Small Scale Military Headquarters

I know many of us hold 21st Century,BBI and Admiral in high regard for manufacturing quality 1:18 scale models. Some of us may have contacted them at one time or another praising them for the work and sending them a wish list of what we would like in the future.

Has anyone contacted the 1:18 die cast metal automobile/motorcycle manufacturers? Maisto, Solido, Minichamps,Gateway? They've all produced at least one type of WW2 vehicle in 1:18 scale. I'd like to see a few more items to suppliment the collection.

Maisto has made the Harley Davidson WLA. I'd like to see a Harley Davidson ELA with sidecar. Not to mention a BMW R-71 and R-75 with/with out sidecar. It would also be nice to have some vintage BMWs to go with my civilian vehicles.

For the automobile manufacturers.....what about some staff cars or trucks? Many of them were designed for civilian use prior to the war. I'd be happy if they just made some and I could paint and decal them later.


Here are some of the addresses:

Maisto International
7751 Cherry Avenue
Fontana, CA
92336 USA

Minichamps GmbH & Co. KG
Postfach 500505
D-52089 Aachen

Gateway Global Inc.
16720 Marquandt Ave
Cerritos, CA
90703 USA

Majorette/Solido
Z.I. Perica-BP 108
110 rue du Companet
69143 Rilleux-la-Pape Cedex France

Marjorette/Solido
Parc DCA
555 rue de la Craz
BP 60 037 Dagneux
01121 Montluel

Mira Juguetes
Mira, S.A.
Avenida Del Juguete
S/N 03440 IBI (Alicante) Spain

Cheers

Good point! Also interesting is a trend where they seem to think WWII stuff isn't quite "fancy" enough so some of the OEMs actually skip the whole 1939-1945 time period..

The recent 1:32 line of Indian motorcycles is a great example. Pretty much every version ever produced, except the military versions.

The 1:18 Maisto Harley's were a wonderful exception to this rule and given the fact that it is harder to find them than most of the other ones, I'd have to believe it was generally more successful.

Likely these companies are focused on what they do and just haven't quite seen the 1:18 and 1:32 revolution that is happening.

A company marketing under the brand 'Highway 61" has a great line of 1940's trucks in 1/16 scale. They made a WWII era USAAF and RAF fire truck a couple of years ago, and now have USN and USMC stake trucks - HIGHLY detailed and generally worth the price. I e-mailed them suggesting more WWII trucks and recieved a form reply. Would be very easy to take their exsisting chassis and cabs and make fuel trucks, wreckers, etc. Maybe more mail will start them thinking there's a viable market.

Excellent points; I can testify how good Minichamps is: their 1/18 DAK and Großdeutschland Kübelsitzwagens are OUTSTANDING. Period.

dV

I contacted Maisto years ago and suggested a duece and a half would sell in 1/18th scale but no one heard me .

Mark

a 1/18 german motorbike with sidecar would be a great concept to develop in the future.

Tamiya has be toying with the idea of doing semi assembled aircraft in 1:16 and 1:18 since the late 90’s
I know some one that has a daughter that is married to an executive that works for Tamiya Japan. Says he seen an F-4u Corsair with incredible detail and with working features in 1:18 and 1:16 scale. Also they have wanted to go in to the diorama market for some time. Who knows when they will go in that market?

I also here there is a company that wants to mass-produce those highly detailed metal aircraft and armor in 1:15 scale for the masses not just for the elite and museums. But for every day working folks.

Not to mention the other model companies like Revel/Monogram are also looking in the 1:48 and 1:32 scales.

There really is a big market for these scales and the age demographics are the17-75 years old group.

I bet with in ten years we wont have a problem in finding what we want in 1:18 scale.

PROPOSAL:

I believe that if we as a group send snail mail letters on mass to these manufacturers we may actually get what we want. I propose that we target Maisto to specifically build a 1:18 scale Harley Davidson ELA with Side Car and the BMWs R-71 and R-75 with/without Side Cars (since Maisto has the license to build Harley Davidsons and BMWs).

If possible, I would like everyone to send their letters out on January 15th, 2007.....(after the Christmas/New Years Holidays). I'm planning on sending photos of my Harley Davidson WLAs with American troops and my jealous German figures with either nothing or an unmodified BMW with side car. Along with that, I will send technical information and photos of those motorcycles.

In February, I would like to target Majorette/Solido for Mercedes Benz and Citroen German staff cars. Perhaps even a Free French Resistance automobile (just to flatter the French manufactures....they have made them in the smaller scales).

Are there any other viable projects anyone else would like to propose to any of the other manufacturers?

Cheers

mrkisskissbangbang wrote:PROPOSAL:

I believe that if we as a group send snail mail letters on mass to these manufacturers we may actually get what we want. I propose that we target Maisto to specifically build a 1:18 scale Harley Davidson ELA with Side Car and the BMWs R-71 and R-75 with/without Side Cars (since Maisto has the license to build Harley Davidsons and BMWs).

If possible, I would like everyone to send their letters out on January 15th, 2007.....(after the Christmas/New Years Holidays). I'm planning on sending photos of my Harley Davidson WLAs with American troops and my jealous German figures with either nothing or an unmodified BMW with side car. Along with that, I will send technical information and photos of those motorcycles.

In February, I would like to target Majorette/Solido for Mercedes Benz and Citroen German staff cars. Perhaps even a Free French Resistance automobile (just to flatter the French manufactures....they have made them in the smaller scales).

Are there any other viable projects anyone else would like to propose to any of the other manufacturers?

Cheers

Great idea. Those are the areas sorely lacking and deserve attention. Please include me in any mailing lists for this. You have my support. I'd very much like to see this happen. Zundapp would also be good. But let's start where we can!

We're getting closer and closer with the diecast car people every year I think. It's only logical - expertise in well detailed metal 1:18 scale cars and lots of customers wanting well detailed 1:18 military vehicles....

Signature has this sweet item:

http://www.diecastcountry.com/item.phtml?id=57234

And Maisto and Exoto have both done military hummers. Solido did that nice jeep (with more potential than actual worth). The military Harley mentioned was great. I've heard good things about those Gate jeeps as well.

I think they're all just testing the waters a bit to see how cold it is before they jump in.