Why Doesn't Eduard Make LSPs?

[vince14]

18 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

Well, they are possibly not in the last Hasegawa catalogue (frankly I did not check) but they released many Japanese cars and other vehicles (I know it as I have some of them). They even re-released 1/32 cars produced by other Japanese companies such as the Tomy Jaguar Ss100. I did not mention Tamiya but Fujimi that has released many 1/32 references with a large majority of them staying available. I did not mentioned F1 cars either as indeed such cars are very rare in 1/32 but I do not think the diorama possibilities combining planes and F1 cars are that common! Just check and you will be surprised by the number of rolling things that have already been done in that scale. 

Sure, there are a few trucks etc. in 1/32 that Fujimi make - but the fact remains that Airfix would sell a hell of a lot more of their car kits if they made them in 1/24 as opposed to 1/32. The simple fact is that there are more car modellers looking for 1/24 car kits than there are LSP modellers looking for a 1/32 car to pose with an aircraft model.

[wunwinglow]

21 hours ago, vince14 said:

The Japanese companies (and everyone other mainstream manufacturer apart from Airfix) settled on 1/24 for cars many, many years ago - there's not a single car in either the Tamiya or Hasegawa catalogue that's in 1/32. 1/20 became the standard for F1 cars, and that's stuck too. The only car kits widely available nowadays in 1/32 are all either Airfix or re-pops of decades old kits.

 

I know why Airfix stick with 1/32 for cars - it ties in with Scalextric, which they also own - but it severely limits their potential pool of buyers. All the car modellers I know won't touch them, because they're in the 'wrong' scale.

Same that they don't do 1:32 aircraft.... 

[thierry laurent]

We may go back to the middle ages with such a question: was it better to rule a county or to be a earl in a large kingdom? Same thing here. Some prefer to release common topics in mainstream scales in a crowded arena whereas others prefer to stay more or less alone in a niche made of oddball topics in uncommon scales. Finally, this is just a business decision and scale model companies are like other ones: some are profitable or take clever decisions whereas others have dumb strategies and even go bankrupt! I'm always looking at Airfix with a kind nostalgia but the history of the company and the awful difficulties it went through did not demonstrate a lot of productive business strategies for some decades. 

[Redcap1960]

On 1/4/2020 at 2:35 PM, vince14 said:

The Japanese companies (and everyone other mainstream manufacturer apart from Airfix) settled on 1/24 for cars many, many years ago - there's not a single car in either the Tamiya or Hasegawa catalogue that's in 1/32. 1/20 became the standard for F1 cars, and that's stuck too. The only car kits widely available nowadays in 1/32 are all either Airfix or re-pops of decades old kits.

 

I know why Airfix stick with 1/32 for cars - it ties in with Scalextric, which they also own - but it severely limits their potential pool of buyers. All the car modellers I know won't touch them, because they're in the 'wrong' scale.

Whilst it’s true to state that 1/24 - 1/25 are the primary scales for civilian vehicles there are other manufacturers, other than those previously mentioned, that are knocking out LSP comparable vehicles, Aoshima in Japan springs to mind and AMT in the US has either just commenced and/or recommenced a line of 1/32 early to mid 1960’s iconic cars (1960 Ford Thunderbird Hardtop, 1961 Ford Ranchero, 1963 Chevy Corvette Stingray Hardtop and a 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback) that would fit in nicely with LSP’s of that period. It would be nice if they continued with that trend.