How about: a 1/32 Tamiya P-38 Lightning?

[timvkampen]

Then I'll open one for a 1/32 Tomcat new tool as next year Top Gun (Topgun): Maverick is going to be releaased starring also the Old School Tomcat.

 

Lightning may still pop-up in 32 in 5 years time from now.

[Neo]

Pre order is open. Unfortunately its 1/48

 

https://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?item_no=TA 61120

[STWilliams]

On 7/24/2019 at 6:46 AM, timvkampen said:

Fully agree. They are a mysterious company...I'm visiting Japan in December...perhaps pay them a visit and beg and hand over our List :). Just kidding of course, but for the F-16D: GT Resin is planning some options. But it is a mystery they don't invest more in our hobby. Their RC and other offerings sell well and I am sure the plastic modelling for aviation would take off even more...oh well, the 1/48 P-38 is still fantastic of course!

I'd hazard a guess that the financial returns are not great enough. 1/48 is far more affordable & needs less space, and the range is practically limitless. Everybody wants to make a buck, and if the 1/32 aviation market was deemed a profitable area, we'd be seeing a lot more kits coming out. 

[MikeMaben]

If they weren't profitable 'enough', I'd think they would have quit producing them long ago.

Could be a resource allocation issue, spending time and money elsewhere ...  for now.

 

[DONG]

3 hours ago, STWilliams said:

I'd hazard a guess that the financial returns are not great enough. 1/48 is far more affordable & needs less space, and the range is practically limitless. Everybody wants to make a buck, and if the 1/32 aviation market was deemed a profitable area, we'd be seeing a lot more kits coming out. 

 

Have to agree with this. I don't know how much the Tamiya F4U-1A and D go for elsewhere but here 2 shops carry them at 190 to 210 Can. same with the Mustangs. I know Ebay has some good deals but shipping and exchange take care of that.

 

The same shops have brought in and sold out of the new Airfix Hellcat but one has also brought in 3 HK Lanc's and still has them ($500) here. I can only imagine what a 1/32 Tamiya P-38 would cost at least Mossie price range up to $300 here.  A lot of shops up here only bring in 1 or 2 big Tamiya kits because they don't want to be stuck with them.

 

Don

[DONG]

6 minutes ago, MikeMaben said:

If they weren't profitable 'enough', I'd think they would have quit producing them long ago.

Could be a resource allocation issue, spending time and money elsewhere ...  for now.

 

 

Maybe Mike but if Tamiya really wanted to do an F-16D what would it really take 1 new sprue. I think Tamiya uses their resources for R/C mostly then other types off kits look at their armour cataloge for one plus all the 1/700 ships. Look at 1/32 they could have also done a late F-4E with one extra sprue or really updated the F-14 kit.

 

[Adam Maas]

On 7/30/2019 at 8:40 AM, timvkampen said:

Then I'll open one for a 1/32 Tomcat new tool as next year Top Gun (Topgun): Maverick is going to be releaased starring also the Old School Tomcat.

 

Lightning may still pop-up in 32 in 5 years time from now.

 

Sadly Top Gun 2 is all Super Hornets

[Dave Williams]

2 minutes ago, Adam Maas said:

 

Sadly Top Gun 2 is all Super Hornets

 

Yet the trailer does show a shot of a Tomcat.

[Adam Maas]

Just now, Dave Williams said:

 

Yet the trailer does show a shot of a Tomcat.

It also shows Goose.

 

there be flashbacks.

[Tony T]

On 26 July 2019 at 3:21 PM, Dany Boy said:

Dreaming to have this one in my 1:32 collection

 

Would love a French F5. 

[Dave Morrissette]

On 8/4/2019 at 7:50 PM, STWilliams said:

I'd hazard a guess that the financial returns are not great enough. 1/48 is far more affordable & needs less space, and the range is practically limitless. Everybody wants to make a buck, and if the 1/32 aviation market was deemed a profitable area, we'd be seeing a lot more kits coming out. 

 Two reasons. First, while this group of people worldwide is devout 1/32 fans, many don't do them because they are either simply too large to display or too expensive to buy. Second, when Academy made their lovely 1/32 F-18, the tooling costs alone exceeded $1MM and with a limited market and reissues, that is a lot of money to get back especially with resellers, etc. 

 

Dave

[FCM]

I feel the next 1/32 release from Tamiya would be a F4U-4/5, if the existing Corsairs could share some sprues with them.

 

When we see that manufacturers who have the power to release new kits easily just by adding a few new parts in small sprues like Trumpeter can do, which could release a P-38M, a MIG-27 or a MIG-15UTI just adding few parts to the already existing kits, or Revell, that could bring us a complete JU-88/188 family with new parts for their kit, and they does not do so. I can not imagine what can happen in companies as expensive as Tamiya.

Edited August 10, 2019 by FCM

[Adam Maas]

8 hours ago, FCM said:

I feel the next 1/32 release from Tamiya would be a F4U-4/5, if the existing Corsairs could share some sprues with them.

 

When we see that manufacturers who have the power to release new kits easily just by adding a few new parts in small sprues like Trumpeter can do, which could release a P-38M, a MIG-27 or a MIG-15UTI just adding few parts to the already existing kits, or Revell, that could bring us a complete JU-88/188 family with new parts for their kit, and they does not do so. I can not imagine what can happen in companies as expensive as Tamiya.

A -4 is vaguely doable, as it shared a fair bit with the -1's they've already done. The real problem is that while the fuselage is almost identical between the two, the exhaust setup would require retooling the fuselage sides unless Tamiya was clever with the mold inserts in advance.

Would require a new cockpit, new lower centre wing section, new cowl, new fuselage sides, some new engine bits and a new canopy for a plain -4, a -4B would also need new outer wings. That's a fair bit of tooling, but not entirely unrealistic. Probably 50% new plastic, including 3 of the largest sections (again, assuming Tamiya didn't design the fuselage molds to be convertible between a -1 and -4)

A -5 would be a whole new design, sharing only a few parts with their current -1's (cylinder banks, possibly gear & some tail bits). But a well designed -5 would also be able to produce an AU-1 and a -7 from the same basic tooling.

Frankly, I suspect that doing another R2800 design would prove a wiser investment. I think a Tamiya-quality P-47D would certainly sell, and likely much better than a late Corsair family would. Alternatively the F6F-3/5 would also share the engine sprue and prop from the F4U-1d, and there's a real chance to pick up sales right now with Airfix's kit bringing up the visibility of the type without directly competing with a 1/32 kit.

Tamiya has already shown a willingness to do types which share engine sprues (Mustang, Spit VIII/IX/XVI, Mosquito) so another R2800 design would make lots of sense and the F6F in particular would sell reasonably well into their usual market.

Edited August 11, 2019 by Adam Maas

[DonH]

4 hours ago, Adam Maas said:

Tamiya has already shown a willingness to do types which share engine sprues (Mustang, Spit VIII/IX/XVI, Mosquito) so another R2800 design would make lots of sense and the F6F in particular would sell reasonably well into their usual market.

 

In that case, I can confidently predict that they will release a 109 Buchon, thereby simultaneously satisfying the engine sprue theory (Merlin) and everyone who wants them to release a 109 in 1/32.

[LSP_Kevin]

2 minutes ago, DonH said:

 

In that case, I can confidently predict that they will release a 109 Buchon, thereby simultaneously satisfying the engine sprue theory (Merlin) and everyone who wants them to release a 109 in 1/32.

 

And given that I'm currently working on such a conversion project, it also satisfies the personal sacrifice rule of new kit releases.

 

Kev