Looking through their 1975 catalog, I’d like to see Tamiya re-tool the Leopard 1.
I agree. There’s no point in Tamiya upgrading the old stuff when there are superior, more recent offerings elsewhere and there is a place for their simpler, cheaper kits as starter models for younger enthusiasts, after all, even their 70s Panther looks pretty much like a Panther. Those of us who demand more detail and accuracy tend to gravitate towards DML, AFV Club, Trumpeter, RFM et al. Their game plan seems to be to redo the stuff that hasn’t been modelled by anyone else, like the Wespe (apart from the horrible Alan version!), or to offer new kits of popular subjects, which is probably the most sensible plan.
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I’m not a WW2 guy, Cold War subjects are my thing, but even WW2 vehicles haven’t been completely covered. But manufacturers are conservative, and keep returning to the same subjects because they’re a guaranteed moneymaker. Older modelers who find WW2 fascinating would probably love to build a British Beaverette or a Japanese Sumida Type 93 armored car, but most modelers are probably young kids who are just getting into the hobby and haven’t even heard of those vehicles. They want a Tiger or a Panther, so that’s what gets produced, even though we’ve all seen a thousand of them in every imaginable scheme. I don’t like it, but I understand it.
I remember when that kit came out, it was awesome at the time. Today, there are a whole bunch of M48 kits, with Takom doing a whole series of them. It would be a waste of time for Tamiya to upgrade or do a new tooling of that kit. On the other hand, it costs them nothing to re release it, and if people buy it, GOOD!
I even have fond memories of the old Monogram kit, and as I remember, Shep Paine even did one up.
Ken
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I find myself waffling on whether or not to hold on to old kits. On one hand, I really enjoy fixing and adding things without a complete scratchbuild; in other words, making a “50 footer”. But then I’ll build something recent (a good example is comparing the AFV Club and Takom M60-based models I’ve done to any of the Tamiya/Academy/ESCI/Italeri models) and think: that was so much easier and I got a “better” result. I like to think of some of the builds I’ve done with older kits as rescue dogs. What it boils down to for me is what I enjoy, putting my stink on everything I build and coming up with something different than what was in the box. Looking at my stash, I have a mixed bag of stuff, some new and very accurate, some old and not so accurate, with a LOT of kits purchased just for parts for a future project. What I build next is always an interesting decision.
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I think the LRDG Chevy could do with a retool. Especially as a lot more information on the LRDG and their vehicles are available now than 40+ years ago (or whenever it was originally done).
Would be good to see other LRDG vehicles too.
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What “new kids getting into the hobby”? 50 - 60 years ago when I was a kid everybody built models - armor, ships, aircraft, cars. And then the computer came along, and with it, video games. I think most kids now (speaking generally) find model building boring and tedious. Video games are much more exciting, dynamic, and colorful, with instant gratification. They can also compete against, or play with, players half a world away. In short, kids nowadays (speaking generally) just are not interested. Making simplified kits for kids is just flogging a dead horse.
Sadly this gonna be true soon. I am 28 and know a bunch of people my age that build models.
I remember when I was about 10 and helping my dad clean the garage he pulled down an old steamer trunk. We popped it up open and it was full of old model kits many not started from his child hood. I spent hours butchering those kits with him and that’s when I first started to love building models! I’ve been enamored ever since
But I agree with all the new distractions coming about fewer and fewer people are getting into building
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@Biggles50 I see plenty of young people at the local Hobby Town stocking up on Gundams. I also see some walking out with planes, tanks, and even a few cars.
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AFV-Club and Skybow released competing versions of the M41. Skybow later sold off aka if their 1/35th scale molds to AFC-Club, which has reissued both versions of the M41. As I recall, their Bundeswehr M41 is the Skybow kit, and the US version is their original kit. The models differ slightly in how high they sit off the ground (which varied in real life, depending on how much fuel and ammunition was on board). and the kits have different (but correct) idler wheels.
Tamiya (and other manufacturers) regularly re-release older kits because there is still a demand for them and they still sell in large enough numbers to make a stready and reliable profit for the company. Any new kit is a risk, so many companies balance their schedule of new releases against a schedule of older re-releases. It’s basic commercial operating procedure.
The BCG (Boston Consulting Group) Matrix below is a simple illustration of how companies manage their product lines in terms of market share. A successful new release falls into the ‘star’ quadrant whilst the reliable re-releases fall into the ‘cash cow’ quadrant. The ‘?’ quadrant are those products that have a questionable market share and the ‘pets’ (it was ‘dogs’ when I learnt this theory years ago - such is progress) are products that being retained when they shouldn’t be. Each individual product will move around this matrix until it is deleted from the portfolio.
NOTE: the theory is about market share, not the quality of the product. An old product that still sells well would be retained as long as it remains a reliable seller.
(source: BCG website)
Honestly I would settle for a ,not upgraded , re-release of the m106A1, never been able to get my hands on one…
As for a upgraded one , they once made the : French Light Tank A.M.X. 105 ( AMX Mk 61) would love to see one based on the new amx-13 kit.
I’ve never built one, but I hear the JS III was a gem. My understanding it was of a version that saw very limited use in real life. Maybe re-doing it to a later version would cause me to buy one.
Back then you had to buy the Jaguar resin updated hull, which I did.
Trumpeter then came out with the updated version, so Tamiya probably has no plans to change it.
JGSDF Type 74 MBT
I was thumbing through some ref material this weekend and saw one as a Bridgelayer platform. I want to try to build that