This 1/6 scale 7.5cm PaK 97/38 was announced by Dragon a couple of weeks ago and I ignored it at the time as it wasn’t 1/35 scale. But over the past few days I’ve been thinking about it as I look around at what you can get in 1/6 scale. I was actually surprised, there’s a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nowhere near the choices in 1/35 and it’s definitely not for those with limited means as the bigger kits run well into the thousands of dollars. But you can get full metal Tigers, Panthers, Sd.Kfz.7s, even an 8.8cm FlaK 37.
But it’s really the moves by Dragon that interest me, particularly with the recently announced Pz.Kpfw.II. I gather there was also an Sd.Kfz.250 announced that never appeared and many years ago there was even a DML 1/6 scale Tiger I that is now bloody hard to find. But when you look at what DML offer in a price range that is sub-$500 ( and often sub $200 ) there’s a 2cm FlaK 38, a 2cm Flakveirling 38, a Kubelwagen, a couple of Jeeps, a Kettenkraftrad, Schwimmwagen, M3 37mm AT Gun, Pak 36 and I’ve probably missed one or two. Not to mention a whole raft of figures and weapons etc. Oh, and the new one up there ^ of course.
Most of these bigger ones are also newer ones too, kits that have come out in the past year or so. So you have to wonder, if they are keeping on with putting out the bigger ones does that mean there is a market out there that will support them doing some even bigger ones and creating a whole new market for 1/6 scale injection moulded kits. Because if they do others will surely follow.
Now I know the big issue right off the bat is cost and where the heck do you put a diorama of a 1/6 scale Tiger plowing through a building to surprise a 1/6 scale Sherman, but those issues aside there would be a whole new world of modelling possibilities. I mean just how long would it take you to super detail a 1/6 scale Pz.Kpfw.IV ? Would there be 1/6 scale Friuls ? Would the MG34 be the bees knees out of the box or would you need to buy a $99 uber precision Aber one with working bolt and ejecting rounds ?
But I think that I can safely say that with my aging eyesight and my stubby fingers finding 1/35 more and more of a challenge at least I know that when I finally can’t do it anymore there may be something to move onto that they can cope a little more easily with.
Happy New Year
Have to agree with Masoe. The 1/6 models I’ve seen built up look positively toy-like (same with 1/16th as well). A 1/16 kit up to the detail standards of a current state of the art 1/35 kit would probably be well beyond the budget of most modellers – and indded at 1/6 the model would need to be more detailed.
I could be wrong – look at the 1/32 bombers coming out!
Regards
Yeah I looked at a 1/6 Kubel in Hobbycity and was disappointed with how little detail it had. But that said I could see as a limited level of interest it would be kind of fun to spend a year super detailing one to display as a vehicle alone ( no diorama ). A Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H even more so.
Aside from the cost and the size (both of which I find prohibitive) – I think that smaller scales have a certain charm. 1/35 and 1/48 manage this quite well, there’s a lot more detail than 1/72, but still the “magic” of miniaturisation.
I always think of 1/6 as an “action figure” scale, or something more suited for museums rather than as a hobby.
I think toylike definitely applies to the figures, no matter what people do to them they always look like dolls. I think it’s the way they never get that correct “at rest” look and the clothes are all thick and heavy. But yeah I know what you mean, a 1/35 scale diorama seems much more like what I want to display than something the size of my office.