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Armor/AFV: Braille Scale
1/72 and 1/76 Scale Armor and AFVs.
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Thoughts on Dragon's 1/72 announcements
nikon1
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Kansas, United States
Joined: April 11, 2005
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Posted: Friday, February 04, 2011 - 04:30 PM UTC
Anyone have any thoughts on Dragon's announcements on the Horsch, Krupp Protze and a Churchhill and several variants of the LVT?
Charlie
PanzerAlexander
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Attica, Greece / Ελλάδα
Joined: February 17, 2010
KitMaker: 625 posts
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Posted: Saturday, February 05, 2011 - 02:22 AM UTC
In my opinion Dragon is the top quality manufacturer of 1/72 AFV plastic injected kits in par with Trumpeter maybe. Sharp detail, good moulding and excellent fitting.

Completely new kits like the ones mentioned are always welcome.

One thing I have stated many times and will continue to do so is that Dragon and all the other brands can simply down scale their 1/35 range to 1/72.

I hope they do because Braille scale needs more extra stuff like crews, ammunition, stowage etc affordable and accesible to everyone.

P.A.
Sabot
Joined: December 18, 2001
KitMaker: 12,596 posts
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Posted: Saturday, February 05, 2011 - 02:43 AM UTC
Many of the available kits in this scale were in need of update, some more than others. Dragon does a good job on most of their kits, but still toss in some stinkers from time to time. It is good that we have a few companies that tend to compliment one another's releases instead of competing with them. There is not a lot of duplication regarding new kits when you compare Dragon, Trumpeter, Revell, Academy, etc. and usually where there is some duplicates, one company's is clearly better than the other. It's like they take turns at who is supposed to make the good kit.
nikon1
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Posted: Saturday, February 05, 2011 - 06:52 AM UTC
I too agree with the manufactures complimenting each other and the mentality of one uping each other as well. On the flip side, I don't think Dragon want's to realize any potential of downsizing their 1/35 scale models to 1/72 scale.
Charlie
russamotto
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Utah, United States
Joined: December 14, 2007
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Posted: Saturday, February 05, 2011 - 07:39 AM UTC
I'm really interested in the LVT series. 1/72 might be the best scale to get my son into modelling and the new releases could get me into the scale as well. As to scaling 1/35 releases down to 1/72, all the 1/35 scale modelers are looking at these releases and wondering why Dragon won't upscale their 1/72 line as there is a lot of demand for the Bradley, LVTs, Jeep, Sherman with wading trunks and many other vehicles they offer only in 1/72.
spacewolfdad
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England - West Midlands, United Kingdom
Joined: May 23, 2010
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Posted: Saturday, February 05, 2011 - 01:56 PM UTC
A nicely done Horsch would be very welcome, the MAC offering is looking a bit tired now. I would like more softskins, but that would be wishful thinking. Hunor have done some more unusual ones, but they are in resin and a bit pricey. The dual pack of SdKfz222s is welcome as well. Why the Protze though, it is well covered by ICM, a Steyr to complement the Horsch would have been nice.
nikon1
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Posted: Saturday, February 05, 2011 - 02:11 PM UTC
A Steyer would be nice indeed. I was hoping for a new figure pro kit from Dragon. I'm wondering if the Krupp Protze and the Horsch will be released individually or as a 1+1 kit. But, lets not forget that Dragon tends to announce the good stuff at the Shizuoka show.
Charlie
Korpse
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Queensland, Australia
Joined: October 06, 2009
KitMaker: 382 posts
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Posted: Saturday, February 05, 2011 - 08:34 PM UTC
Hello

all new Braille scale releases are welcome.

as has been said the Krupp Protze is well covered by ICM. I think Caesar also recently released a Krupp Protze, though I don't know what their release is like.

The Horch will be very welcome.

I tend to only model soviet and axis stuff so the other releases are not of much interest to me personally, but still glad to see them

A few of the minor manufacturers target previously unreleased subjects. There are still any number of popular subjects that are yet to see a release in polystyrene, I really dont know why the major manufacturers cant see the potential sales they are missing out on, particularly when they release something that has already been done to death, or already been done to a satisfactory standard by another manufacturer.

cheers
Korpse
spacewolfdad
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England - West Midlands, United Kingdom
Joined: May 23, 2010
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Posted: Sunday, February 06, 2011 - 03:56 AM UTC
I don't know why the manufacturers, Dragon and ICM come to mind, don't release more of their 1/35 figure sets in 1/72. They have only to pantograph the masters down to the smaller scale, which wouldn't be difficult, and they will have most braillers buying them by the dozen.

Paul
sabredog
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Western Australia, Australia
Joined: July 22, 2007
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Posted: Sunday, February 06, 2011 - 04:45 PM UTC
it is nice to see a new Churchill.

More of this type of release is welcome. There is a trend to release every variant of every German armoured vehicle and leave off some of the allied armoured vehicles.

A good move overall.
jimbrae
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Provincia de Lugo, Spain / Espaņa
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Posted: Sunday, February 06, 2011 - 08:58 PM UTC
My thoughts are that it seems like a useful enough release list. However, that is somewhat tempered by the fact that they seem incapable of actually PROMOTING them adequately...

The first day of N'Berg, the usual, all-singing-all-dancing announcement of their 35th scale releases appeared on DML's home page. Two, 'orange-box' announcements were made regarding repacking of 4, 72nd scale subjects. No mention whatsoever of the models which appeared in their Show Photos.


Quoted Text

I hope they do because Braille scale needs more extra stuff like crews, ammunition, stowage etc affordable and accesible to everyone.

I don't know why the manufacturers, Dragon and ICM come to mind, don't release more of their 1/35 figure sets in 1/72.


An interesting couple of points. On three succesive visits to N'Berg and with three conversations with their senior staff, this subject came up. I was asked if I felt there was a market for 72nd scale figure sets. My answer was that although I 'dabbled' in Braille-Scale and it wasn't my scale of choice, one overwhelming theme within the Forums was the complete lack of Styrene and, yes, demand was, IMO, sufficient for the company to do something about it.

Still waiting I guess?
PanzerAlexander
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Attica, Greece / Ελλάδα
Joined: February 17, 2010
KitMaker: 625 posts
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Posted: Sunday, February 06, 2011 - 11:59 PM UTC

Quoted Text

An interesting couple of points. On three succesive visits to N'Berg and with three conversations with their senior staff, this subject came up. I was asked if I felt there was a market for 72nd scale figure sets. My answer was that although I 'dabbled' in Braille-Scale and it wasn't my scale of choice, one overwhelming theme within the Forums was the complete lack of Styrene and, yes, demand was, IMO, sufficient for the company to do something about it.

Still waiting I guess?


If you have some way to communicate with Dragon staff maybe you could send a link with this thread Mr Rae. After all they should care what the Braille modelers have to say.

P.A.
arkhunter
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Illinois, United States
Joined: June 11, 2006
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Posted: Monday, February 07, 2011 - 03:43 AM UTC
I was glad to see some new braille stuff although not my preferred era (the LVT looks pretty sweet though). I was hoping that they'd announce an M1114 with Frag 5 doors or an M1151 to continue their humvee line. There's always next year though
nikon1
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Kansas, United States
Joined: April 11, 2005
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Posted: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 - 12:33 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

An interesting couple of points. On three succesive visits to N'Berg and with three conversations with their senior staff, this subject came up. I was asked if I felt there was a market for 72nd scale figure sets. My answer was that although I 'dabbled' in Braille-Scale and it wasn't my scale of choice, one overwhelming theme within the Forums was the complete lack of Styrene and, yes, demand was, IMO, sufficient for the company to do something about it.

Still waiting I guess?


If you have some way to communicate with Dragon staff maybe you could send a link with this thread Mr Rae. After all they should care what the Braille modelers have to say.

P.A.


I shot an e-mail to Dragon last nite and forgot about including the link to this discussion. Hopefully I get a better reply than the previous ones of "I/we have forwarded this to our R&D and Marketing sections. Thank you for your input"
Charlie
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