I don't think anyone who makes model ships(and accessories)will ever get rich from their enterprise. If they make enough to clear their expenses and manage to please their customers that's about all they can expect by way of 'reward' for their efforts.
Charles Shave once mentioned to me that he wasn't running Tri-ang to make himself a millionaire and it is such a shame that he was stricken with ill health and his last batch of castings were ruined by poor metal.I think Tri-angs were the last hope the hobby had for encouraging younger collectors. It is also a shame that they never took off in the US.
The present collectors are over-whelmingly in the 'older' age bracket and when they pass there's more than a fiar chance the hobby will go with them.
I think recent 'initiatives' to generate a collecting base by Atlas/Del Prado were not well conceived. The collecting market in mini ships is for waterline models not full hull models. I feel they would have done much better with waterline ones than they did with the full hulls.
As for the Corgi QE - I think one of the senior people from Atlas has joined Corgi and influenced the choice of model configuration. I was one of a number of enthusiasts who almost pleaded with seniors in Corgi to make a waterline model in 1/1200, or failing that, a model with a plastic lower hull that could be removed to enable kids to play with the ship alongside Tri-ang models. This would also have made the model cheaper than it's going to be as the amount of metal involved is considerable.
I cannot see who their market is going to be for the Corgi QE. Waterline mini ship collectors already have 2 established choices for the QE and there are another 2 for certain due soon - a printed one and a metal one (which is also 1/1200 scale.) No parent on a day to Portsmouth is likley to fork out £60 for a Corgi QE that their child cannot play with. If there are 2 or more kids in the family - where does the costs end?
Scratch builders will never be able to charge a 'going rate' for their efforts as the finished model would be tooe xpensive for any collector.
