WelshZeCorgi Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 I noticed that there seems to be very few airplanes in 35th scale. There are a lot of 32nd scale and 48th scale. Anyone know why the industry shies away from 35th scale for aircraft? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 I don't know for certain but I would assume its just due to historically accepted "norms" for various types of models. Usually the only 1/35 scale subjects are those that would interface with armor and/or soldiers, i.e. helicopters and/or crew carrying craft. I agree though it would be nice to see more manufacturers break that norm and do more common scale items. Curious what other's thoughts are on this subject. Bill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WelshZeCorgi Posted October 9, 2018 Author Share Posted October 9, 2018 Yeah, it would be nice to see my 35th scale tanks next to 35th scale airplanes, just to have an accurate size comparison among the different vehicles. (obviously 35th scale ships are out of the question.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 So, this begs the question, why so few armor/ground vehicle subjects in 1/32nd scale? -Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 Monogram started making 1/32 scale armor but it never really caught on. That could be because the quality wasn't that great, but it could be that it's really hard to break people from what they are use to seeing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Geoff M Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 ditto 1/48 armor subjects Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alvis 3.1 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 Armour was typical of most model subjects in the early days, every company had their own size they seemed to like, although Monogram had both 1/32 and 1/35th scale kits in the late 50s. 1/32 seemed to be fairly common, with Airfix, Monogram and Revell all doing kits in that size (1/40th wasn't unusual either, but never caught on), but it was Tamiya that shifted the game into 1/35th scale when they started producing their motorized tanks (story goes they used that scale as it fitted the motor size they adopted. Being a metric country likely also was a factor). They rapidly produced a lot of different kits, swamping other companies like Bandai whose 1/48th kits were actually better in many ways. Soon everyone has to adapt to 1/35 or be left on the shelves. Meanwhile, 1/32 stayed a standard scale for aircraft kits as it had been a popular scale since the early days, and nobody saw a need to change it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Thanks Alvis! -Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skyhawk174 Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 (edited) Like others have said there are a few 1/35th aircraft but they have been mostly helicopters. Makes sense for the armour guys as it fits with the figures. Only a handful of aircraft with wings and the only one that comes to mind is the Storch. This would be perfect in a desert diorama with Rommel and his tanks. As for Tamiya in its early days, I remember having a couple of 1/30th scale Russian armour by them. Pretty plain and with motors of course. That would be more the metric scale. Yeah Tamiya really changed the armour scale to 1/35th for the world and here we are today. Never knew Monogram did any armour in 1/35 as I thought all of their armour kits were 1/32nd. Edited October 14, 2018 by skyhawk174 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Monogram did quite a few 1/35: These are just the ones off the top of my head. I know they did a Willy's Jeep and trailer and possibly a Sherman as well (not the Screaming Mimi as that's 1/32). Oddly their German stuff is 1/32 which I always found strange because you'd think they'd keep their U.S. and German vehicles the same scale. Revell also did 1/35 subjects, including boats. Both the Monogram and Revell kits were o.k. for the day but have been surpassed by Tamiya, Dragon, Meng, Takom etc etc examples. I build 1/35 because that's what I started building back in the 70's. I like the 1/48 stuff that's out now but its pretty much the same price as comparable 1/35 vehicles so for me there's no incentive to switch scales at this stage in the game. Regards, Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skyhawk174 Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 23 minutes ago, Don said: Monogram did quite a few 1/35: These are just the ones off the top of my head. I know they did a Willy's Jeep and trailer and possibly a Sherman as well (not the Screaming Mimi as that's 1/32). Oddly their German stuff is 1/32 which I always found strange because you'd think they'd keep their U.S. and German vehicles the same scale. Revell also did 1/35 subjects, including boats. Both the Monogram and Revell kits were o.k. for the day but have been surpassed by Tamiya, Dragon, Meng, Takom etc etc examples. I build 1/35 because that's what I started building back in the 70's. I like the 1/48 stuff that's out now but its pretty much the same price as comparable 1/35 vehicles so for me there's no incentive to switch scales at this stage in the game. Regards, Don Oh okay, forgot about those and for some reason I thought they were 1/32nd. Maybe I was thinking of the Panzer IV and the Sherman. I have several of the 1/48th Tamiya kits and they are great. Amazing detail and it makes me wonder how the 1/72nd guys do it as some of the parts are freaking small. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Just now, skyhawk174 said: Oh okay, forgot about those and for some reason I thought they were 1/32nd. Maybe I was thinking of the Panzer IV and the Sherman. I have several of the 1/48th Tamiya kits and they are great. Amazing detail and it makes me wonder how the 1/72nd guys do it as some of the parts are freaking small. Yeah you really have to watch with Monogram and Revell armor to make sure you're getting 1/35 or 1/32. But honestly, I think they are more collectors items now since so many other model companies have produced newer, more accurate, and much better detailed kits of the same subjects in 1/35. My son builds 1/48 and 1/100 (war gaming scale) armor and loves it. Talk about small! He and I play "Tanks" (not my photo)... ... and "Flames of War" (not my photo)... ...and he builds the models (I admit that I too enjoy helping with the building). We also play "X-Wing" but those models are pre-painted and its way off topic......LOL! Regards, Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DrGlueblob Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 There are watercraft in 1/35 and Revell did a PCF Swift in 48.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 In addition to Revell's 1/48 PCF, I know of HB's LCM, Trumpeter's Type VII U-boot, and Merit's early and late Elco 80' PTs. In 1/35 I know of Italeri's Elco 80' PT, S-38 and S-100 S-boots, and Vosper MTB, Tamiy's PBR31, Trumpeter's LCM, Bronco's Type XXIII U-boot, and Andrea Miniature's Type VII U-boot. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Miniart has a 1/35 Flettner FL 282 Kolibri kit. http://miniart-models.com/products/41001-fl-282-v-6-kolibri/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fulcrum1 Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 On 10/10/2018 at 9:56 AM, Alvis 3.1 said: Armour was typical of most model subjects in the early days, every company had their own size they seemed to like, although Monogram had both 1/32 and 1/35th scale kits in the late 50s. 1/32 seemed to be fairly common, with Airfix, Monogram and Revell all doing kits in that size (1/40th wasn't unusual either, but never caught on), but it was Tamiya that shifted the game into 1/35th scale when they started producing their motorized tanks (story goes they used that scale as it fitted the motor size they adopted. Being a metric country likely also was a factor). They rapidly produced a lot of different kits, swamping other companies like Bandai whose 1/48th kits were actually better in many ways. Soon everyone has to adapt to 1/35 or be left on the shelves. Meanwhile, 1/32 stayed a standard scale for aircraft kits as it had been a popular scale since the early days, and nobody saw a need to change it. Thanks for that. I always wondered why armor and aircraft didn't have the same scales. Same goes with large scale helicopters in 1/35. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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