Hey there guys,
I was curious if anyone else feels like I do, in regards to the lack of vehicle interiors. With alot of new OIF based kits that are available, and with some older kits, I feel that I am being a bit short changed when i buy these kits ant then have to leave most of the hatches and panels closed. I remember building the Tamiya M113a1 & M113 ACAV years ago, and they had interiors. The new releases don't. Same goes for their M2A2 & M2A2 ODS kits. The original M2 had an interior. I know that the Academy M113 has an interior, and that the DML M1A1 has an interior as well. I also know that there are after market kits available. My main thing is, if I am going to spend between $30-$40 on a kit, I really don't want to spend another $20-$30 so that I can leave a door or hatch open to show some detail. Now I may be rambling a bit, but in my honest opinion, I wouldn't mind paying an extra $10-$15 per kit if they included a well represented vehicle interior.
Does anyone else feel this way?
Joe

Not really an answer to your question, but if you are willing to pay the extra, maybe its worth sourcing an older version and robbing the interior from them.
I guess most people still want the kit as cheap as possible and will use a figure in an open hatch or just model the kit totally closed. If you want the perfect model its gonna cost extra ... so there are not many options available .. apart from aftermarket. Fairplay to academy who have quite a few of their kits now with interiors. hopefully they set a trend/standard that the others follow.
In my opinion its better to keep the price as low as possible ... and if I want an interior in a specific kit ... I will buy the older kit or aftermarket interior. If the average price of all kits went up another $15 just because they had an interior, it would lead to even more complaints. And from two sides ... those who dont want to pay more and those who believe the interior is inadequate or wrong.

redaye,
Have to agree with Plasticbattle. I'd rather keep the price of the kit as low as possible. Seems to me from reading about a lot of kits that people make that most aren't happy about some aspect of a particular kit and end up replacing it. I vote for basic kit with good detail and low price.
Regards,
Joe

If I was a model manufacturer, I would think long and hard about going through the problem of adding an interior. Just take a look at the newer Academy M3 and M3A1 Stuarts. They gave us an interior and we tore it apart as inaccurate. I mean besides a former Stuart tanker or someone disecting the kit with the Hunnicutt book, who would really know if the interior was accurate or not by looking through a small turret hatch?

I'm happy if there are just enough objects visible below the hatch level that can be painted white so it looks like there is something inside.

I think the reason for them not to include an interior anymore is because there is so many people that will just buy aftermarket anyways and replace it, and they would hate to pay that extra 10-15 bucks for an interior they will not use.

I think there are some great ideas, like the academy tiger where you can chose to buy it with full interior or not(I bought the outside model, just because I hate to mode interiors) In some of the kits the interior is mandatory, like in a Bradly.

If I was the manufacturer I would sell the the interior as another kit, not resin but plastic, to keep the price low, and I also would include figures and stowage items, and heck, I would even include some optional decals.

I agree with Dragonslain's idea. I like to have an interior, even if it is just something to start with and make corrections off of. I think Tamiya is getting over by not including an interior in their new M113A2 and M2A2ODS kits. It would not cost them much to include the basic interiors from their earlier kits. You can still buy the interior sprues from Tamiya for about $5 each, so would it be that much more to include them in the kit. It would at least give you the option, as opposed to buying the older kit for the interior or going the way of expensive aftermarket resin items. I think it would be great to sell them as a separate upgrade kit along with new decals and accessories to complete the kit. They did this with their CCKW by having a separate kit for the front cab canvas and, MG ring and mount, and other add on goodies. Why not for their M113A2 and M2A2ODS? Also, why no interior for the LVTP7A1 and AAVP7A1? I would definetely buy a separate interior kit for it too. I personally think all APCs should have the interior included. Well, enough ranting, i'm off the soap box. Out.

I could not agree with you more.......
If I was a kit manufacture, I would not even consider the cost of making a new kit, just to have the experts complain, piss and moan about everything being wrong, no matter how small or slightly inaccurate the kit is, destroying my sales and recovering my investment. Persoanlly some people need to get over the perfectionism, and realize reality, nothing is perfect. There hasn't been a kit made that is 100% perfect, nor will there ever be.

Has to the subject of inerds whith a kit, the concepet of a also avalible seperat interior is a sound way to go. It would keep the intial buy at a leval that wouldkeep em rolling, yet for a bit more I would indeed l would like to get a plastic for those time that I feel that more is better.

The price points without an interior probably brings in more sales than the price point with an interior even if they charge more.

Kinda like Ford and the Mustang. We all know how tricked out a Mustang can be at $30K, yet they still sell a basic V6 hubcap frill free version for $17k. They have a price point for every income level so as not to lose a sale. Even the best Ford Mustang has numerous aftermarket parts to eek out more horsepower and performance.

The manufactures that have ventured into this relm are few. Academy and DML have both
offered more kits w/ an interior than probably any other kit maker. The Tiger 1 and M1A1
comes to mind. Tamiya with the M113 and M2 Bradley.
Quite frankly Im not going to pay $35-$45 for a kit because it has an interior. Unless you
are building the model open, or dissassembled you are never going to see the full interior
anyway. M113 is the exception if you open the rear door. What is visable thru a hatch I dont think justifies the extra cost for an interior. If you improve your modelling skills, adding the
pieces that are visable thru a hatch is not beyond the relm of an experianced modeler anyway. And besides the public of rivit counters always seem to whine about every little thing anyway. AS IF THEY could do better.

Hey Grumpyoldman,
If there was ever a perfect kit, it would probably cost so much, very few would be able to afford it, so the masses would have something else to complain about.
Thinking what was available 15 to 20 years ago, I think we have many more options. We should be happy with the choices, but such is human nature.
Regards,
Joe

For me quite important is price of model. The interior of tank is little perceptible. If your model has only to stand on shelf in flat skip the realization of interior. If you have ambitions for exhibition , interior is almost indispensable.

Personally, I think it's better to keep the base price of the kit down, as higher prices tend to scare potential new modelers away. Let them get good and addicted, I say, then introduce them to the evils of resin and photo-etch...

Randy