Tomytec Trucks

I really like these small trucks from Tomytec. The only problem is my son likes them too I need to put them where my son can't reach.

There are couple variations of truck in this series. More later.

Work in Progress - M1A2 and M109A6

Sorry for no updates in the past few days as again I need to work for money. Not much news lately so may be I just show you something on my work bench - A M1A2 and a M109A6 of Panzer Korps.

In order to make it not the same as a regular Cando tank, I try to make some modifications. So far, I have just make some accessories on both tanks. I also tried to find some pictures of M1A2 in OIF but I couldn't. It seems the only division in OIF has M1A2 is the 4th Infantry Division but not many pcitures are showing a M1A2 in action in Iraq. Does anyone know any link?

Tomytec Machinami Collection 5

I like this series as the size of the building is big so you can use them not just with your 1/144 kits, but also with the 1/144 Gundam figures. As you can see from the picture on the left, they are very useful if you want to build a Gundam diorama. More pictures can be found here.

And the answer to yesterday's question. Yes, it's a Chieftain Mk 5. Seems not a difficult question. Anyway, the kit is far from finished as there are quite a few bubbles so a lot of work need to be done.

It looks the gun is a bit too long. I haven't compared to the data so just looking at it, the gun seems too long to me. Whay do you think?

Work in Progress

Above is a work in progress resin kit which I bought from Japan. Do you have any idea what it is? Will let you know next time. Take a guess.

Dragon Armor DX06 Exclusive

Here is a picture of the Dragon Expo 06 Exclusive. Same as last year, there will be a 1/35 kit and a 1/72 pre-built Dragon Armor. They will be solde exclusively in the Dragon Expo only.

Panzer Korps - Warrior & M113

I also built the M113 and the Warrior when I built the AS90 and Challenger 2. I think it's better to make more than one each time as the paint in the paintbrush is wasted if you only do one at a time.

I also added them to my homepage. See more pictures by clicking the following links. They are not yet finished.

1. Challenger 2
2. AS 90
3. M113
4. Warrior

Bandai Bus Collection

I picked up three of these for myself when I was shopping something for my son in Tokyo. Actually, he likes these little buses more than what I bought him.

As you can see from the box picture above, each box also comes with one out of 4 different display bases. For the buses themselves, there are total 2 models in 12 colors plus 1 special. I only bought 3 but luckily I managed to get at least 1 in each model.

It looks nice and might be I should buy more. Besides 1/144, I have more and more Japan "N" scale stuffs now.

I also ordered the Tomytec Trailer and Truck Collections. Will post them here next time.

By the way, does anyone know where to buy some good n scale or 10-12mm modern US or British soldiers beside Minifigs? I want to buy some to accompany my Challenger 2 and AS90.

And, I found more pictures on Shizuoka Show. Click here or here.

Panzer Korps - Challenger 2 & AS-90 - Part 2

Here are some pictures of my work on the Challenger 2 and AS90. These are still not yet finished but I have already painted some details as well as gave it a wash with Tamiya Enamels. I will need to add more details and the final touch then I think that's it. Since these are built out of the box so please bear with me on some mistakes of the kit.

After not building anything for years, I think it's still fun to build these little toys. They are easy to build (if you build out of the box like me but not the whole details with interior like some expert in the web). If you like me, haven't built anything for a while, it's a good start again as you don't need to spent too much time on them.

More pictures will follow, please let me know what do you think.

BTW, here are a couple links to 1/144 planes in the Shizuoka Hobby Show.

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Shizuoka Hobby Show 2006

It's amazing as we can see the pictures of Shizuoka Show right after the opening day of the show. Here is the homepage. Please check out details of these pictures in the above web directly.

The first picture to the left is the Dragon Merkava series, which can be found in page 20. There are 4 different Merkavas and 3 M113 variants on display so one should be the special. May be I will get just 1 set because of the M113s.

Another picture showed here is the F-toys Heliborne Collection 3. I'm very impressive with these little choppers so I think these are "Must Buy" items.

On the same page, you can find the pictures of "War Birds" also from F-Toys. This series is going to be released very soon as the target date is end of May.

One more item I want to point out are those new tanks from Metal Troops. The Sd Kfz 232, the Churchill and the Crusader all look interesting. Although the high price-tag, I think I may still get one. There is also the 1/144 Dora on display on the same page. Looks nice but I don't think I will build it.

Since these pictures are produced by someone else, I don't want to take the credit of it so please check the original site directly. There are tens or hundreds of picture so take your time and enjoy them.

Cafereo Big Bird

I also bought this from Japan - the Big Bird Series from Cafereo. The first sight is very impressive as even the boxes are huge.

I'm not a big fan of Imperial Japan armors or planes so I just pick up one of the Type 1 Bomber as they are all the same and the only difference is the marking and the tail numbers. The special is also a Type 1 with a Ohka (Sakura) Kamikaze plane. I do pick up all B-24J Liberators.

On the models themselves, they are pretty huge. I still can't find a place to display them so I put them all in a box. The B-24J is very nice. The only problem is the plane not in balance (heavier at the tail) so you either add a weight to the head or as suggested by Cafereo to put a clear stand at the end to balance it.

The Type 1 looks ok too but it seems something is missing at the tail as you can see a big hole there. Another minor issue with these planes are most clear parts are loosely attached to the plane so you may want to glue them to the plane in order not to lose them while you're playing with them. I can also understand there are only 2 models with 3 different versions as Cafereo need to recover the tolling cost . But the Type 1 only have 1 paint scheme and the only difference is the marking is very disappointing. If there is a second series, I hope we can see more variants in the painting and not just the marking or numbers.

Click here for more pictures. I'm still editing other pictures of my trip. Stay tuned.

Japan Trip Report - 2 (Resin - Hummvee)

One main object of my visit to Akihabara was to get some resin kits which are not available on-line normally. Hummvee is one item I was looking for as you can't find any today in the pre-build category to accompany your M1 or M2/M3 in combat.

The first one is a Hummvee Ambulance (on top). I don't know what number this vehicle is but it seems to be an up-armor version.

The second one is a troop carrier with soft-top. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I think it's a M966 or M988. I prefer a hard-top version but only these 2 are available. More pictures can be found here. I think with some patience, they can be good additions to your US squad.


Here is also a piece of news on up-coming stuffs as Shizuoka Hobby Show will be taking place from May 18 - 21. Here is the original link. Nothing really new as the F-Toys War Bird and Heliborne Collection 3 has been talked about in the forum for a couple months.

Japan Trip Report - 1 (Akihabara - Kaiyodo Hobby Lobby)

Akihabara - Radio Hall

I didn't have much time shopping so I only went to the one suggested by many bloggers - the Radio Hall in Akihabara (Electric Street). If you get off the JR Akihabara Train Station, just take the Electric Street exit. You can see the above "Radio Hall" building right after you leave the Station Exit.

As you can see from the picture, there is the Kaiyodo Hobby Lobby Shop on the 4th floor. There is another chain hobby shop "Yellow Submarine" on the same floor. These 2 are highly recommended to visit if you do not have too much time. There is also a Kotobukiya shop in the same building which you can also take a look if you have more time.

Back to the best shop - Hobby Lobby. As you may aware, Kaiyodo is the company who designs WTM for Takara. I think normally you can get some first hand information there. In addition, you can buy some 1/144 resin kits which you normally don't see in other shops. More pictures will be shown later on this topic.

There are also many 1/144 diorama on display but since I wasn't sure whether it's allowed to take photos or not so I decided to take a couple quick shots when the shop keeper was handling my purchases. Again, very impressive.

The "Yellow Submarine" was also interesting as it sells 1/144 kits in open box (of course with mark-up). There are many shops in Japan sell gashapon toys in open box but this one is focused on 1/144 military kits.

I'm sorry as some pictures do not have the quality I expected but more pictures will be showed in the next couple days. Stay tuned.

I'm back.

Hi everbody

I'm back from Japan. I still feel like a zombie after the flight though. I did go to Akihabara and found the famous "Radio Hall". As El basser suggested, the Hobby Lobby and Yellow Submarine shops in there are great. Unfortunately, I could only squeeze 30 minutes so my visit was a brief one. But it was still a nice one too as I managed to buy a lot stuffs. Anyway, will load some pictures later.

Till then.

Yujin - Combat Vehicle Diecast

First of all, I would like to thank Mistuya san (el basser) helping me to get this set from Japan. I really appreciate his help on many occasions.

Ok. Back to business, this is the first Yujin military set in 1/144 scale. Interesting thing is the "Discast" theme. In fact, it's not 100% diecast. It's more like the 1/72 Dragon Armor where a major piece is made of diecast but all other parts are made of plastic. It's good or bad. Good is you get the feeling of a tank as it's much more heavy than a plastic tank. Bad is you almost can't do any modifications.

I pretty like the selections. Although I'm not interested in the Japanese tank but since there is only one in the series, I can handle.

The paint job is not as good as the latest releases from WTM or Dragon but the real things are better than the pictures as the pictures probably magnified the problems. If you look at the real thing on your hand, I think it's acceptable (especially it's only 300 yen then you can get something you normally need to buy a resin kit.) For example, if you look at the Mobelwagan picture above, you don't see any big problem but it you look closer,.... The Sd.Kfz. 234/1 looks ok but I prefer a Puma. Someone said the MG of the 234/1 is too big and I agree as the MG of the 234/1 is almost the same size of the 20mm cannon. Mobelwagan is the one I want but it seems the superstructure is too small that the flak cannot move. The Brummbar is ok as you may need to wait for a while to get the one from Dragon.

I would say, a good set for its selection of tanks. For 300yen each, a must buy for every 1/144 collector. More picture can be found here.

This probably is my last post before I come back from Japan. Will keep you posted if I find anything interesting. Cheers.

Panzer Korps - Challenger 2 & AS-90 - Part 1

Here are 2 more pictures of my work during the weekend. Both are Panzer Korp kits. I have just painted these 2 tanks out of the box. No weathering or wash has been done.

The Challenger 2 has some problems so if you want to make a perfect tank representing the one in OIF, you may need to make some corrections. Regarding the AS90, most pictures I found are long shots so there is no way to compare this kit with the real tank in action.

If you compare to the Metal Troops AS90, I think it's still a good option as the price is a lot cheaper and the kit itself is still a good kit. Will show you more when I complete the work.

Tokyo. I'm coming.

By the way, I may go to Japan next week. Any idea where should I hunt for 1/144 kits? Akihabara?

I have started building again!

If you visit my blog regularly, you may know I had not built anything in the last couple years (to be exact, after my son was born). Anyway, I digged out my paintbrush last week and I have started building something. The first one I built was a "Panzer Korp" SturmTiger. It's built out of the box. I have just finished the paint job so still need to do some weathering and wash. It took me a while as I spent last couple days on this and a few other Panzer Korp kits.

More pictures later. Comments are welcome.

Yujin 1/144 Gashapon tanks - Combat Vehicle Diecast

El Basser's blog has some pictures of this set from Yujin. Sadly, the paint job is awful. But the "Bid Birds" look nice although there is a problem some details do not line up.

Dragon Expo DX06 - Dragon Armor Exclusive

Dragon has just released that the Dragon Armor Exclusive in DX06 will be a King Tiger Henschel Turret of Mr. Alfred Kurzmaul, who is a guest of DX'07 next year (it's kind of weird as I think last year the VIP guest was actually there mark his autograph on the exclusive which I think it's pretty cool but how many people will keep the tank for next year's show). Unfortunately, there is no picture yet. Here is the link of Dragon's page.

Zimmerit

I was not disappeared and now I'm back from my work. Anyway, I mentioned the other day I saw a picture in Model Graphix showing a Tiger I, a King Tiger as well as a Panther with Zimmerit.

I don't know what it means as I don't quite understand what it said on the magazine but when looked at my small collections, I found actually the WTM07 special, Otto Carius Tiger I, has Zimmerit on it. I think Takara already has some molds with Zimmerit and I bet they will be included in the coming releases very soon. (The pictures shown here are the WTM07 special together with the WTM05 Tiger I.)

There are some news last couple days. If you haven't read them, here they are:

1. The mystery Yujin gashapon tanks. It's for sale in Japan but still no news where to buy them. It's a surprise that it does include some figures. So far, from the pictures, the quality looks good. Since they are die cast tanks, I think someone likes the weight but I don't quite like it as I orginal want to get a Mobelwagen and mod all the side armors opened. Now seems not possible.

2. The Dragon Panzer Korp #9. Dragon has udpated its web and here is the link. I like the Japgpanzer IV L/70 (A) because of the PE schurzen. Let me check if anyone sell them seperately (not a whole set).

More pictures on Preiser figures

Couple weeks ago, I posted some pictures of some "N" scale figures which I had bought for a while. I put them together with my 1/144 collections the other day trying to find out if they can fit in.

The first picture above is a tourist set with the Dragon Maus set in Museum setting. The second picture on the left is the same set but put together with the Konami JGSDF series. I think they can fit in with the tank and little diorama nicely.

Finally, I put together side by side the workers set from Preiser with the soldier from JGSDF series. Surprisingly, they are about the same size. In conclusion, these Preiser figures can be used together with the 1/144 kit without any noticeable differences.

The last picture also shows you the quality of these Preiser figures. I always made a comment that some 1/144 or N scale figures by other manufacturers are dwarf-like or hobbits such as they all have big head, big hands and big feet. However, as shown by Preiser, a right proportion figure in 1/144 is doable. I'm really looking forward to Preiser's first 1/144 military set.

Click here for more pictures.