or even british soldiers.

Independants - all you customizers and high-end garage manufacturers, keep up the great work! I wish I had even half the talent you guys have.

Longshots:

Hasbro could create an entire line of 1/18 mililtary figures with relatively little work if they decided they could make a profit from it. They already are probably the most experienced manufacturer of 1/18 figures; with GI Joe and the Indy moulds they already have some complete soldiers, and could kit-bash to make more without much effort. But doubt they'd see it as a viable market, unless there is a big movie tie-in or other promotion. And if they made vehicles, they would almost certainly be undersized.

Dragon could try, again, to enter the 1/18 field but I think they've given up.

Other manufacturers - Playmates, Bandai, etc could step in, but again, is there a market??


Who have I forgotten? What are your thoughts??

Greetings:

There is a company which the name escapes me that makes figures to go with block sets for kids. I see the blocks and the figures advertised in the catalogs I get for school related items as toys for indoor recess, etc. The figures are actually quite good looking and 1/18 scale though I've never ordered them because I have no need for them. They make some interesting sets but they are geared for kids. For example they make a set of grandparents, parents, variety of children, etc. They also make some civil service people like a police officer and firefighter and my favorite was a mailman. The only problem is that these figures are one pose figures, they have no articulation. They are interesting though and if this company ever got out of the educational market, they could make some nice military figures. These figures often reminded me of the Schelich offerings.

Power Team also releases interesting stuff and I suspect we will see more from them. They always seem to sell it too so I could see them making more stuff. They may just make a F-35 or something else for their lineup, though I doubt it would be totally 1/18 scale. The big this is they sell their stuff as a toy line and it is reasonable considering some of it looks pretty good, if underscaled (A-10, F-22, etc). So I think they could defintely keep it going.

Schelich is another company that could very well release something. However, it may not go over with Target or craft stores or educational stores, which is where I have seen their figures. Ironically, the TRU's near me only just started to carry them. That line is so based on educational ideals though I doubt you'd see full fledged soldiers from them. The reason they can get away with the knights is because it does relate to history and it's interesting material. Parents would not react the same way to full blown World War II soldiers in combat gear.

McFarlane could release stuff in the future and I've always been impressed with their quality. However, they seem to be more into the movie themes and sports themes. They are also another company that is out of scale too much to 1/18

Look for companies to release figures related to 1/18 cars. I suspect we will see a lot of this. Several of the diecast car books I get now have babe figures that relate to the automobiles. Maybe the companies that make these will expand into other areas.

There are plenty of possiblities, a company would just need to step up and take the risk and make them. Then hope they sell them.

Corey

I completely forgot about Power Team!

Hasbro won't do it, and if they did it would be half-assed vehicles like they've been doing since the Joe line started back up.

McFarlane. On the surface this might seem like a good idea, but they wouldn't be figures, they'd statuettes (some b.s. about artistic vision) but, lets say they did make articulated figures, they wouldn't be sturdy. McF has been in "corner-cutting" mode for a while now. The only thing working for them is Halo and Sports Picks.

I think Power Team will be it, with occasional releases from Bbi, Admiral and Unimax (FoV).

Just my sestertius!

It would be nice if Roy Sutherland started his own 1:18 scale Military company. I know he does the decals, but he had a lot of nice stuff made and stuff planned.

I prefer BBI models over all other companies, including diecast. Unfortunately, diecast companies release just about anything and everything while BBI releases only 1-2 models per year.

21st Century's demise creates a vacuum I'd like BBI to fill, but they never seem to be in any hurry to release much.