Do you want Revell to release a new tool 1/32 P-51B??

[Radub]

One guy asking for one thing one hundred times is harassment. One hundred guys asking for the same thing one time is demand. One hundred guys asking for one thing each one time is just noise. 

Focus! 

Radu 

[Pascal]

Would be nice (and smart) if everyone that sends an email to Revell, would limit himself to only the P-51B.

 

You can send a second (or third) request for other models, but combining them in 1 request, draws the focus away from the P-51B.

[Kagemusha]

I think they've got the message regards the P-51B judging mine and others replies.

[ZachP319]

This is where I think we may be out of step with major kit manufacturers.

 

I don't think that the B model does necessarily have a well known history to the casual modeller. The D is the prototypical Mustang model.

 

Having said that, my thesis is blown out of the water with Tamiya's treatment of their 1/32 Spitfire range, where they get a Mk.VIII, Mk.IX and a MK.XIV out. I'm amazed there is such a market for variances of the Spitfire - without touching earlier versions - whilst the Mustang is limited to the D?

 

All very strange.

 

You are right about the D of course but I think it is likely that P-51 alone is a draw to the more unknowing or casual modeler. 

 

Do the Tamiya kits have any cache with anyone who is not relatively committed to the hobby and therefore knowledgeable? I don't feel like they are in the price bracket of the casual modeler. What I am driving at here is that if that is the case then the more esoteric marks are more viable as your audience is naturally more up on subject matter. Same could be said for the Corsair.Nothing beyond a Baa Baa Black Sheep tri-color scheme F4U-1a would be viable to the general public not the relatively obscure F4U-1 birdcage and the Mosquito is nearly unknown to anyone not interested in aviation. 

 

I think we sometimes forget that part of the model industry caters to a greater audience while others definitely do cater to those of us with depth of knowledge. One could argue that Tamiya's RC and model car lines surely have a wide audience likely wider than their aircraft. Their 1/48 scale line likely has greater market share than the large scale line, etc. So in this case their widely sold lines help to support the more detailed and perhaps esoteric line of kits at the high end. While each kit does have to suggest profitability, that profit margin is not considered in a vacuum but as part of a greater portfolio. Essentially the entirety of Tamiya or Revell's catalog can be considered a sort of risk sharing porfolio which is essentially mutually supporting to an extent. If one kit never sells well then it will be pulled but look at some of the albatross kits that have hung on over the years? The PBY and Ju-52 have never been huge sellers for Revell but they make periodic appearances in both Revell USA and Revell AG's catalogs. Likewise with the Hasegawa Sea King. 

 

I guess what I am trying to say and perhaps being too long winded about is that Revell or any other company does indeed take the mass market into account but certainly also considers modelers like us with some releases. Not every release has to appeal to the masses and that is what I think gets lost in these discussions. Otherwise no one would ever kit anything but the Zero, Bf 109, P-51D and Spitfire for WW2 and the F-14, 16 and maybe 18 for jets. 

 

Just some thoughts. 

 

Zach 

Edited October 26, 2017 by ZachP319

[Kagemusha]

Thread creep aside... but I would argue the Mosquito is better known in Europe than the Corsair. Anyhoo... hopefully we'll get a P-51B before long.

[Martinnfb]

[Martinnfb]

A rare picture showing the canopy glasswork and overall top layout.

 

[LSP_Ron]

That plane had a rough day. Must be taking a nap or something,.,...

[wunwinglow]

Jeez! You're the 28th person e-mailing me today about that blooming P-51B! Why won't you lot listen?! There isn't any demand for such a kit!!!

[MikeMaben]

You are right about the D of course but I think it is likely that P-51 alone is a draw to the more unknowing or casual modeler.

 

Actually I doubt the casual buyer would even recognize P-51. They see 'Mustang'

and snappy colorful boxart . I think the 'casual' modeler market is shrinking anyway.

 

I think the orange people are getting bigger

 

 

[MikeMaben]

That plane had a rough day. Must be taking a nap or something,.,...

 

That left wing will be asleep when he wakes up too. 

[wunwinglow]

I wonder if we are not quite seeing things straight. The kit manufacturers HAVE to release new products once in a while. They will usually try to differenciate their products from their rivals by either being different subjects, or where the subject is the same, by some other factor; quality, price, or variant.

The market isn't simply number of customers either. There might be lots of these 'casual buyers'who apparently make up the vast bulk of the hobby consumer population, but I bet us enthusiasts outspend them by 50:1!!

 

Putting that together, any manufacturer would be foolish to ignore what his regular customers were requesting.

 

That said, I still don't understand the single float Arado!!!

Edited October 28, 2017 by wunwinglow

[Radub]

People wrote to Revell and Revell replied - see the posts above. Revell have not said "No" to other kinds of Mustangs. They just said "we are concentrating on the current release". 

Radu 

[Guest Vulcan32]

At Revell all the new releases are fixed until 2019. So, when they bring a P-51B within the next two years, the decision was made long before this thread was opened.

You can lean back and relax or build a kit from the huge stash.

 

Have a nice weekend, Heinz

[Martinnfb]