Dreadnaught

XN923

Out of interest, when was the last 1/600 ship tooled? I see Airfix is listing at least one 1/700 ship now (albeit one tooled by another manufacturer) but it would be a shame to lose the 1/600 scale for good, especially as there are some great ships from the Airfix back catalogue that are crying out for companions.

Dreadnought would be great, and with careful planning could include parts for the Bellerophon class which didn't differ all that much, and several of which were present at the Battle of Jutland.

Tiger is my personal favourite, possibly the best proportioned of all the battle cruisers, and the fastest until the under-armoured Renown/Repulse came along.

IIRC the Airfix Warspite is in WW2 configuration, which was rather ugly and difficult to convert to Jutland spec. I wonder if it would be possible to get another sprue with new upperworks to get a 1916 era Queen Elizabeth class?

I'd also like to see the 'Outrageous' (Courageous, Glorious and Furious, aka Outrageous, Uproarious and Spurious) class kitted, both in 'large light cruiser' and later aircraft carrier configurations - a man can dream, can't he? I imagine the market would be... select.

russ

Maybe not as "select" as it appears.
Certainly in 1/350 scale the Royal Navy ships appear to be very popular, but the guys at White Ensign models would know for sure.
Warships are not really my area, though I do appreciate them both in prototype and model form, and I would have thought a Type 42 Destroyer for example would be a good seller.

Beaufighter

The main reason nobody's done a plastic Dreadnought is because most models are bought by the Americans and the Japanese. Ship modellers there have little to no interest in any warships other than WW2 Japanese, US and German, in roughly that order. That is, Japanese modellers like Japanese ships, US modellers like Japanese and US ships, and German ships sell on the Luftwaffe '46 principle.

90% of the ship modelling market isn't basically interested in WW1 because their countries didn't appreciably fight in it. ICM produced a 1/350 Koenig a few years back and it bombed.

1/600 would be a nice scale for WW1 ships because they're all markedly smaller than their WW2 counterparts. Dreadnought was about the same tonnage as HMS Belfast, give or take, so that gives one an idea of how small she'd be. In 1/700 alongside a 1/600 Hood she looks like a small cruiser.

My beef about ship kits is that every one that comes out or gets retooled is the same old boring 4 x 2 / 3 x 3 configuration. Every year another Yamato, another Bismarck...yawn.

As Steven says it would nice to have a wing turreted ship for a change and if someone were to tool a Goeben or an Agincourt, with a sprue of WW1 accessory bits, the scratchbuilders would buy shedloads just to get hold of all the turret and other goodies. It's not that much of a leap from a Goeben to a Von der Tann or a Seydlitz or indeed a Friedrich der Grosse.

The 1/700 market pays up to £20 quite happily for a boring battleship with no combat history (has USS New Jersey ever fired on another ship?), so a 1/600 Agincourt with spares should be priced at £25 rather than half that, as with the ageing Hood kits.

It could be though that any new 1/600 tooling would simply be a retool of a best seller and mightn't / needn't be in 1/600 anyway.

XN923

Yes, I've noticed before that the British ships that get kitted tend to be ones that were sunk by the Japanese or Germans - Hood, Repulse, Prince of Wales etc...

For me, the dreadnought era - by which I mean from the building of Dreadnought to the building of Hood - is the most fascinating period of military ship design, and the lack of mainstream kits from this period is disappointing. As you say, some different configurations would be nice. What about a 'Blucher', with hexagonal main armament, for example?

Beaufighter

Indeed - I'd settle for a release or two that enabled you to scratch the rest of another ship. So an Invincible could be stretched to make and Indefatigable, a Moltke to make a Seydlitz, etc.

XN923

Goggles · Dreadnaught

I'd buy some - I think they'd fly off the shelves!

Simon

Steven Pietrobon

Resin models of HMS Dreadnought in 1/350 (from Steel Navy) and 1/700 (from Combrig) scale are already available, so people who build in those scales already have what they want.

Us 1/600 ship builders want a 1/600 HMS Dreadnought to go with our other 1/600 ships! There must be a market for 1/600 ships as otherwise the current 1/600 ships would not be in the catalogue. A 1/700 model is also very small, 229 mm compared with 268 mm for 1/600.

The last 1/600 kit that Airfix issued was Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Before that was HMS Repulse in 1982.

Thanks for your vote Goggles! Now up to 70 votes.

Brews

What are the chances of this being a happening thing?

Beaufighter

Zero?

XN923

That's a bit defeatist Beaufighter. Seems to me that pressure from modellers can have quite a bit of influence on what kitmakers produce - look at the TSR2 and McLaren F1 car. With a bit of concerted lobbying it could happen. Airfix needs to be sure that they can sell enough kits to make it worth their while, that's all. The return of Iron Duke 'by popular demand' suggests that there is enough interest in the dreadnought era and I'm willing to bet that a fair few people who want Iron Duke - or already own it - would want Dreadnought as well. It must be worth something as a reminder of a time when Britain led the world in quite a bit.

Beaufighter

I think you are right with respect to the more popular subject areas, i.e. aircraft and anything with a swastika on it. I'm less sure with watercraft.

Ships, however, have lately been poor sellers. ICM's 1/350 Koenig flopped. 10 or 12 years ago WEM did a resin Hood in 1/350 scale that was nearly £1,000 and that flopped. To show that it's not just a price issue, ICM then did a plastic Hood in the same scale and that also flopped.

The only ship subjects that sell reliably are WW2 IJN and USN, and Bismarck. Even then, it's a minority interest within the hobby.

Iron Duke is a special case because the moulds already exist.

If Airfix said they'd do it on a syndicate basis - i.e. 500 people put in £1000 each and the result is a 1/600 release of Dreadnought - would you put your own money into it? I wouldn't.

As I suggested upthread, something may be possible if a new 1/600 WW1 kit were easily convertable / transmutable into another ship or several others. The best bet might be to produce a kit with the superstructure and weaponry done in such a way that if you care to carve your own hull, you can recycle those bits onto your hull to make a new ship.

Although, if you can do that, you can probably scratchbuild your own 1/600 Dreadnought quite easily!

If Airfix do go for more ships, I think a new 1/72 offering is the more likely. They have a good presence in this space already and the models are a nice display size without having hundreds of tiny parts to lose.

Meanwhile, when's the Free Enterprise getting reissued??

Ratch · Scales

As much as I like to see large scale ships, they're not something I could make a collection of, due to the enormous display space they occupy

I suppose I prefer 1/600 as that is the scale I started with, is a comfortable size and can be displayed in numbers

But this brings another question

What about all those odd scales that other manufacturers seem to like

1:720 - 1:570 etc etc
Why is it that shipmakers have not settled on the equivalent of the one true scale

I do like my models to sit next to others in the same scale, to give a sense of comparative size

What do you guys reckon

XN923

But Trumpeter recently released a 1/350 and 1/700 Hood and they seem to have done well enough. Sure, the Koenig flopped, but German Dreadnoughts are hardly the biggest subject and the small number that ever did fire a shot in anger fired precious few, only at the Battle of Jutland, and didn't hit anything. My point about the Iron Duke was that the presence and reissue of this kit demonstrates that there is some appetite for kits of this era in this scale. Jutland and WW1 British Dreadnoughts are a phenomenally popular subject in book sales, and I don't see why this couldn't transfer to model kits if only there were enough to make a decent collection. And in any case I think Dreadnought could transcend interest in this particular era because of its significance. If marketed right in a way that was bound to national pride and 'Britannia rules the waves' it could sell plenty to the casual market. In many ways it's a 'Spitfire' or 'Lancaster' of ships.

No, I wouldn't pay £1000 to ensure a kit, but I would be prepared to put some money in and plenty of time to lobby/market if we could get organised enough to make it worthwhile.

I see your point about the convertability of kits - see my earlier post about the 13.5in armed classes of British Dreadnought. Airfix could possibly be quite canny here - given that several early Japanese Dreadnoughts were built in Britain, or to British designs, they could possibly tool up to allow some of these designs to be built as well. The Kongo class for example shared marked similarities with the Lion class, in hull at least. There may well be some early Japanese Dreadnoughts that shared considerable similarities with Dreadnought herself.

walrus

Hi Ratch

i can't remember where i saw it recently

but...

Airfix apparently used 1/600 as that was the scale of the drawings used by the RN- which makes sense

overseas modelmakers obviously had other ideas/plans/resources- who knows- but they are all heretics

Flash Flash

I like Revell's 1/570 I don't know why but I find them easier than Airfix ships

Brews

1:570 is close enough to 1:600, I think

I know what you mean, Heggy, Revell ships have pretty good fit.

wookie

I, like many, was brought up on 1/60, and to me it seems a good compromise scale. I really cannot get on with smaller scales like 1/700 or 1/720 as even as a teenager that little bit smaller challenged both my eyesight and tweezer control.

I suppose I'm lucky in now being in a position to own a reasonably large house so i can build some display shelves to take the larger scales and have got the ex-Heller 1/400 KGV and Hood to build. But I'd much rather have a greater range of good quality models in 1/600.

I suppose it comes down to the same debate raging in the DREADNOUGHT thread. Scale warships just have never taken off with the same impetus that aircraft have. Hence, no one manufacturer was able to dominate and thus impose "their" scale. I think if anything we might see 1/350 becoming "the" standard scale of the future in the same way that 1/48 seems to be gaining interest over 1/72 for aircraft.

DavidM

Are you sure that the ICM Hood ever achieved any real world existence?

Well, thanks to the Japanese the only viable smaller scale for ship modelling is 1/700 which is just about okay for me to manipulate, if not totally ideal, specially with the smaller ships like the V and W Class destroyers from Tamiya.

David

Digs

I've always thought of 1:600 as following on from the Brit 50' to the inch plans for wooden ship models that predated plastic kits during WWII and immediately after.

Does anybody recall who marketed these plans? (Or know what I'm referring to for that matter!

). I'd love to have another go at one.

Paul

Edit - rereading this, it's unclear. Wooden models of steel ships I mean. I remember building Scharnhorst, Hood and an oil tanker from the same series of plans

peebeep

As Digs points out 1/600 is 1" = 50', a sensible Imperial scale in that pre-metrication many people would be able to relate to it. 1/720 is 1" = 60', which also makes sense as an Imperial scale. Revell ships were, IIRC, 'box' scales which accounts for peculiarities like 1/570 (1" = 47'-6"). Ship scales have certainly been arbitrary over the years, but if there were to be unification it would look like 1/700 and 1/350 would come out on top. The team at Airfix must be thinking long and hard whether to stay true to 1/600 or defect to 1/700. I was not at all surprised that the new carrier kit is going to be 1/350.

peebeep

daniel7891

I have always liked the 1/600 scale, its what I started with. However I do like the 1/350 because you can add more detail but they do take up a lot of space

dancho

We all know that 1/700 is the perfect scale for floating in the bathtub. Boat

orionv

orionv

For me the 600ème scale is the best,not too small,not too big...Very good for detail and painting and make a nice seascape...

walrus

orionv

daniel7891

I tried PE in 1/600 and it drove me insane. I haven't got Remy's skill for ships I'm a bit clumsy. Perhaps you could lend me your dwarves Remy

Steven Pietrobon

I'll happily fork over £1000 to Airfix, on the proviso that I get a proportionate share in the profits and see their sales figures for their other 1/600 ships. Lets see, £10.52 each in Series 4 with 15% VAT and 50% markup gives £6.10 to Airfix. I'd guess that moulding, packaging and transport costs would be 33% of that leaving £4.07 profit to Airfix. To break even with £50,000 development cost would require that 12,300 kits be sold, similar to that for the limited edition 1/72 TSR-2. Thus, Airfix might do the same thing and make this a limited edition kit.

This is one reason I believe that Airfix are reissuing the Iron Duke and Warspite, to test the waters for WWI battleships. If they are reasonable good sellers, then I think we have a good chance of seeing HMS Dreadnought, hopefully in 1/600 scale. If they don't sell, then we won't. Unfortunately, I have already paid quite a bit for these two kits on eBay (AU$49.31 or £22.03 for Warspite and AU$45.27 or £20.23 for Iron Duke, including postage), as I had no idea if Airfix would ever reissue these kits.

On eBay Warspite and Iron Duke have sold from £12.40 to £23 for an average price of £17.74.

Steven Pietrobon

Try photoetch in 1/700 then! I'm building the Revell 1/720 Prinz Eugen and compared to 1/600, it is much more difficult. This will be my first and last ship in that scale (I'm only building this as I built this as a kid). Give me 1/600 any day.

I believe 1/600 scale was established by wargamers, who also use 1/1200 scale. Aurora chose this scale in the 1950's, followed by Airfix in 1960 with HMS Cossack. Annoyingly, Revell chose 1/570 scale, which is 2000 times greater than 1/1,140,000 scale, used in old maps. I believe the oldest Revell 1/570 kit is the Bismarck released in 1963. This is three years after Airfix's first 1/600 release, so Revell chose not to follow Airfix.

Later, the Japanese model makers chose 1/700 knowing full well that Airfix had established 1/600 scale for their ships. Its unfortunately all water under the bridge now, with 1/700 dominating small ship models and 1/350 large ship models. Only Airfix and a limited number of kits from a few other manufacturers keep 1/600 scale alive today.

XN923

It would be nice if Warspite was in Jutland configuration rather than the very ugly (IMHO) WW2 spec. A good compromise would be some new sprues with WW1 upperworks.

XN923

I agree about 1/700, it just seems that little bit too small. Even the largest warships are not unmanageable in 1/600, while a destroyer in 1/700 feels like an N gauge train - fiddly, and small for the sake of it.

1/350 works for ships like pre-Dreadnoughts but is a bit big for things like Bismarck and Hood, where 1/400 is more manageable but still gives plenty of scope for detailing. I think 1/350 is unassailable as the 'larger' scale now though and we just have to live with it. I hope Airfix doesn't abandon 1/600, but the presence of a 1/700 ship in the catalogue looks ominous.

Beaufighter

@ XN293 -

Yes, I think that's exactly the sort of thing they should think about doing. The range of 1/600 WW1 battleships available from Airfix is essentially four - Iron Duke, Warspite, Repulse, and Hood (just!).

This is not a bad total in fact, but Repulse has gone, so we're down to three, and the others are very old moulds. If any were to be reworked / retooled, I think it would make a lot of sense to use the opportunity to create alternative parts with a WW1 and WW2 configuration. It ought to add quite a few sales for relatively little incremental tooling cost.

Tamigawa have been doing this for years - the same kit of Kongo is in four different boxes as, in addition, Hiei, Haruna, and Kirishima. Ludicrously, the plastic is the same even though the subject ships were not in fact exact sisters - the funnel configurations varied.

While they're about it I'd also like a WW1 and WW2 version of Furious, the former in loony quasi-carrier mode with one 18-inch gun and the latter looking a bit more normal. Given the significance of carriers in WW2 and thereafter, it is a bit odd that there are only two RN carriers in the range.

I'm still not hugely optimistic, but then I wouldn't have been optimistic about the Beam Engine being re-released either, for the same reasons. I would dearly love to be wrong. Stephen's maths make sense, but does it follow that if you can sell 10,000 units of a reissued Iron Duke, you're going to sell 10,000 of HMS Dreadnought? I don't know - 7,500 of your Iron Duke sales might be pent-up demand for any WW1 subject that has built up over the decade or so since the kit was last out. Once that demand is met, there may be less interest in further such items!

I've no idea, and as we don't have the sales figures, there's no way to know. It makes me wonder how much historical MI the Hornby folk actually have to guide these decisions.

DavidM

To get a Jutland-era Warspite (and Barham, Malaya etc.) from the old Airfix kit would require an almost total remould, so they'd be better off starting from scratch.

But I agree about a Furious (and I'm sure that I've posted a similar wish here before). A few years ago I modified some 1/300 ships to represent the various phases of Furious' development (adding aircraft to the deck was fun). The result certainly pleased my girlfriend's father (now deceased) who served for a short time on her).

David

DavidM

XN923

peebeep

DavidM

Carrying the 1/600 question a bit further, which other companies issued ships in this scale, other than Airfix? Even Frog opted for (IIRC) 1/500.

David

peebeep

I think the question is academic. I just did a brief experiment using the Hannant's search engine:

1/600 = 15 hits
1/700 = 289 hits

peebeep

XN923

XN923

peebeep

tempestfan

tempestfan

walrus

tempestfan

XN923

A fair question tempestfan - which of the following RN ships are available in 1/700 in a mainstream version?

Hood
Ark Royal
Renown
Repulse
Warspite
Iron Duke
Nelson
Rodney
Victorious
Campbeltown
Amazon-class
Devonshire-class
Belfast
Leander-class
Manxman
Cossack
County-class
Tiger
Daring
Fearless
Hotspur

A few of those I can answer for myself - Hood and Renown/Repulse for example, but what of the others?

I see that Kitech released some 1/600 ships - were these Airfix reboxings? There is also an Arii Yamato.

peebeep

DavidM

Besides the Hood and Repulse, Tamiya do both the Nelson and Rodney, also KGV and PoW, E and V/W class destroyers and I think Trumpeter is threatening a Tribal (Eskimo?).

Then we can add a few Lease/Lend ships like the Escort carrier (Tamiya's Bogue ex Pit-Road) and also Captain Class frigates (Pit-Road).

David

tempestfan

peebeep

DavidM

Two things:

I've found the Trumpeter Eskimo on Hannant's site (bit pricey)

And Tamiya also now have the moulds for the Pit-Road 'ship bearing some resemblence to an O Class destroyer' to which some new parts have been added that are no help at all. How happy I was when I found that out.

David

tempestfan

DavidM

Tamiya get plenty of stick for continuing to push tired old stuff in other forums, don't worry about that.

And while we're at it, perhaps Revell of Germany could look in their stores for the moulds of the Matchbox Kelly and Exeter, two more to add to the RN list. Exeter did go out to Alanger for a while, but hopefully the moulds survived the excursion. They needn't bother with the Ariadne, judging by the example I have.

David

Loll

XN923

Too right. I think Furious was a tremendously important ship, and the whole class was fascinating in whatever configuration you care to choose. Think of poor old Glorious getting caught by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau off Norway with no 'planes on deck, and Furious 'giving it 'em back' in '44 with the Tirpitz raids at Kaa Fjord. Why have their been no mainstream models of these fantastic ships??

XN923

Ratch

So is 1/600 a dying scale

walrus

Ratch

DavidM

peebeep

XN923

T16S

At IPMS Huddersfield I was totally dismayed by the lack of floaty things. Huge numbers of German tanks and a good showing of Allied stuff. Little quantity of military trucks but what there was was superb. Lots of aircraft but majority WWII. Some wonderful Vee bombers though. Where are the ship modellers out there? One outstanding floaty model was a Hospital ship at 1:700 I think- a superb scratch build and I think it won the competition.
There seems to be only a few floaty modellers out there- so we should support people like Remy (Orionv) all the more- keeping the flame alive.
cheer Stuart

Steven Pietrobon

There are a number of new kits still being made in 1/600 scale. See list below.

Airfix/Heller Queen Mary 2
Academy Titanic
Aeroplast HMS Cossack/Tartar
Arii USS Iowa/New Jersey/Missouri/Wisconson
Arii IJN Yamato/Musashi
Kangnam/Lee USS Enterprise
Kangnam/Lee USS Iowa/New Jersey/Missouri/Wisconson (same as Arii?)
Kitech/Zhengdefu Charles de Gaulle
Nichomo IJN Yamato/Musashi (same as Arii?)

XN923

tempestfan

peebeep

tempestfan

DavidM

peebeep

tempestfan

XN923

tempestfan

orionv

I agree...

wookie

XN923

Steven Pietrobon

Yes, I was very disappointed that Airfix chose the 1/700 Titanic instead of 1/600. The 1/600 gets a very good review on the Titanic Model Web Site.

"Quite possibly, this may be the finest ocean liner model on the market in styrene and in this scale."

According to this review, the 1/700 kit is aimed at a basic skill level, which is maybe why the 1/600 kit was not chosen (which is much more detailed and aimed at an intermediate skill level). I already have the Academy 1/600 kit which comes in a fairly large size box.

XN923

Seems like Airfix is hedging. It does sound like they have gone for this kit aimed mainly at the younger/less skilled market (Titanic is more of a mass market subject after all) rather than as a statement of intent on future scales - although the fact that it is new in the catalogue at the same time as a newly-tooled 1/350 scale ship still looks like the winds of change may be blowing.

As I noted before, I like 1/600 and am not a fan of 1/700 - it either seems too toy-like or too fiddly depending on the detail level of the kit. I'm not a big ship model builder really but my favourite scale is 1/600 as it seems to suit the size of ship I like to build.

Digs

feanor

Ayup Paul...

Thanks for that Comprehensive list.

Still, if i find i desire another Floaty thing to go with my Frog Repulse, i shall consult you...

Cheers.

tempestfan

tempestfan

As there are a number of kits in the Airfix ship range with sisters, how about the possibilities of doing extra parts to depict them ? E.g., could KGV be transformed into PoW, DoY or even the two great unknowns, Anson and Howe (had they built a HMS Bruford and Wakeman, they could've formed "Force Yes"...almost) with reasonable effort ? Or Rodney, Renown, Hipper, Lützow, Scheer...?

Steven Pietrobon

Airfix has done that for Aircraft and Tank kits, but not yet for any ship kits. The closest was getting a Tirpitz from the Bismarck kit. I think its a good idea.

tempestfan

Steven Pietrobon

A Ukraine model company Master Box Ltd has announced a new line of 1/700 WWI battleships, including HMS Dreadnought. This will be the first plastic model kit of this famous battleship. Up to this time, this company has only made 1/35 figures and vehicles. Their kits seem to be high quality, considering the awards they have won. Their line will be based on ships that fought in the Battle of Jutland, but HMS Dreadnought did not take part in that battle. The other ships announced in the line include all four of the German König class ships, SMS König, Grosser Kurfust, Markgraf, and Kronprinz Wilhelm.

Well, unless Airfix already have a 1/700 HMS Dreadnought in the pipeline, I think this scuttles any plan for Airfix to make a 1/700 HMS Dreadnought. At 1/700 the Dreadnought and König are only 229 and 251 mm long, respectively. To give you an idea of how small that is, the Airfix 1/600 HMS Ajax is 282 mm long!

I think we still can petition for a HMS Dreadnought at the more sensible 1/600 scale. This will give a length of 268 mm, still smaller than HMS Ajax, but 39 mm (1.5") longer than the 1/700 model. SMS König would come out at 292 mm at 1/600 which would be 10 mm longer than HMS Ajax.

Brews

I would say, Steven, that if Airfix released a 1:600 HMS Dreadnought, that it would have a wider appeal than anything MB releases. I'm not a fan of 1:700 models, but size isn't a factor - I've seen people making 1:700 destroyers quite nicely. However, there are precedents for having multiple manufacturers modelling the same subject in the same scale, even simultaneously - off the top of my head, I can think of Roden, Eduard and Revell making the Fokker Dr1, and Trumpeter and Dragon both making 1:35 Brueckenleger Pz IVs.

This year will be the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate, and we don't have HMS Exeter in 1:600. What a pity.

Paddy O'Irishman

I am surprised Airfix haven't released a 1/600 Exeter, especially as they did release Graff Spee and Ajax. Airfix seem to release incomplete groups of models, eg, they have done all the main German WW2 ship types, except the light cruisers, a Koln or Konisberg in 1/600 would be a very welcome addition. Same with the British ships, a flush deck "County" class such as Norfolk would go very well with the cut down County's, ie Suffolk. And I'm surprised that Victorious was released in it's modified angled deck version. I would have thought that a 1941 version would have been more appropriate, bearing in mind Victorious played a major part in the Bismarck episode and is remembered mainly for that episode. I would also love to see a '41 version of Renoun to go with Repulse, as well as a "Royal Soveriegn" class, preferably Ramilles, which also took part in the Bismarck episode. I am surprised at the total lack of WW2 US and IJN heavy ships. They would make great subjects in 1/600. I too dont like 1/700, it's a bit small but mainly because most 1/700 are waterline only, I much prefer full hull. So come on Airfix, there is a market out there for you.

Beaufighter

There's a shortage of IJN and USN subjects in 1/600 only. In 1/700 literally every IJN ship from WW2 has been kitted, down to the minelayers and the laundry ships.

I notice with the Master Box wheeze that once again they are kitting the blandest items in the range. Dreadnought is quirky but the German subjects are just the usual boring four or five turrets down the centreline configuration.

Brews

peebeep

Brews

peebeep

Beaufighter

It's not like Airfix are heavily invested in a range of recently-tooled 1/600 kits with lots of life in them. The newest 1/600 mould must be Prinz Eugen or Repulse and those are, what, 25 years old?

A lot of the others are clapped out, inaccurate, or both. I don't rule out a retool of Bismarck, on the basis that it still sells regardless of inaccuracy. While they're retooling it in 1/600, though, they might as well retool in 1/700.

Steven Pietrobon

Paddy, there are some 1/600 US and IJN ships (including one French ship). The Rommel is a US ship and from other manufacturers we have

Kangnam USS Enterprise
Kangnam USS Iowa/New Jersey/Missouri/Wisconson (same as Arii?)
Arii USS Iowa/New Jersey/Missouri/Wisconson
Arii IJN Yamato/Musashi
Nichomo IJN Yamato/Musashi (same as Arii?)
Kitech/Zhengdefu Charles de Gaulle

sloop

A teaser:

Sgt.Squarehead

Nice work Sloop.....Why not make a post in the welcome section and introduce yourself (plus it will make the link work).

All the best
Sgt.S

tempestfan

Beaufighter

The key question is whether the market size is there. Ships are a niche within a niche, and thus only the WW2 USN / IJN really sell because those are what the majority of buyers want.

People probably buy the Airfix Hood, Bismarck etc simply because they're there. It seems plausible to me that there's a market for 10,000 RN subjects a year (or whatever number), and if you make Ark, Hood, Iron Duke and Victorious you'll sell 2,500 a year of each. If you add Courageous and Dreadnought to the lineup you might simply end up selling 1,667 of each, for more tooling and production cost but the same total of 10,000-odd units.

Since nobody is making new 1/600 tools any more (was Repulse the last 1/600 ship kitted?), there is no automatic appeal about the scale. You wouldn't today embark on a collection of ships in 1/600 scale (unless a very small one) because you know from the outset you can't complete it.

In 1/700, OTOH, the average ship modeller knows there's a 1/700 model of any subject he wants. He knows this because the canonical "average ship modeller" is, statistically, either American or Japanese and not really interested in anyone else's navies. Every significant ship of the former's WW2 navy, and the entirety of the latter's, has been kitted.

If Airfix do decide to kit more ships, I think they'd be well advised to switch to 1/700 or 1/350, because in those scales, there is at least the possibility of a few sales outside the UK. There are only two WW2 aircraft carriers in 1/350, for example - the US Essex class and a (very expensive) IJN Akagi - so a well-executed Ark Royal or Victorious might actually interest a few builders in that scale who are bored of building the usual battleships. In fact, if they kitted an RN ship sunk by the Axis, they'd almost certainly pick up a few sales from Japanese modellers and Anglophobic Americans. Royal Oak, maybe; Glorious; Hermes - one of those would work.

The trouble then would be that Airfix's current and legacy ship range would be a complete dog's breakfast of scales: 1/1200, perhaps 1/700, 1/600, 1/400, maybe 1/350 and 1/72. I suspect they may want to flog the old Heller moulds thoroughly to death before going down that route.

Alternatively, more 1/72 subjects seem plausible; Kennedy's PT boat, maybe - there is little competition in this field and with the exception of the rather dodgy E-boat the kits offered so far have all landed rather well. There seem to be some fit issues with the Lifeboat but I've yet to hear it dismissed as an uninteresting subject or a silly scale.

Paddy O'Irishman

Dreadnaught

Scales