F is for Follow-up - Rocket Launchers . . . Hing Fat

Brian Berke sent me a follow-up to the follow-up to the recent rocket launcher posts, which went on the back benches as there was nothing to put with it, but in the research for other things recently I found the truck to be Hing Fat, so the box can be ticked and another piece of the puzzle can be put to bed.

I - at first - thought it was similar to one we looked at a few weeks ago, but realised the fins are different, and while a realist/pirist will probably find it a bit crude or simplistic, it's a fine toy if you're seven, and play is what it's all about.

Of  more interest to me is the truck with its MLRS-looking bundle, as I have the trucks as unknowns (we've had a few here in a past RTM-posts) and I had the artillery-bundle, but loose and looking for its host, which I never would have believed was this truck, due to the crudity of the truck against the [seeming] better quality-finish of the launcher and turntable.

The MLRS is similar to the earlier Bundeswehr Lars/Lars-2 systems employed by West Germany back in the Cold War, and would be a fire and forget 'area denial' weapon following the WWII pattern of 'Stalin's organs' rather than the larger calibre , modern MLRS systems which are more technical, accurate, aim'able beasts. The towed-rocket is a real piece of rack-toy loveliness, channeling pulp-anthology covers, kids comic-book rocket-toys, Giles cartoons and Tin Tin's moon-shot!

Here's the truck (with added light-bar on the cab roof) on Hing Fat's Faceplant page in red and blue, which is not to say these are out there in retail land, these will we press-release shots and could include mock-ups waiting for orders before they go into production.

It's that stretcher-team again! In fact there are a couple of elements taken from Kamley (who I at first thought might be the attribution), not least the twin-radar (green Hummer) they originally had on their little trucks. I want to track down one of the Chinooks; according to their various publicity sources, they do it in about six colours?

Older, 1990's set to the left, 2006 catalogue image in the middle and the current website image (dated Jan-2016) to the right are a better confirmation of the origins of Brian's lot, the Airfix 'Strongpoint' sand-bag sanger-copy is further consolidation.

Note how there are radio-shack/office box-bodies and a canvas tilt variation as well as the rocket cassette-launcher. Thanks to Brian; a positive ID.