seiran01 Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Happy New Years everyone! Something got me thinking, we haven’t seen any new large scale releases from certain companies in a number of years, maybe we will get lucky and 2020 will breathe life into them? I’m thinking specifically Tamiya and Hasegawa, but I’m sure they can’t be the only two companies out there that haven’t put out a new big aircraft in a while - any others? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssculptor Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 What happened to the rumor of the 1/32 Austrian WW1 X strut fighter? Is that a pipe dream? I would buy one of those in all 4 scales, 1/24, 1/32, 1/48, 1/72. Alburymodeler 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 My gut (and the available evidence) tells me that Tamiya has pulled back from the LSP market for the time being, and it's not certain they will return any time soon (if at all). New-tool Hasegawa LSP kits have become just as rare these days, though they're obviously much more willing to recycle their existing catalogue on a regular basis. So I don't expect new kits from either company this year, or the foreseeable future. Kev sturmovik 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seiran01 Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 9 minutes ago, ssculptor said: What happened to the rumor of the 1/32 Austrian WW1 X strut fighter? Is that a pipe dream? I would buy one of those in all 4 scales, 1/24, 1/32, 1/48, 1/72. The Hansa Brandenburg D.I? Wingnut and Copper State are both working on a release of that plane! Kev... that’s what I’ve been able to piece together too but my god I want to be wrong. LSP_K2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alburymodeler Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 10 minutes ago, ssculptor said: What happened to the rumor of the 1/32 Austrian WW1 X strut fighter? Is that a pipe dream? I would buy one of those in all 4 scales, 1/24, 1/32, 1/48, 1/72. We are well served in that two are coming in 1/32, from Copper State Models and also WNW. I assume both will be excellent, and I recall CSMs were due in the first half of this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Don't get me wrong: I still thing the LSP market is vibrant and healthy; it's just that the baton is in the process of being passed to smaller firms like ICM, Roden, CSM and the like. Of course, Special Hobby has been delivering and improving for some time now. And we have a range of new initiatives from the likes of HpH, Jetmads, HGW and others. Revell is all but out of the game, and will spend the rest of its days in the hobby recycling their existing kits and re-boxing those from other companies. The Big 5 mainstream manufacturers now appear to be Trumpeter/HobbyBoss (taken as a single entity), HK Models, Kitty Hawk, Wingnut Wings, and Zoukei-Mura - and in reality, there's nothing big about the last 4 anyway. Personally, I'm also happy that we still have a range of companies producing high-quality resin kits of interesting subjects. But there's a definite swing back to smaller scales in a lot of areas, with 1/72 scale a particular beneficiary of an assortment of new kits from an assortment of new firms. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjones726 Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 I am 100% certain that if/when Tamiya decides to release another 1/32 aircraft it will be.... molded in light grey plastic KUROK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artful69 Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 (edited) There has definitely been a "Shift" in the market since I started back into the hobby in about 2007-8 ... I remember when things slowed down a little - post GFC - and there were doom and gloom posts everywhere about every company pulling out of anything Large scale and that the Hobby was dead and/or in the process of dying. In reality nothing could have been further from the truth ... The amount of product released in the years 2008 - 2015 is staggering. Most people forget to include the Chinese market in their calculations also - at nearly 20% of world population. Dragon were the primary producer of LSA's chuffing out about 3-6 new releases per MONTH ... while either Trumpeter or Hobbyboss dominated LSP production (among other things) at that time releasing several new LSP kits per year ... averaging at least 1 per month at one point. China has been the last of the world markets to slow down economically and it shows ... It has to remembered that the primary reason for any cut back in production - from anywhere - will be a waning of demand (measured through sales statistics) ... Also the larger the company - the greater demand will have an influence on economies of scale. I believe this is why the smaller to medium newer companies - birthed around that post GFC time - are doing reasonably well now (Zoukei-Mura, Wingnut Wings, Hong Kong Models, Takom, Meng, Rye Field Model) etc ... Trumpeter, Hobbyboss, Dragon, Revell, Tamiya etc have still been pumping out product ... yet it's been in less quantities over time - as the pipeline (development to production) has dried out ... The bigger the modelling wing of the company ... the sharper the decline - especially as company rationalisation kicks in ... although it's interesting to note that they haven't given up completely ... Tamiya is releasing a (re-box?) of a Mustang this year ... Revell is releasing re-pops of their own and other companies products, the Chinese based companies are releasing new moulded kits (just a LOT less of them) ... They're just holding off on development at the moment. I think that when worldwide demand increases again, you'll find these bigger companies will reemerge with something new. Rog Edited January 1, 2020 by Artful69 Jan_G, Jeff, AlanG and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Tamiya has an F-51D variant of their Mustang coming sometime this year. It's listed on Lucky Model as well as TamiyaBlog.com. So they haven't given up on the scale completely. Carl Jeff, John1 and LSP_K2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 2 hours ago, BloorwestSiR said: Tamiya has an F-51D variant of their Mustang coming sometime this year. It's listed on Lucky Model as well as TamiyaBlog.com. So they haven't given up on the scale completely. Carl Ooooo....sounds like what I have been waiting for....I have wanted to build “Wanda” for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) It's a great pity that Tamiya seem to have gone cold on LSP's. Perhaps their F-51D, if it's actually released, will be their "testing the waters" effort. I'd really love to see them back in the game with a 109 or 190, or a P-40, P-47 or P-38. Maybe even a Hurricane. Surely one of these would sell well. As to the other five main players mentioed above, Trumpeter/Hobbyboss will have to do much better than their recent P-40 releases for me to buy. I have 2 of their kits on my shelf of doom, and one will definitely be staying there. I also have a few other Trumpy kits and one day I'll get to them. I have a four WNW kits in my stash and I'll start at least one this year. Looking forward to that and may buy more if I can work out rigging . ICM have some tasty kits on the market and I'll definiteley be buying to add to my stash. I have a ZM kit arriving today, apparently, so looking forward to that one. I really want them to re-release their TA-152H-0, but I'll be interested to see what else they release this year. I'm waiting to see what HKM release this year too. I've only built one of theirs, 2 Meteors, and enjoyed them a lot. Good fit and good surface detail. A P-51B or DH Vampire would go down a treat. I'm working on a Special Hobby kit right now and have mixed feelings about it. I have a Tempest in the stash, but any other release from them will be scrutinised very closely on this forum before I buy. I have KH's P-39 also in my stash and from what I've seen of this model on this forum, I doubt I'll buy another. Lets see what they come up with, though. I doubt we'll see anything from Airfix this year. Maybe an F6f-3?? but I'm looking forward to see what they do next. It's a good thing I have plenty of kits in my stash to keep me going, and that includes four Tamiya kits. I am hoping that I can get a few more kits built than I managed last year so I'm going to be very choosy about what I buy, as it does appear that their is a "changing of the guard" happening in the market just now. Sometimes this is a good thing. Let's stay positive and see where it all leads. Cheers, Michael Edited January 2, 2020 by Dpgsbody55 BiggTim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggTim Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, Artful69 said: I believe this is why the smaller to medium newer companies - birthed around that post GFC time - are doing reasonably well.... Rog What is GFC? Global Financial Crisis? Edited January 2, 2020 by BiggTim Artful69, Alburymodeler and Jeff 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 What I do not get is why more Asian manufacturers do not choose the 'middle way'? They could easily invest in new versions of existing kits for a very moderate investment. Typically, they have extreme policies: either create full new kits or just re-release existing ones, possibly with new decals. Except Eastern Europe companies, most producers do not seem to understand they could 'milk the cow' far more efficiently with other variants that typically just ask for a new small sprue. I do not get that from a business perspective. TAG and LSP_K2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radub Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Model design and production takes time. If a LSP model is announced today, work on it started five years ago (maybe even longer). The larger and more complex models take longer to produce. Smaller models with fewer parts can be produced faster. So, for that reason, it makes sense that smaller scale models are released at a faster rate. This has always been the case. Personally, I do not see a "slow down" in the release of LSP models. I remember the days when only a couple of manufacturers made LSPs and they released one every few years. There were even stretches of many years without a single LSP release. Last year we had a multitude of new models from a multitude of manufacturers. Things are not so bad. Radu jimbo, firefly7, esarmstrong and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ade rowlands Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Hasegawa seem to be re-releasing the 109G-14 kit in the near future. Have one on preorder from HLJ. LSP_K2 and Kagemusha 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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