Model Kit Builder » Figures

Taisho – revival of a vintage white metal figure kit

Klaus Weitzel — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:05:19 +0000

Most of you will have followed the “long” negotiations between Gustavo and me about the loan of the original Taisho kit here. and some might be quite exited about the closure of the deal. The kit is now ready and I got a first copy (OK … part of the deal).

Head with helmet

Detail of the face with it's features

So, for those of you who are interested in purchasing this kit it is available on E-Bay by Gustavo under his seller name “miniatnapoleon“. He does have quite some other good figures listed there as well, so if you are interested in figures and are looking for some great and inexpensive figure kits, pay his auctions a visit … it’s well worth it. Even with the very moderate (!) shipping costs on top you get a great kit for a fraction of the price of an original!

British infantry on Patrol … assembly started

Klaus Weitzel — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 21:14:17 +0000

I started the Brits from Tamiya already, like I wrote. Here are at least some images.

Frontside of the figures

Backside of the figures

The assembly did go quite easy, like expected since the parts are grouped by figure. Funnily enough, some of the figures where going together like a breeze but others had to be worked (sanded, scraped, etc.) a bit to make them fit. Next will be the painting, I started with the primer on the bodies since the add-on parts will be going on later.

Since i use white primer this is also the time when I see the left over seams best as well, so after this round of priming I can properly rework them.

Frontside of the primed figures

backside of the primed figures

British infantry on Patrol … in 1:35

Klaus Weitzel — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:17:35 +0000

I bought this Tamiya set while we where on a visit in Italy. And, since our neighbours had a long house-warming party I started assembling the figures. The kit consists of 2 bags. The first bag contains the figures themselves. The parts are grouped together by figure. That means no long search for parts. The second bag consists of 2 sprue of the same kind, the accessories. Cool, we will have some leftovers for the spare parts box.

The front of the box

The back serves also the instruction sheet

Overall I think the quality is typical Tamiya, nicely done, well engineered. Only few seams and flush lines needed cleaning before assembly.Due to the fact that the bodies are grouped on the sprue this part of the assembly leaves no questions open unless you want to customise the figures.

The 2 parts bags

And the complete parts

For example you should have left over a Bren Mk. II Machine gun, a Sten Mk. II Machine pistol and a Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk. I Rifle. A couple of small parts like ammo puches and field cups (yes, they are included) and a helmet should be “obsolete” as well.

Odo – Star Treck Deep Space 9

Klaus Weitzel — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:32:55 +0000

Odo is the Security Chief of space station Deep Space 9 of the extended Star Trek Universe. This kit here is a 12″ (30cm) plastic kit by AMT/ERTL. Since it is completely wrapped I can not open it at this moment. But this also gives me the certainty that I will be dealing with a complete kit and not with bunch of loose parts.

Currently it is quite hard to find anything about this kit except of shopping sites. At least a couple of nice image slices can be seen here. I will get at least some original images of my box up shortly.

Taisho – a Ray Lamb original

Klaus Weitzel — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:34:05 +0000

This is most probably the 1 kit I will never do or at least no in the near future. My Dad bought this kit in the UK in the 70s or 80s. It’s a 6″ white metal kit of a Japanese Samurai.

Taisho - a Ray Lamb original - komplete Box

Taisho - a Ray Lamb original - Paint Chart

I don’t think I’d have any issues building it but the painting is definitely not within my reach. The Detailing is just too fine for me. Anyway, on the site linked here are a couple of images of this great kit: http://www.geocities.com/amvcmodelistas/body2c4.htm. After you have seen the paintchart above and the images on this site, you’ll understand why I am not (yet at least) up to the painting. Here are some more Picures …

Taisho - a Ray Lamb original - Head detail

Taisho - a Ray Lamb original - Parts 1

Taisho - a Ray Lamb original - Parts 2

Taisho - a Ray Lamb original - Parts 3