Clearly not cleared thoroughly enough .
. .
. . . as they are now appearing under Solido's banner, shipped-in to the UK by
Amerang, good news if you like AFV's,
excellent news is you're building war-gaming armies and feel you don't have the
prerequisite modelling skills?
On display was a selection of WWII AFV's
and aircraft, along with a nice Korean War Patton I and Vietnam-era Huey
'Slick'. The full range (as seen before) has more modern-era stuff in the
line-up, but then the aircraft are from a previously different/separate part
work series (currently still running in the UK I believe (forthcoming post - if
I ever find time!)), so I'm guessing Solido
have chosen the more popular subjects from both ranges to maximise sales and
minimise further 'clearance'!
Basically - some manufacturer in China has
developed exquisite ranges of AFV's and aircraft in a constant 1:72nd scale,
with fine plastic detailing on die-cast bodies - which rival the best Corgi has to offer, and they are selling
them (as contract-manufacture) to anyone who wants them, and about six brands/publishers,
so far, have taken-up that opportunity. Except . . . of cource . . . it's at
least two factories; as we saw here.
Consequently they are not rare, and those
eBay bottom feeders who bulk-purchased at 2 or 3-quid from The Works and them put them on the feebleBay for 6, 8, or 10-smackers-a-pop,
should be taken outside and shot for the black-marketeers they are! [Not so 'far
left' now, am I James? Seems I can be as right wing as you and your Mosque
floor-plan researching, gun-loving bred'rin!]
Panther 'Coelian', an experimental vehicle
which saw little or no service, hence the unpainted, surface-rusted turret.
Like Flak-panzer IV 'Kugelblitzen', 'Maus'es' (mice? Misen? Misen to picen!)
and E100's, there are X10-many more in war games armies than ever
left the factories it's all a bit silly, really! Wouldn't stop me buying one
though - ah, yes; the hypocrisy of the pink monkeys!
Safer ground with a Patton tank - painted
by Dr. No's henchmen it seems! Didn't save the Gloster's did it . . .
fussa-russa!
But a nice model of a machine which - where
previously issued in this size - has always been highly inaccurate, whether
Japanese pull-back or clockwork's imported by Riko or the Airfix
'readymade' which couldn't decide if it was an M '46, '47 or '48 or what it's
turret should look like (despite trying two designs!) in the 1960's or later Hong
Kong stuff based on Blue Box's effort
copied by Rado, et al in the 1970/80's .
. . hell - they still turn-up; horrible little squat-lumps of wasted
polyethylene!
Lovely! What can you say, better that
Airfix, Hasegawa or Fujimi, that's for sure, and the fact that the anhanger
(trailer) tractor behind has a different camouflage and no tilt, while the
gun-tractor has a full tilt (apparently in two parts), suggests multiple
purchases could be cross pollinated to quickly produce a fleet of (6?)
different-looking vehicles.
Hugh's Aircraft Corporation Utility
Helicopter 1 . . . B! I think this is actually painted-up as a South Vietnamese
airframe of the type thrown into the sea in large numbers at the end, as US
Aircraft Carriers and amphibious assault ship's decks filled with the fleeing
regime's hardware? Loving the tiger-stripes!
In the background is an AMX, is it painted
for Chad or South Africa or somewhere like that? And if you're thinking it has
limited use on the war game's table, I can assure you the 3rd Fantasian Motor Rifle
Division had a heavy reconnaissance regiment requiring 9 of them on the table!
A couple more in the box, I NEED a Protz! I
think the Flak-panzer IV 'Wirblewind' is the same model Matchbox branded about 15 years ago, which would make them the
first to carry these models (albeit as a small and hard to find range), long
before Altaya (or was it Eaglemoss?!) et al, and further
suggest that at least one of the contract manufacturer's may be (or have been)
part of the Universal Group?
War
Master from Solido
via Amerang, ex-everybodyelse! Get 'em when you see 'em or you'll be paying double
on evilBay in a few years time! Or - as they aren't that cheap anyway - wait
and see if they are churned through The
Works or TKMaxx in a year or two
- somewhere in the Far East, there's a warehouse the size of an aircraft-hanger
(or two); full of 'em!!
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