With diecast manufacturers stymied by global economic events, its becoming increasingly clear that successful manufacturers are going to have to think ‘outside-of-the-box’ if they want to remain a step ahead of the competition. Producing the same old, same old at ever higher prices in liveries few diehard collectors care about doesn’t provide a road map to success going forward, and, if anything, cripples ingenuity and imagination while adding barriers to the entry of new blood into the hobby. Success is going to require the usual suspects to take chances here on out, by replicating weapons systems that haven’t been addressed and doing so in a timely manner.

So what aircraft types are we referring to? How about a Bear, Badger or Bison Soviet Cold War-era bomber for starters, or any of the myriad of Japanese twin-engined bombers that took to the skies during WWII. Likewise, there’s loads of Russian, British, and French bombers that have been languishing in diecast heaven for far too long, all just waiting to be replicated for the diecast collector.

On the ground, we could point to at least twelve different tanks that wargamers would love to wrap their mitts around, such as an Italian Semovente, British Conqueror, Israeli Shot Meteor and Merkava. Artillery pieces have largely been ignored by most manufacturers, leaving the door wide open for a savvy, well financed model maker to set the world afire. C’mon guys, its time to put the “pedal-to-the-metal’ and get moving once again before the average collector moseys on to greener pastures.