[theodore]

I am curious as to why there is not a "miscellaneous" category for other diecast armor manufacturers. In 1/50th scale, you have the French company, Solido, who made the majority of their armor in the late 60's and throughout the 70's. No one could complain about the diecast content here since everything, except their machine guns, bogie wheels, and whip antennas, were made of metal!! They also made some armor that was unpopular/rare, similiar to IXO and HobbyMaster. In 1/48th scale, you have Tamiya Masterworks, which produces some outstanding detail on their armor line. The hulls of their tanks are diecast, but the turrets and guns are plastic. They also make 1/35th scale armor, but the prices are outrageous!!


In 1/30th scale, you have some resin/crushed stone companies such as King & Country, Honour Bound, and New Model Army (now out of business ) and 1/32nd scale companies such as Figarti and William Britains. K & C and Figarti have been releasing a number of new tanks and other armored vehicles and both companies produce armor that no other diecast company has ever made. You get tank crewmen with your tank and their figs, especially K & C, are unbelievable!!

[Epapazian]

With all of the problems that diecast warbird marketers are having getting their products produced, I think that more attention should be paid to the armor section of this forum. I have been buying tanks made by Figarti and King & Country and evaluating other interesting options that pop up from time to time in this area. Indeed, some of these unlisted companies are starting to turn out rather unusual warbird models in the higher price ranges as well. So I agree with you. Perhaps the listings and even some of the categories in the aircraft and armor sections need to be reviewed in the light of inputs that might be solicited from our membership.

[trex0770]

Originally Posted by theodore

I am curious as to why there is not a "miscellaneous" category for other diecast armor manufacturers. In 1/50th scale, you have the French company, Solido, who made the majority of their armor in the late 60's and throughout the 70's. No one could complain about the diecast content here since everything, except their machine guns, bogie wheels, and whip antennas, were made of metal!! They also made some armor that was unpopular/rare, similiar to IXO and HobbyMaster. In 1/48th scale, you have Tamiya Masterworks, which produces some outstanding detail on their armor line. The hulls of their tanks are diecast, but the turrets and guns are plastic. They also make 1/35th scale armor, but the prices are outrageous!!


In 1/30th scale, you have some resin/crushed stone companies such as King & Country, Honour Bound, and New Model Army (now out of business ) and 1/32nd scale companies such as Figarti and William Britains. K & C and Figarti have been releasing a number of new tanks and other armored vehicles and both companies produce armor that no other diecast company has ever made. You get tank crewmen with your tank and their figs, especially K & C, are unbelievable!!

Solido does make some hefty diecast tanks! The other 30 & 32 scale tanks are polystone, resin, etc., don't have the "playability"/moveable parts, etc as a diecast model. IMHO, that's probably why people on his board don't talk about or really collect them. I have a couple but personally prefer the relatively more durable diecast over the more fragile items you listed.

As for your title, "Nothing to do with FM tanks", I'm not too sure what you mean but I have the Franklin MInt Abrams and Sherman. Both are really nice pieces that are mostly made of diecast parts (hull, barrel) with a mix of plastic thrown in. I have my Abrams displayed with the "1/32" Collectors Showcase Modern U.S. Army figures (which btw, are really 1/24 scale, same as the FM armor). I personally like the Abrams better than the Sherman from FM and they also make a nice HUMMVEE too.

Anyway, just my $.02.

[theodore]

I was implying that I did not know where to start this thread so hence the reason for the above title. Franklin Mint has released the Sherman, Humvee, and Abrahms tanks and Admiral Toys has released the Panzer Mk III, Ausf H, L, and M and these are the only 3 that they have ever released. My point is this: why have a separate category for two companies (Franklin Mint and Admiral Toys) who have only released 3 armored vehicles each? Granted, Solido is no longer actively making armor, but they have over 30 different armored vehicles in many different schemes out there and Tamiya Masterworks just released a Russian KV-1 and a KV-2, in 1/48th scale!! They have over 20 different tanks and armored vehicles in this scale and about 10 to 12 tanks in 1/35th scale!! They are priced about the same as a Corgi tank, but they are much more detailed!! They made some rare vehicles such as a Hetzer, StuG III, Panzer Mk III, etc. They usually release 2 or 3 liveries of each tank.

As far as the assumption that the resin/crushed stone vehicles are fragile, my bathroom sink begs to differ with you!! My turret of my Japanese Type 97 tank from King & Country, when I was playing with it, fell about 2 feet and chipped a piece of porcelain (?) inside the sink from the impact!! There were no chips missing from this resin/crushed stone piece, no paint was chipped or smeared, and the only damage was the turret hatch came undone, which I promptly glued back on. These vehicles are much heavier than any diecast tank that I own and I guarantee you that I would have damaged a turret from a diecast tank (probably bent the main gun or put a dent in the turret somehow) had I dropped it the same distance. K & C and Figarti have much better detail on their current armor than their vehicles did in the past and who else makes better figs for tank crewmen?