Can we demand it??

[ssculptor]

Other than the wish list we have from time to time, but can we Large Scale Builders not really demand but express to the model gods that we really want certain kits? Is there a way by signatures or surveys get them to move on subjects? I'm sure that if they are smart they are looking at us to see how they're product does in the market and those that they target! Or is this just a figment of our imagination!!

 

I don't want to start a rant here but would like to understand how they think or target a market! Or is it a " hey let's make one of these" kind of meetings they have!

 

Any who!

Go Phantoms!

 

Paul

I am glad that you backed off on the use of the word "demand". A customer or even a few hundred "demanding" that a  manufacturer bring out a kit that they want brings forth the image of a 10 year old child yelling and demanding what he wants, with his hands clenched into fists and his feet stamping and him threatening to hold his breath until he gets what he wants.  It is such a childish idea that just the thought of it has given me many laughs as I reflected on the concept over the past few hours. 

These are privately owned companies that really produce kits to the whim of the management. Other factors enter into the choices of the models to be produced. There is really no underlying logic to the business. The guys who run the companies want to make money, but at the same time they want to make the kits they like. This business is half rational decisions and half personal preferences. Look back at the kits that have been produced and see if you can really figure out how the choices made.  Has Airfix ever produced 1/32 Warplanes? Not really although they are the premier model company in the UK. It was Matchbox who made kits of English aircraft but Revell USA produced the most  back in the 1960's. Why? Who knows? Most probably it was the whim of the owner of the company.  In more recent times look at the major Japanese manufacturers. In the past 10 years Hasegawa, a major model maker in Japan has produced so many German aircraft we were calling them Nazigawa. On the other hand back in the 1960's Hasegawa did produce American biplane fighter aircraft. Why? Who knows?

To expect any manufacturer to accede to the "demands" of a small minority of the buying public is nonsense. Do not get your self estimation of the importance of the modeling folk. A good proportion of the kits are sold to beginners, children and to many older relatives who buy the kits to be presents for the younger relatives.

Imagining that a few hundred model builders wield any weight  in the decision making process is just a fig newton of your imagination.

Have you ever been in a responsible position in a large company? In a small company? Have you ever lost sleep and grown an ulcer trying to make the weekly payroll? Sit in their chairs for a while and what would you think of some guys demanding that you produce the model they want. By the way, not all model companies make rational decisions about the kits they produce. Hasegawa has a perfectly good F-86 in their lineup and have had it for many years. Every now and then they reissue it. So Kinetic decides their intro into the 1/32 scale modeling field will be another F-86. There is a case of a model manufacturer saying he will produce what he wants, not what is needed.

There are some companies who cater to the few model builders, WingnutWings is one, and a wonderful job they are doing about it.  But their operational funds comes from the firms founder who makes it in the movie industry. This is almost a hobby for him.  There was that fellow in Holland who almost brought out a line of Allied twin engine aircraft a few years ago but his partners in Asia screwed him out of the action. Business is always a gamble and it takes brave men with lots of nerve and cohones to survive in that world. To think they will yield to our childish demands is totally absurd.

If I should hit the lottery for some millions I will produce my own line of 1/32 scale aircraft kits just for the fun of it. But I would produce the kits I want to make, not what some few model builders want. 

Stephen

[petrov27]

You may be able to have some luck with a handful of the resin kit manufacturers (HPH for example stated if they knew they could sell 100 tigercats, they'd do that in 1/32 resin).

 

You may possibly get the attention of the short run plastic manufacturers as well but it'd be much more difficult to have any pull with a "standard" kit manufacturer unless you had a heck of a lot of commitments or guaranteed interest.

 

Concerning the idea of HPH doing one, anyone familiar with the Kickstarter website and concept? Maybe a quote from HPH could be sought then fund it through a Kickstarter?

[Tony T]

These are privately owned companies that really produce kits to the whim of the management. Other factors enter into the choices of the models to be produced. There is really no underlying logic to the business. The guys who run the companies want to make money, but at the same time they want to make the kits they like...

If I should hit the lottery for some millions I will produce my own line of 1/32 scale aircraft kits just for the fun of it. But I would produce the kits I want to make, not what some few model builders want. 

Stephen

Agree. If I had unlimited resources I would make the definitive 1/32 Draken 'family', F-111A/E, RF-4C/E, Spey Toom, Buccaneer and 1970s era airfield accessories as IM items - and *stuff* what anyone else wants!

 

Like the wish list threads, it's all for our amusement. We all know that.

 

If a new firm wants to carve out niches in 1/32 IM kits, I would suggest 1940s indigenous Soviet and Japanese props plus Cold War Soviet and Western European jets from the 1960s. While none of those categories - which might create a Yakovlev or Petlyakov prop, or Su-15 Flagon, Schimitar and so forth - would give me an F-111 or good Photo-Phantom, I would probably buy many of them.

 

Tony

[Propwash]

With all the great kits currently being released and scheduled for release, I'm kind of at a loss to understand why some modelers are so unhappy that their dream kit isn't among them.  Why not just make up your mind to be content with what's available?  It's like going to a party where there are lots of attractive, single women and complaining that there aren't any tall redheads. 

 

However, for those with deep pockets, HPH will build you any model you want in any scale you want.  Granted, you won't get the satisfaction of building it yourself, but at least you'll have the satisfaction of having a unique model to show off to your friends -- kind of like a trophy wife.

 

Jerry Peterson

[Kagemusha]

There was that fellow in Holland who almost brought out a line of Allied twin engine aircraft a few years ago but his partners in Asia screwed him out of the action. Business is always a gamble and it takes brave men with lots of nerve and cohones to survive in that world. 

 

There was more than one side to that situation, and Martin's partners suggested he didn't invest the financial funds required.

 

If you go into a shop with a fantastic idea for a sandwich, but no money, it isn't the shopkeeper's fault you can't make it.

Edited May 24, 2014 by Kagemusha