I can't believe it !!!!!!!

[pickelhaube]

A S1 panzer is fixing to go off on e-bay in about a half hour. Already up to $115 . YIKES !!!

[scbvideoboy]

I wonder if something happened to the tooling on the panther to prevent it from being re issued.

I have my S1 and Winter (in box) yeah the jagdpanther is a no brainer, wth?

There's always the new Tamiya 1/16 only $900 or so

DH

Maybe Henglong will copy that one correctly, or who knows maybe they'll come out with a new tank.

[STUKA]

maybe it was also in the "fire"

[coreystinson]

The Patton wasn't intentionally re-released to the hobby marketplace.

As for the Panther, I agree that it as well as all of the other armor including the Sherman deserve a re-release before this Christmas but it is the usual story from 21st: "Armor doesn't sell as well as aircraft." They have access to the numbers so I guess they know. For me, armor sells better than aircraft but I guess I'm an exception instead of the rule.

Nevertheless, I am sure all of them will see re-release eventually since the tooling is already done it.

with the obvious popularity of the xd Panther, i'm quite surprised it hasn't been re-released by now. They've re-released pretty much every other of the older vehicles, including the Patton.

I'm sure it will get a re-release eventually...

[STUKA]

one thing we are missing - when 21st says armor does not sell as well as Aircraft - 21st is selling to the companies - not us - are they saying WM thinks aircraft will sell better and wont buy as much armor?

They have to make what WM, TRU are willing to buy

[coreystinson]

one thing we are missing - when 21st says armor does not sell as well as Aircraft - 21st is selling to the companies - not us - are they saying WM thinks aircraft will sell better and wont buy as much armor?

They have to make what WM, TRU are willing to buy

That's true, but each of these companies has past experience to base their purchasing on. Toys R Us initially had the XD line. Wal-mart has had armor several times in the past and it always ends up in the clearance aisle (but, often, so do the planes so I am not sure that proves anything...)

I'm inclined to think these things rather go in cycles. We've seen a lot of aircraft in the last few years. 21st has decided to do the King Tiger in 1:18 scale which is great. I hope the demand cycle swings back a little more toward armor. I think it will.

[FieroDude]

I also suspect part of the problem comes from the way new planes and armor are manufactured and released. For example. when the Bf-109Gs came out, there were a lot of different paint schemes all at once--and a couple did well, and the rest just sat. For the average shopper, they are essentially all the same. And even for collectors, a lot of us have room for only one or two of a particular aircraft, or only budget for one in a certain time frame. Therefore, unless we know a very specific paint scheme is planned, we get one from the first wave. As a result, the rest end up sitting until they go on clearance.

It seems like when a plane is available in only one paint scheme at a given time, with a year or so between paint schemes, that scheme tends to sell out pretty completely. Same goes for armor--I could see a lot of casual buyers picking up a PAK-40 and one of the halftracks. Completists like us who see a SzF and PPW as two totally different vehicles are probably rather rare in the big scheme of things.

What sells better overall at WM and TRU? I suspect armor. Not necessarily because it is more popular. But because much of it has a lower price point and it doesn't inspire parents to say "now where are you going to put THAT?" And stores like it better because most of it uses less shelf space (except maybe the Abrams, which I haven't seen in a TRU in 3 years, and I got mine on clearance for $25).

[coreystinson]

What sells better overall at WM and TRU? I suspect armor. Not necessarily because it is more popular. But because much of it has a lower price point and it doesn't inspire parents to say "now where are you going to put THAT?"

That's certainly a valid point. I just hope it isn't TOO true! If so, then expect the major retailers to trend toward 1:32 scale which, truthfully, is a lot more practical - very high level of detail while much less expensive, and requiring less room to display.

I think the 1:32 scale stuff is really neat, but I'm an old school 1:18 scale guy so that's where I must stay.

[coreystinson]

I also suspect part of the problem comes from the way new planes and armor are manufactured and released. For example. when the Bf-109Gs came out, there were a lot of different paint schemes all at once--and a couple did well, and the rest just sat.

I think the jury may still be out on whether or not this is a good idea. Based on some conversations I've had, I have reason to believe that some folks even on the manufacturer side are still sorting out the merits of releasing a bunch of paint schemes at the same time.

I think I prefer to see one model at a time released. Do a production run, sell it through, retire it, then re-release later in another variation is my preference.

I guess 21st (and others) think they can eek out more sales on the short term by dropping a bunch of variants of the same model at the same time.

They've been doing it (the variant releases) both ways long enough now to probably have a good idea what works better (i.e profit)...

Sometimes, the dropping of multiple variants at the same time when not much else is out there can be annoying. I have received a few really nasty emails from customers (directed at *me* no less) about having a bunch of variants of the same time, such as the P-51 or the F-104. All I can do is virtually shrug my shoulders and say "go email the manufacturer."

[pickelhaube]

Old topic but another BBI Zero just went off on e-bay for $133 and change. YIIIIIIIIIIKES !!!!!

[V2 MAN]

We do need a re-release of the panther. Man i can't believe how much S1 panzer's are going for on ebay I got mine a couple of months ago off ebay for 40$ shipped We also need a re-release of the kubel in a desert camo