[MoMo]

Nothing much to report here. I was in Edinburgh yesterday and the only intel which I picked up was that almost all of the FOV recent issues have now been transformed by having a new display window-box. If you haven't bought any of FOV's recent issues in this box, don't hold your breath. It is just a cardboard box with clear plastic windows. Better than the previous hanging box, but still nowhere near the standard of the Dragon boxes.

Take a giant leap of faith in your customers, FOV, and provide a decent display box!

MoMo

[MoMo]

Hi Guys,

Well, one of the new items from FOV has turned up in one of the Hobby Shops which I check out, every other week. As you can see it's the LCM3 Landing Craft.

It cost me £18.99 at Jaimison's Model Shop. It is now being offered at Toy box, Mail Order for £15.99+ P&P.
I am quite pleased with the model, but I'm afraid that those of you who thought that it would be a die-cast will have to be disappointed. It is made of plastic, but does have some weight. They have put in a metal slug, or some resin in the base to give it some weight.

I tested it with FOV's own Sherman. It fits, but only just! There are four lifebelts within the loading area, two mounted on the interior walls on each side, and you can just fit the Sherman between them. It does spoil the illusion, though, of the tank being able to disembark without ripping the lifebelts from the interior hull sides!

I like the detailing on this model. It looks pretty solid, and there is the trace of rust along the welds of the outer hull sides. Also some chipping and rust spots seek to promote the illusion of wear and damage.

The ramp is mounted with a piano hinge, and looks solid ( I remember the flimsiness of the old Airfix LCM3, and how easy it was to damage the ramp! )

( was this type built with steel plates? I thought that most of the Higgins boats were made of plywood? )

The set comes with three figures : two infantrymen disembarking, and one coxswain steering. There are also two guns to mount. ( are these 50 cal or heavier? They look longer and heavier than 50 Cal. ). There are also a couple of anti-tank obstacles and a couple of oildrums.

All in all, a pleasing set, although the anti-slip decking looks a little over-scale, to me. A couple of figures manning the guns would have been pleasing!

My on big criticism is that the display box is total rubbish. All the auxilliary items which add detail and animation to the set are mounted on blister panels and have to be torn free, which ruins the box for collectors who just like to display. Also, the box is cardboard and thin, clear plastic, which will not last.

Again I say, get your act together, FOV, and take some note of Dragon's efforts to provide a decent display box! If you want collectors to collect, give us something to display.



Model number :UN85042

US LCM3 LANDING CRAFT - NORMANDY 1944 with Figures


You can't see the figure of the Coxswain in this pic. You can't see the fire extiguisher which is mounted on the port side of the deck-house. You can see the guns mounted, and also those problematic life-belts!

MoMo

[MoMo]

some pics of the stuff we're all waiting for!

[SkyBuffalo]

Those poor soldiers! Lookin' kinda yellow. Hopefully they will get over their jaundice / malaria soon and get back to the fighting!

[tank nut]

I don't know about you guys but darn it I want those planes now .now , now LOL

[MoMo]

Although not strictly in the realm of the AFVs, these two newly-cast beauties have landed in the USA, according to the " Flying Mule ". They are priced at $39.99 each ( which means that they'll be double the price when they reach us here in the U.K. ! ) :

Unimax Forces of Valor 85045
B-25J Mitchell Diecast Model
USAAF 345th BG Air Apaches, Philippines, 1945

The most widely produced of the B-25 series of bombers, this aircraft featured two 1,850hp Wright Cyclone engines, an array of .50in guns, and carried up to 4,000 lbs. in bombs. Designed as a medium range bomber, B-25s served with every allied air force during WW2.

Unimax Forces of Valor

The Unimax "Forces of Valor" range presents affordable, ready-made diecast models of military aicraft.

Unimax "Forces of Valor" diecast airplanes feature:

• Diecast metal construction with some plastic components.
• Realistic panel lines, antennas, access panels and surface details.
• Pad printed markings and placards that won't fade or peel like decals.
• Optional extended/retracted landing gear.
• Fixed display stand to display the aircraft "in flight".
• Detailed pilots and crew members.
• Authentic detachable ordnance loads complete with placards.

and :

Unimax Forces of Valor 85046
B-26B Marauder Diecast Model
USAAF 387th BG, 556th BS, "Shootin In", Germany, 1945


A twin engine, medium range bomber, distinguished for its service over WW2's "Western Front". Capable of medium to low level bombing and strafing ground targets, it helped save the lives of American soldiers assaulting Utah Beach during the Invasion of Normandy.
Unimax Forces of Valor

The Unimax "Forces of Valor" range presents affordable, ready-made diecast models of military aicraft.

Unimax "Forces of Valor" diecast airplanes feature:

• Diecast metal construction with some plastic components.
• Realistic panel lines, antennas, access panels and surface details.
• Pad printed markings and placards that won't fade or peel like decals.
• Optional extended/retracted landing gear.
• Fixed display stand to display the aircraft "in flight".
• Detailed pilots and crew members.
• Authentic detachable ordnance loads complete with placards.

I think that I may be forced to buy both!

SEE MORE PICS ON VARIOUS DEALERS' SITES, OR A COUPLE OF POSTINGS ABOVE !

MoMo

[MoMo]

toybox have posted this week that the next two battle extreme sets are available in the U.K. They have priced them at £ 15.99 + postage and handling. These are the more expensive, weathered types.

I guess that these should now be available in my local hobby shops. I think that I'll go hunting tomorrow!

Has anyone come across the half-track with the 105 set? If so, what's your take on the 105?

MoMo
US M26 DRAGON TANK TRANSPORTER - FRANCE 1944

US M3A1 HALF TRACK towing 105mm HOWITZER - FRANCE 1944 with Figures

[Legio LXXII]

Originally Posted by MoMo

Has anyone come across the half-track with the 105 set? If so, what's your take on the 105?

I decided not to buy this particular set at my local Target store. Everything included with the set has been sold before with the sole exception of the artillery piece (which looked good at the store). Since that's all I'd be interested in I decided to pass as I don't need another halftrack or any of their figures which I don't like the look of anyway. You'd think they would have included a crew for the artillery piece rather than figures that have been available before.

[MoMo]

I decided not to buy this particular set at my local Target store. Everything included with the set has been sold before with the sole exception of the artillery piece (which looked good at the store). Since that's all I'd be interested in I decided to pass as I don't need another halftrack or any of their figures which I don't like the look of anyway. You'd think they would have included a crew for the artillery piece rather than figures that have been available before.

I agree absolutely with LegioLXXll,

I had a good look at the " Treasure Bunker " yesterday, and found all the new FOV items which I was looking for. Please remember that all the items are " Collector " standard, with full weathering because hobby shops here do not carry the cheaper, unweathered versions.

First, the Half-track + 105 : I had a really good look at this item in the shop. The soldiers had all been cured badly, so most of the weapons were bent! The Half-track was fine, except that the weathering looked cruder than on the previous issue. The 105 was a blob of metal with little to distinguish it as worthy of purchase ( unless you are a completist ! ). I think that it is the crudest of any metal vehicle issued by FOV, and should be consigned to the dustbin of history as quickly as possible! If this is the best that they can do with small metal items, they'd be better casting them in plastic or resin. I can remember Dinky Toys from the 50s ( e.g. the 25 pounder ) which weren't much bigger than the 105 being beautifully cast and painted in metal which would show this heap of rubbish the door!

I didn't buy one.

I did buy the Dragon Wagon, which I feel is a fine casting and assembly job but, after seeing LegioLXXll's pic of the cheaper, unweathered version I wish that I'd had one of those instead. The weathering on the tyres was half-assed. The road surface contact-points are weathered well. The tyre walls are partly weathered here and there, but not to a uniform standard. Some tyre walls were devoid of weathering paint, so they stuck out as glowing rubber/plastic.

Now to the " scraped metal " weathering : it was just awful! There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to some of the crudely dobbed metal paint on the side surfaces of the trailer. The handles of the gear shifts for the winch were dobbed in too much metal paint....grossly over scale! Where there should have been wear on the protruding areas of the flat bed, there was little! Weathering only makes sense if it appears in logical areas, not as an artistic or fantastical flourish.

I took my time selecting the best of the Dragon Wagons....some of these weathered ones were just unacceptable!

I did buy one Dragon Wagon at £18.99, but I would only buy another if I could get hold of an unweathered version and weather it myself. At £18.99 I expect better!

Now :

WARNING

I had a good look at all the new soldier sets from FOV. They were all priced at £6.99 and I would have bought the German Cavalry set and the Cossacks and the US Medics for the look of them, and to add variety to my existing sets of 1.72 model soldiers.

I did not buy any of the sets because all the horses which I viewed ( and I went through about a dozen boxes ! ) were DRUNK ! They fell this way and that way. In fact any way, but upright!

Also, most of the figures were a bit wonky, and almost all of their weapons were badly bent out of shape! This is the result of bad curing ( when plastic is cast it should be left to set properly for up to 48 hours, according to the type of plastic ), or the result of two months travelling in an over-heated container!

Whatever the problem is, you guys who buy your stuff by mail-order should be aware of this.

I liked the sets which have become available, but I looked through about 20 boxes of various sets and could not find one which I would buy. The German Cavalry set is a particularly useful one because it depicts soldiers on the move, but not in combat, and it would suit any of our members looking for a few figures to animate a display of German armour. There is a handcart, telegraph pole, some sandbags, etc. The mounted german appears to be asking directions, and one of the soldiers is helping him. I would have bought this set in a flash if it had not contained a drunken horse!

The US Medic set is dramatic and animated. I would have bought it too if the two medics had not been running at an angle of 60 degrees from the horizontal ( perhaps they were dodging one of those guns which fires round corners ! )

The Cossacks set is just as animated as any of the earlier soldier sets. The Mounted figure has his horse leaping at the enemy, sabre drawn and looks deadly. His horse appears to be over-scale. The crouching/kneeling figures are well done, but unremarkable. A good set to go with all those T34s from Dragon!

Check these out in a store, if you can, and insist on buying them only if they come up to an acceptable level of "set ", as far as pose and weapons are concerned!

HAPPY HUNTING,

MoMo

[Legio LXXII]

Sounds like you experienced the same thing I did. I went through all the FOV figure sets at both Target and Toys R Us and I couldn't find a single one that didn't have at least something wrong with it. The same problems with bent weapons, bent figures, horses running almost sideways on their side (no joke), etc.

These figures sets are pretty cheap at Target and Toys R Us, only $7 a set. I just wish I could have found one set that didn't have one of these issues.