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No, plastic hasn't changed at all in 34 years. It is just as variable now as it was then. Which is to say "extremely variable".
The polystyrene used to make model kits is not a specific thing. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of polystrene recipes, many, many of which are useable for kits and many of which have been used over the years even by a single kit producer.
Some of the older producers have favourite blends that they have liked over the years, but even these things drift all the time as individual modifiers & additives change their formulas or become cheaper or more expensive. Newer manufacturers are in the process of discovering what blends they like and maybe don't even specifiy a blend if they are not doing the moulding themselves.
The short answer is, therefore, not to be surprised if plastic has a different consitency over 34 years, but rather to be amazed that it is ever similar between any two kits, even of the same subject from the same manufacturer.
Paul
Pure Polystyrene is one of the base plastics and should be the same today, as it was 35 years ago. But I dont think any company uses pure PS. They add small amounts of rubber, synthetic rubbers or an.other to the mixes for many reasons .... because of economics as Paul suggested but also to improve the injection moulding process and final quality. It is not only the advances in machinery that has allowed these companies to mould thinner parts today, but also the changes to the blend and/or additives to the base PS.
Plastic is a relativly new product ... but advances are amazing over those last 30 years ... with whats available and becoming available .....1000s of variations is no under-statement.
Dragon are the only ones who have hinted at this ...with their "DS" parts, but even this has changed since its initial launch. Ordinary cement didnīt work with the first figures released in their Sd.Kfz 251 kits, but it works today. Its still called DS, but has definitly changed in its make up. The quantity of rubber/synthetic rubber in the intitial mix was too high, so they have probably reduced this and now it works.
