The only one being "ignorant" is HOOBEN by announcing what's next, years before they are even ready and can not even can satisfy the current offerings. 'Nuff said about the ignorant comment too.
What tank are you referring to? The T-55 or the Elefant both tanks saw release (eventually). The E-100 and Maus have been prototyped but is very unlikely to see the light of day. By satisfy the current offerings I presume you mean the lack of sales of their current models. Yes bad Hooben, hey really shouldn't have bothered.
It is normal in any industry for a product to be delayed. It is also normal for any industry to announce a product before it is ready to gauge interest. I've been waiting on certain computer games for over 5 years, two games from my childhood took around 8-10 years to get on the market. These companies had budgets in the tens of millions and yet you are surprised a very small company couldn't get a product out to a niche market?
And if you think only Tamiya is in it for the money because they are a business ...
No you mis-quoted what I said, they may not "only" be in it for the money but that will be a driving force. They have employees to pay and overheads to pay for. They have a massive scale (no pun) of products that all required different manufacturing techniques and therefore most likely multiple factories. That all costs money. At the end of the day they need to make money and won't be releasing products on the whim of a tiny proportion of the people out there.
The simple fact is, in this hobby as well as others, people don't want to spend the money. You all talk about wanting new tanks and some of you might actually buy them but the majority of you probably wouldn't. Yet you blame companies for not placing themselves in debt and putting the thousands of dollars up front based on what you personally think.
The problem with this hobby is it is a niche hobby. What is the even bigger problem is the hobby has niches inside the niche.
The companies out there are working hard to produce tanks and accessories and there are people, some on this forum, working hard to make them as good as they possibly can be. As hard we work the product will never 100% satisfy and the type or product these are will never be 100% be accurate to the real thing. The profit margins are not the best but we can still enjoy the hobby for what it is, a little fun to keep our hands occupied.