As someone who is a primary collector of car models and can get fairly decent ones from the likes of Maisto and Bburago for 15 USD, it is heard to understand why 1/50 model makers do not have a budget line to attract new collectors to the fold. I used to consider Norscot as Maisto, WSI as Autoart and Drake probably as the CMC of the 1:50 arena.

Why cannot the likes of WSI have some plain, unliveried trucks? They might be a market for them with customers like me. They can definitely cut costs without the need for exquisite tampo printing, licensing and other added costs just some nice metallic colors maybe. I have a Mammoet Actros 8x8 but I wouldnt mind a plain Jane version at all. They made the military version but finding one for a acceptable price even when new was impossible.

I can understand that the costs to make the intricate parts on 1/50 models and the time to assemble them would be more than larger models but I wish to see something in the 40-50 USD range where I can just go and buy a metallic blue Scania 6 x 4 without having to worry breaking the bank.

And while I am on a rant, this forum deserves a big makeover too! My address bar doesn't read as DHS but as 208.106.248.173blahblahblah. Not to mention that it isn't https either. I doubt anyone can find the forum anymore if they google it. The search says page doesn't exist. Even the old bookmarks of some individual threads like Paul R's and Lorramine are dead. I agree there will be costs involved but newer influx of members could help to cover costs if they become customers of the parent site of the forum. Maybe adverts would help the cause too.

This forum is a treasure trove of information for English speaking collectors and it shouldnt go to waste in the face of useless competition like facebook which definitely offers a easy to use platform. But there you just shoot and run with no follow up or information exchange. Hopefully a revamp of this forum will help to bring back former members too and make it as exciting as when I first joined it