[ Tamiya ]
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- F1 News:
- The early rumor about Lotus 79 wasn't true. Oh, well, someone
probably got confused with the reissue of 1/12 scale spare body.
HOWEVER (!), there will be a new 1/20 scale F1 kit from the 2002
season early next year. Yes!!!. The licensing issue
wasn't settled early enough to release the kit in December, but it
will be announced soon, and the kit will be ready early next
year. It will NOT be McLaren for sure, because of HIM(!), and
also it's not Tamiya's first pick (which, I think it's Toyota).
Still, it's a good news that we'll have a kit from the 2002
season. Their policy is to release at least one new kit every
year in order to keep the modelers interested in F1, and to maintain
the engineering skill. Also, the updated P34 6 wheeler was
unexpectedly sold well, so they might retool some of the old kit to
represent a specific version. But, all new classic F1 kit is
very tough to release, because both Lotus and Honda aren't selling as
quickly as the current car, which leads to the decision to stick to
the car every year. (But Tamiya do listen to customers, and read
emails and letters (in any language), so raise your voice, and never
give up.) Also, if the kit price can be raised to 3000 yen for
example, they say they can release any F1 car. The toughest
challenge Tamiya is facing these days is the licensing fee, and they
have to talk to those, who know nothing about the plastic model
market, but only ask big money, instead of the team staff and
engineers, who actually want to have or make a model of their
car. Shame shame shame.
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- The Enzo:
- The Enzo kit is absolutely incredible, period. Some people
might wonder why a 1/24 scale kit has to cost 2800 yen, but the
content of the kit, especially the level of detail is of 1/12
scale. The construction goes just like the real car, starting
from the monocock, then rear sub-frame, engine, suspensions, body
panels, and tires etc. Buying several kits, and you can make the
assembly line of the Enzo in 1/24 scale with ease. Engine block
is highly detailed, and the front suspension, which will be hidden
when completed, is also included. The Tamiya representative shyly
admitted that they went too far on this kit. :) The door hinge
is represented with a plastic parts, unlike metal of the Opel DTM kit,
and it's almost identical to the real car (slide outward and swing
up), and clear parts are snap-on, and red, orange and clear lights are
molded separately, thus no painting required. Expect the level
of detail of Fujimi's Enthusiast kit with Tamiya quality.
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- Street Car News:
- Thy are "thinking of" the release of Carrera GT and
Mercedes SLR in 1/24. They say sports and exotic sells more than
the classic or vintage cars. Also, we won't see any SUV kit in
near future. As I was watching the visitors at the Tamiya booth,
I realized that the custom parts for the GT-R V-Spec II are well
recieved, and Tamiya staff are taking notes about it. So, if you
want to see more custom parts, make sure you guy the V-Spec II kit,
and also write to Tamiya which custom you want. Nismo 350Z S-Tune,
maybe?
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WRC
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[ Fujimi ] |
Fujimi booth wasn't as crowded as the
Shizuoka show, but there are a few interesting items. It seems that
they are going to expand its Auto Gallery series. Auto gallery
series represents the street legal JGTC and S-Tai (super endurance)
replica.
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[ Aoshima ] |
Finally 20in wheel will be available, and
yes it's from no one else but from Aoshima. The first kit to have
this is the Lexus LS, but I bet there will be more.
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[ Hasegawa ] |
A surprise of the show to me is a new
polishing materials from TryMaster by Hasegawa. It's a ceramic
polishing compound and polymer coat. It's water base, so it doesn't
clog the panel lines, and even if it does, it can be washed away with
water. This is the first time ceramic and polymer is available for
hobby use, and the result is very good. It's somewhat between
Modeler's super fine compound and car wax, and it can eliminate very small
scratches, that can't be removed by Tamiya compound. It's water
base, so it doesn't attack any paint surface, and it's 100 % synthetic, so
it doesn't age. The polymer coat gives a stunning finish when
applied, and the more you add layer, richer the surface it gets.
Using a conventional eye glass cloth isn't adequate to take full advantage
of these products, so they'll release the polishing cloth at the same
time. For those who eliminate the parting line of canopy or polish
car body, these are must haves.
Hasegawa's all new car kit is the 1st gen Celica. This is
probably the first display model 1st gen Celica kit, since other ones are
meant to run by a motor.
One of my all time favorite jets is the F8 Crusader, and it will be
available from Hasegawa in 1/48 scale. These days, almost all kits I buy are
car models, but this will certainly bring me back to building an airplane
kit.
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[ Gunze ] |
I'm too lazy to build this kind myself, nor look
for alternatives, such as a food dryer, so I'll just buy one.
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