I know i`m guilty of mainly being an armour modeller but i do dabble in large scale aircraft to have a change now and then,but what really raises my hackles is the almost complete lack of large scale groundcrew from any era.
I find myself green with envy when i look at websites that list dozens of things in 1/48 and 1/72,but if you want anything in 1/32 or 1/35 you`ll have to part with wads of cash for this or that in aftermarket resin !.
Perhaps by posting this some mainstream company might get the hint and produce a set of mechanics,etc. as nothing seems to set a model off better than seeing someone standing next to it to give it some kind of perspective !!.
Well,heres hoping

Your problem stems from the fact that 1/35th scale is just different enough not to be compatible with 1/32 scale, and we owe it all to this bizarre 1970s hobby-destroying decision by Tamiya, which was reinforced by Verlinden's after-market promotion in the late '70s early '80s...

If we had had a universal 1/32 scale for armor, aircraft and armor modelers would have long shared a much more inclusive common interest than what the stark division of scales created, and there would be tons of ground equipment in 1/32 scale as well as innumerable figures for everyone...

Since 1/35th is an artificial Tamiya creation that came fairly late, while 1/32 was a much older scale with widespread acceptance from many manufacturers for decades prior, I always thought 1/32 was the only legitimate scale among the two...

With the amazing recent 1/32 scale revival in aircrafts, many of them of top quality and accuracy, 1/35th scale armor builders can only look on with envy while they build their 50th Sherman or Panther variant...

Unfortunately, large numbers of very colorful and interesting airfield ground vehicles will be out of reach of either aircraft OR armor/vehicle builders for a very long time, because the financial incentive is far too splintered in small market niches to be worth offering in injection plastic, and this in EITHER scales...

This useless and unnecessary scale demonstrates they surely did not anticipate the current shrinking of the plastic hobby back then... They didn't read "Futureshock" I guess...

If someone ever takes up 1/32 armor with top quality execution and low prices, the short-term return will be very small and may doom such efforts. But when enough airfield ground support vehicles have been made in injection-moulded plastic to go with aircrafts, armor may appear, and 1/35th scale will hopefully disappear along with your airfield troubles... Give it a century or so...

It sure is not a great gift Mr. Tamiya gave us here...

Gaston

I agree with GastonMarty and I think that a similar situation exists between the railway modelling and the 1/72 scale which are very close.

Historically, the 1/32 may well be the "right" scale but I think that the reality today is that 1/35 has becoem very popular and a sort of de-facto standard for AFV. And there are some interesting choppers available in 1/35. Maybe it is a pity that the recent new 1/32 kits have not been made in 1/35 instead.

But that is a question that those buildrs have to answer, I am an 1/48 adict myself

a happy new year to you all

When I was still a pre-teen, I built a Sherman tank with the Calliope option in 1/32. Last year I saw the same kit marketed as being 1/35th. I serriously doubt they changed the moulds. I am guessing it was marketed as 1/35th because they didn't think it would sell if they said it was 1/32nd.

Just something to think about.

Quote: "Maybe it is a pity that the recent new 1/32 kits have not been made in 1/35 instead."

-I think this is probably true...

I am an exclusive 1/48th modeler as well. Given how "wrong" these large scales feel to me I would not have been swayed over, but the combined potential, for OOB quality and accuracy, of having all these kits in 1/35th would have been extraodinary...

In the few short years of the 1/32nd scale aircraft revival, I actually think there is MORE selection in top-quality and accurate 1/32 kits, that require no OOB modifications, in important subjects with large scheme choices, than decades of 1/48th dominance has produced...

To witness, top-quality accuracy we don't have in 1/48th WWII, that you can build in 1/32 OOB:

-Me-262 with necessary open-slat depiction.
-Ki-44 "Tojo"
-Ki-61 "Tony" (For the prop and sliding canopy shape)
-Spitfire IX
-Ju-88A
-P-47D Razorback and Bubbletop (with really accurate clear parts: compare with Tamiya)

And I forget many...

One of the few major WWII 1/48th subject that is still better OOB than the 1/32 offering is Hasegawa's FW-190A-5-8 series, which are marginally better than their own 1/32 offering (windshield size/cowl chord)...

1/48th has excellent but dull-schemed C6N "Saiun" and J2M3, hard-to-find radial D4Y "Judys", and dominates larger subjects thanks to the Ju-52 and some 30-year-old Monogram kits, with the B-17G and B-26B being especially good... But in a few short years, I would already choose the to have the 1/32 selection for top quality and scheme variety (but not size variety) out-of-the-box...

In both scales we are still a long, long way from accurate Me-109s (I measured the real thing) or late P-38s(cowl shapes) and quite a few others... My main point in this rambling is that 1/32 scale is already richer than 1/48th because one Ki-61 or P-47 is worth several dozen oddball monochrome C6Ns, J2M3, D4Ys or J1N1-type releases, which is what a lot of the best of 1:48th scale is like...

Gaston

I think things are getting better all the time . Ultracast and others are coming out more and more with 1/32 pilot figs ,g/crew is sure to follow.I have about 60 1/48 figs and they arent all the same size ,just like all of us -1/32 to 1/35 isnt that big of a jump. I think even a modeler with moderate skill level could achieve a conversion from 1/35 down to 1/32 . And conversions lend a unique look to the dio or vignette -Who wants all the same fig anyway?

but when will someone produce some 1/48 Fallschirmjager and Red Devils at rest or preparing to board so that I can do the only 2 dioramas that I've ever wanted to do.

I'm watching the 1/48 offerings grow but nothing yet...

please...

pretty please...

Damo