Looks like Eduard is reassessing 1/32

[thierry laurent]

2 hours ago, Johnny Cloud said:

Tamiya or Revell Spitfires do not put any money into Eduard's pocket.

I'm regularly reading that. This is true but limiting the logic to basic economics is an error when there is another elephant in the room: modellers demography! Our hobby is aging and the renewal of the population has a very bad rate except in a very limited number of western countries and European brands do not really sell in China. This is important as a new product will not be bought by many 'new' customers. It is targeted to the same population than the prior one we already have in the stash and that will be possibly difficult to surpass... So, yes, the availability of existing competing products has an obvious impact on profitability. I can give you ten examples of cases of releases I did not get or just purchased one kit of the range because I already have multiple copies of that topic in my stash. I know all my friends are doing the same and typically this applies to "topics that sell"...

[MikeC]

9 hours ago, Tony T said:

, but a £75 1:32 Spitty would be at the right price point.

You may well be correct in that, but where does this figure come from? I'm thinking that as it's Eduard it will have a huge number of very tiny parts, which would probably put it well into 3 figures. 

 

Guess it's a case of wait and see.

[Tony T]

1 hour ago, MikeC said:

You may well be correct in that, but where does this figure come from? I'm thinking that as it's Eduard it will have a huge number of very tiny parts, which would probably put it well into 3 figures. 

 

Guess it's a case of wait and see.

 

A three figure kit would probably be a special edition with a book and a shedload of etch, löök etc

Remember you can buy bells-and-whistles 1:48 Profipacks for about £30-40 and weekend editions for £25ish. 

I'm guessing a Weekend edition 1:32 Spitfire might actually come in at around £55-60, an overtrees set for £35-40. A Profipack without a limited edition book and pilot figure for £75.

 

Now, Eduard's figures may differ of course, and they may just want-in on the £100-is-now-normal Tamiya, GWH and Kotare single-engined prop avenue, but I think they'd be missing a trick not to slide in with cocked guns just behind Kotare and Tamiya. And blast away.

 

And the Spitfire IXc is a good-looking mark to start with, assuming they do actually bite into 1:32 scale. 

 

Tony

[Pup7309]

13 hours ago, Tony T said:

I don't yet have a Tamiya Spitfire IXc, just the Revell, so an Eduardo might be a perfect qualitative upgrade for folks like myself. 

And if they took the plunge with a MiG-21 Fishbed series, that would be magic. That, a -15UTI and -17F. I'm pretty sure none of those are going to happen in big scale, just 1:48, but a £75 1:32 Spitty would be at the right price point. Revells's inexpensive Spits are riddled with divots, and the Tamiyas slightly bland and expensive.

Probably the right move.

 

Tony

Well that’s one confirmed sale guess they should start the CAD renders

[Pup7309]

6 hours ago, Johnny Cloud said:

A top shelf Spitfire Mk.IX should sell rather well, it is the best known version.

Yes Tamiya is hard to beat but that's not necessarily the goal, a different kit with an equally impressive surface and possibly a better detailed cockpit out of the box with more options would do the trick I think.

Tamiya or Revell Spitfires do not put any money into Eduard's pocket.

Don’t really see how a better detailed cockpit will be enough to beat Tamiya. The only way they could out do Tamiya is by having less gimmicks and be much cheaper. The 1/32 Tamiya Zeros can be picked up cheaper than later kits so Eduard might only come in at similar price point for Zero anyway. I hope Tamiya does a simplified all injected version without toy bits of an early Zero. 
With Kotare now in the game Eduard maybe more hesitant for 1/32 - though Eduard might be able to get a P51b/c to market a bit quicker (?) I’ll get one if they do. 

Edited March 18 by Pup7309

[Tolga ULGUR]

Last week, I asked Eduard a specific question via e-mail, about 1/32 scale.

My question was,"are you planning to produce 1/32 P-51B in the near future, after 1/48 scale?"

According to their answer, they do not have such plans at the moment.

We need to entertain ourselves with the ugly toys we have

[cbk57]

Looking at discussion above and as to pricing, Eduard in my opinion does not try to play in the low price range.  Their typical 1/48 kit is in the $40.00 range depending on retailer and kit and so on.  A full detail new 1/32 is going to be a lot more than that.  Subject who knows, anything from the 109 series to anything else they have done.  They have made their money from what I can see on German subjects and that is closest to their expertise from what I see so I would say some 109 or 190.  If I were at the planning meetings I would spec it out as a 1/32 kit with separate cowlings but no engine.  I personally would recommend copying how Kotare did the Mk I as then if someone wants they can just cut off the nose to fit an engine kit.  Then the engine and numerous other inserts could be aftermarket in the Brassin range.  So those who want it all can have it.  Price, I don:t really care.  If I just wanted cheap kits, you can always find a cheap kit somewhere to build.  I am patient normally anyway and wait until I can buy below retail price on sale or whatever.  I normally don:t pay retail for model kits anyway.

Edited March 18 by cbk57

[MikeC]

31 minutes ago, cbk57 said:

They have made their money from what I can see on German subjects and that is closest to their expertise from what I see so I would say some 109 or 190.

You may well be right, but imo where Eduard really shine are Czech(oslovak)/Slovak subjects: their 1/48 Zlin Trener series kits really are works of art. This shows through in subjects like the MiG-21 too, the 109 (in Czech terms, S-99 and S-199) and the Spitfire. It was brand new Mk IXe variants that the Czech RAF fighter Squadrons took back to Czechoslovakia at the end of WW2, so this variant is the most natural for them to do first.

YMMV.

[Dennis7423]

In some pretty cool news, Hyperscale has created a forum called "Ask Eduard", where you can post questions and Eduard CEO Vlad Sulc will respond to them. Looks like someone has already asked them about scaling up their soon to be released 1/48 P-51B to 1/32, which I had also mentioned to them on Facebook. They indicated they are "looking into this possibility."

 

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/ask-eduard-eduard-ceo-vladimir-sulc-answers-your-q-f680749/#google_vignette

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

[Tony T]

4 hours ago, Pup7309 said:

Well that’s one confirmed sale guess they should start the CAD renders

 

Along with many hundreds of others, I imagine, who don't live in Japan and are looking for a £75ish quality Spitfire with everything in the box. 

CAD mostly done, apparently, and just in need of an update. 

 

4 hours ago, Pup7309 said:

...The only way they could out do Tamiya is by having less gimmicks and be much cheaper. ...

 

Yep, exactly that. No doubt the first wave would be premium editions but regular Profipack editions would ensue. 

Spitty stashers will still buy at least one because a/ it's a Spitty and b/ because it'll be *absolutely new*.

And I bet the box will be appealing too.

 

When it comes to Eduard I'm way more of a MiG jet man but am in for one of these big propellery Supermarines. 

 

Tony 

[Johnny Cloud]

10 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

I'm regularly reading that. This is true but limiting the logic to basic economics is an error when there is another elephant in the room: modellers demography! Our hobby is aging and the renewal of the population has a very bad rate except in a very limited number of western countries and European brands do not really sell in China. This is important as a new product will not be bought by many 'new' customers. It is targeted to the same population than the prior one we already have in the stash and that will be possibly difficult to surpass... So, yes, the availability of existing competing products has an obvious impact on profitability. I can give you ten examples of cases of releases I did not get or just purchased one kit of the range because I already have multiple copies of that topic in my stash. I know all my friends are doing the same and typically this applies to "topics that sell"...

I am not necessarily disagreeing (although I haven't seen any study about the demographic renewal of our hobby).

That being said, Vladimir Sulc is an ambitious man with an aggressive marketing approach to this business, if he thinks about releasing 1/32 scale kits it is because he believes he can sell them.

 

[Johnny Cloud]

7 hours ago, Pup7309 said:

Don’t really see how a better detailed cockpit will be enough to beat Tamiya. The only way they could out do Tamiya is by having less gimmicks and be much cheaper. The 1/32 Tamiya Zeros can be picked up cheaper than later kits so Eduard might only come in at similar price point for Zero anyway. I hope Tamiya does a simplified all injected version without toy bits of an early Zero. 
With Kotare now in the game Eduard maybe more hesitant for 1/32 - though Eduard might be able to get a P51b/c to market a bit quicker (?) I’ll get one if they do. 

I don't think making a simpler and "much cheaper" kit is the only way to go for Eduard, modelers are ready to spend $100 plus for a desirable kit, they do it all the time.

With that being said, Overtrees would be very welcome, who doesn't have extra Spitfire IX markings leftover from their Tamiya kit?

Again, the goal is not to "beat" Tamiya, there are more ways than one to produce a great kit, just look at the different approaches Kotare and Tamiya took with their Spitfires.

Eduard's cockpits in 1/48 scale are spectacular and offer many options, the same thing in 1/32 scale would be really tempting.

I'm guessing no engine would be included (a plus in my opinion) and Eduard can really deliver on surface details and packaging.

As for Zeros, Sulc already mentioned on Hyperscale that he is not likely to make more, they don't sell well.

 

Edited March 18 by Johnny Cloud

[thierry laurent]

1 hour ago, Johnny Cloud said:

I am not necessarily disagreeing (although I haven't seen any study about the demographic renewal of our hobby).

 

Neither did I but an attendance to any modelling exhibition or event demonstrates it quickly and I regularly got the same feedback from various resellers from different western European countries.

[cbk57]

Modelers getting older, I am not sure that is true, if you are only looking at who is in your club, or who is going to IPMS shows, you might be right, but there seems to be a much larger body of modelers on facebook who may not be old.  It is hard to say but the body of modelers out there defies definition based upon ones personal observation of the last IPMS club meeting they went to.  I joined my local IPMS club and that group leans older with some young modelers coming in and attending regularly.  Models are selling well globally and Eduard like others noted above knows what will sell better than any of us.  

 

Contrary to popular belief the hobby is not dying and is much bigger globally than it has ever been.  It is different so if like me you are 50 plus, modeling looks a lot different now than it did in the 1970s, 80s or 90s.  But the hobby is just fine.  

[thierry laurent]

There is a major difference now: the number of brick and mortar hobby shops decreased drastically and you do not find anymore models in supermarkets as this was the case when we were children. So you must be somewhat motivated and know where to go to purchase a model. Most of the young guys I saw entering the hobby for the last twenty years are essentially interested in Macross vehicles, manga robots or Warhammer figures. I only saw groups of young modellers interested in military vehicles or warplanes in Eastern Europe. I think the main reason the hobby is fine is the fact the die hard modellers are not only older but have far more money than when they entered into it! And I guess we still have at least thirty years of modelling in front of us. This is hopefully more than sufficient for most companies.