Dragon is doing some great armor kits in 1/72, including scaling down some of the 1/35 figure sets to go with the armor. Is there any indication they are considering a foray into 1/48 srmor?

Figures would be VERY popular if they did as 1/48 has not a lot to work with.



p.s. my heart stopped for a second when I first saw this thread thinking it said they were doing 1/48 now !

My prediction is that they will only do those releases that are most wanted but not available in 1/35. The DD Sherman will probably be first.

They do offer a limited selection of aircraft in 1/48, but don't seem too interested in pushing it very hard right now, but their new space kits could change that.

I think hell would freeze over first.

yes, some Russian front figures would be nice

Don't know, don't care - I have enough trouble seeing some of the parts at 1/35 scale, let alone anything smaller!

I think Dragon would be really missing a trick if they ignore 1/48 armour. The scale is in need of another serious competitor that can produce highly detailed models. If 1/48 had kits like in 1/35 it would really kick start the scale again as it seems to have slowed lately.

At the moment if you want 1/35 detail you have to detail up Tamiya's kits which while great fun, it's not to everyones taste.

As said earlier, the scale is in dire need of quality styrene figures of all nationalities. Again another area Dragon could fill

So Dragon, please stop producing the millionth version of each tiger and try your hand at something different. It's not like there is no market either!

IMHO 1/48 is a half-hearted attempt at 1/35. I understand the financial gain, but would rather shell out a few more $$ for the 1/35. There just aren't enough accessories for 1/48 kits.

Matt,

I would disagree on the accessories available for the kits. You can get all the PE, tracks, barrels, resin parts etc that you usually get in 1/35. Its the lack of base kits thats a problem. As for other accessories like figures/buildings/diorama accessories you are spot on. Not nearly enough to tempt people away from 1/35.

So thats where I see a market place for Dragon. Bring in 1/48 smart kits priced between Tamiya 1/48 and their own 1/35 smart kits.

So you have Tamiya as a starting point for new comers and for detailing and Dragon for the more detailed OOB kits, much like 1/35. If dragon enter the market it may also encourge other companies to join in with the increased interest.

Personally I will stay with 1/35 but 1/48 is good fun and is great for a break from larger projects.

It's true, there are quite a lot of accessories, and lots of aftermarket crafters are devoting their efforts to 1:48 armor. It's the figures and the kits that need to catch up. Tamiya has some figure sets, mostly those awful early figures that look just as bad in 1:48 as in 1:35. I am mostly a 1:35 modeler, but I always liked 1:48, and the popularity of the old Bandai kits never dimmed, just the supply dried up. 1:48 is becoming a very popular scale with wargamers as well. Tamiya's armor kits are good news, but Dragon figures in 1:48 would be awesome.

As for buiding and diorama accessories in 1/48 try '0' scale model RR accessories. You can find plastic, wood, or plaster building kits and all kinds of resin or metal castings to fill the buildings. Grandt Line produces windows, doors, and other architectural details to scratch just about any kind of house, store, apartment building, etc. All that is really needed is some good quality plastic figures.

Frankly to me it seems the great push to 1/48th has slowed quite a bit. How much new has Tamiya put out? Certainly very few tanks. In fact it seems that most of their recent stuff is tied into aviation, I got a P51 kit that came with a staff car. I haven't seen all that much from Hobby Boss either. As for figure kits I know that wargamers are screaming for them, but since Dragon hasn't even dropped kits for their 1/72nd stuff I really doubt we'll see 1/48th.

Airfix and Bronco have started releasing into 1/48. How are their figures?


The other company that would kick butt in 1/48 is MiniArt!!!!! 1/48 was born to be a diorama scale, and they would clean up! Much easier space-wise to do smaller scale dioramas.

I for one would be happy to pay more for a dragon kit than I currently pay for 1/48 tamiya . used to do mostly dragon 1/35 until I run out of shelf space and swiched to tamiya 1/48 . mini art would be very welcome with their dio sets but DRAGON FIGURES PLEASE . I think tamiya kits are OK but their fig are horrible . Got to stick with resin and those prices are way up there , and there is just not enough of them .

So what if they do?
They are releasing way too much in 1/35 for anyone to keep up with, so those that build 1/35 shoudn´t really be bothered. Im sure they could easily scale up their 1/72 kits or scale down their 1/35 kits, meaning the only outlay would be the tooling.
If rumours are true, it will all depend on the Asian market and the interest for 1/48 there. Its often said that this is their main market(?).
I dont know how popular 1/48 is in relation to the other scales, but it seems Dragon want to lead the way and be the major contender in the scales they focus on ... 1/72, 1/35 and 1/6. Maybe another scale would stretch them too far?