[91ken]

Hi folks, I just signed on here today. I have a small collection of diecasts, a little of everything; aircraft, armor and historical vehicles. Most of my stuff leans toward modern vehicles. Some of my favorites are my Corgi 1:72 Seaking Presidential helicopter (Marine 1) and my Atlas 1:144 Tu-95 bomber.
I'm also aching to get this bad boy:



I recently noticed a manufacturer named Del Prado, or Delprado, whichever way it's spelled. I noticed there are a small number of Del Prado tanks appearing on ebay, like this one currently.
My question is, what is the quality of Del Prado? Also, the detailed description of this particular item says that it is a "Replica model". What does that mean? Does it mean that it is a counterfit Chinese ripoff and not really Del Prado?

Thanks,
Ken

[Captain Eddie]

Ken, I know nothing about diecast tanks, as I don't collect them (that being the case, how come I have TWO of' them???), so I cannot answer your question, but I's sure Tank Nut or someone else will be along to answer your question......but.......WELCOME TO THE ASYLUM!

[Cruver Collecter]

Welcome to the forum, and I am sure somebody here will have the answer to your question. Nice looking B-52 model you planning on adding to your collection. I provided aircrew weather briefs to B-52 aircrews for just a little over ten years of my military service (Just over 4 years at Castle AFB and a little over 6 years at Barksdale AFB), I have seen lots of B-52s and even got to go up in one when I was stationed at Castle AFB. For a short period of time a few of us weather forcasters got to go up to get an idea how weather actually effected flight operations. Riding downstairs is not to much fun, upstairs was pretty cool.

[Epapazian]

Welcome to the forum. I'm sure that you will find it an interesting experience.

As for your question about Del Prado, there's a site----Mike's Tanks and Armour-----that has pictures of some of these models, which he says were made in 2004. They look interesting, however I don't have any, so I will leave this for others to comment on.

[Art LeBrun]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

Welcome to the forum, and I am sure somebody here will have the answer to your question. Nice looking B-52 model you planning on adding to your collection. I provided aircrew weather briefs to B-52 aircrews for just a little over ten years of my military service (Just over 4 years at Castle AFB and a little over 6 years at Barksdale AFB), I have seen lots of B-52s and even got to go up in one when I was stationed at Castle AFB. For a short period of time a few of us weather forcasters got to go up to get an idea how weather actually effected flight operations. Riding downstairs is not to much fun, upstairs was pretty cool.

The ex-Castle AFB Museum has a great outdoor collection of aircraft: B-23, Vulcan, B-47, B-36, interior tour KC-97, B-25, B-24, B-17, B-29, C-46, F-104, etc
Well worth a visit.

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by Art LeBrun

The ex-Castle AFB Museum has a great outdoor collection of aircraft: B-23, Vulcan, B-47, B-36, interior tour KC-97, B-25, B-24, B-17, B-29, C-46, F-104, etc
Well worth a visit.

When I was stationed there the museum also had a hangar on base that they used to store some of their aircraft and also had shelves loaded with old aircraft parts. There was also a Schweitzer-CG-3A-glider hanging from the ceiling in the same hangar. Some of the parts on the shelves where pretty cool, remember one that had a dorsal turret for a B-18. The museum also had a Sopwith Pup back then and curious if they still have it. Just before I left Castle they had a B-36 that had been at Chanute AFB and wonder if it is there on display now.

[Rush104]

Welcome to the forum, 91ken!

[91ken]

Originally Posted by Epapazian

Welcome to the forum. I'm sure that you will find it an interesting experience.

As for your question about Del Prado, there's a site----Mike's Tanks and Armour-----that has pictures of some of these models, which he says were made in 2004. They look interesting, however I don't have any, so I will leave this for others to comment on.

Thank you for all the welcoming replies. I'll check out Mike's Tanks and Armour site.

[jim]

A warm welcome to you 91ken,

Hang on to your wallet , its gonna be a stormy ride !

[Paladin18]

Hi Ken,

Interestingly, I saw a couple of Del Prado miniature tanks on sale at a local hobby shop specialising in Japanese figurines and toys (same place I got my Targa 1/48mm sectional Tiger I). The packaging was all in Japanese, so I wasn't able to extract much info except noting that it came in a rather strange 1/60 scale. I'd ask the shop owner for more details the next time I pay the shop a visit.

On a similar note, I was wondering if you had come across the series of military miniatures by Altaya. I presume from your curiosity of Del Prado's products that the Altaya stuff might interest you. I think you can view the whole collection on its French and Spanish websites, e.g. altaya.fr or altaya.es. I came to know of it when I was working in Geneva, Switzerland some years back. It's still on sale on the Altaya websites. Altaya also has a pretty neat figurine collection of medieval knights and modern-day special forces.

The tank collection consists of 50 models in 1/72 scale, comprising vehicles from both WW2 and moderan eras. The intersting thing about Altaya's armour collection is that it carries models which no other manufacturer is currently producing, e.g. Merkava, Somua, T-80, M13/40 and the Japanese Type 61! I did not collect them partly because I felt they looked really like toys and lacked the kind of details I demanded.

The plane collection consists of the fighter (1/72 scale) and bomber (1/144 scale) series. I currently only have the Spitfire - one of the few diecast planes in my otherwise armour-dominated collection (bought the A6M5 Zero and P-51D as well but gave them to my Swiss landlord's 14-year old son as a parting gift when I returned to Singapore in 2006.) Looks very nice, to me at least.

Paladin