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1/72 armour, what took so long?

I've been a 1/72/HO/OO armour freak since way back. Of course, way back was when I was in High School and couldn't afford mail order or anything resin because I only had $5 US a week allowance. I almost peed my pants with joy when Esci made their modern armour series, here was a Merkava, an M-113, a T-72, an M-60A2! I loved it. Unfortunateely the company was sold and the molds went bye-bye until just recently.

In the mean time it wasn't until just a couple of years ago that any other com- panies decided to make 1/72 scale modern armour that WASN'T an M-1 or a T-80! We were still stuck with the Airfix chieftan/Centurian/Scorpion and the Hasegawa M-1 series. Nothing against them, but that was about it unless you could scrounge the funds for mail order stuff.

We were stuck with buying WW II Jeeps for ten years after the Hummer had been in production, now you can buy the Hummer with damn near any turret or load out imaginable! Mow Dragon et al decided to make the kits I've wanted for the past thirty years! An M-109 from Panda! The AAV-7 from Dragon, Bradleys, and M1's with the mine plow! And thank god the iron curtain fell 'cause now I've got some SERIOUS CIS/USSR armour to build. I'm no longer stuck to doing the T-52/62/72 series. Now I've got BRDMs, BMP's, SAM kits, PT-76's and TONS of WWII Russian armour that noone had ever considered making.

My big question is this, WHAT TOOK SO LONG!?!?

I think the demand has been out there all along, but no one's been willing to fork over the dough for making molds. Now all of a sudden I'm finding Challengers, LeClercs, MCV-80's, VAB's, etc. all over the place! I'm still waiting for my 1/72 scale Atomic Cannon, Patriot Battery, M-41, and M-26 kits. Hey! While you're at it, where's my M-42 Duster and all of the Revco- very vehicles too?

I'm so glad that when the damn things came out I've got the disposable cash to buy some of them!

Reply to
Drew Hill
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Okay, where did those molds wind up? I thought it was Italaerie but I haven't seen the Italian tanks I want. tia,

The Keeper (of too much crap)

Reply to
Keeper

Could have been molding technology required advancing .

Reply to
a0002604

I'm not an armor affectionando but didn't Rocco do all of these since back in the 1970s? I do remember seeing a 155mm cannon with M-4 tractors, as well as a ~lot~ of other armor. I even bough a VW van and pickup with crewcab for a friend who was a bus-nut. A tad pricey, but I figured that that was the shop where I got them.

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

Reply to
The Old Timer

A lot did indeed end up in an Italeri box:

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Cheers,

Andre

Reply to
Andre van der Hoek

Roco Minitanks did indeed keep small scale armor modeling alive, and their tooling got very sophisticated in the latter years, but they chose to do theirs in 1/87th (HO Gauge), which wasn't really compatible with the 1/72 or 1/76th (OO Gauge) armor. GPO

Reply to
Lafimprov

As did the huge cast resin kit industry. The ESM 72 database for vehicles lists

3,790 vehicle kits and models in 1/72-1/76 scale. Well over half are cast resin kits.

Wargamers also kept the small scale vehicle scene alive. Manufacturers produced tons of cast resin and cast metal vehicles for this venue.

For several years now it has been Eastern Europe providing the bulk of new kits, for aircraft as well as vehicle enthusiasts. The vast majority of new kits over the past ten years have come from these countries.

Last, but not least, the diecast car companies have chosen 1/72 scale as a big seller. Hongwell has released dozens of beautifully detailed modern cars and have begun doing classic types such as the Volkswagen Beetle, Van, etc. They release under the name Cararama.

So much for the doomsayers and their campaign a few years ago decrying the demise of 1/72 scale.

Tom

Reply to
Maiesm72

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