Unfortunately the bigest problem in biger scales is the cost, not only of molds,plastic but reasearch,options for other versions using the same molds with minor modifications to maximize the initial investment....AND....the size,shipping and readyness of the retailers to buy them and have them in stock...and after the disaster of the 1/72 scale Japanese submarine offering that had great expectations...but meet equaly big deception with scale modelers when it finaly arrived only proved that cutting corners in actual historical research of the real thing that will be made in to a scale model,detail and facts will no longer be seen with resignation and open wallets by the modeling community.
My local hobby shop...that no longer exist!!....had to order a minimum of two 1/72 type VIIC to cover the shipping charge as well as the quota by his distributor....I got one, the other sat at the shelf for about three months. When the "Atlantic Version" came out and must say the one I REALLY wanted...my hobby store could not special order just one for me from his distributor...minimum 3 this time around!!! Try to buy it myself at e-bay and hobby mail order companys....but again shipping charge was all of the time MORE that the cost of the model itself. The fact that the big chain stores/toy stores do not carry model kits anymore....or the full range for that matter makes things more dificult for us.
I really give Revell a BIG thank you for giving us the 1/72 scale u-boats, it's quite impresive model built out of the box....and truly museum pieces when aftermarket detail pieces are used, as demostrated by Rokket U-boat model tour of force detailing and rework, as well as other superb models displayed in this forum by fellow modelers.
