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sloop · Black Star Joined: 18 Mar 2009 Posts: 10

Wasn't the Queen Mary 2 kit in 600 scale and therefore the most recent (and very recent at that) 600 scale kit produced?

Paddy O'Irishman · Posted: Thu 19 Mar 2009 22:47 pm Post subject:

Absolutely right sloop.
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Steven Pietrobon · Posted: Fri 20 Mar 2009 02:34 am Post subject:

Recent 1/600 kits

Airfix/Heller Queen Mary 2
Academy Titanic
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
Aeroplast HMS Cossack/Tartar

Here are some 1/600 resin or white-metal ship kits.

OzMods HMAS/HMS Duchess
OzMods HMAS Voyager

There are several companies that specialise in 1/600, especially for wargaming

Thoroughbred Figures
SkyTrex

So I would say that 1/600 is alive and healthy. I think people underestimate the popularity of 1/600. If 1/600 wasn't popular, why would Airfix continue to have their current 1/600 kits in the catalogue?

I believe the main market for Airfix ship kits is the UK. I think those modellers would be interested in 1/600 RN and German ships, to go with their other 1/600 RN and German ships. To go to 1/700 could lead to less sales, since Airfix we'll be alienating those ship modellers who like 1/600 (like myself and many others who have posted here) at the expense of trying to lure in modellers who apparently aren't very interested in RN or German ships (especially WWI). Sort of like 1/87 trains for Europe and 1/76 trains for the UK.
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tempestfan · Posted: Fri 20 Mar 2009 07:45 am Post subject:

tempestfan · Posted: Fri 20 Mar 2009 07:58 am Post subject:

Beaufighter · Posted: Fri 20 Mar 2009 08:57 am Post subject:

Yes, that's my point really, when you think it through you tend to end up talking yourself out of more 1/600 subjects and the 1/700 field is very well supplied already with what it appears to want to buy. The 1/350 Illustrious is going to be interesting to watch. As you say, Airfix could conceivaly pick a few European subjects that might appeal to the local market and go with those.
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tempestfan · Posted: Fri 20 Mar 2009 09:17 am Post subject:

Beaufighter · Posted: Fri 20 Mar 2009 11:17 am Post subject:

That is pretty deranged, but then 1/700 battleships go for about £20 to £25. Perhaps the target buyer of Airfix's 40-year-old Hood is someone who isn't aware how old it is, judges value on what you apparently get for your Eu28, and doesn't know it was £12 until recently.

Price is quite an interesting factor here. Given how pricey 1/700 ships are, it is reasonable I think for a new tool 1/600 subject to go for about £20 or £25. I don't know what series that would be. Waterline plus full hull options and a choice of versions - a WW1 or a WW2 Warspite, for example - might persuade me to part with that sort of cash.
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tempestfan · Posted: Fri 20 Mar 2009 12:38 pm Post subject:

"It's as expensive as a Tamiya so it must be as good" - interesting kind of marketing. Until the buyer finds out he has the Grandaddy of all Airfix battleships. But then he possibly 'll never get to know because he asks himself what the heck has prompted him to fork out that money for some chunks of undetailed plastic. Stupid hobby, never again.
20 to 25 quid would put it in the Series 5 to 6 region, I guess.
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Steven Pietrobon · Posted: Tue 24 Mar 2009 05:54 am Post subject:

Although HMS Dreadnought is quite short at 268 mm in 1/600, she is is quite wide at 42 mm. I think this kit would be suitable in Series 5 at £11.50. In Series 6 that would be £15.65 which would be quite expensive. Trumpeter sells a 1/700 Bismarck (359x51 mm) for £15.98.
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If you would like Airfix to release a 1/600 kit of HMS Dreadnought,
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linux · Joined: 01 Nov 2008 Posts: 9

Something interesting will happen next month: Fujimi will release a newly tooled - and expensive - 1/500 scale Yamato.

Whether it is a one-off or the start of something new remains to be seen. But judging by the reaction of 1/350 scale modellers at another forum one would be forgiven for thinking that the sky had fallen in.

Steven Pietrobon · Posted: Wed 16 Sep 2009 05:16 am Post subject:

Holy smokes! 15,000 Yen (£93.43) for a 1/500 kit. You can preorder the kit for 14,250 Yen at Hobby Search. The only Japanese company that makes 1/600 ships is Arii. Here's their 1/600 IJN Yamato, which is much cheaper at only 1,710 yen.
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Ratch · Posted: Wed 16 Sep 2009 19:27 pm Post subject:

I've got a Yamato in 1/600 by Otaki

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Repulse36 · Joined: 20 Jun 2009 Posts: 7

Back in the 1960s when first getting started in model warships, here in the US 1:600 scale was actually rather common. Aurora Plastics made a few ships, most notably their CV-6 USS Enterprise, USS Iowa and Bismarck, although the quality of the latter kit was atrocious.

Lindberg marketed a couple cruisers Manchester and Vicksburg, although the quality was poor. There was also Monogram which made a USS St. Paul, and later a fairly decent Bismarck and Tirpitz kit.

Together with Airfix, the scale looked like the standard of days to come. It's just that they never did and to my knowledge, only Revell and Airfix ever bothered to introduce newer kits much after the 1980s ( Repulse, King George V, Gneisenau, and Scharnhorst). As mentioned in an earlier post, Arii still offers its Yamato/Musashi kits in 1:600, and I know Bandai once offered a 1:600 scale IJN battleship back in the 1970s or 1980s but it is exceedingly rare (one was sold three years ago for more than $200 on eBay).

Maybe there were others?

In any case, I have adopted 1:600 scale for my scratchbuild projects and conversions, because I find it MUCH easier to work with a "resonant" scale than that oddball 1:700 stuff. 50 scale feet per inch scales out a lot better than 58.3333 feet, in English measure.

1:700 parts-gluers will seldom have to deal with designing, cutting, and laying-out their own projects unless they want RN and other navies not well-represented by the Consortium companies, or are willing to spend beaucoups moneys on resin kits. It's better there now, than it was just three years ago but Airfix still is my choice for RN models, and the scale is about as small as I can tolerate working with nowdays.

---D---

Steven Pietrobon · Posted: Thu 17 Sep 2009 07:33 am Post subject:

Ratch, the Ship Kits List doesn't list an Otaki 1/600 Yamato. I'm thinking it might be the same as the Arii kit. The Hobby Search web site has photos of the Arii parts. Can you compare them with your kit?
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tempestfan · Posted: Thu 17 Sep 2009 11:59 am Post subject:

Ratch · Posted: Thu 17 Sep 2009 18:27 pm Post subject:

IIRC the Yamato can be motorised Think

I'll have to dig it from the stash

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Steven Pietrobon · Posted: Fri 18 Sep 2009 04:17 am Post subject:

The Arii kit can also be motorised. I also have a Crown 1/550 Shinano that also blows smoke!
_________________
If you would like Airfix to release a 1/600 kit of HMS Dreadnought,
the world's first all-big-gun battleship, then please vote here!