[JoeGTO]

Hi guys, this is my first message and yeah, I'm excited about Altaya's new 1/144th scale line. As with their 1/72nd line, they really livened things up with a variety of more obscure aircraft or famous ones that no one else makes models of. I have their "Jack" proudly on display in a diorama case. I also have their Tony, Frank, George, Oscar, Grace, Mc 205, Me109 G-10, Me 110, Ju 87, Hs 129, He 219, Do 335, La 7, Dauntless & Beaufighter! But since I was a kid, miniplanes have been a passion. I remember clearly, on my 6th birthday, picking out a Ju 87 and B-25 off of a Bachmann Miniplanes rack in the toy store of my youth. Those were my first two...After a couple of years, I had a shoebox full! If I had only kept them... Now, I have a collection of 1/144th scale WWII aircraft that is expanding; including a few old Miniplanes that I've found on ebay and antique stores. My real interest is finding some of the many WWII Japanese models made by them. It seems that only the Zero, Tony and Emily are common here although I do remember seeing some other Japanese plane at a K B Toys around 1981? or '82? when I worked there. At the time, I had lost interest in them but now (in my second childhood, lol) I would love to at least see them at last, almost 40 years later. If anyone has any pics, I'd love to see them! And, wouldn't it be cool if Altaya made some 1/144th fighters to escort these new 1/144th bombers? I have some of the 21st Century ones...not bad...they need some aligning; especially the gear but the plastic bends or can be glued. I've even included some Furutas! Know what they are? They're miniplanes that come disassembled in little eggs! But, like Altaya, there's quite a variety of obscure and even prototype aircraft that never saw combat like the Japanese versions of the German Me 262 jet & Me 163 rocket plane. Not to mention the way cool Kyushu J7W1 Shiden. Well, again, I'd love to see pics of Japanese WWII planes; in any scale but especially small scale. Thanks, Joe