https://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/category/AFV/20/1/maker/LEP.html
1/16 M240 and TOW launcher
1/12 SEAL with HK416/M320
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1/12 SEAL with MK48 Machine Gunner
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Nice to see Legend Productions still producing modern US military figures and weapons model kits, but I wonder who is working for them…is it Peter Samoflav again…and is there such a thing as a 1/16 HMMWV kit? Or is Legend just enlarging their existing 3D files and casting them in a much larger scale?
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I don’t know. The last time I spoke with Lee was when their government was melting down a few months ago.
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Thanks, Rob. 
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Its a modern modeling mystery, to me, that there is no 1/16 Humvee, given the range of variants, users, campaigns and markings out there. Surely, with the basic chassis done, options are only limited to how much you want to spend.
Plus, its an iconic vehicle of American military involvement around the globe for a generation or so. It dmands to be made.
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It’s not just that, Newtonk, in that Legends used to release new kits monthly. Now, they release new kits whenever they’re ready.
I do wonder why they released 1/16 M240 kits with swingarm mounts. Is it for the Trumpeter 1/16 M1A2 MBT? However, that requires a unique M240 that isn’t a swingarm. There are so few 1/16 modern vehicle kits out there. The Legend M240 swingarms can be used as a fixed outpost site with sandbag walls, kind of like a sandbag bunker of sorts that the modeler scratch builds.
However, the main issue is if anyone was hired to perform 3D CAD work for Legend Productions and get them back up and running in producing new kits after their past 3D CAD sculptor left. I’m just glad that they’re still in business.
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Indeed, I miss the times when Legend used to release new kits on a monthly basis. And what a kits those were… complex conversions, stowage, top notch figures…
I’m not sure what their current business strategy is, but it seems the company is staying alive by casting their old kits with almost no new stuff coming out.
Mario
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Hi Trisaw & Maki
Yep, from a 1/35 or 1/16 perspective, Legends seem in decline. Or at best diminishing relevance. If they come out with new stuff, or scale up their figures to a common scale, great. Simply releasing existing figures in new scales not compatible with others isn’t going to cut it for very long. And i want them to succeed, too.
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Legend Productions hired Peter Samofalov of Russia many years ago to produce their modern kits before the Ukraine War. Peter Samofalov also worked for other resin companies for a time as well. Peter had hopes of working for MENG, Takom, Rye Field Models, and many of the other “Big Name” model kit makers, but he mostly specialized in 3D sculpts for resin companies.
I haven’t emailed Peter Samofalov in years (even before the Ukraine War) so I don’t know how he is or if he’s still around considering the circumstances. I do miss his 3D work being incorporated in awesome modern 3D rendered resin model kits.
My apologies for spelling his last name incorrectly all this time.
You can see his 3D works, including the ones for Legend Productions, here.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133268471@N07/with/40891337843
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As Lee tells me, it’s a tough business to be in these days. Legend used to specialize in conversions, and even whole kits such as the Maxx Pro. It’s gotten to the point where as soon as they released something cool, it would come out in plastic. Now 3D printing exacerbates the problem.
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Yep, and with AI added to the mix, it will open new opportunities and challenges, too. I fully expect modellers will be able select an image identifying a figure, input a scale and fidelity and have it printed. Maybe not this month, but it is feasible. Vehicles may take a little longer.
Still like to see a 1/16 humvee and am surprised it hasnt been done.
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Besides copycatters of original 3D products, the question of WHAT do modern military modelers want sometimes has and hasn’t been addressed. Do we need more 1/35 storage boxes? It seems that many resin and plastic companies produce 1/35 storage boxes.
There has been calls for modern Arctic figures wearing skis, snowshoes, hoods, masks, goggles, and white coveralls for years, decades even, and nothing. There is a need for modern snipers in ghille suits again with the latest rifles, figures carrying Stingers and Javelins besides just launching them, government Agents in business suits and ties, jungle soldiers with camouflage nets, large scale figures, modern cops, SWAT, more female soldiers, more soldiers of various sizes and ethnic backgrounds, Gurkhas, NATO soldiers, 6.8mm guns, .308 modern sniper rifles, modern Frogmen, VBSS maritime forces, Coast Guard figures, modern soldiers from Asian nations, the list goes on and it’s essentially the same list items that haven’t been fulfilled.
3D printing is a blessing and a problem in that it’s so competitive to make 3D figures now. But to make realistic modern military 3D figures still belongs to just a handful of companies, and many aren’t consistently producing realistic modern military figures, conversions, or accessories.
I’m not scolding Legend Productions with this rant, but I have to say that innovation in the modeling market does need to happen or else another year rolls past and the modeler’s money is spent elsewhere or on kits that aren’t really wanted and needed.
(There are some online model shops that do buy used and old kits. I sold some kits to one shop buyer, so it’s not like one has to retain a huge stash of unbuilt kits with no way to sell or get rid of them besides throwing good kits in the trash can).
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