HobbyMaster F-35

Opened up the die-cast HM F-35 today, 1/72 scale, darn, its bigger than an F-16! Pretty sweet, you can display it in flight or with wheels down. Tons of teeny parts and weapons too... Which kinda begs the question, if its gonna lose stealth with the external hardpoints, won't other platforms do the same job at a lower cost?

1/72 Diecast Saab Viggen

Man, been waiting for a decent Viggen for a bit! This one came early in the year, by a company called aviation 72, it's definately hefty, and the overall shape is good. The splinter camo is a bit fuzzy at the edges, but looks good overall. Now, compared the hobby master or cw, the surface has very little panel lining. Worse is that there's no instrument panel! Hopefully there'll be a better version of this released one day. :p

Yamato VF-19S

The VF-19S is the 3rd revision of the VF-19 design that Yamato has released so far; the previous 2 versions always had an issue of the 'neck' of the jet mode being too thick. Amazing how far they've come since then. The proportions are mostly spot on, and most importantly, the transformation is intuitive and uncomplicated!

Thankfully, Yamato has been packing their toys in more compact boxes compared to the past (which was mostly 50% air), the paint job is excellent and the toy has a overall glossy look.

Gerwalk is sweet, and balances well. The hips, knees and ankle articulate well enough for posing, and is quite stable even though it seems front heavy!

Did i mention before how easy it was to transform? Amazing feat of engineering, how they actually manage to compact a lot of parts, and swing them away so they everything looks in place...lot of "Oh THAT's how they did it!" moments here!

 

Overall, a most enjoyable release from Yamato! Kinda makes it sad then that the company is no more. Hopefully the company who've bought over the rights carries on making these fine toys!

Yamato Zoids Shield Liger

Got this from the TFH sale, but only found time a coupla days ago to open it to look see. This thing is heavy! Over 3KG, they were serious when they said it's made of die-cast!

Details are great on this, but the joints could be tighter though; the weight causes the legs to be kinda floppy, but once it's posed it stays in that pose... due to the weight! :p

FOV - BELL AH-1Z Viper

Picked this up to complement the AH-64 from FOV too!

Details are pretty good; not really at the Hobby Master level or Century Wings, but it holds its own!

"The Bell AH-1Z Viper is a twin-engine attack helicopter based on the AH-1W SuperCobra, that was developed for the United States Marine Corps. The AH-1Z features a four-blade, bearingless, composite main rotor system, uprated transmission, and a new target sighting system. The AH-1Z is part of the H-1 upgrade program. It is also called "Zulu Cobra" in reference to its variant letter."

Ah, the memories of this swooping down on me in BF3 and pwning everyone is sight! :p

Toys i collect - Macross Pt 2

It was mostly in the recent years that higher-quality stuff started to come up (ie. more expensive), with the release of the Macross Frontier series, Bandai got into the game and started making toys for the Macross range with the licenses they had. For MacF, the initial versions of the VF-25 weren't that good, the proportions were off and the fit and quality pretty terrible. They sorta redeemed themselves with a 'renewal' version.... which was sold in limited quantities and promptly sold out REAL fast.

Bandai had also re-released the old takatoku molds in new packaging, and generally improved upon the quality of the painting (more tampo printing), but basically it was still the classic 1/55 taka toy; wondering why they haven't released others in that line though.

Yamato still had the upper hand in terms of desgin and build still; quality was subjective! By now they had covered the Macross Zero series, released the Destroids (well, only 2 actually), and released an improved version 2 of the venerable 1/60 VF-1 range.

The last few months and future look pretty good (but expensive) for Macross, both companies are now covering the more obscure mechs, with Yamato releasing the VF-17/19 from Macross 7, and the just released VF-4G, and Bandai doing the VF-171 cannon fodders.

Toys i collect - Macross Pt 1

Still thinking it's like, Tuesday or something. :p It's actually Friday tomorrow yippee! That's what happens when you start work on a tuesday.

 

Dunno why, but been seeing a lot of Macross stuff around, not to mention having no space to display what i have kinda sucks haha. I haven't been buying much BUT the price has been going up and up AND it doesn't help that some vendors have decided to make the stuff exclusive, causing the price to inflate artificially.

 

*pic from anymoon.com!

My first Macross valkyrie was bought from OG in chinatown, back when they had TONS of japanese imports of Robots and such... ah, the golden days of toys. Anyway, it was a takatoku 1/55 VF-1J which was super fun to play with! Back then, manufacturers weren't so obsessed with proportions and such, cos of manufacturing and moulding limitations. Simplicity and playability was the order of the day. Somehow, i still managed to break the leg!

In between, smaller toy versions and various model kits, i never really bought other toys in that line other than a Bandai VF-1S Super Strike valk below.

Fast forward to the year 2000, and a company called Yamato released two toys based on the Macross plus line; this was generally well received as no one had made Macross toys for ages, and these two in 1/72 (the YF-19 and YF-21 were pretty popular).

 

You can see the rest of the Yamato catalog here! all the way up to the latest releases.

 

2001 brought in the 1/72 VF-11 thunderbolt followed by modernized 1/60 versions of the classic VF-1 fighter; these were good for their time; lots of die-cast, although it wasn't a perfect transformation. Also because it was in die-cast, the details weren't very fine, and the joint were kinda loose.

 

The following year brought the first 1/48 scale toys from VF-1, these were mostly in plastic with the critical parts in die-cast. The size for these were nice, but a nightmare to keep as the boxes were HUMONGOUS esp. with Yamato's habit of creating boxes with 50% empty space.

 

It was only in 2008 that yamato released a new version of the 1/60 scale VF-1 that it really began to shine, the balance of size and detail was there, but as with all toys, there were reports of breakages at certains points of the toy. Mostly to be expected these days unfortunately.

 

 

 

1/48 Scale Airwolf

This came in last week from the usual joint, gotta say, box was prreeeetty light! This is the re-release of the 1/48 Airwolf helicopter by Aoshima, who also have it in plastic kit form.

Artwork for the box is the same as the previous releases; there is also a weathered version released alongside the regular edition, both are at the same price point though! The special version of the last release was a matte black version. :) Upon opening you see the fuselage, stand and blades all neatly tucked away. The tail rotor on mine dropped off though, but easy thing to just fit it back. The guns and missile launchers are hidden under the base. Thankfully instructions are in English too!

Detail on this is great; the doors open (please use a toothpick they say in the instructions!), the sunburst ports open, the hidden guns and missile launchers are swappable parts, so they can be displayed extended or hidden, the landing gear has this cool feature where a lever extends all three wheels out at the same time... AND... the main rotor and tail blades move! 2 AAA batteries needed, too bad no blinking lights! But that would have probably added more to the cost.

The included stand allows you to display the Airwolf at certain angles, the emossing of the logo is sweet. :) Worth the price of admission? Most definately! Pick this up while you can.

Apache Part Deux

Got this little gem from the Forces of Valor series from Unimax... it's 1:72 scale but looks pretty good! The panel lines are not too thick, and the wash is not overdone.

The gun swivels and the engine covers can be opened too.

The little details like the rivets are there too... nice!

Best thing? Not very expensive, about $30-$40. They also have a 1/48 scale version, but have not seen that yet. :)

Blue Thunder!

I remember my dad bringing me to see this in the Cinema, that was in 1983, i was like, 7? :p Anyway, back the the only cool parts i remember were whenever the helicopter of that namesake came on-screen. I loved the look of the heli (it looks ancient now yeah, but back then, with the chaingun and all, it was sooooo coool. :) It probably was the precursor to the AH-64 Attack Chopper). Found a cool pic with the late Roy Scheider above.. very garang pose!

 

 

Picked up the blue thunder heli from ORGANIC/Dream Machine, a Japanese toy maker. It's a (mostly) die-cast in 1/32 scale. Kinda an odd scale but makes sense now, cos if it was in 1/72, it'd be kinda teeny! And the details won't be there.

 

 

Pic in packaging.... didn't take out as usual! No place to display...

 

Another pic in packaging... No lights/or special features like Aoshima's Airwolf! Another heli i'm waiting for.

A product pic.. looks cool! Some interesting facts :

The helicopter used for Blue Thunder was a French-made Aérospatiale SA-341G Gazelle modified with bolt-on parts and an Apache-style canopy. Two modified Gazelle helicopters, a Hughes 500 helicopter and two F-16 fighter aircraft were used in the filming of the movie. The helicopters were purchased by Columbia Pictures and flown to Cinema Air in Carlsbad, CA where they were heavily modified for the film. These alterations made the helicopters so heavy that various tricks had to be employed to make it look fast and agile in the film. For instance, the 360° loop maneuver Murphy performs at the end of the film was carried out by a radio controlled model.

 

Think Singapore uses Gazelles as our training choppers.

Finally, cockpit detail....... Nice... Kinda spacious!

 

1/48 Diecast Airwolf

There's gonna be a re-issue of the Aoshima diecast Airwolf in 1:48, guess it goes with the apache i bought; 1/72 helis ARE kinda teeny. Interesting fact below!

"The flying Airwolf helicopter was actually a Bell 222, serial number 47085, sometimes unofficially called a Bell 222A. During filming of the series, the helicopter was owned by Jetcopters, Inc. of Van Nuys, California. The helicopter was eventually sold after the show ended and became an ambulance helicopter in Germany, where it crashed in a thunderstorm and was destroyed on June 6, 1992, killing all three crew members.

The concept behind Airwolf was a supersonic and armed helicopter that could blend in by appearing to be civilian and non-military in origin — "a wolf in sheep's clothing". Airwolf's insignia patch, as designed by artist Andrew Probert and, as worn by the flight crew members, was a snarling wolf's head with bat wings that appeared to be wearing a sheepskin, complete with the head of the lamb over the wolf's forehead; a direct play on the saying."

This release is the original cobalt blue, and there's also a limited weathered version.

AH-64 Apache Longbow

Picked up a 1:48 scale AH-64D Apache Longbow from Franklin Mint, was contemplating a 1:72 one to be in scale with my other planes, but unfortunately there are no decent manufacturers from 1:72 apaches yet! You have Forces of Valor, but the details are icky and the paint jobs weird.

Strangely, for such a popular attack chopper, not many people make decent versions of this; i sure hope Witty or HM does make one though!

Opened the packaging to take a peek, thing is heavy! Packaging is real secure too. Details are nice, i guess there's enough room on a 1:48 chopper for all the teeny bits!

Well, actually i saw the Megafactories Documentary on the Apache, which kinda spurred me on to get this hehe! :p

Some stats :

General characteristics

• Crew: 2 (pilot, and co-pilot/gunner)
• Length: 58.17 ft (17.73 m) (with both rotors turning)
• Rotor diameter: 48 ft 0 in (14.63 m)
• Height: 12.7 ft (3.87 m)
• Disc area: 1,809.5 ft² (168.11 m²)
• Empty weight: 11,387 lb (5,165 kg)
• Loaded weight: 17,650 lb (8,000 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 23,000 lb (10,433 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × General Electric T700-GE-701 and later upgraded to T700-GE-701C (1990–present) & T700-GE-701D (AH-64D block III) turboshafts, -701: 1,690 shp, -701C: 1,890 shp, -701D: 2,000 shp (-701: 1,260 kW, -701C: 1,490 kW, -701D: 1,490 kW) each
• Fuselage length: 49 ft 5 in (15.06 m)
• Rotor systems: 4 blade main rotor, 4 blade tail rotor in non-orthogonal alignment

Armament

• Guns: 1× 30 × 113 mm (1.18 × 4.45 in) M230 Chain Gun with 1,200 rounds
• Hardpoints: Four pylon stations on the stub wings. Longbows also have a station on each wingtip for an AIM-92 ATAS twin missile pack.
• Rockets: Hydra 70 70 mm, and CRV7 70 mm air-to-ground rockets
• Missiles: Typically AGM-114 Hellfire variants; AIM-92 Stinger may also be carried.