2003Most Wanted Kit Survey

The 2003Most Wanted Kit Survey is now complete. Many thanks to everyonewho voted. After a slow start, we had a pretty good turn out witharound 110 people casting votes. That's not as many as I hadhoped for, but it's really not too bad, considering that manysmall scale builders refused to vote, out of protest that thissite doesn't include 1/76th scale. Ah, well. I guess you can'tplease everybody. Next year, I will try to advertise the surveyin more venues, such as other discussion boards and newsgroups.

Votingthis year was far less complex than the previous Want List, withonly three categories: Pre-World War II, World War II, andPost-World War II. However, there were still some hassles. Ididn't adequately describe my thoughts on how to differentiatebetween categories. For example, how do we categorize a vehiclethat saw action in both World War II and Korea? Or both World WarI and World War II? Or how about vehicles that were designed,developed and built in the 20's and 30's, yet saw action in WorldWar II? Consequently, we had votes for vehicles in the Pre-WorldWar II category that more appropriately belonged in the World WarII category, and vice-versa. I had to make decisions on how todeal with these votes, and in many cases, they weren't counted. Iapologise to those people who didn't get their votes in becauseof this confusion; the fault was entirely mine, and I promisethat next year's voting will be less troublesome. I will probablydo away with categories entirely, and simply have people vote fortheir single most wanted kit of any era.

I will nowlist the vehicles in the top five slots for each category.

Pre-World War II

1) Whippet .

The Whippet topped the other candidates in this category by a considerable margin, showing a clear desire of the modeling community. There is currently a Whippet available in resin from Retromodels, which received a good review on Peter Kempf's Landships website, but this model is hard to find in stock anywhere. According to Peter's lists, there is also a Whippet available in resin from JMGT, but I have never seen this kit advertised anywhere, so has it truly been released? I think this tank would have received even more votes, placing it further out in the lead, had many people not already been aware that Emhar has announced a forthcoming Whippet in plastic. I'm not sure on the anticipated release date, but if past experience is anything to go by, it may still be quite a while before we see it.

2) Mark V .

This tank is not yet available in this scale in any medium, and I am unaware of any company having announced its future release.

3), 4) and5) tie: Mark I , St. Chamond , and Vickers Medium Mk.IIA .

The Mark I is not available in this scale in any medium. The St. Chamond is available in resin from four manufacturers, several of which are really quite good (although difficult to find, and expensive). According the Peter Kempf, the kit by JMGT is the finest World War I tank kit in small scale available in any medium. High praise indeed. I am unaware of what a Vickers Medium Mk. II even is, so I am pretty sure that it also is not yet available in this scale (hence the votes, I guess :).

Othervehicles voted for in this category, though not in the top fiveinclude (in alphabetical order):

World War II

1) M26 (T26E3)Pershing .

Once again, the first place tank took this spot by more than twice the votes of the next in line. Perhaps this tank has such broad appeal since in addition to its role in World War II, it was the primary US tank in the Korean War as well. Nobody makes this tank in 1/72nd scale, in any medium, and unfortunately, I have heard no rumors that this is about to change in the near future.

2) Char B1bis .

In a distant second place, is this French heavy. As far as I know, nobody makes this in 1/72nd. I am surprised that neither Al.By nor NRC has released a version of it, since they both have released large numbers of French tanks.

3) M5 Stuart .

American light tanks have been suprisingly overlooked in this scale, much to my disappointment. We still have no accurate M3 Stuart (which scored farther down the list), and the M24 Chaffee from Hasegawa is in need of a modern replacement. Luckily, NRC has given us a fine resin kit of the M5A1, but nobody has yet produced the M5 . Since Mirage has announced several series of American tanks for future release, it would sure be great if they also decided to give us the M3/M5 series.

4) and 5)tie: M18Hellcat , M25 Dragon Wagon , and Sherman Firefly VC .

Although the M18 has been produced in resin by Rhino Models, I understand that it is a difficult kit to build, and is out of production regardless. Having a plastic kit of this common tank destroyer would be fantastic. Many modelers will be happy to know that Planet Models has announced the release of a resin Dragon Wagon for later this year, but it sure would be far out to see this vehicle made in plastic, wouldn't it? As for the Firefly , this is the only version of the Sherman to show up in the top five this year (although the next three candidates in line were all Sherman variants also). I think that many people didn't vote for the Sherman this year, since Mirage has announced their plans to release a series of plastic Shermans for 2003/2004. I have no idea if the Firefly will be included in their release plans. The Firefly VC has also been announced by MR Models in resin, but their new releases have unfortunately slowed down this past year. Luckily, they have already released an M4A4 Sherman, which can be used with one of several resin Firefly turrets on the market to make a VC, if one has enough money.

Othervehicles voted for in this category, though not in the top fiveinclude (in alphabetical order):

Post-World War II

1) Centurion .

Now here is one of the most influential tanks in history, and nobody makes one in 1/72nd. Why is that? Took first place by a large margin.

2) LAV-25 .

This vehicle started out fairly low on the list, but over the last few weeks, it quickly bypassed the earlier front-runners to take second place. For those who like resin, a very nice LAV is already available from ARMO. For those who don't like resin, your desires will be filled shortly by ACE, in limited-run plastic.

3) and 4)tie: ChallengerII and M47Patton .

Since the Challenger II is such a new tank, it's not surprising that we haven't seen it in plastic yet. And due to the recent war in Iraq, interest in this tank among modelers has risen greatly. CMSC has released two resin conversion sets for the Revell Challenger I kit, but I have heard nothing of any manufacturer planning to release a complete kit. I believe that the M47 Patton is not yet made by anyone in any medium.

5) tie: Strv103 S-Tank and T-72 .

One of the most unique designs in the world for a main battle tank, the S-tank has never been released in our scale. The T-72 was released in plastic several years ago by Galaxy, and I heard that it was a decent kit, though not great. I think that it went out of production the same year it went into production. Modelkrak made a resin and metal T-72M1 (and Twardy) several years ago, though I'm not sure how easy it still is to find it. ACE has announced the release of a limited-run plastic T-72 for the future, though with no estimated release date.

Othervehicles receiving votes in this category include (inalphabetical order):

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