Editorial

by Michael Benolkin

You may not have noticed, but the modeling industry is changing before our eyes. Some of these changes are for the better, some are not. Lets look at some of the actual model making companies.

AMT/ERTL has ceased producing anything other than cars. This is unfortunate, as they produced many aircraft subjects that have not been available as injection-molded kits before (and may not be again). One exception to this is their line of Star Wars kits, which are truly nice. Take a look at the pre-finished Episode I kits, they are even weathered! In case you were unaware, they have ceased production of Star Trek subjects. This was evidently due to the increasing costs of licenses from Paramount. If you've been procrastinating on getting one of the various USS Enterprise starships, you'd better do so soon before they start acquiring collectors' prices!

After a bit of a lull, Accurate Miniatures is rolling plastic out the door again. Their Mclaren race cars were works of art, and there are more car subjects coming! The 1/48 F3F-1 is a jewel to build, and the first of the long-anticipated 1/48 B-25 Mitchells, the B-25B Doolittle Raider, is shipping. The interesting news is the previously unknown (to me at least) THIRD F3F in their production schedule. We knew about the F3F-1 and the F3F-2, but they are also doing a limited edition 1/48 Gulfhawk – the civilian F3F flown by Gulf Oil. This kit will include resin parts to represent the unique configuration of the aircraft, Gulf's markings, and even a container of acrylic paint of that unique orange color.

Italeri continues to turn out some great kit subjects. Heading our way – a 1/35 Demag D7, a 1/48 AH-1Z Super Cobra, a 1/72 Ka-52 Aligator, and four new Porsches. While you'll hear the lazy modelers complain that some of these kits lack detail, or that they aren't pre-assembled and pre-painted, where else can you go to buy an injection-molded production F-22 in ANY scale? Or an FA-18E Super Hornet?

Revell-Monogram has some very welcome subjects coming on the schedule. Many of their new car and aircraft releases are rivaling their Japanese competitors' standards of quality. What is also great is that they continue to re-release some of their older subjects as well. Nobody else produces a 1/48 F-105 (for example), and their FA-18 Hornet has been accurized/updated a few years ago. For a fraction of the cost of the Hasegawa Hornet (and a little work), you can turn out an FA-18 that is just as nice. On the downside, release schedules are slipping as they continue their latest reorganization (you'll note that kits are now being released as Revell and Monogram again instead of the now-familiar Revell-Monogram).

ICM, who quietly appeared out of nowhere a few years ago, has flexed its Slavic muscles and has produced a wide variety of aircraft, armor, ship and figure kits in some very welcome subject areas. Their 2000 release schedule promises even more variety and fills in even more subject voids.

Kendall Model Company (KMC), stopped production of their aftermarket products to focus on kits. Their first offering, a 1/72 Boeing 727-200, is now starting to ship. If all goes well in sales of the 727, KMC is planning a later-model 737 in 1/72, as well as offering the 727 and 737 in 1/144. Lets hope these 727s do well!

Polar Lights continues to dazzle us with new releases. They started out releasing cleaned up monster and science fiction kits formerly from Aurora. Then they started releasing kits that Aurora might have done, like the Jupiter II spacecraft and now Robby the Robot. Keep going PL!

Working some of the same turf as Polar Lights, Aurora is back! As I understand it, the son or grandson of the original Aurora owner has pulled together the resources to begin releasing figure kits as well. Their first offerings have been Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein. I recently saw some of these kits on a local Toys R Us shelf, so they are out.

On the other hand, folks like Mauve (makers of those great 1/48 P-40 kits), MP (makers of the detailed M4 Sherman variants), TAC Scale Dynamics (maker of the first (and only detailed) 1/32 MiG-15 kit and some outstanding detail sets), and others have gone. Ocidental, who suffered a setback with the odd-nose Spitfire IXe release, is still quiet after releasing the correct nosed Spitfire IX in the c-wing version. I'd hate to see these folks stop producing as well!

If we were to look into the aftermarket world, the KMC molds are in Squadron's capable hands and we should see re-releases of these great items under the True Details banner soon. TAC Scale Dynamics' molds ended up at CAM, but these have not been re-released yet. The once-prolific Superscale decal line has cut way back in production and with the termination of reprints of their earlier offerings. But this is being offset somewhat with the appearance of several smaller decal companies that are producing some outstanding products – names like Leading Edge, Albatros Modelworks, Aztec and FCM are stepping in to offer the variety and diversity that we are looking for in our projects.

2000 is going to be an interesting year to see how our hobby industry changes to meet the future.