Avatar gunship

[zemjw]

just caught this in a blog post, and thought I'd share.

Fantastic Plastic are doing the gunship from Avatar in 1:72

Unfortunately, it'll likely be too small for 28mm, and at $75.00, it's not a risk I'll be taking

For you (rich) 15mm folk out there, however...

[commissarmoody]

Yeah, deffantly not at a 75 dollor price tag.

[Inso]

It looks a lovely kit but even though I'd love to own one, at $75-00 a pop, there is no way I'd get one...it's too rich for my blood.

[Commander Vyper]

Too much as echoed, I'll wait till the 15mm Halo falcons come out this year.

[Connectamabob]

You get what you pay for. When it comes to resin garage kits, there's a big gap between what display modelers expect and will pay for, and what gamers expect and will pay for. It's not made for the gamer market, so it doesn't have all the massive cut-corners needed to bring the cost down to what gamers will pay.

[AKULA]

Precisely.

Had the same thing with kits for my BSG project....except I succumbed

 

[Commander Vyper]

You get what you pay for. When it comes to resin garage kits, there's a big gap between what display modelers expect and will pay for, and what gamers expect and will pay for. It's not made for the gamer market, so it doesn't have all the massive cut-corners needed to bring the cost down to what gamers will pay.

I think everyone is aware of that to be honest....

[zemjw]

I was quite surprised with the choice of 1:72

Although I appreciate it's not targetted at gamers, if they had chosen a scale that fitted, there are people who would have bought one, despite the cost - a strategy that seems core to Forgeworld's business model 

Choosing a scale that doesn't quite fit the main figure scales seems to be a strange decision, unless they're not aware of/interested in anything outside the display model crowd

[Brummie]

If I ever have that amount of cash to spare then, why not?? But will be some time before that and i'll probably buy something else instead. Neat kit but...

[Michka]

Seems to me 1/72nd scale is the perfect size for Avatar. You can use 15mm figures for the human soldiers, and 28mm figures for the angry blue guys. 

[Connectamabob]

I think everyone is aware of that to be honest....

Not quite as assumable as one would think. I used to be really big into display modeling before I got into gaming stuff, and one thing I've seen again and again is how insular the gaming world can be. A lot of gamers unfortunately have a very skewed & limited perception of this sort of thing due to their only resin modelling experience being with gaming vehicles... which, to be blunt, even when good are usually rubbish when compared to the standards of the display model market.

Take Zemjw's's post immediately following yours, for example:

I was quite surprised with the choice of 1:72

Although I appreciate it's not targetted at gamers, if they had chosen a scale that fitted, there are people who would have bought one, despite the cost - a strategy that seems core to Forgeworld's business model  Roll Eyes

Choosing a scale that doesn't quite fit the main figure scales seems to be a strange decision, unless they're not aware of/interested in anything outside the display model crowd asa former member of the market this sort of model is aimed at, yes,

Thing you gotta realize is that the market for these is every bit as rabid in it's ways/desires as the gaming market, if not more so. The people they're selling to don't mind higher price tags because they're buying two or three unique models with the same given budget you're spending on entire armies. The quality that a high grade mastering and casting job brings is a priority, and the severe reduction in that quality necessary to make it economical to gamers would be anathema.

1/72 is the most popular scale for military aircraft, due to it being a good compromise between detail and shelf space for subjects of that size. Because of this, in the last ten years it's become the most popular scale for small sci-fi craft as well, and display modelers are even more nuts about scale than gamers. The people who this is made for already have shelves (or workbenches) full of 1/72 TIE-Fighters, BSG Vipers, NASA capsules, and WWII fighters, plus a horde of unbuilt plastic and resin kits every bit as intimidating as a gamer's lead pile.

While there is some crossover, a large portion of the two markets are still alien to one another, and it would be a mistake to assume the makers of this kit are shorting themselves by not trying to court the gamer market. They've got whole forums full of enthusiasts just like we do, some of which are actually so active they're almost more like chat rooms than forums. On the whole there's probably slightly fewer sci-fi display modelers than sci-fi gamers, but the people who get into that stuff get into it hard.

It's not really a smaller hobby/market, just a foreign one.

[Ray Rivers]

Not too interested in the drop ship to be quite honest.

But if someone would make the birds from the movie  ... I'd be right on top of that!

[Michka]

It's not really a smaller hobby/market, just a foreign one.

Well said, Connectamabob. I also think a nice 1/72nd scale model looks OK next to a the smaller 25mm miniatures. Your average Chronoscope mini will never look right next to a 1/72nd X-Wing but the older WEG Star Wars minis look fantastic next to them. I can see a group of Star Grunt troopers coming out of the back of that drop ship.