SPRING FAIR 2012 - TREASURE CHEST FOR COLLECTIBLES

Spring Fair report from David Jefferis:

Another trade show that’s running this week is the UK’s Spring Fair, held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham. While not quite as massive as the Nuremberg Toy Fair, Spring Fair is still a major footslogger that attracts more than 70,000 visitors. It’s a mega-roundup of 300,000 offered products, ranging from goodies like coffeemakers and cooking gadgets, to art prints and jewellery. And neatly stirred into the mix are halls dedicated to toys and games, aka collectibles, hobbies, and models.

Ready-builts to the front

Companies I had expected to see were there - Hornby, Maisto, Revell, among them - plus distributors like Amerang and A.B. Gee. But the real eye-opener was the quality of the ready-made collectibles on offer. Seriously, if you don’t have time, skill, or interest to build a model from scratch, then you still have the chance - and usually at highly competitive prices - to build a display collection that need be second to none. And if you want to make a collectible ‘yours’ by some judicious weathering, or minor tweaking with the finish or paint scheme, then that’s the route to having a completely unique item for your display shelf.

Neat collectibles

And it’s a winning combination - for there were dozens of collectible ranges on display at Spring Fair, featuring all the favourite suspects. Alien, Batman, Star Wars - you name the movie series, there seemed to be a collectible range for it. And of course, Harry Potter was there, with some beautifully made sculptures of Hogwarts, Harry, and more. Retro was big too, with Beatles stuff newly minted for the collector market - I just luurved the life-sized Blue Meanie (below), its grin just as mad and bad as when it first appeared in the Yellow Submarine movie, back in 1968. 

London Olympics 2012

For sports lovers, the London Olympics 2012 had its own large trade zone, with some surprisingly interesting stuff on display. Corgi had items like Olympic-themed London taxis and Underground trains. But there also were unusual items like steel-sheet stencil kits, featuring mini-models of the Olympic stadium, and a very nifty (if somewhat mysterious) three-wheeled cycle figure. And naturally enough, super-size figures of the one-eyed Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville (below) lurked here and there to trap the unwary.

Summation

Spring Fair made a fascinating trip, with a huge variety of products on offer, as you’ll be able to see from the slide show. A bonus was that after the model side of things, it was possible to check out such intriguing items as a coffee machine disguised as a Friesian cow!

London Olympics 2012 here.

Spring Fair here.

Some fairly weird Beatles stuff here.

There's more

Here's a bunch of shots I took with the trusty iPhone 3GS. They certainly show that there's plenty of variety at Spring Fair 2012.

NUREMBERG TOY FAIR 2012 - A LOOK AT REVELL’S CRYSTAL BALL

Nuremberg report:

The last few days have been busy ones in Germany, as the huge Nuremberg Toy Fair roared through its 62nd annual event. Closing the doors yesterday to more than 80,000 visitors and 70,000 new product announcements, the organizers reckon the show has once again been a big success.

Head of Revell interviewed

One notable interview was with Revell-Germany’s Managing Director, Hans Ulrich Remfert. According to Remfert, the future at Revell ought to please serious modelmakers: “We have now taken the fundamental decision to severely limit our involvement in the classic toy sector, in order to concentrate on the Revell brand and the hobby theme in general. He added: “...the company is very successful with static models and remote control models. The core of the Revell brand stands for leisure and hobbies, reliability, quality and a very good price/performance ratio.” All which sounds music to the SMN Crew’s ears.

Revell radio control

Among the recent transformations at Revell was a move into radio-control (RC), a market sector in which it currently rates third in Germany with the aptly named Revell Control model range. The upcoming Revellutions RC line sounds interesting too - according the Remfert, it will have: “...extremely cool design, which for me would be enough to set it apart from other products.” The technology sounds good: “Revellutions will, for example, operate only with gigahertz, which is certainly not what you commonly find at this price level. All the electronics will be better protected against dust and water, so that a child can drive through puddles. You can change a tyre very quickly, simply and without a tool.”

Accessory packs

Remfert went on to add that Revellutions will also offer: “...a comprehensive range of accessories under the motto “Pimp my car”. This accessories package will be a source of good extra business for the trade. The vehicles have a full set of springs that are replaceable, and all vehicles have LiPo batteries, which in itself is not new but they are housed in a hard case without a plug.” The system sounds a neat one, as Remfert added: “It works like this: take the battery out, insert it in the charger and charge the battery. The chassis are made of polymer plastic. So I think we’re offering a load of technical features and a unique design.”

New tecZone

This is something of an RC week at SMN, so Revell’s plans are especially interesting, particularly with the upcoming Revell tecZone product range, which will offer still more RC stuff. 

  

Visit Revell tecZone teaser page here.

Heaps of Revell RC stuff here.

A non-RC Revellution

We thought you'd like a look at this very handsome 1:25 scale Revell Revellution Demon Funny Car dragster build, courtesy modelmaker Doug Cole.

It's worth having a close look at Doug's Flickrstream, which shows a pile of great builds here.

FUJIMI ‘BLADE RUNNER’ SPINNER - BUILDUP REPORT

Mat Irvine update:

After my initial report on Fujimi’s surprise release of the 1:24 scale Spinner Police Car from the classic science-fiction movie Blade Runner, here’s how I worked to complete the model.

Hard to find details

Frankly, one major problem was finding enough references, to check details when building the model. The obvious starting point might be the movie itself, but a glance at Blade Runner makes you realise that the future-view of Ridley Scott (and of author Philip K. Dick, for that matter) is pretty dank and dismal. Most Spinner shots show a cityscape shrouded in smog and rain, so trying to ascertain details direct from the movie is not worth the bother - frankly, forget it! There is however logical reasoning in that if this is how Spinners appear on-screen, it’s how they should be depicted, but even here one has to start somewhere.

Magazines to the rescue

Given the popularity of Blade Runner, I would have thought that details would be everywhere, from publications of the time and online, but it isn’t so. Fortunately, two revered publications from 1982 - Cinefantastique and Cinefex - did show such details. Cinefantastique’s double-issue, Vol 12, Numbers 5 and 6, and Issue 9 of Cinefex contained features that helped with my build considerably.

Shot in Los Angeles

Even so, there are areas of debate, even down to the main exterior colour. Yes, it’s ‘blue’ but what shade, exactly? The few colour photos that exist of the full-size car, (there were a number of miniatures) tend to show it as a fairly light blue, but the movie shots indicate it was darker, in fact more how you’d expect a police car to look! In fact, the differences in shade are almost certainly down to where the movie was made, not at a UK film studio, where many sci-fi movies of the time were shot, but in Los Angeles, where the sunshine is - most of the time - pretty bright, which was almost certainly the reason for the washed-out blue, when the car was photographed outside. Consequently, I chose Testors Dark Blue enamel, though other model paint companies have similar shades.

Two sci-fi movies

You can choose between ground or flight modes for this 1:24 scale Fujimi Spinner, though as the differences are purely down to the front wheel and cover positions, it’s possible to let the model be convertible, one to the other. Fujimi does not supply a display stand with the Spinner kit, which is a pity if you want it in flight mode - the Aoshima DeLorean from Back To The Future II (BttFII) rightly comes with one. Incidentally, there is a connection between these two movies - in the Town Square shots of BttFII, you can spot a Spinner and a number of other futuristic movie cars that were used to fill parking slots!

Ground to flight mode

The two items that move when a Spinner translates from ground to flight mode are the front wheels, which fit higher up, and the covers, which swing through 90 degrees. The Spinner’s underside is finished in the same blue. Note the ventral viewports for the police aboard to see the ground below their feet, and the onboard lights for illumination at night.

Gene Winfield’s Spinner

Cinefantastique page featuring an actual 1:1 scale Spinner, built by car customizer Gene Winfield. Note the photo at the bottom shows the washed-out light blue, and how clean the vehicle is - the exterior detailing, decals, and dirt, had yet to be added!

Mr J note:

The website Starship Modeler has a detailed look at this Fujimi kit, together with some brickbats and bouquets, so you might wish to go over and have a look. Mind you, good or bad, this is the only injection-moulded plastic kit to this scale...

Spinner and Blade Runner stuff here.

Previous SMN Spinner articles here and here.

Starship Modeler here.

Cinefantastique here.

Cinefex here.

Thanks to Hobby Link Japan who supplied the review kit.

INCOMING - GREAT PLANES F-86 SABRE RADIO-CONTROL JET

SMN report:

We’re not radio control (RC) experts here at SMN, but a chance meeting last weekend with the charming lady organizer of the UK’s biggest RC event had us thinking on the subject. So we had a look around to see what’s new in the world of RC stuff, and this Great Planes F-86 Sabre certainly looked the part.

Ducted fan beauty

This RC model is a fair replica of a fine combat jet, the North American F-86 Sabre. And what’s more, this Great Planes interpretation is powered by an Electric Ducted Fan (EDF) which hides a fan-cum-propeller buried deep inside the Sabre’s fuselage. 

Rotor inside

Visually at least, this Sabre looks like a jet, even if the reality is that there’s no hot fire cooking inside that lightweight plastic shell. In fact, the power is from a small brushless electric motor, which spins a three-bladed rotor at the core of the HyperFlow ducted fan unit.

Batteries included

Motor and full RC gear are supplied in the Great Planes box, as are batteries and charger. The plane comes ready to fly, so you’ll need to spend very little time before taking that first test flight. One downer - to us scale fans anyway - is the spidery landing gear, resembling nothing ever sported by a real-life Sabre. Fair enough, the gear needs to be lightweight, but it’s a pity it couldn’t look just a little more substantial. Incidentally, the cockpit canopy does double-duty, as it lifts away from magnetic catches to allow easy access to the batteries.

Big but light

The Great Planes F-86 Sabre has a wingspan of 381 mm (15 in) making it around the 1:30 scale mark - nearly the same as 1:32, so it could sit on display with 1:32 plastic kits on display, or even with model cars including 1:32 scale Scalextric slot racers. For all its size, remember this is a flying machine, so the construction is largely of foam plastic, allowing this Sabre to tip the scales at a featherlight 67 gr (2.35 oz).

There’s more...

Here’s a picture of the real thing, with a flight of F-86 Sabres commanded by Colonel Ben O. Davis, of the US Air Force 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing, during the Korean War.

..and more

We’ll have a closer look at the upcoming RC ‘Wings & Wheels Model Spectacular’ later this week - it looks a great day out this coming June.

Visit Great Planes here.

All sorts of RC gear here.

Prefer scale kits? Try Sabre stuff here - and do note the 1:18 scale ready-built... wow!

TRIBUTE TO THE SPACE SHUTTLE FROM AIRFIX

Weekend read from Mat Irvine:

As the last of the Airfix space launchers to receive a makeover, the updated 1:144 scale Space Shuttle was released to coincide with the last-ever Space Shuttle mission, STS-135 in July 2011, when the Orbiter Atlantis made its 33rd and final flight. So how did Airfix do with the makeover?

My involvement

At this point I have to add: firstly, that the plastic in the kit remains as it was before, and secondly, that I was involved with the reissue, having been asked by Airfix to update the plans and make recommendations for the decal sheet. I have done this with previous space reissues, and also for the last major Shuttle update, a Humbrol production carried out in 1999. 

Mike Trim and Jonathan Mock

So what about the Airfix Space Shuttle this time? Although you don’t get any new parts, you do get fresh box-art by Mike Trim, who also did previous rocket reissues. There are new plans and an even larger decal sheet, drawn by Jonathan Mock.

Both the old (left) decal sheet and new (right) were a vast change from the meagre set you got with the original kit (top left). Jonathan Mock has added many new markings, and arrangement drawings with markings for various Orbiter schemes are included. 

Components aplenty

You get almost 100 parts. New components I would have liked were in the payload bay, which still carries a generic Spacelab, which - because it is one moulding with the cargo bay itself - makes changing payloads difficult.

But with the Shuttle built as intended, in Full Stack configuration on the pad with Solid Rocket Boosters, the cargo bay doors are closed anyway, so this may not come into the equation.

Details from NASA

The Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) page of the plans (above). In reality they had to be kept generic for all SRBs from STS-3 onward, not forgetting that STS 1 and 2 had their External Tanks (ETs) painted white. For more info visit NASA for mission pix, and I can also recommend Mike Mackowski’s excellent Space in Miniature Volume 3.

Mat’s mods

I built this Airfix Space Shuttle with the payload bay changed from that supplied with the kit. New sides have been built and the payload modified (above). The forward ISS docking module actually comes with the 1:144 scale Intermountain-Railway (IMR) kit of the International Space Station (ISS).

Grey not white

One slight oddity (and one I didn’t realise until I actually got a production kit) is that the plastic is moulded in the now-standard Airfix light grey, not the original - and arguably more appropriate - white. But given that the vast majority of these kits will be painted anyway, this is perhaps no big deal. The kit still makes a fine tribute to this unique spacecraft, now firmly a part of the history books.

Visit Mike Trim here.

Visit Mike Mackowski here.

Buy the Airfix Space Shuttle here.

Visit Intermountain-Railway here.

2012 INCOMING - 1:12 SCALE CITROEN 2CV FROM OTTOMOBILE

SMN report:

Due soon from OttOmobile of France is a 1:12 scale model of a famous ‘ugly duckling’, the Citroen 2cv. The curious little machine was built from 1948-1990, during which time more than 3.5 million were produced. This OttO model is interesting for its portrayal of the rarest 2cv made, the twin-engine Safari.

Off-road cruiser
Built to cross ultra-difficult off-road terrain, just 694 2cv Safaris were built, target buyers being the French military, police, and oil companies, all of whom needed the extra mobility provided by the Safari version.

What’s different about the OttOmobile model?

OttO has modelled the unusual nature of the 2cv Safari well, with the spare wheel now carried over the front engine bay, in a specially-pressed metal dish. At the back, storage behind the rear seats was taken up by the second engine, though the unobservant could be forgiven for not realising it - all you can see is an intake grille. Still, it’s neatly presented in OttO’s version, as is the characteristic ‘sit’ of the car, with raised suspension for off roading with front and rear drive systems in place. 

Don’t break those eggs!

In fact, one of the design drivers for the original 1948 2cv was to be able to cross a ploughed field carrying a crate of - unbroken - eggs, so it shouldn’t have been too much of a problem for Citroen engineers to add more of the same mountain goat ability with the limited-edition 2cv Safari.

Coming in April

OttO has presented the rest of the Citroen 2cv Safari neatly enough, as you can see from the pictures. At this scale though, it might be nice to see working windows, especially as the real thing had simple opening flaps in the front, rather than winders. The Citroen 2cv Safari is planned for April release, and as ever with OttO productions, it’s wise to place an order as soon as possible, as the company’s productions are often sellouts.

The real thing, Citroen 2cv Safari seen at a classic car meeting.

What about a 2cv kit?

Apart from the Safari version, which is unique to OttOmobile, there are plenty of 2cv kits around, one of the best being from Japan, in the form of the 1:24 scale Tamiya kit (above). It’s a typically thorough Tamiya production, with body and interior in white plastic, engine components in dark grey, detailed floorpan in black. Bright parts such as mirrors and lamps are chrome-plated, and decals include a choice of European or Japanese number plates.

Strange styling

Tamiya have also included in the smaller scale an item missing from the OttO model - the bottom half of the driver’s window flips up to the open position. The bizarre styling of the 2cv is one of this writer’s favourite automotive oddities, so it’s good to see its lines followed faithfully in the model. Items like the leading and trailing arm suspension are moulded accurately and, like the real thing, you can have the top open or closed, with convincingly textured canvas-look roof components supplied for either choice. When assembled, the Tamiya Citroen 2cv Safari measures 156 mm (6.1 in) long.

Kitbasher-Club choices

Here are two thoughts for something different in the world of French ugly ducklings. The hot rod (above) comes from Yasi Design and ought to be an easy mod if you like that sort of thing (here's a thumbs-up from the SMN Crew), while the sketch (below) is an official concept for what may be a retro-look car of the nearish future. It’s called the Revolte, which is - somewhat unsurprisingly in these green-tinged times - conceived as an eco-electric vehicle. Sorta cute, in an ugly way, and clearly stays with the spirit of the original 2cv.

Pic of Citroen Safari courtesy ‘ChiemseeMan’.

Visit OttOmobile here.

OttO stuff also available here.

A host of Citroen 2cv models here, including the Tamiya 1:24 scale version. Take your pick!

Visit Yasi Design here.

Visit the Citroen Revolte here.

Bonus pic - here's are three early 2cv models of the late 1940s. The tin-can looks make later versions, especially the swoopily-painted Charleston editions, look positively stylish!

2012 INCOMING - ‘BIG DOG’ HUNTER-KILLER ROBOT PROWLER

SMN update:

We reported on the upcoming ‘Grosser Hund’ Maschinen Krieger (Ma.K) sci-fi kit in October 2011, and now it’s here - big, bold and nasty, but apparently without a set of gnashing metal fangs. The Grosser Hund (‘Big Dog’) is the latest 1:20 scale kit from Hasegawa, featuring the science-fiction universe first created in the 1980s by the Japanese artist, Kow Yokoyama.

Moving parts

This latest Ma.K model is a new-tool miniature, dubbed in full the 'Humanoid Unmanned Interceptor Grosser Hund.' The 1:20 scale robotic beast, a combat machine belonging to Ma.K’s ‘Strahl Demokratische Republik’, has 196 components. Many of these are moveable, using press-on poly-caps at the joints of the limbs and head.

Two legs or four?

The Grosser Hund is at least as good as previous Ma.K kits from Hasegawa. The components are crisply moulded, with a claw-like front ‘paw’ beautifully crafted. The backpack comes complete with assorted equipment, including tube launchers and heat-dissipating exhaust fins. Transparent components are included for the various sensor heads set in the head, torso and left frontal limb. Note that while this model is named Big Dog, if built as supplied, it’ll be standing erect as a biped and the front left leg has a sensor, rather than a paw at its end. But there’s no reason why you couldn’t kitbash another paw if you wish to portray Grosser Hund in four-footed mode.

Custom colours

Decals are supplied for several different robobeasts, and as shown in our Hasegawa-supplied pix, Grosser Hund comes in a nifty camo paint job. However, there’s nothing to stop you going ahead with custom finishes of your own choosing - perhaps a stealth black for night-ops, or sand-and-tan for desert combat. The same is true for the weapons-fit, not forgetting that this is after all a fictional creation - so the universe is your oyster unless you stick closely to the Ma.K future-history ‘Year 2800’ timeline. 

Summation

However you choose to build your Grosser Hund, completing one straight from the box is a fine option, as you can see here.  All in all, it’s a brilliant piece of kit-engineering that, with careful painting, will look good in the lineup of any sci-fi collection. We’d like to see a diorama of a Big Dog combat pair, maybe restrained on suitably tech-look leashes by their hunt-boss, which of course has to be one of the other Ma.K kits, perhaps one of the excellent fighting suits available.  

Previous SMN Ma.K article here, including the 1:20 scale Ketzer fighting suit from kit-maker Wave.

Buy the Ketzer fighting suit here.

More background info on Maschinen Krieger here.

Grosse Hund available from Hobby Link Japan here.