JGSDF Equipment 2

Will be released in Mid July. Yen450 each.

Here is a link to more pictures.

Midnight Eagle Trailer

I just realised the "Midnight Eagle" movie will be released on Nov 23 in the US. probably on just a few selected cinemas. Anyway, here is the trailer.

Trucks from YSK

If you like the ambulance I posted yesterday, you probably like these trucks from YSK too.

Takara Midnight Eagle

Here is a new picture of this series. The B-5 Midnight Eagle used in the movie is just a B-2 Bomber and should not be 1/144.

Release date : Mid-November

Takara 1/144 "Midnight Eagle" Trading Kits

Takara has just announced in this November, they are going to issued a new 1/144 trading kit set partnering with the movie "Midnight Eagle" - which is a stealth bomber coded B-5. Here are details:

Scale :1/144 (B-5 excluded.) All 10 different kits (9 + 1 hidden item)
1. F-15J (Komatsu base 8957)
2. F-15J (Komatsu base 8953)
3. F-15DJ (Komatsu base)
4. B-5 midnight eagle (the low profile painting)
5. B-5 midnight eagle (the WEZARINGU painting)
6. JGSDF UH-1+ Type 73 heavy truck (new)
7. JGSDF UH-1+ Type 73 heavy truck (older model)
8. JGSDF UH-1+ Type 73 medium truck and pickup truck
9. A set of 3 JGSDF Type 73 trucks (new)
10. Hidden

Most items have been issued in other releases before, such as the Type 73 trucks in "Japan Sinks", UH-1 and F-15J in other Takara or F-Toys issues. (They may be different than those from F-Toys though).

Project 144

Fumi's blog has some interesting pictures from the latest "Project 144". Check them out here.

New Panzer Korp - Tiger I

It's not a surprise Dragon is going to release the new 1/144 Tiger I in kit form (Panzer Korp) before the Cando release. Unlike the Cando releases which are pre-painted, you will get 3 identical tanks (112, 141, 142) as you need to paint them yourselves. I will still buy the Cando version to complete my collection but I don't see any reason to buy these.

OMG - Cando "new" Tiger I

Oh my god. It turns out the re-release of the Tiger Is from Dragon is not the worst news. What even worse is Dragon is so lack of imagination that it releases the same tanks with different decals. As you can see from the pictures, one is 141 and one is 142. I know these are early production tanks so the variations are limited but why picked this topic? I think we got similar tanks from WTM5 and you can buy a whole battalion of decals from a Japan seller to build a whole battalion. If Dragon wants to make this more attractive, why not just give us a tank with no decal and then provide a separate decal sheet similar to those from Panzer Korps. I think we will be more happy and someone may just want to buy it for the decal. BTW, what is that special? Is it the one for Operation Sea Lion?

20000 Hits

Hi fellow bloggers

Let me celebrate this site reach 20000 hits couple hours ago. Last time it took 9 months to reach 10000 hits and this time it took 6 months to reach 20000 hits.

I would like to thank everyone who visited my site, especially everything seems so slow in the past few months.

Anyway, here is a piece I found quite interesting. Soar Art Workshop I think is the partner/affiliate of the Metal Troops as it seems they are promoting the same stuffs. In this site, they have a line up for 2007. Some interesting stuffs like FAMO or the British 25 pound field gun look very nice. But tanks like the Hetzer or Stugs III, I don't know how many people will pay US$20+ plus S&H to get one. I don't know it's new or not as I haven't checked this site for a while. I'm sorry if you have seen this before.

I have quite a few boxes to un-pack. Will post them later when they are ready.

WF2007 Winter

As usual, not much news about military as this show focuses on figures. First set of pictures can be found from here and here. I like the Recovery Tanks and those BRDM2. Also, the Big Bird 2 look promising as well.

Pro-Hobby - March Releases

Here is the link.

WWI from Pro-Hobby

Are you a fan of WWI armor? The upcoming releases from Pro-hobby are a series of 1/144 armors and guns. Look quite interesting but beside collectors, who else will buy them. May be wargamers can mix them with 12mm figures. What do you think?

Pegasus Russian Farm House

The above picture is copied from Obake blog. This is new to me as I haven't heard anything about this from Pegasus before. Anyway, looks like an interesting subject. It's a must buy item to me.

Regarding the Dragon Stugs, el-basser's blog has some close-up pictures and the tracks look very nice. Check here for more.

Guess what will be the next Cando release from Dragon, the answer is...

According to the preview slip included in the box of the Stug III & IV, it seems the next release from Dragon is ......( music : da...da...da.....) - another Tiger I. Although it's a new mold but how many Tiger Is do you need?

Cando Stugs III & IV

For sure this is the best Christmas Gift I will buy for myself - the Cando Stug III & IV. I found a couple pictures from Japan and they look very good so far. Hope they will release in the US very soon. Can't wait...

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.