[Cardinal]

I'm seriously considering giving up collecting 1/72 WWII armour entirely (particularly Dragon) in favour of Corgi 1/50 and the new HM 1/48 range . Although I've always enjoyed collecting Dragon Armor they just don't have the same impact as their Corgi 1/50 counterparts which have both 'heft' and 'quality'.

As much as I hate to admit it, the lack of metal in Dragon products has finally got to me and their products are reminding me more and more of fragile mass market toys ...

Heresy I know, but has anyone else reached this point in their collecting of the Dragon 'plastic-diecast' range?

(By the way, the straw that broke the camel's back was when I picked up my T34/84 by the turret, gently I may add, and the hand-rails promptly snapped off - to add insult to injury I then noticed that the barrel was curved like a banana when viewed from the top and required partial straightening with the aid of boiling water to soften the wonderful plastic .)

[Legio LXXII]

Why not just collect the tanks you like regardless of the scale?

[Cardinal]

Originally Posted by Legio LXXII

Why not just collect the tanks you like regardless of the scale?

Chaos ... losing the scale plot ... confused ... you choose

(When comparing my Corgi 1/50s with the WWII Dragon 1/72s I feel like standing on the Dragons just to hear the plastic crunch ... okay, that's a bit extreme but I'm not in a good mood at the moment.)

[Black 6]

I somewhat agree with you Cardinal. I started collecting armor with the 1:72 Dragons. But when I snagged my first 1:50 Corgi at Tuesday Morning I really haven't bought anything else. I do feel I am getting my money's worth when I buy one of them (especially since I have been able to snag them at $20 or less on occasion).

Now I am looking forward to seeing what HM will do with their take on 1:72 armor. The first pieces look great and I hope to read some good reviews.

[Aircrafty]

Cardo, I broke one of those hand grips off my T34/85.

Btw, I'd save the T34/84 of yours as I suspect they may be rare

I went thru a scale crisis myself but I did the opposite. I have about 20 1/48 FM aicraft and 50 or so Corgi and Solido tanks, all WWII based. But found the aircraft models way to large when put near the tanks.

And to solve this problem last year I started to collect the 1/72 scale Dragons and have about 30 of the little buggers, they breed like rabbits as you know. These fit in very well with my mainly Corgi 1/72 aircraft collection and I believe I made the right descission as 1/72 are a consistent size, have better detail than most Corgi 1/50 tanks and take up less room. That said I haven't been able to bring myself to sell off many of the 1/50 scale tanks or the 1/48 aircraft. So now I am drowning in models. I also collect 1/32 tanks, helppppp.

Looking at the future I feel 1/72 will become THE scale to collect. There are heaps of manufacturers now making diecast models in that scale and they bring out new molds all the time, the Dragon Wagon from FOV for example. Whereas there are few decent models in 1/50 scale apart from the nice Corgi stuff. Of course there is Tank Museum and Gas-O-Line but they are based on Solido tanks and expensive as well.

Btw, does anybody know if Solido are still making their tanks etc.

[FormerViperDriver]

Originally Posted by Aircrafty

Btw, does anybody know if Solido are still making their tanks etc.

Yes they do. A lot of my armor is solido or derivatives (Verem, Tank Museum, and other mods of Solidos). See picture. The basic Solidos are a bit crude in detail/finish (although they do have heft), but the modified/enhanced models are quite nice in general. The only caveat is that you don't mind the tracks, which are metal and functional, but are not very accurate representations of the real thing.

I have been collecting 1/50 armor for a long time now. The appearance of the Corgi line has encouraged me in that direction (plus they have the 1/50 figures as well now, also in picture). But I must say I've been tempted by 1/72 because of the greater choice of models (and it's getting even better). Don't know how long I'll be able to resist. I definitely will get HM 1/48 stuff, though.

FVD

[Cardinal]

Originally Posted by Aircrafty

I went thru a scale crisis myself but I did the opposite.

I like that "a scale crisis" - I'm having a scale crisis right now ...

[Aircrafty]

FVD, nice collection you have there. It must be more than 25 years ago that I first started collecting Solido tanks and military vehicles so I may even have some that you don't. If you are chasing any just pm me as I've decided to sell most of them. I also have five Polistil tanks but I think I have a buyer for all of them, I never could get the M-60.

Btw, I bought a HB King Tiger a few months ago and I think it's closer to 1/50 scale.

[FormerViperDriver]

Originally Posted by Aircrafty

FVD, nice collection you have there. It must be more than 25 years ago that I first started collecting Solido tanks and military vehicles so I may even have some that you don't. If you are chasing any just pm me as I've decided to sell most of them. I also have five Polistil tanks but I think I have a buyer for all of them, I never could get the M-60.

Btw, I bought a HB King Tiger a few months ago and I think it's closer to 1/50 scale.

Aircrafty,

This is only part of my collection. But it may be that you have stuff I woudn't mind having. I do have the opportunity to go to France often, and those are relatively easy to find there in specialized stores (or sometimes in regular toy stores).

On the King Tiger, are you talking about Hobby Master, or is there another 1/48 model out there I don't know about? I wouldn't mind if it's closer to 1/50, for obvious reasons, but 1/48 is fine too (I collect 1/48 aircraft as a priority, particularly for WWII and WWI subjects). The one I'm drooling over in anticipation, though, is the upcoming JS-2. Pre-production pictures look great.

FVD

[SkyBuffalo]

I started collecting some of the Dragon tanks last Christmas to have something for my 'tank buster' WWII planes to shoot at, then ended up getting a number of other Dragon tanks plus a few more in 1/72 from other companies.

I looked at the Corgi tank stuff, and I was sorely tempted. The selection is vast - more than the 1/72 range, I'm sure. Plus all the figures and extras in the same 1/50 scale. But every gal-darn Corgi tank is about twice the price (or more) of any Dragon, FOV, etc. 1/72 tank. Ouch. I can't afford it, especially since my tanks are just a sideline to the WW2 planes, which is my main interest. I haven't seen a Corgi tank in person, but from picture comparison, I still seem to think the Dragons have better detail. I don't mind what they're made of, since I'm not using them as a paperweight.

So, If you can afford to cough up $40+ bucks for every Corgi tank, more power to ya. There's more of 'em to buy. But as has been observed already in this thread, the selection of 1/72 tanks is steadily increasing, coming from Dragon, FOV, HobbyMaster and others. At half the price.

So, I'm sticking with the 1/72 Dragons and etc., hoping they will catch up with the selection that Corgi has.