Metal Troops - Horch 4x4

I also received this Horch 4 x 4 the other day from Metal Troops. You know soft skins are hard to find items so this is a good addition to my collection. The kit overall looks very nice. The painting is pretty good as you can see from the picture. One problem again with this kit is the wind-shield, same as the Steyr, it's a block of resin. If you really want to make it nicer, you need to cut it open and replace it with a piece of clear plastic sheet. It's not a difficult job but difficult enought for me (not taking a risk to break this $25 kit) so I won't do it. If you are mostly a collector like me, it's a big drawback. If you're a modeller, you should get it as the above mod is quite simple.

The kit also comes with 2 sitting figures as a bonus. I assume one is a driver and one is an officer sitting at the back. However, even I broke the driving wheel, I couldn't place it in the driver's seat. And that's why you see them both sit at the back as shown in my picture.

In summary, if you are a collector like me, you should get a hold of one. (More than one is too expensive to me as cost + S&H is over $25). I still think Pro-hobby has a more reasonable price (see those armor cars in my previous post).

Pro-Hobby - Daimler Mk III and Humber Mk II

How are you guys doing? Did you have a nice Thanksgiving holiday?

I had taken pictures of these 2 UK Armor Cars before I went on my vacation but Blogger just screwed up so I couldn't loaded any pictures. Anyway, back to these kits, they are from Pro-hobby. Made of metal. If I recall correctly, the price is around 1000 yen each. I regret I only bought 1 each as the price point is ok for a pre-painted die cast tank and I like them very much after I receive the real thing. The detail is fine to me and each also comes with a figure. You can also post them as the turrent hatch opened or closed. I highly recommended them if you want any armor cars or UK armors. If you prefer to wait for Takara or Dragon to come out something like these, you may have to wait for another 20 years (if you're lucky).

Second, I took these pictures using my new camera. It's a Nikon S9 (for my wife) as my old Sony Cybershot is huge. I still haven't figured out what is the best setting yet so I think these pictures do not show what the camera can really do. Any comments?

Project 144 - another link

Thanks makino san to provide this link.

Project 144 - More pictures

More pictures from Project 144 can be found from this forum. I like this Centurion.

Project 144

Oh. I just found out Fumi's blog has some pictures from Project 144. Some interesting dioramas. Not much new items so far. You can also click here or here to access the pictures. I think more pictures will be posted from other Japan sites in the next few days. Cheers.

Blogger screwed up again

I tried to upload something but it seems Blogger screwed up again as I can't upload anything using IE or Firefox. Anyway, will try again when I'm back from my vacation later this week. Happy Thanksgiving!

Panzer Korps - StuG III & StuG IV

Probably not a surprise to you. Dragon US has just published the Panzer Korp StuG III and StuG IV. Release date : January 2007. It seems the only tank missing from the Cando lineup is the StuG III A in box 14044. Any one like me waiting for a StuG III A to complete the Wittmann collection, don't miss the chance. Click here for Dragon's site and the original Cando page.

BergPanther

This mouthwatering resin BergPanther looks very nice. Check el_basser's site or sculptor's site for more pictures.

1/144 Pegasus Figures - cont'd

After years of waiting, Pegasus finally has released these 1/144 figures. We have many tanks, planes from different companies but there are not that many companies produce real 1/144 figures.

The first time I saw these was from the Pegasus web and later there were some pictures with some unpainted figures on the sprue. May be they found it hard to price a couple un-painted 1/144 figures so they decided to sell them pre-painted now. I probably will re-paint some of them so either way does not impact me (except my wallet).

I think you may agree it looks a bit bored if there is no figure in any diorama. They may not be good for wargaming but I think they are a welcome addition for collectors. I know Preiser also has some German Panzer crews but they are hard to find anyway.

There are 5 sets in this first releases - Modern US - desert and NATO uniform, WWII German (early), WWII Americans & WWII Russians. I think the figures are very well sculpted. The painting is ok but I think the WWII German set and Russian set used some glossy paint so they look too glossy to me. May be they will look better if you re-paint them.

My first impression of these figures is they are a bit smaller than others. But if you look at the picture at the bottom, you can find they are not really that small.

I wish these sets sell well so Pegasus will keep producing more figures such as late WWII German or some other figures not in action. Anyway, check here for more details.

The long waited item - Pegasus 1/144 Figures

I have received the 1/144 figures from Pegagus and I'm editing the pictures. Here are the first couples. The first impression is pretty good and they look a bit on the small side (scalewise). More details tomorrow.

Takara - Famous Airplanes of the World - Special

If you like the "Famous Plane of the World" Series from Takara, the item in the above picture may interest you. It was a special in the past and it seems it is going to be a public sale this month in November. Yen 1500 each bundled with one of the plane below. Here is the original link.