Darryl Usher

You can get about 20,000 part out of an aluminum mold. Size of mold dictate what size of machine you run on.
Size of the product cost a little more for 1 /16 in aluminum but less skill in the labor and less in material for 1 /72
but more for labor. I would think in today prices in the US would be in the $750,000 dollar range.
Darryl

Max-U52

I've admired your Kettenkrad before. I never knew where you got it (kinda assumed it was static and you did some wizard stuff on it) and I never knew about Xion til just now. I googled them, found their website and checked price. It was in euros and I used google's exchange with today's rate to get the 335 and 40 s/h (roughly). I did not deduct for the VAT. I always forget that part. You got a great deal. I'll get a not so great deal eventually, but I'm mean and stupid and very patient.

Tanque

According to Xion's site:

699,90 EUR
incl. 19 % Tax plus. Shipping costs
Shipping time: coming soon
Product No.: 4079004
This Product is expected to be on stock on Monday, 20. July 2015

I wonder if 20th of July was someone's odd joke....I mean come on, out of 365 days to be the debut sales day....really?

Jerry

jarndice

The point about the cost of a HENG LONG/TAIGEN/TORRO being more expensive than the TAMIYA equivalent is valid if this is your first build,, the outlay on tools and material is almost never taken into consideration, the upside is that the tools are an investment, and the majority of the material will last through 4 + builds, and the biggest saving is the almost vertical learning curve, your first build will always disappoint you and yet you owe it everything because after that it gets easier, and you start experimenting with PE and your own hand made modifications and it becomes less like work and much more like real FUN!!! shaun.

BludoTheSmelly

Any of em I would say hellcat or the chaffee ,got most of the german line.

mondo

Which is kinda why I always wondered why no Centurion was brought out. That would sell at 1:16. Maybe not as well as a Tiger or Sherman but I bet if Tamiya did one I think it would be a solid seller. So many countries used it and it has a stellar combat record and lots of conversions are possible. Almost legendary in Israel. I would so do one as the nuclear tank.

Totally agree. The Tamiya Tiger and King Tiger kits can routinely be bought cheaper than some of these other tanks when you include just a few modifications to them. Stick metal wheels on them and put an IBU2 in it and suddenly your Taigan or Torro is more expensive, especially those pre-painted ones in a box.

I think the exception is the Leo 2A6 but that tank is far beyond anything else, however I think Tamiya have raised the bar with the Type 10. That thing looks phenomenal and can't wait to get one.

dgsselkirk

Totally agree on the Centurion. And the number of variants would keep a builder busy for years! LOL!

ausf

I hear ya, but I truly believe Tamiya's target demographic for the RC tanks is the Japanese salaryman who passes the hobby shop every Friday afternoon on the way home. He'll buy the kit, Tamiya paint, glue, hop ups, tools, weathering stuff, etc., spend his weekend building and take his kids to the mini 4WD competitions, etc.

Same thing with shows like Girls Und Panzer that are popular there and not in the States. My son showed me photos of entire subway cars emblazoned with the art from the show. The show features a 'tank store' that has Tamiya kits on the shelf.

cleong

You can replace the name Centurion with any of the mainstream tanks and there would be some fans for each tank name mentioned. The problem is that they won't be a universally-solid seller across all markets. We can't expect Tamiya to make the logical choices. Heng Long however appears to be delivering what the market wants and that's a Very Good Thing. Hopefully the sales numbers of the Abrams and Challenger 2 will embolden them to continue making some of the more-popular tanks.

mondo

#


I think they sell pretty well outside Japan but I assume it's the investment in doing it the Tamiya way i.e. quality parts and components and actually buying a license rather than going for 'artistic interpretation' or just ignoring legalities like HL. However, that said Tamiya released the JS2 a year ago, the Type 10 this month. I hope that in a years time they'll do another tank. I almost feel like it's my duty to buy one to encourage them.

Part of the problem with Tamiya's is stocking them. The more expensive kits are quite an investment to have sitting on a shelf for a few months.

ausf

They do sell well worldwide, but the Home market is their bread and butter. The ridiculous stat from a few years ago was something like half (or more) of all AA batteries in Japan are used in their mini 4WD.

Yeah, no general hobby shop in the US would gladly tie up $500 (wholesale) in that behemoth suitcase, taking up space and cash that would fit a dozen 1/35 kits,all on the hope of moving one eventually. And shipping it is a bear as well, not only the huge box, but the individual outer carton adds up fast. Most people who spend several hundred expect free shipping, at least I do.

The JS-2 hit on both WW2 and the 'intimacy' Japan has with Russia. Type 10 is theirs so it's logical too. I would think they'd continue with modern to exploit new technology. I don't see them going small with a Pz I or II, unless they dropped a Hetzer, I'd love a good III, but doubt it. I also doubt any other Russian WW2, they've covered it all.

Rex Ross

Hey Guys --------

Any tank you have ever wanted is at your finger tips, and built to your exact specifications.

It's called a "scratch built".

All of the pieces and parts are out there, you just have to find them and buy or build them. That part ain't cheap or easy.

Some assembly (and a lot of time) will be required, but the thing that you produce will be beautiful beyond belief and priceless (at least to you).
rex

Imex-Erik

Well I will say for sure that the Abrams from us will be to test the "modern armor" market. How well it goes will impact our future decisions on Cold War and Modern Era armor That is about all I can say for that. We also still love IR and will continue to support it In fact, we have something special planned for IR soon enough

RichJohnson

Why doesnt the imex taigen system support the tamiya IR. If Dan at Battle armor can figure it out im sure a bigger company can. That, is the major thing keeping me away from taigens right now. I love the sherman other than the puked on dirt paint job. If it were tamiya IR compaitible i would buy one rather than get a mato HL 105 and put Nick 75 mm barrel on it and back date the turret and put a barc3 and dx5 radio in it as I have been collecting and planning my next build. And i did look over an imex sherman at my LHS that has IR.

Max-U52

It's about copyrights. Tamiya owns the rights to their system and if Taigen copies it there will be trouble. Dan isn't a large corporation like Taigen and that makes a huge difference. Now if we were taking about Disney it would be totally different. I've seen them go after mom & pop bars and stores for having a painting of Mickey on their sign. The mouse does NOT f**k around!

cleong

All you need to do is pop in a Clark or Mako board and you're golden.

A little more effort on your part, but it keeps the smaller players that provide you the equipment, clean and protected against claims of patent infringement.

RichJohnson

As an Indiana Jones gearhead, I am super aware of the Mouse Nazis. They hit one of our BBS's and made them take down the artwork banner.

Tanque

I saw Disney force a small company out of business in the late 1970s because they made a fiberglass hull ( for RC ) of the Nautilus sub from their adaptation of Verne's
20,00 Leagues Under the Sea.

Jerry

RichJohnson

I have heard the story of that company with the Nautilus from my model ship club. Being in So Cal, we are close to DLand. Those hulls are highly prized.

Tanque

And I had one in my hand, $150.00 at the time. It was really well done ( or so it seemed at the time ) but all it was, was a hull with a sheet of build suggestions. I held it, looked at it for a long
time then said nah this will be a lot of work. A week later I relented only to find that hull gone, sold. I waited for another but it was never to be and I've never seen another. This was at a time when I had a functional 32nd parallel's type 7c as well as their Gato class hull; one of the few that had been purchased ( or obtained ) right from the factory uncut( it was 9 feet 6 inches as I recall).

Ahhh my sub days just a memory now..

Jerry

ausf

My first job was in a bakery back in the 70s that did Cartoon cakes. The were famous for them, doing portraits of presidents, etc, even did the wedding cake for "The Godfather". They put almost anything on cakes, except Disney, because they were constantly warned about infringement. Even as a dopey teen, I understood all that did was hurt their brand, since all the kiddie's cakes just got covered with their competitor's characters. Hanna Barbera threatened them too.

That said, I'm kind of on their side regarding making (for production and sale) a hull of one of their most iconic ships. It's their property and they have the right to produce, license it to someone else or sit on it as they see fit. It's one thing if it's certain class of existing sub, etc. but that's their design, their baby, they thought of it. Especially in their back yard, yikes.

Max-U52

That's what I mean - you don't monkey with the mouse.

Too bad you're out of subs, Jerry. My grandfather served on the U-52 (a VIIb) and with today's tech I've just been itchin' to see somebody put FPV in a U Boat. Underwater FPV would be cool enough, but the view from the tower overlooking the deck gun would be sweet.

I wonder if the mouse ever compensated the family of Jules, or if the property had become fair game by then.

Sorry to get a bit off topic, Shannon, but it's stories like these that are the reason so many are so careful about steppin' on each others' toes, and that's why all tanks don't have compatible systems. As usual, in the end it all comes down to money, eh? That's one thing I really like about Kevin's boards (RCTA/Mako). I can battle any other kind of tank (HL, TG or Tamiya) without even having to reprogram the tank. I can shoot a tank with an HL IR system and then turn around and shoot a tank with a Tamiya system and watch both those slobs burn.

Max-U52

Isn't it kind of a rule that anybody can make one copy of just about anything for personal use, especially if you're copying something you bought legitimately?

Lord Haw-Haw

you may enjoy this http://www.snopes.com/disney/wdco/daycare.asp I remember this local story. Such a strong PR move that it was the first thing that popped in my mind reading your post (?ADHD?).

ausf

Nope.

Scratchbuilding a Nautilus because you like the movie is paying homage to the creator of it. Buying a Nautilus model and copying it, even if it's just for you, is theft, plain and simple. If you need two Nautili, buy them.

Besides the fact, copies usually suck anyway. I imagine you'd be pissed if you bought those Blue Star drums and then found out that they were crappy copies of a good product.

On a different note, if you want a uboot like FPV, I'll send you copies from the GoPro strapped to my Lab.
Plenty of underwater hijinks, usually ending with a stick.