With the latest announcement from MiniArt of yet another release which (previously) would only have been seen in resin, a simple question...

Are the AM (Diorama) people now beginning to find themselves a little on the back foot with the (Injection-moulded) releases from companies such as MiniArt or DioArt?

Just going thru the announcements, from the former, many of these would previously have been done in Resin (at a correspondingly higher price-tag). In the case of DioArt, they are going clearly into the territory of companies such as Plusmodel.

So, what's the solution? Is there a serious threat to the smaller AM companies or can they be sufficiently adabtable to meet these new challenges head on?

Hi Jim,

I tend to agree, some of the AM folks will have been hit pretty hard by plastic kit developments.

Take the AFV Churchill, we are already seeing a range of varients that before would have been covered by the AM folks

Bronco's A13 the same, as with the Staghound.

Tasca's separate spures must surely hurt companies like Formations.

These developments are good news for us the modeller but not so good I think for the AM producers. However, I think they will diversify their range to compensate and the recent Resicast move into early WW2 artillery is I believe an example of that as are the appearance of interiors for tanks from a numner of sources.

I believe there is plenty of scope left of things not covered and that will never get covered by plastic kit producers for the AM world to survive and thrive but to be truely competative I think prices need to fall a little, thereby attracting more customers

SB Scotia is a good example of this, their resin kits and accessories are very reasonably priced.

However, they know their market so my thoughts are just speculation.

Al

Hi Jim,

If I understood your question, you are asking about companies that specifically make "diorama" related products like what my company produces.

While it is daunting to see what can be produced in plastic at a faster rate and probably a cheaper price, I have full confidence that there is room in the market place for me still.

In my opinion, it will always come down to a few factors such as: choice of subject matter, accuracy and versatility.

My kits are cast in resin because it's a process I can do. I can't yet manage injection molding and if I focused on that end, I'm convinced I would not have been able to bring my kits to market for the past several years.

I also prefer to offer laser cut items where appropriate because it's a medium I can work in...and it happens to have a lot of advantages over metal etch and injection plastic in most instances.

Resin casting and laser cutting are not proprietary to me and though I now see a few companies following my lead with laser cut offerings in 1/35 scale, as I mentioned, it will still come down to subject matter and how it is presented when people decide to spend their money.

It is likely that most of my kits will cost more than something in plastic. Amomng my challenges will be to sculpt old brick to look in scale, with subtle surface detail that plastic cannot pick up and to compose pieces that are structurally correct and accurate to real life examples.

My philosophy has been all along to create what I find interesting and to see if at least a few people out there think the same. I'll continue along until it's not interesting or rewarding to me whether or not other companies are producing product or not.

I'm able to pay my bills and I am always thinking about the next kit I want to produce, so I guess I have no choice.

Hope this was of some help.

Mike
www.monroeperdu.com

I tend to think that injection molding will always have its limitations, and its because of this that there is definitely plenty of room for the AM guys yet. The miniart buildings are very nice, and the cost is certainly a major benefit no doubt for many people, but for me plaster building kits or indeed my own scratch made buildings will always have the edge. Plaster buildings can be damaged in a much more natural way, and the detail tends to look a lot more realistic-partly of course because of the materials used.

Also many of the dio accessories from the plastic guys are nice, but I still like many of the stuff from the AM guys. Monroe Perdu's accessories offer much more finesse and fine detail to anything that the injection plastic guys can offer....at the moment that is, of course we dont know what developments there will be in injection molding in years to come.