Sturmtiger! - Panzer Korp

I have just finished my Panzer Korp Sturmtiger. I built one 1/72 years ago and I also have a couple Dragon Armor Sturmtiger so there are quite a few reference on the paint job.

If you follow my blog regularly, you may notice I start this in May. I finally have some time to add the wash and decal as well as to find a Cando display box to store it.

I quite like this kit. One, this has never been released in Cando. Second, I like heavy tanks. As I mentioned in my previous post, this is my first model in years, there are quite a few things to improve if I build it again. For exmaple, the "crane" looks bulky and also more details can be added on it. Alternatively, one can also cut open the doors on top easily. Anyway, it's fun also to build it out of the box. More later.

Japan Sink! D-2 & F-Toys Heliborne #3

Japan Sinks! Operation D-2

I like the idea to combine the trucks in D-1 and D-2 into a small diorama.

F-Toys Heliborne 3

Another must buy item.

No news is bad news.

Sorry for slow updates as there was not much to talk about in 1/144 recently. People has talked about the 1/144 production has slowed down in Japan for a while and now manufacturers like Tamiya are focusing on 1/48 (which is the scale I'm not interested in).

I went to the book shop today trying to check out the latest Model Graphix which normally has a page dedicated to 1/144 or WTM but it seems this page were gone in the last 2 copies of July & August.

On the other hand, the picture above is from a Japanese site, which I believed the owner is the sculptor of JGSDF series as you can find how he built all these little JGSFD tanks or softskins in his site. In his forum, there is a message talking about any chance we can have the JGSDF Series 4 but it seems Konami has scraped the Series 4. Here is the original message and here is the English translation. Again, it seems like a bad news.

He did sculpted the Type 73 trucks which are inclueded in the Japan Sinks series (please see picture below which I copy from a Yahoo Auction).

All these added together, I think we may still see a WTM or Can from time to time but if you think we may have more new manufacturers join the 1/144 world like Popy, F-Toys or Konami, the chance seems very slim in the near future.

(I think these trucks look good. Big question: How can I just get a couple of these without paying a fortune?)

Armored Core Trading Figures 3

I have just loaded some pictures of the Armored Core Series 3 into my web page. I don't quite like the color schemes as one is brownish and one is in light blue. I think people like a more realistic look such as metallic grey. The figure is a little fragile so handle with care is necessary when you pose them. I only bought one box and luckily I got the special as above(but as a result I missed one regular figure). If you have the last 2 series, you probably will keep one set again. If you haven't bought any and want to buy one, Series 1 & 2 is a better choice.

Dragon Expo DX06 - Dragon Armor Exclusive

I have loaded some pictures of the Dragon Expo 06 Special Dragon Armor - King Tiger. Here is the link. It's a tank of Alfred Kurzmaul - I don't know him but he will be a guest of next year's event.

Unfortunately, there is no special from the Cando series this year. The only special Cando we have is the one from DX04. You can check some pictures here.

Artillery!

Couple links today. The picture to the left is a new resin kit from "Yokosuka Military Model Arsenal" or probably from "Pro-Hobby" later on. There are some guns from Russian, British and Japanese too. Check this out if you are interested.

Another link is related to "Easy Model", some pictures on their 1/72 releases, such as the AS-90 shown to the right. And the price yen1050 is good too if you compare to Dragon Armor which is more and more expensive now. I like competition. There are some pictures of different M113 which probably I will buy a couple.

New Millennium Toys

I wasn't impressed when I first saw the pictures of this series. As it seem the quality wasn't comparable to Takara's World Tank Museum or Dragon Cando. However, I finally picked up a couple and I found I was satisfied with what I bought. As mentioned, the quality is not as good but the price is a very good advantage if you want to build an army. Unfortunately, the first release also included 4 German tanks. Most of these German tanks have been released by different manufacturers many many times. I think to be successful, they should focus on the "fill the gap" business. For example, the M4 and M18 are good selections. They should produce more softskins, Allied tanks or armor cars. With the price they sold in the US, it would be a good alternative to wargamers.



If you are a collector, you may not buy more than one ( just one to complete your collection) as the quality control is also in question. For example, the picture above shows a King Tiger which I didn't check carefully when I bought, you can see the gap in front as well as the gun is bent. Anyway, you need to be patient when you buy these to ensure you don't buy something like this. The built quality in one big boxes varies a lot so you always have a chance to find a good one. Just need more time to check one by one. More pictures can be found in my homepage here.

There are some news regarding future releases, check out BD99's site for infomation.

Below are the AS-90 which I built and, same as the Challenger 2, I added some decals and I think it's done. More pictures can be found here.

Finally finished!

Finally finished. I didn't mean the World Cup. I mean after a chaotic week working 16 hours a day (and also squeezed some time to watch World Cup), I finally have time to finish my Challenger 2 which has sit on the bench for over a month.

I spent sometime to find out the decals and put them on. I also added a few antennas on top of the turrent. I think it's and I'm happy as it's my first model for many years. I put it side by side with the Dragon Cando Challenger 2 (see below), it seems the Dragon one is more "yellow". And compared to a real one (the first picture on top), I think the real thing is somewhere in between as I think may be I should add more yellow to the paint. Anyway, I think I'm not going to touch it again and move on.

Of course, feel free to comment.