[1250ships]

If you want a German Type VII submarine it ends up being about 35 inches long in 1/72 scale. That is three feet of submarine. The other main German sub the Type IX is almost 42 inches long in 1/72.

Frankly you are highly unlikely to see a 1/72 diecast sub. It would be too heavy and costly. Plus you can't sell enough ship models to pay back the cost of the moulds. Everyone that has tried to do a mass produced ship model lately has failed. That includes Dragon, the new Triang, and Gearbox. I think the last successful models were of Titianic back when the movie was out. There just are not enough people interested in ships to support diecast metal or plastic versions.

The 1/1250 scale producers are successful because they are using low production quantity techniques and the collectors are willing to pay the prices that requires.

If you must have an inexpensive submarine there are two 1/700 examples produced by the Easy Model people. One is a modern Japanese boat, the other a Russian Kilo class. I picked them up and will take some pictures at some point. Quite nice for under $10.

[MoMo]

Thanks 1250ships,

what you say about the likelyhood of a ship model appearing in 1.72 scale makes sense. How much shorter than 35 inches would a waterline model pan out to?

I have seen the Easy Model Kilo Class sub over here. It retails at about $11.00. Quite a neat little thing in its own collector display case.

I was thinking that if anyone ever did try to complement the fully built Dragon and proposed FOV landing craft in 1.72, they could try to produce a Tank Landing Craft ( the kind that carried about 6 tanks and a few jeeps, not the much bigger Tank Landing Ships ) in Plastic, and as a waterline model.

I feel that there is a market for this type of ship model. FOV seems the most likely Manufacturer to have a think about this one. Such a model would be popular with collectors as a way of displaying tanks and it would be popular with wargamers, as well as being a collectable in its own right.

MoMo