Any fan of the Pz IV should see this...

[tomhugill]

Oh, my. Beautiful.

Yes, absolutely. As far as I'm able to tell, however, the British company that produced the Pz IV kit went out of business around 2010. I sure hope the same fate doesn't await Armortek. Even they are bought out last year, I believe, and that could be the start of the slippery slope...

I see the world of tanking sinking in an spiral, I see a lot of things disappearing and no one new (except the open panzer) coming.
In a quick rush, now I can remember:
The guy from An Bri, why I hope is happy wherever he is.
Wecohe out of business.
Schumo I think is out of business too, but I might be wrong.
Impact closed some days ago.
This brand of 1/6 tanks out of business.
21st century toys out of business for years, and now we suffer a big lack of figures.
Forces of valour out of business too.
Tamiya spares day by day harder to find, and rumours says tamiya does not want to sell spare parts anymore.
Heng Long engineers left the company so thats why we dont have news from them and hence the WPL truck.
And there are more that I dont remember right now...

Hard times for the hobby I guess...

Astonishing Panzer IV by the way.

We have a greater range of models parts and electronics than we've ever had. Tamiya have been cranking out new models more regularly than they have since the mid 2000s, we have new releases from taigen fairly regularly, you have the likes of okmo releasing unusual models, hooben love them or hate them have added the tiger p and maus this last year and I'm sure we will see more, Ludwig adding all the time to his huge catalogue, more electric chooses than ever before, more off the peg recoil and elevation options.

Cottage manufacturers don't usually last forever but schumo are 100% still in business (they're owned by axels modellbau), juckenberg kits are slowly comming back through mk modellbau (who has released many new parts to the market), rctank.de seem to have new parts in every month (including wecohe), sure you can't get theyre original panther or jagdtiger but those models are avalible else where. Shapeways has so many awesome parts these days if you can be bothered to look, etc etc etc etc.

Sure some manufacturers have gone, impact will be missed but there are alternatives to all their products aside from the rubber pad t84 tracks (so stock up now if you want them!), Blitzkrieg models have been gone nearly a decade bit you still have armourtek, mark 1, field of armour etc etc now companies like warslug comming in at the really high value end.

In short as a certain UK priminister once said, "you've never had is so good".

[43rdRecceReg]

Thanks, Tom! It's interesting to read two entirely different perspectives on the same topic. I don't usually subscribe to that old 'glass half full' idiom. In fact, I usually say that my glass lies broken on the floor But you take the optimistic bit of the contents, and Rad the half empty side. I guess there's some truth in his assertions, and a fair measure in yours too. Again, it comes down to whether the resources in the hobby are sufficient to meet
your needs and interests. If they are, then the glass is full Just don't drink from it too often! That's the addictive problem lurking in the background here..
Personally, I'm still fairly new to the RC modelling world and only wish for two things to change significantly. One is for a well stocked supplier of Tamiya bits in the UK, and the other is for Tamiya to halve their prices.

[Rad_Schuhart]

Well, Tom is right but to a certain point. Yes, I forgot about ludgwig and his non stop collection, and some new releases from the old brands, but what I mean is, there are less companies doing stuff for us. Yeah, some old companies delevop new tanks from time to time, but I think we used to have more brands doing diferent stuff than now. Cant count shapeways, because is different way of business... But maybe thats the future, or even better, in a few years we might be able to have 3D printers with the same quality as shapeways giving us an unlimited source of free parts.

Regarding impact alternatives, do you know who makes late Tamiya King Tiger tracks? As far as I know, Kenny Kong used to have them (but it seems he does not produce anything else for years) and also I have heard about the "matorro" tracks. Not mato, not Torro, but "matorro" that cannot be found anywhere... Heng Long/Taigen are not compatible and I thing mato-torro neither...

And I dont take the half empty glass, I take the "The water is exactly in the middle point of the glass" lol.

[tomhugill]

Well, Tom is right but to a certain point. Yes, I forgot about ludgwig and his non stop collection, and some new releases from the old brands, but what I mean is, there are less companies doing stuff for us. Yeah, some old companies delevop new tanks from time to time, but I think we used to have more brands doing diferent stuff than now. Cant count shapeways, because is different way of business... But maybe thats the future, or even better, in a few years we might be able to have 3D printers with the same quality as shapeways giving us an unlimited source of free parts.

Regarding impact alternatives, do you know who makes late Tamiya King Tiger tracks? As far as I know, Kenny Kong used to have them (but it seems he does not produce anything else for years) and also I have heard about the "matorro" tracks. Not mato, not Torro, but "matorro" that cannot be found anywhere... Heng Long/Taigen are not compatible and I thing mato-torro neither...

And I dont take the half empty glass, I take the "The water is exactly in the middle point of the glass" lol.

Kenny's still in business and asiatam make late king tiger tracks, they're not always on the website but they do appear from time to time. Mattoro made the Sturm tiger, original none tamiya king tiger and highly inaccurate jagdtiger. The upgrade would have been for these.

We have more manufacturers making RTR tanks than we used to and a greater range too, we have more small companies than we used to. Just because you don't know about them doesn't mean they don't exist.

Discounting shapeways just because it's a different model strikes me as very odd. There's so much good stuff on there for us 1/16 modeller, stuff that doesn't exist else where.

Looking at it logically we've lost a really high end low volume manufacturer very few used (wecohe), same with impact (seriously how many models do you see with impact tracks and gears?), but gained immeasurably in other areas.

For me were in a golden age of RC tanks, Facebook makes it easier to share builds, some forums are flagging but RCTW is busier than it ever was imo and as a customer I can build pretty much anything I want.

One further point I haven't mentioned is home 3d printing, now if.you want something with suitable investment in time to learn the cad and 3d printing itself you can build anything, just look at what the likes of wibbly, woz and Alwyn (to name but afew) have achieved. This just wasn't possible going 3,4,5 years back.

[Rad_Schuhart]

Hi Tom, I was discounting shapeways because is a new kind of business, I mean, it is different way of doing business. Other companies design their stuff and sell it. Shapeways as far as I know everyone designs what they want, upload to the web, and shapeways prints them. And all the models are able to be bought by everyone. Doesnt it? Like I said, a new concept of business... That I see ending very soon, as soon as we have quality and affordable 3D printers at home

I did not know Kenny Kong was still in business but everytime I checked this web almost everything was out of stock http://www.jagdpanzer.net/shop/start.ht ... e_1_16.htm
I noticed they advertise the king tiger tracks as tamiya and matorro compatible. Do you know where can I buy one of those matorro tracks? I guess they will be cheaper than kenny kong stuff. Also If somebody can confirm if the Mato tracks fit or not to the tamaiya sprochets would be great https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mato-1- ... autifyAB=0

But yeah, I already knew all of those brands you mentioned thanks to God I have plenty of time to spend researching for the hobby when at the job, lol, but still I am not as positive as you are.

[tomhugill]

That's not Kenny's site, think they're a reseller in germany. Here's Kenny's site. http://www.kennysmodeltank.com/about_us.html

I think it'll be a while before the sort of industrial print quality that shapeways gives will be avalible to us at home, but it would be amazing if it was! I think when that happens people will sell the STL files and you'll print them your self. I have a thought in the back of my mind that mato metal tracks don't fit tamiya but don't know if that applies to matorro.

[Soeren]

Only a very small addition. But nonetheless, voyager now offers 4 Panther sets at half the price of aber. And some Tiger kits for some time already. I can't compare the Tiger sideskirts to aber, but these seem to work well enough. I will also try the new Panther grills set.

[43rdRecceReg]

That's not Kenny's site, think they're a reseller in germany. Here's Kenny's site. http://www.kennysmodeltank.com/about_us.html

I think it'll be a while before the sort of industrial print quality that shapeways gives will be avalible to us at home, but it would be amazing if it was! I think when that happens people will sell the STL files and you'll print them your self. I have a thought in the back of my mind that mato metal tracks don't fit tamiya but don't know if that applies to matorro.

I see that Kenny's make the Challenger 2 and Chieftain in 1:8. Now that's to be applauded.

[43rdRecceReg]

I was looking for more footage and pics of Armortek's Panzer IV, but my chance, I came across this Armortek Comet ..yes..Comet on the Armortek assault course. . I would be a case of bankrupt at first sight if they were still making this beauty It's just such a pity that they picked someone with the jitters to film it
The comet is (almost) my new love... the perfect boy's toy...

phpBB [video]

[Estnische]

Oh, my. Beautiful.

His Stug looks like it will be equally impressive, but there have been no progress updates since 2013.

A shame, as I'd like to see what he corrects on it.