It isn't surprising at all considering the global appeal of 1/35 scale. And as the other said Italaeri or Dragon/DML have proportionally an even greater presence in
1/35. Add in all the others ( just go to Squadron, HLJ or a similar retailer and look at the manufacturer droplist in 1/35 scale to get the picture ) and 1/35 will ALWAYS
beat out 1/16 scale. And while some here lampooned Tamiya's 1/35 armor consider that some of their kits did or perhaps still do date back to the early 1970s.

Like everyone else said 1/16 isn't the big thing some might like to believe. And no it wasn't Tamiya that set the stage for 1/16 armor; Bandai with their 1/15 lineup beat Tamiya by quite a few years. And there were 1 or 2 others besides Bandai.

Jerry