Whiffer's paradise

[Weaver]

Just about every modeller (including yours truly) has opinions about what the manufacturers should make, but what would you actually do it you were put in their shoes? Here's the scenario:

1. Congratulations! Your long lost mad uncle has died and left you in sole possession of a plastic model factory.

2. It's a proper, industrial-scale, injection-moulding factory: in no sense a cottage-industry outfit. it has it's own design office and tool-making setup, with good quality staff and equipment.

3. It's located in your own country, and there's some kind of government development-zone/regulation/involvement/whatever that means you can't just outsource production to China, sack the staff, and bulldoze the factory to make a profitable car park. Sorry.

4. You have to run it as a going concern, not just a hobby, so while you can certainly indulge your personal tastes to an extent, you also have to have an eye to the bottom line when choosing what to make. My very limited understanding of the kit business is that there are certain "sure-fire" kits (such as Spitfires and F-15s) that subsidise production of a big range of other, more esoteric subjects.


So what would you choose to make?

Discuss.........................

[Maverick]

I'll play....

Since it's good injection moulding based, I'd scope out all the crap absurdly priced resin kits & painfully hard vacs and knock up a few of them for starters. 

Then I'd go for some of the more untouched theatres of war for some 35th scale troopies, especially WW1 & smaller colonial / brush-fire wars.

Regards,

Mav

[puddingwrestler]

4-in-1 car kits. Never mind all that road/race/custom, what we want is road/race/custom/post apocalyptic combat car!

among other SF based things.

Mostly customizing parts.

And a wide range of WW1 and interwar armour.

[AeroplaneDriver]

I'd be worshipped by modelers the world over for finally producing a superb Supermarine Scimitar in 1/72 and 1/48.  I think I'd stay away from any Spit, F-15, etc that is already done by Tamigawa to avoid the inevitible comparisons and cries that the slightest error or imperfection renders the kit unbuildable.  I'd be looking at the other things that you cant find in every hobby shop like the McDonnell Demon, Hawker Swift, Mystere, etc.

[Shasper]

A bunch of Israeli stuff (the Barak, Kfir TC.7 & Lavi come to mind), a AMX kit & a decent Vulcan line. .. anong others, in various scales.

Ves b)

[ysi_maniac]

Anigrad's catalog but in styrene injection: Mirage-4000 first of them.

1/72 armour
Centurion (every versions)
M-41 and several derivatives
AMX-30 with adequate tracks
MBT-70

1/72 aircraft
AMX (me too)
SkyShark

An special series devoted to Paper Projects

more to come ...

[Weaver]

Amongst many other things, how about a "sub-continent" series?

India:

Ajeet Mk.1/2
Marut
Jaguar with Agave & Sea Eagle
Tejas


Pakistan:

Shenyang F-6 with Sidewinders
A-5
Shenyang F-7 Airguard with alternative pure/cranked wings
JF-17

Lots of potential export customers for these kits.........

[Hobbes]

Each and every mark of Spitfire that hasn't been done before.  And that's quite a few.

How many kits would you need to cover all Spitfire marks> Let's say each kit contains one fuselage and wing, plus however many small parts you want, up to and including engine cowls, tailplanes and canopies.


Weaver: how realistic do you want to get?
If each kit needs to turn a profit (or at least break even), you need to sell thousands (the 10.000 figure mentioned for the Airfix TSR.2 seems a good starting point). If you subsidise your exotic kits with profits from F-16s and the like, you end up with expensive F-16s no-one will buy

[pyro-manic]

I'd go for warships. I'm fed up of every company releasing the same selection of American and Japanese ships - How many different Yamato and Iowa kits do we need??  I'd do a decent range of British ships (battleships, cruisers and carriers, as well as modern ships like the Type 23 and 45), and probably some Italian and French stuff as well. All in 1:700, and a few of the more famous/popular ones in 1:350 as well.


Oooh, and a Saro Princess in 1:72.

[Weaver]

Weaver: how realistic do you want to get?
If each kit needs to turn a profit (or at least break even), you need to sell thousands (the 10.000 figure mentioned for the Airfix TSR.2 seems a good starting point). If you subsidise your exotic kits with profits from F-16s and the like, you end up with expensive F-16s no-one will buy

Not realistic enough to be depressing........

As I understand it, the companies producing reasonably-priced F-16s et al make enough extra to be a bit more adventurous with a minority of their kits, which can then be rotated through production a few at a time without swamping their limited market. Of course, the other thing is, how many "obscure" kits could you sell if you put some serious marketing commitment behind it: TSR-2, P1154, SR.177 "Britain's Lost Aviation Heritage" series etc....

[Joe C-P]

I'd go for warships. I'm fed up of every company releasing the same selection of American and Japanese ships - How many different Yamato and Iowa kits do we need??  I'd do a decent range of British ships (battleships, cruisers and carriers, as well as modern ships like the Type 23 and 45), and probably some Italian and French stuff as well. All in 1:700, and a few of the more famous/popular ones in 1:350 as well.

Oooh, and a Saro Princess in 1:72.

Me agree to a great degree; however, Trumpeter does appear to be making progress in kitting some such ships in 1/700, since they've started working with Skywave.
There is actually one USN ship type that I would do - a Brooklyn class CL. Multiple vessels, veterans of in WW2, some served into the 1980s, yet no kit.

[pyro-manic]

Yeah, the Trumpeter Hood is pretty nice (just got the 1941 version, to be converted to a post-rebuild Hood at some point). I hope they do a Warspite at some point.

Oh, to add to my list - I'd also do a Hawker P.1216. That thing is all kinds of cool.

[philp]

My dream models (and maybe some that would make money) are:

1/72nd Aircraft, all new molds
F-101
F-102
F-106
Buccaneer
F3D Skyknight
F9F Cougar two-seater
YB-40

1/72nd and 1/48th Airfield Support Vehicles
Cletrac
USAAF Bomb Truck
Fuel Trucks
Fire Trucks
Carts, etc

Tom Daniels Autos (reissued or updated molds 1/24th)
Rommel's Rod
Dragon Wagon
Tijuana Taxi
S'cool Bus

1/24th Other Autos
1966 Batmobile (with figures)
Ecto 1 (with figures and Proton packs)

Sci Fi
Disney 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Nautilas

2001
Orion 18"-24"
Moon Bus 1/72nd
Space Station
Pan Am Clipper 1/144th
Pod

Serenity
Firefly Class 1/144-160th

1/72nd Battletech Mechs
Marauder
Rifleman
Warhammer
Hatchetman
maybe some from the Clan Wars timeframe as well.

Ships/Boats
1/72nd PT-Boats
Higgens and Elco early and late war options

1/72nd Landing Craft
LCT
LCI

1/72nd 79th Armored Funnies
AVRE
Bobbin
Bridgelayer
DD
Crab
Crocodile
Armored Bulldozer

1/72nd Other Armor
M24 Chaffee
M42 Duster
M41 Bulldog
Centurion(s)
M50 Isherman
M51 Supersherman

We will continue to expand our lines as the mood hits.

[anthonyp]

Lessee, besides the afore-mentioned Anigrand line in plastic, Olimp Pro stuff would be cool too.

As for stuff NEVER done before in plastic (some may have been done in resin or vacform), I'd like to see:

1/72 S-92/H-92/CH-148 Cyclone
1/72 M88A2 Hercules
1/72 GD VTOL fighter (the canard-delta one)
1/72 Shenyang F-6
1/72 Rooivalk
1/72 OHX (that Japanese light Apache looking thing)
1/72 Taiwanese Chung-kuo (or however you spell it)
1/72 PZL Skorpian
1/72 Northrop A-X candidate
1/72 F-23 production model (and subsequent two seater and naval variant  )
1/72 RG33
1/72 M8 AGS
1/72 M6 Linebacker (Yes, I know they're just M2/M3's with a stinger box, and they've all been converted to standard A3 Bradley's now, but I want one!)

1/700 CSGN
1/700 Des Moines class CA (got ideas for modern version)
1/700 Alaska class CB (same as above)
1/700 Burke-derived CG (there's a couple ideas floating around if you look for them)
1.700 Ingalls DDM (Burke competitor)
1/700 SCB.100.68 CVS (the dedicated new build CVS from the 60')
1/700 APHNAS SSN (Pre-LA SSGN-ish design)
1/700 USS United States CVA-58 (wanna modernize the crap outta it)
1/700 Burke Flight III DDG
1/700 VSS/SCS
1/700 CVV
1/700 CVA-01
1/700 HMS Vanguard
1/700 Type 82
1/700 KDXIII (that cruiser sized Burke mod the Koreans just built)
1/700 Dokodo (their LHD)
1/700 JMSDF Hyuga (their "DDH", ie, CVLH)
1/700 Any of those Soviet paper project carriers and cruisers from the Cold War
1/700 Any of those goofy things from AVPRO

EDIT:  Added some ships and planes I forgot about.

[Excalibur]

Well first of all most modelers have been screaming out for a 1/72 scale Valiant to complete their "V" force collection so that would be a must! (Yes, I know Mach 2 do one but from all reports its not all that great).

Then I think I would try and provide kits of subjects that aren't done very often. I think there would be a nice market for the more esoteric stuff providing the kits were done well which of course mine would be 

Attacker, Scimater, Swift, MDD Demon to name a few. I'd do some polls on sites like this one and see what it is people want, one a personal level I would also produce a kit of HMAS Melbourne.