Garry Beebe has just posted some REALLY interesting news - the release plans of Trumpeter.. The subject of his news story is the Warship releases that the company will be releasing in the coming months - something for all pockets (and available space..), the full story can be seen:

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Oh !!!!!!!!!!!! I am doing back flips here. I knew about the Saratoga / Lexington but FINALLY---The North Carolina !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is absoluely no doubt in my mind that Trumpeter is LISTENING. I have great hopes of seeing a Bama and even a cage mast BB from the 30's in my lifetime. Somone is going to do the Hood as well....I'll bet Tamiya is going to wake up here and issue a new 350 scale since they are the ones who started it way back when.

I let people know about North Carolina way back in May of this year...and I had to double-talk so as to not give away the secret. As for Tamiya...don't hold your breath, they're focusing on armor and RC cars, their big sellers at the moment...in my conversations with Mr. Tamiya in 2003, he indicated there were no intentions of releasing new ship kits in 1/350, which is why we've never seen a late war Fletcher, which would require ONE additional sprue to augment the existing kit.

As for Trumpeter, expect a Royal Navy battlecruiser, a famous USN heavy cruiser, and a Pearl Harbor Japanese carrier in 2005.

That's all I can tell ya...and yes, I do know what they are. A select group of ship modelers have been consulting Trumpeter both directly and indirectly for over a year, and they're not listening to us collectively. We've told them early on which kits would sell the best as initial releases. Yes, Essex was one of them. Lexington (announced) and North Carolina, and the Liberty Ship were on the list....but were pretty far down on the list...there are other subjects that we felt would sell better initially...some that wouldn't but would still be profitable. We even wanted them to correct the Hornet (like they did with the F4F) and release an Enterprise and Yorktown...but alas, there are no indications that this will happen. At any rate, we all submitted a list to our point of contact to Trumpeter. Most of us were in agreement on the subject matter...The short list I provided included...

USS Indianapolis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Sumner, Fletcher (late war square bridge), Casablanca, Yorktown/Enterprise, Pennsylvania, '41 West Virginia, '44 West Virginia, SoDak, and Independence Class CVL. It also included a FRAM Gearing, a Forrest Sherman, and a 27-Charlie (angled deck) Essex. We even talked about a Forrestal Class.

HMS Hood, Sheffield, Warspite, Ark Royal, Illustrious, Repulse/Renown.

DKM Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Prinz Eugen, Graf Spee, Hipper, Scheer

IJN Takao, Myoko, Akagi, Kaga, Shokaku/Zuikaku, Shoho, Hiei, Nagato, Kirishima

1/200 subjects included a Gato/Balao, revised Type VIIC/C-41, Type IXB/C/D, Fletcher, Sims, Porter, Sumner, Gearing, Fubuki, Hatsuharu and even an Atlanta Class CLAA.

In the end, they decide...and we're not sure what criteria they use to determine what the next release will be...it's obvious that they intend to get as many variations out of one kit as they can, case in point, the Essex Class...logically, for about $20 more retail, they could have included all the parts necessary to do any ship of the class from 1943-45 in one kit...but instead, we have 3 versions. Releasing 3 variations of the same kit back-to-back doesn't generate much excitement, especially when folks buy an early version to build a late-version, and vice versa, only to find out that if they'd waited 6 months, they could have had what they wanted initially. The thinking was that people would go out and buy all three versions of the ship...which we know (as modelers) is highly unlikely at $100 base price apiece. Folks are inclined to purchase that version which they favor the most, based on a favorite ship or time period, or even paint scheme.

Either way, it's nice to see new kits being released. Granted, we all want to see that one particular ship, the USS/HMS/IJN/DKM ________________, but let's face it, 2 years ago at this time all we had was the Tamiya stuff...and I don't know about you guys, but Essex, Hornet, and even the Liberty ship were all on my short list of kits I wanted in plastic. Are there others I want more? Absolutely...just about everything on the list I mentioned above I want more than an Essex and Liberty. But I'm not complaining...everytime a new kit is released by Trumpeter, and as long as we keep buying them, alot of our lists will get shorter. Eventually, when we're all old and gray and broke, with a houseful of ship kits, someone will be complaining that there's no model of a USN garbage scow in 1/350... :-)

Jeff Herne
(from the inside looking out)

Well Jeff,
let me see here hmmm. would that be the HMS Hood, USS Indianapolis, and the IJN Akagi ?

I agree with you on Tamiya, they have other interest, have had for a long time!
My money is on Trumpeter!

Cheers,

Garry

Did I say that???

Not I....nope

It could be...HMS Renown, USS Augusta, and IJN Shokaku...couldn't it??

Emoticons are cool when you're trying to talk in code...

Jeff

Dang, I'll take them to ! Am I greedy?
Actualy the Renown would be a delight!

Always eager,

Garry

Holy Cow!! How could I forget!!!

I've been pushing (REAL HARD) to get a New Orleans class CA...especially San Fran, in her '42 configuration...but I'd settle for a '44 version in Measure 32.

Jeff

Jeff you did us all a great service by just getting us the Hornet and Essex. Now the Nimitz and Liberty ship is with us and we're waiting on the Saratoga/Lexington and NC. So if they were just listening to you, you were listening to us. So finally a (wink wink) Hood and a US Cruiser and the (wink wink) Akagi. Life is grand, I hope they listen some more and do the '41 WVA

We'll see what happens...I'm getting conflicting reports about Akagi...so I could be wrong...

However...I'm told there's another plastic ship model company that's ramping up soon. This just means more goodies for the rest of us.

Nobody listens to me anyways...so... :-)

And by no means, think that I'm the only one responsible for this...I'm not. I'm just the most outspoken of the bunch...errr...obnoxious...errr...

Jeff

Give credit where credit is due, but credit isn't due here. Others have had far more input into these subjects. Also, some of the information given here is incorrect, since plans are for more "museum ships" rather than what has been expressed here. These kits have already been planned, drawn, and some production started. People with far more information are aware of what's actually being produced, and two of the three kits hinted at are no more than wishful thinking. The correctly stated kit has been in the process of being developed for nearly two years, and even though another was mentioned, the research provided was not accurate. Remember, the people in charge listen, but they're driven by sales potential, not statements prefaced by "I would like to see..."