Friday, September 2, 2016

Scale Model Soup’s aircraft wish list

I really dislike the recurring threads we see on the forums where everyone submits a list of the aircraft, armor, ships, cars they’d like to see in kit form. After two or three pages of these lists the manufacturers — assuming they’re even reading the forums — are left with a list of pretty much...everything! Whenever I see a new thread I think to myself, here we go again.

Well, here we go again!

Being as big a hypocrite as the next guy, I’ve compiled my own list, too. But my list differs from those I've seen online; these are kits I believe would actually sell. As much as I’d like to see a 1/32 Convair B-36 Peacemaker, I doubt that more than 100 modelers would buy one. My list includes models that I would invest my own money to see produced, which implies that I’d see not just a return on my investment but a profit as well.

Two notes on these choices. First, I’m assuming these kits would be new-tool, injection molded kits from a major manufacturer, not short-run or resin kits. I realize that some of these aircraft are already available in kit form, such as the Otaki C-5 Galaxy; where that’s the case, these are models I’d like to see replaced with a better product with more options. And second, I did not list models that (to my knowledge) have been announced for future release, such as a 1/32 F-111A and F-111E, which Tan Model lists on their web site.


So onto the list!

1/144
Douglas C-133 Cargomaster
Martin JRM-1 Mars
Boeing B-29/B-50 Superfortress
Martin P5M Marlin
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress series

1/72
Lockheed B-2 Spirit
Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot
Grumman F7F Tigercat
Cessna T-37 Tweet
Sikorsky H-53 series (HH-53, MH-53)

1/48
Bell AH-1 family
Bell UH-1 family
Bell CV/MV-22 Osprey
Northrop B-2 Spirit
Lockheed U-2 series

1/32
Waco CG-4A glider
Martin B-26 Marauder
Lockheed Martin F-22
Lockheed Martin F-35
Lockheed U-2 series

So there you go. I don't doubt that we'll get some or all of these eventually, an increasingly move toward a day when the manufacturers have run out of subjects. In the meantime, where would you invest your money?

5 comments:

  1. I used to actively participate in these kit wishlists, and the screaming for "my favorite" decals.

    Then one day, it hit me, that if we see all of these kits and decals produced commercially,,,,,poof, there goes the "uniqueness" of my collection.

    What I painstakingly built by kit-bashing plastic kits, or accumulating or printing decal bits,,,,,becomes something that can by made by "5000" people, with 500 sheets of decals for them.

    Besides, we all know of the "I just finished scratch building a 1/32 XF5U and Sword just announced that they are releasing one soon" stories.

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    1. I agree. There is something to be said for building a model that no one else has.

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