Jagdtiger Henschel with Lifting Crane from Dragon!

Another product from Dragon's 1/72-"Armour pro" series is available.

Jagdtiger Henschel Production with 2 Metric Ton Lifting Crane in 1/72 scale (All photos are from "dragonmodelsusa"-website).

The kit has 48 pieces.

Features:
- Detailed hull sides w/bolt details and weld seams
- Delicate crane w/photo-etched parts
- Realistic side fenders reproduced
- Intricate road wheels w/separate pieces, allowing unparalleled crispness of details
- Gun barrel travel lock can be assembled in either travel or combat modes
- Delicate rear panel reproduced
- Photo-etched parts to upgrade details
- One-piece DS tracks for easy assembly
- High-definition Cartograf decals

The Jagdtiger was an armored monstrosity produced by Nazi Germany.

It was the heaviest armored fighting vehicle to serve during WWII.

Weighing in at 71.7 tonnes, the Sd.Kfz.186 was a tank destroyer armed with an extremely potent 12.8cm PaK 44 L/55 antitank gun.

A total of 88 vehicles were produced from late 1944 till the end of the war.

However, despite the effectiveness of its thick armor (250mm on the superstructure front) and powerful armament, the vehicle suffered from poor mobility and mechanical unreliability owing to its weight problem.

I can imagine, that some of you are saying now "not another Jagdtiger!". Dragon should have been thought such reactions and added a 2-ton lifting crane, which makes this kit something special.

We all know, Dragon quality with photo-etched parts!

I'll just say, "have fun with this kit!"

WWII German Horse Drawn Multi-Purpose Wagon from Haet!

In our hobby there are some favourite models, like Tiger, Panther, T-34, and so on.

A lot of producers are offering those models, in different variants.

But some vehicles and weapons of WW2, which were used in great quantities are hard to find.

One of them is "horse-drawn"-vehicles.

Revell produced once the "German artillery WW2", really a wonderful model, after so many years still appreciated.



During WW2 the horse within German Army played a huge role. It’s actually a great paradox, when we think that this army invented Blitzkrieg.

The army which was most mechanized, was also the one using, the slowest and vulnerable transportation vehicle, the horse!

In fact, WWII German Army was the one employing the greatest number of horses, and pack animals in the history of mankind wars.

The number of horses needed yearly by the German Army was around 1.000.000.

Although the technological advance on every weapon was continuing especially during the war faster than as usual, the transport vehicle was one of the main problems in Wehrmacht.

After 1943 the number of horses serving in the German Army was increasing, due to Allies strategic bombardments of factories.

The production was being seriously affected while the horse-breeding farms escaped untouched.

And nowadays, the Haet is finishing the next "horse drawn multi-purpose wagon".

Here ist the test shot from their website:

and a second one:



After this short summary, it must be clear, why I'll buy this one and not just one!

British infantry northern Europe from Airfix!

Now you can see on the Airfix website a box image (temporary!) of the incoming "British infantry northern europe' - figures (IMHO it could be named better!) set in 1/72 scale:
The description on the website:

"This set of NEW figures depict in 15 poses british infantry troops in operations in the days and months after D-Day."

The word "new" is highlighted on the website, not just here!

Since the new products of Airfix in 2010 it was known that this set are/will be produced, but nobody was sure, new molds or old molds and in which scale!

Was the old molds of this set lost?
Now, 2 weeks before "Nuernberg Toy fair" this announcement makes it claerer:

New molds, in 1/72 scale, 15 poses with 48 parts!

Poltava 1709, a new “Age of battles” - game from Zvezda!

The first combine set of 2011 is released by Zvezda in their "Age of Battles"-series:

Military-historical game "Poltava" devoted to the events of the Great Northern War 1700-1721 period. In this war the Russian army, reformed by Peter I on the European model, fought with the Swedish army, considered at that time one of the best.

I can imagine, that most of the 1/72 scale fans knows this system, but even so, just a short summary:

Age Of Battles is a table-top gaming system using 1/72 scale miniatures. Movement and combat are performed through measurement and dice rolling. There are several Age of Battles games, which cover several time periods and countries, all based on historical events (Antiquity, Middle age, Shogun, Napoleonic).

The rules are divided into 3 skill levels, allowing players a concrete battle situation with different level of realism.

Each level has its own description of command, with specially developed rules for different units allowing the player to choose unique tactics.

This time we can play on the table the Battle of Poltava and other battles of this war.

The game contents:

54 infantry figures

13 Cavalry figures

2 guns

67 trays

6 character sheets

6 formation trays

2 linears

1 compass

4 x "1-20" - dices

a rules-book

a scenarios-book

2 pencil

Zvezda’s new website and a lot of new sets!

After the rumours about Zvezda's possible cancellation of their historic figures sets, a lot of figures from Zvezda are announced!

Here is the list: (from http://www.models2u.co.uk/" - website!)

Samurai period:

Ashigaru-yari

Ashigaru with Arquebus

Samurai-Naginata

Samurai Archers

Samurai-no-dati

Ninja

Mounted Samurai

Monks Archers

Monks with Yari & Naginata

Commander with Bodyguards

Samurai Commanders

WW2 period:

German Sturmpionere

German Fallschirmjager (Paratroopers)

German Reconnaissance Team

German Gebirgsjager

Soviet Anti-Tank Team

Soviet Reconnaissance Team

Soviet Paratroopers

Soviet Naval Infantry

Soviet Engineers

Soviet Cavalry

There are no further information about the number of figures or any photo, even drawings are missing.

The price is 2.75 pound for each the set and this make me think, that there will be similarities in case of production method and end-product with the new WW2-series.

In each case, those will be small sets with less figures, like:

If those new products (in case of Samurai sets!) could reach the quality of their previous samurai sets?

Hopefully!

By the way Zvezda redesigned also their website:

http://zvezda.org.ru/?news=343&PHPSESSID=efcdf381753449ad48a2f4774799742b

If it's now better, worser, nothing chanced or for someone who thinks "I don"t care!", it depends on your personal taste!I

MO, it looks 'better organised".

Were the rumours just only "latrine rumours'?

I'll say, wait and see. There are only 2 weeks (and 2 days!) till "Nuernbeg Toy Fair".

No more rumours!

No news is good news!

Yesterday I created a new record with 908 page-viewers in a day!

Why?

Because bad news are good news!

Just a joke!

But the fact that one important model producer canceled some announced products and additional rumors about a possible production stop of historical figures sets on an another producer alarmed a lot of collectors and hobbiest!

Thats the good sign!

The fact is, we all LOVE our hobby!

Yes, we do! (OK; not the way we love our wifes and kits, but there is a connection between us and the hobbby!)

and we care for it!

But on the other hand, ther are some facts, which we may and shouldn't ignore; like

"Money talks!"

and

"Demand creates offer!"

1-The producers should make money and the demand is not SOO great, I think.

We all can imagine that those "small plastic soldiers" are not on the first place among the popular free time activities of the coming generations. (I personally dont call those activities "hobby"!)

IMHO, the similarity of Haet products to the announced napoleonic figures of Italeri could be one of the reasons in this ever shrinking market!

2-I can imagine that a 1/35 scale tank brings more profit than a 1/72 figures set.

Big boxes with additional gadgets are bringing more profit!

No suprise, that only 1/72 scale sets are on the list!

3-And some producers could/should co-operate for minimizing the risk, like, "Italeri" with "Waterloo 1815".

In this case, it was for me not a surprise, that the "apache warriors"-set, which were announced in the 2010 catalogue of Italeri, were canceled, after the production of "Waterloo 1815"'s "sioux"-set.

But the "U.S. cavalry" set was not among the announced items.

4-Maybe, the technology is settinng even, in this small market, the production trends slowly, but surely!

Dragon is using the 3D-moulding technology and Zvezda cooperates with Dragon.

With the infantry figures for their new boardgame "The great Patriotic War 1941" they made the first steps, into the new direction, producing figures with this new technology, without any sculptor:

http://worldin172scale.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-photos.html

Producing with less cost, more products and faster, in the meantime hoping more profit!

What's wrong with that, folks?

Nothing, I know!

But, we, who are collecting, painting, remodelling those small figures find the sculptor-designed figures more natural, better, beatiful...

I hope, through co-operations and low-cost-new technologies the producers will be able to promote so-called "special sets" in periodic intervals to the market, created through sculptors!

Zvezda 2011 news!

A few days earlier I found in web the new products of Zvezda for 2011, but in IMHO they were not complete, so that I waited with this news.

But now, after the rumors about Zvezda's 'possible' production stop in 1/72 historic sets, these could be the right time for the announcement of Zvezda's 2011 news, so that we can estimate the rumors better.

There are no photos just drawings for the coming figures in 1/72 scale:

Roman field artillery:

Spartans:

As far as I know, those were announced even for 2010.

WW2 German infantry (something new(!) in our hobby):

WW2 Soviet infantry:

Without drawings:

-French HQ

-Russian Cossacks (Napoleonics)

-Russian Shooters (Napoleonics)

-French Line Infantry

And in 1/72 scale military vehicles there are at the moment no photos, no drawings:

World War II Soviet Heavy Tank - Two-pack rapid build tanks - Glue necessary.

World War II German Tank - Two-pack rapid build tanks - Glue necessary

I think those are another fast kits, from "My first model kit"-series, which I reported:

http://worldin172scale.blogspot.com/2010/10/zvezdas-172-snap-fit-serie.html

Due to the information on the website the germans will be in summer in the field, while the soviets in Autumn.

(All the information is from http://www.models2u.co.uk/ website!)

Yes, that's ALL!

Only 8 figures and 2 tank-sets..

There is no detailed information about the WW2 sets, so that we can't know about the production type.

Through sculptors hands or 3D-machines??

But it seems so, that there will be no more historic sets after these two announced!

That means?

Zvezda could stop developing 1/72 historic sets!

Hi folks!

I am so sorry, but the bad news about 1/72 scale (I may call it, here in this blog; 'our') are lasting…

There are some rumors on the net that Zvezda has some conflicts with his sculptors and will stop producing and developing 1/72 historic sets which do not belong to the WW2 era.

If this is true, then they will cancel most of their upcoming 1/72 sets like Italeri did some days ago.

We all can be certain when the new catalogues will be handed out during "the Nuremberg toy fair" in February.

We all know, that the economic crisis in the last couple of years made it not easier for the manufacturers in our hobby.

But I hope, that the solution is not to lose their sculptors in the case of Zvezda, because IMHO they are the best. (OK; forget the size problems!)

ITALERI canceled some announced products!

Today I found in a german online shop, this announcement:

"Following products, which was announced last year, are canceled:

IT-6110 1/72 Battleset BERLIN TWILIGHT(WWII)
IT-6152 1/72 Prussian Infantry
IT-6153 1/72 Austrian Artill.train
IT-6155 1/72 Apache Warriors
IT-6156 1/72 Austrian Artillery
IT-7516 1/72 2 x Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf.D
IT-3008 1/72 Sherman M4 & British infantry (WWII)
IT-3009 1/72 M3A1 Halftrack & US Paratr.(WWII)
IT-3208 1/72 Vietnam War"

Some of them (IT-61's and IT-7516) were announced also for 2010.

Is the reason the lack of demand?

But those are figures of popular periods, like WW2 and Napoleonics. (OK, not the "Vietnam War"!)
What does that mean for the future of Italeri?

Or for the future of 1/72 scale figures production?

Revell-Germany 2011 news in 1/72 scale!

Today another 2011 news-list regarding figures and military vehicles from Revell-Germany.

in January 2011:

scottish infantry/8th army (Re-issue!)

german infantry DAK (Re-issue!)

in July 2011:

german infantry (Re-issue!)

in August 2011:

american infantry (Re-issue!)

in September 0211:

british infantry (Re-issue!)

2 Re-issues of military vehicles in 1/72 scale;

in February 2011:

STUG IV
in April 2011:

PzKpfw. IV Ausf. H

(The pictures are from "Revell-Germany"-website!)

Only Re-issues in 1/72 scale is not so motivating for the collectors, but some of them can be bought and added to some collections, for those who missed or lost them. (like in my case!)

New photos of LVT(A)-1 from DRAGON!

Today I found new photos of the incoming LTV(A)-1 in 1/72 scale from Dragon, which I reported here:

http://worldin172scale.blogspot.com/2011/01/lvt-landing-vehicles-tracked-from.html

Box photo:


Model produced in miniature:


well detailed hull top:


One piece hull-seides with wheels:

MG's:

(All photos are from "dragonmodelsusa"-website.)

Another well-detailed, fine kit, very rare in this scale. (As far as I know, the first one!)

Uwe, Andy and Hank working on their Co-production of Crimean War!

I think, a lot of my visitors know the "history in 1/72" blog of Uwe from Germany.

Once I reported about his figure co-production with another german modeller/caster Andy in german.

Their production on figures of the "Cremian war" goes on.

Uwe made again the uniform search and Andy the first figure, while Hank is working on his diorama.

Uwe sent me some new pictures; the first one from Hank's painting work:


and another view:


Thanks a lot to Uwe for photos!

Pageviews 10.000 in 4 months!

Today I realized that the pageview-counter reached the limit of 10.000!

I started with the blog in January/2009, but the counter was installed in September/2010, where I actually began to write constantly in the blog.

That means, in just 4 mounths we reached the limit of 10.000 visitors!

Yes, in 4 mounths!

I just say,

"THANK YOU!" to all VISITORS!"

LVT / Landing Vehicles Tracked from Dragon!

Another product from Dragon's 1/72-"Armour pro" series will land in January on the shelves.

Landing Vehicles Tracked LVT(A)-1. (due to 'dragonmodelsusa'-website).

The kit has 48 pieces.

There is no photo of the box, vehicle parts a.s.o. just a plan:

Some details from the website:

The bottom hull made as a single-piece molding.

This provides a stable and vital foundation on which to add such details as the complicated suspension system.

Upper hull detail can also be easily attached to the basic hull.

The deck is well detailed, and even the weld seams are visible.

The turret is also a product of slide molds, the gun muzzle is hollowed out.

While waiting for the next announcement from the series:

some history about the production of the vehicle:

WWII saw a number of innovative new solutions to meet the demands of modern combat. One such class of military vehicle was the amphibious tractor, often referred to by US servicemen as amtracs.

The first such Landing Vehicles Tracked (LVT) were produced by the Food Machinery Corporation (FMC) for the US military. By the end of WWII a total of 18,621 LVT family vehicles had been manufactured.

The original military LVT-1 appeared in 1941, but one weakness was its lack of armored protection, especially in amphibious assaults such as those that occurred at Tarawa. The LVT(A)-1 helped rectify this shortcoming, with the "A" in the nomenclature representing "armored". In this vehicle's case, the armor was half an inch thick.

Despite what its name suggests, the LVT(A)-1 was actually based on the LVT-2, and it was employed as a fire support vehicle.

It featured an M3 Stuart turret containing a 37mm M6 gun. It also bristled with five .30-cal machine guns.

A total of 510 LVT(A)-1 vehicles were eventually produced.

It could achieve speeds of 12km/h in water, and the vehicle weighed 13,180kg.

This important amtrac was used in such battles as those at Saipan, Guam, Tinian and Peleliu during the bloody Pacific campaign.

The short story of Sd. Kfz. 221 – 222 vehicles!

Before World War 2, during secret maneuvers in the Soviet Union Wehrmacht recognized that a suitable recon car was missing, which should replace the Sd. Kfz. 13 in the near future.

In 1/72 scale there are 2 models of Sd. Kfz. 13, one from ACE, a producer from Ukraine:

And one from RPM, a producer from Poland:

The result was the "Leichter Panzerspähwagen" (Light Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle) Sd. Kfz. 221.

(As far as I know, there is no 1/72 scale production of this vehicle.)

It was produced 1935 to 1944.

The vehicle had a rear mounted engine with a 67 kW (90 hp) Horch 3.5 petrol engine.

This motor gived it a road speed of 80 km/h (50 mph) and a cross-country speed of 40 km/h (25 mph).

It had a maximum range of 300 km (186 mi).

Used by the reconnaissance battalions (Aufklärungs-Abteilung) of the Panzer divisions, the type performed well enough in countries with good road networks, like those in Western Europe.

However, on the Eastern Front and North Africa,this class of vehicle was hampered by its relatively poor off-road performance.

In those theaters, Sd. Kfz. 250 half-track vehicle replaced his reconnaissance role.

The Sd. Kfz. 250/9 has the same turret as the Sd. Kfz. 222.

It was armed with a single 7.92 mm Maschinengewehr 34 (MG34) machine gun, manned by a two man crew, and had 4-wheel drive.

Armour protection was originally 8 mm thick, but increased to 14.5 mm later in production.

The updated version of this vehicle was Sd.Kfz. 222, which Dragon is producing.

This version of the vehicle was armed with a 2 cm KwK 30 L/55 autocannon and a 7.92 mm MG34 machine gun.

It manned by a three man crew, in which the third crew member was the gunner, relieving the commander of that task.

From the beginning of the production in 1936 the front armour protection was originally 14,5 mm thick, but increased to 30 mm later in production. The sides and rear had 8 mm. armour.

The new vehicle had a road speed of 90 km/h and a maximum range of 347 km.

This vehicle was used till the end of war and sold also to Bulgaria and China.

Some versions included a 28 mm armored piercing cannon.

A prototype version included a 50 mm cannon. Two armored prototype versions were completed.

There is another model in 1/72 scale from ICM, a producer in Ukraine:

Maybe, someone will buy both of them and can write a review to compare!

A lot of info is from Wiki, the photos from "henkofholland"-website!

Sd. Kfz. 222 from Dragon!

The first "new tooling" and "new series" piece of news in 2011 are from Dragon!

Dragon announced a whole new series of 1/72 scale kits.

The first of these is the famous little Sd.Kfz.222.

As a special introductory offer, Dragon is including two complete Sd.Kfz.222 models in the box.

And newly tooled!

(The photo is from "dragonmodelsusa"-website!)

Photo-etched turret can be assembled open or closed.

Finely molded jerry can and cargo included.

The two vehicles are supplied with different markings.

The mesh that covers the turret is supplied as a photo-etched part so that it remains true to scale.

And more detail:

- Finely molded hull w/detail

- Full fighting compartment w/detail

- Realistic 2cm KwK 30 L/55 autocannon and MG 34 included

- Sharply reproduced on-vehicle tools

- Features finely rendered taillights

- Realistic-looking headlamps included

- Intricate engine cooling grill included

- Chassis presented in full details

- Delicate wheels w/authentic tread pattern

- Well-shaped driver's seat

The set contains 48 pieces and will arrival the shops in January!

Our first guest writer!

Today is a some special day for my blog, because I have a guest writer from Turkey.

Dr.M.Kerem ÖZKIR, from Trabzon/Turkey built "Einheitsdiesel" from "ZV models" in 1/72 scale and write a review.

He is 27 years old and works as a doctor in turkish army. His first model was a YAK-15 produced by a turkish firm PM. In those years, 80's, it was very difficult to find model paintings, that why he used gouache paints and covered them with UHU! (Yes, UHU!)

At the moment his favorite areas are AFV, WW1 aviation and historic figures, especially riders!

For WW1 airplanes he prefers Roden and Eduard, for historic figures Zvezda.

Regarding AFV he has no favorites, but nowadays the products of Revell and Trumpeter is an eye-catcher for him.

The number of his finished models are 175 (approx.).

Here we go (actually he goes!):

11800 vehicles were produced between 1937 and 1940 by Büssing-NAG, Borgward, MAN, Henschel, Magirus, FAUN, Krupp. 2.5 ton 6x6 truck constructed with 80hp diesel engine. During the first years of WWII Einheitsdiesel saw service in nearly all theaters with different body shapes. Then replaced with less expensive two-axle Opel Blitz.

After a brief knowledge of the truck, I will give information about the ZV Models's kit. Ukrainian producer has a fantastic kit with no problems. But quality control unit is poor. One of the sprues including mudguard, cabin interior units vs was missing. Despite the missing parts I've started to make model because of wondering how it looks like.

I've scratched sticks with sprue, covered game card with band-aid to make seat and made wheel with cupper wire.

Hand made exhaust can be seen left rear of the cabin.

The most difficult part to construct was mudguard. I made it too from play card.

Signed parts are handmade.

More photos:

Dr.M.Kerem ÖZKIR

Thanks for Mr. Özkır and we are looking for another review.