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Re: Pondering the 1/72 Scale Future...

I've been collecting for over 50 years now & I don't think the bigger sets will ever die. Zvezda has been tinkering with AOT for years now & they have their place as some wonderful specialty sets; mortars, MGs, some artillery, Medics, Observers, etc, but they will never replace the need for tons of infantry! Plus, there are still enough companies around that are doing some wonderful sets & others, once very low grade sets, are improving in quality. New companies are still never out of the question.

Re: Pondering the 1/72 Scale Future...

Hi all
Well, a few more thoughts, people of my generation I'm 67 now, were children of our time. I remember my mother talking (confusedly!) of wartime memories of the Blitz and much else. We had holidays climbing over old castles, which I didn't much care for, going to Biggin Hill Air Fair, which I did, growing up with war films and documentaries and reading books on military history, and comics - confession time - I still read some of the old shilling comics etc for light entertainment and amuse myself picking out the technical errors! I'm also one of the original Airfix Generation when we could buy them everywhere. I guess I haven't changed much!
As for history, well I don't want to get very political but I think Political correctness has much to answer for. I remember some years ago that new generations were living in the here and now and seeing history as irrelevant. I remember one of the first things about history I learned that was that those who forget the lessons of history repeat them which we see all around us today.
Again, left wing elements in the educational areas teach anti-violence, anti-Empire anti-slavery agendas etc, all of which puts off children and teenagers. It should be remembered that Empires and slavery were not exclusive to Great Britain, although watching the media many people could be forgiven that was the case! It is not widely known that Britain actually abolished slavery, but that doesn't suit certain political agendas! The point being that Empires and slavery have existed throughout history.
History has also been turned into Fantasy in many cases. Game of Thrones has "borrowed" many historical elements and just look at its success!
Stay safe folks!
Richard

Re: Pondering the 1/72 Scale Future...

Very interesting to see all of the stories, thanks for sharing! Hopefully it will provide some interesting reading for those of us awaiting the traditional Friday treat, thanks to Strelets for your time and efforts as always. :sunglasses:

I cannot claim to accurately speak for many of the youngsters (particularly the under 30s), because I belong to a small generation of kids that are heading into their late 30s/early 40s that are hybrids between the pre- and post-internet worlds. I like to refer to us as the "Windows 95" generation or "Guardians of the Internet Age," because we are the first group who were massively influenced by the internet from our upbringing. We are a hybrid of the old and new ways. My first ever set in plastic was the Marx 1/32 Japanese and Classic Toy Soldiers Chi-Ha tank to accompany them, which inspired my Dad to venture back into collecting some of the Airfix British Infantry & Afrika Korps recasts that were bouncing around starting in the late 1990s. I switched to the 1/72 scale a few years later. The very next year for Christmas I bought a PC game called Age of Empires, which entertained by talking about the ancient histories of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Yamato (Japan). As I child I would play a historical scenario as the Babylonians on the computer, then try to recreate a version of that same world with any available game board pieces or 1/72 figures in the area. There was never much available for the Babylonians of course, so I can honestly say quite a few pseudo-Napoleonic RISK pieces were surprised to end up in Nebuchadnezzar's armies!

My group has its favorite movies, although their support tends to be a little more niche than it used to be. Scenes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy have become an international method of communication at this point. Gettysburg was always the big ACW one. Many liked Brad Pitt's Troy, Clive Owen's King Arthur, Saving Private Ryan, and the 300 have followings as well despite their flaws. But personally I never found them as inspiring as an Age of Empires or AoE II storyline campaign, the latter of which is now done with fully voiced over introductions that tell they story via the voice of a person from the time. My current Medieval Strelets sets are dedicated to representing the likes of El Cid Campeador and Frederick Barbarossa, complete with King Henry betraying us repeatedly. Thinking about trying to assemble armies for Vlad III of Wallachia and his adversaries as well based off the Caesar/Lucky Toys sets.

So while I wait for my packet containing STRM141, I am also looking to buy the new Age of Empires II expansion that will add three new campaigns focused on Edward Longshanks, the Burgundians, and Medieval Sicilians. The methods of expression may have new forms, but our desire to be inspired by history has not. :sunglasses:

Re: Pondering the 1/72 Scale Future...

Yep at 37 im certainly in that category! Id say my generation certainly bridged a gap between the old and the new, thing is, we could embrace both. Thats whats changed.

My fav movies as a kid were ones that used come on tv on a rainy Sunday or bank holiday like Waterloo (which is probably the reason i got hooked on Napoleonics), 633 squadron, Battle of Britain & that golden oldie Dambusters! I was hooked on WW2 aircraft back then, still am really, and my ceiling was absolutely full of airfix 1/72 kits hanging off it!!

Then there was the 90s tv series sharpe which again probably influenced me into the Napoleonic period. Hornblower came much later but I also liked that.

Dont get me wrong, I like the hollywood blockbusters too, except 300 (not a fan of the style), but from an early age I could always see when it wasnt historically accurate, due to also enjoying reading history books.

That King Arthur film was an interesting take on the legend, and while there isnt much evidence, you could at least see where they were coming from and thus made some sense.

As for computer games, i quite liked the Combat flight simulator games for PC.
On playstation it was the usual WW2 stuff among other things but the D-Day based Brothers in Arms games "Road to Hill 30" and "Earned in Blood" were probably some of the best for me. No gung ho nonsense, you had think and plan the attack and stay safe while moving through the Normandy fields, bocage and urban areas.
No game can truely represent what it was like, but these were a bit more representative rather than a load of gung ho hollywood nonsense!

Re: Pondering the 1/72 Scale Future...

I've been in this hobby since 1965, when my parents bought me my first set of Airfix Union infantry in 1965. Collectively we've all come a long way since then.

I've noticed a growth in small groups (4-7) of plastic/resin figures that fill niche needs, such as those from Zvezda and Germania. An emerging production method that will likely increase the volume of these small units is 3D printing. A search of Shapeways.com will reflect a growing number of 1/72 scale armor and artillery pieces not previously available in this scale, along with sets of WW2 to modern soldiers and navy crews. While the figure sets, very specialized, are reasonable in price, the armor units and artillery pieces can be expensive. In time, this may change depending on advances in 3D production technology.

This trend takes away from the larger (40-52) sets that have sustained this hobby for many years. IMHO, these sets are still needed. Strelet's production (and to a more limited extent HaT) have had a beneficial impact on our plastic 'armies'. I suspect that the price of casting materials (soft/hard plastic, resin) will also determine future productions. That said, all of these approaches are needed for our hobby, but I suspect that the future will be more grounded in smaller "Art of Tactic" sized sets. But seriously, Zvezda...2 Soviet cavalrymen for the same price as an artillery piece with 2-3 crew??? Revell's Soviet Cossacks, along with Strelet's various Russian/RKKA cavalry sets are a far better buy!

Just my 2 cents...

Re: Pondering the 1/72 Scale Future...

"Great poses - stick one in a firing line and it comes to life. But how many guys like that do you need?"

Exactly! That has been the traditional bugbear of the big box plastic figure sets: case in point being the superbly realized bare headed figure in the new Boer War Highlanders set. This little guy us a work of art and worth the price of admission on his own, but I bought two boxes to complete my highland brigade, and there is just no way I am going to field eight hatless figures in the battle line! One man may lose his helmet, but an entire company?!?
So I set too this week and fashioned Glengarry caps for them out of green stuff putty, and made two companies of 1914 Highlanders - photos on the way as a contribution to Strelets as I type this....

As someone said already Airfix were notorious for a lack of heavy weapons (or the correct ones)in their sets, and this was where the small Art of Tactic sets filled a niche well: it's nice to b able to pick up an HQ group, engineer section or single gun without having 25-30 'useless' figures wielding SMG's (Thompson's Curse)or throwing grenades left over!

Re: Pondering the 1/72 Scale Future...

I completely agree that companies (especially non-Strelets ones, as I feel they do a pretty nice job of this for the most part) need to be really careful about which poses they select, as simply scaling stuff from 28mm or 54mm does not always work properly. I referred to what you mentioned as "diorama" poses. They are great for one to two figures, but do I really need a whole box with 4-8 copies or more especially if I need multiples of the same box? It can quickly ruin entire sets.