1/35 Modelkasten Fireball SG and Prowler SG with Pilot

[Skinnybob]

HLJ is now stocking these new 1/35 suits and figures ... haven't seen them mentioned yet
http://www.hlj.com/product/MDKMK-17
http://www.hlj.com/product/MDKMK-18
Would be cool for fleshing out a space hangar dio 

[nitevision92]

Awesome. Time to buy me a pair of these- I wonder if the hatch can be opened though. Or maybe a 1/35 open suit?
Thanks for the heads up!

[Maschinen Krueger]

I wonder if the hatch can be opened though. Or maybe a 1/35 open suit?
Thanks for the heads up!

I doubt it considering

This item is a posable, older-type injection-plastic kit of an item from the Gundam universe.

Huh?

These are probably the Hasegawa kits from the Luna Diver release reboxed and with bonus figure.

[Hollow Eyes]

That's what I was thinking...

[Skinnybob]

These are probably the Hasegawa kits from the Luna Diver release reboxed and with bonus figure.

You are right ... Hase suits with new resin figs. Translation from the Modelkasten site ...

? The photograph is a complete sample.
? Naoyuki Uehara / Production ? paint finish Hiroshi Yokoyama pilot figure / poem recorded Omori / production Fireball Fireball SG SG · Prowler
? Fireball body adopts a plastic injection kit Hasegawa, enter each on earth.
? The Fireball SG are type A, the SG Prowler pilot figure is made of cast resin type B are included with each integral.
? Sculpted heel is in charge of Mr. Saito worked on a number of Ma.K. related modeling, boasting the power of the championship showdown at the summit sponsored by Banpresto king-molding.
? You can enjoy sharp molding does not feel that it is a scale as small as 1/35.
? are the same products and new production, was sold at the venue ? Wonder Festival 2012 comes with decal input unit mark of [winter], the current net mail order only is in handling.

[roboterkampf]

Nice to see Heel-san is in MaK still.

[dr_robo]

Man when are we going to get ground Merc suits? I would be so down for 1/35 scale if there was a little more variety there. As it stands the selection, while wonderful in of itself, just doesn't do it for me.

[Skinnybob]

Man when are we going to get ground Merc suits?

Probably not until Hasegawa releases a 1/35 Merc terrestial vehicle kit.
Until then you'll have to make do with the yellow sub vinyl figs and the hard to find B&Z 1/35 resin suits.

[dr_robo]

Welp. I would love to have a squad of SAFSs tearing it up with a squad of PKA Gs. or Mels going door to door against dug in Raptors. So many options out there for 1/35th.

[Hollow Eyes]

What I don't understand is why more stuff isn't produced for Ma.K.

Surely there's enough demand for it because new kits run out quickly once released, and older kits demand sometimes stupid prices on EBay. The reports on here about the WF shows in Japan all talk about the limited-liscensed products like transkits and small run items being snapped up. Recasters make a killing on EBay. There's even pictures of Ma.K./SF3D exhibitions in Japan...

So why do the model manufacturers keep on churning out the old stuff, repackaged as new stuff? I know it's good in a way because it lets people who've missed the first run of something get a second chance, but I wonder why there's not more genuinely newer stuff?

Just wondering .

[nitevision92]

What I don't understand is why more stuff isn't produced for Ma.K.

Surely there's enough demand for it because new kits run out quickly once released, and older kits demand sometimes stupid prices on EBay. The reports on here about the WF shows in Japan all talk about the limited-liscensed products like transkits and small run items being snapped up. Recasters make a killing on EBay. There's even pictures of Ma.K./SF3D exhibitions in Japan...

So why do the model manufacturers keep on churning out the old stuff, repackaged as new stuff? I know it's good in a way because it lets people who've missed the first run of something get a second chance, but I wonder why there's not more genuinely newer stuff?

Just wondering .

Well nothing in Ma.K really is new, unless by "new" you mean new-tool styrene kits. Most designs have already been released in one form or another (full resin kits/transkits). Granted, there are still some designs that have not appeared in physical form outside of scratch build (Was there ever a resin Sirene kit? Edit: Yes there was, Tenbowkissa). Barring a major catastrophe e.g MaK being made illegal 99% of the designs should be released in good time.

What I really don't get is the general short-run nature of the hobby- especially regarding the 1/20 offerings by Wave and 3Q.

Back on topic- I ordered a pair of SGs (mainly for the figure, planning some sort of "ace pilot" display) and someone is already selling a Fireball/Prowler pair for $149 on eBay already. Hopefully my stuff passes through processing before some mad rush depletes all the stock.

[dr_robo]

That is a good point. You never see armor guys all drooling over a kit on ebay for three times the original cost. They don't have 'stashes' because when they finish a build they -know- there will be another kit waiting to be purchased. It isn't like Tamiya is going to discontinue selling tanks any time soon.

Meanwhile, the Fireball comes out and we buy three and wonder how long we'll have them for before they are only found on ebay and private sellers.

[Maschinen Krueger]

That is a good point. You never see armor guys all drooling over a kit on ebay for three times the original cost.

Sure they do. "Limited Edition" Cyber Hobby DAK Tiger 1 just sold for $500 and a Ferhmann for $200. Too much for kits that sold for ~$50 not that long ago. Every model genre has its set of fans willing to shell out buck for that hard to find item.

Resin figures. Thanks for the info Dan.

[Leopard214]

Sure they do. "Limited Edition" Cyber Hobby DAK Tiger 1 just sold for $500 and a Ferhmann for $200. Too much for kits that sold for ~$50 not that long ago. Every model genre has its set of fans willing to shell out buck for that hard to find item.

If you see them as collection items, yes.
But if you just want to build a Tiger, you can find one easily without having to sell a kidney.

[dr_robo]

Right. If I wanted to build a Super Jerry I can't choose between the Tamiya, Academy, Trumpeter, and Bronco versions, each readily available at my local hobby shop.

[Reluctant01]

I agree with many of the sentiments on this board.  If Ma.K. were to go into continuous production, the companies would make a killing.  At first, I would say put the most popular into an "available" all the time status, such as the Krote, SAFS, etc, and then release the special edition "variants" as limited run.  If any of the SE models have a huge demand, then try releasing them into regular production.

I would also like to see "upgrade" sets released.  What I mean by that is that instead of releasing just the whole kit of a "super jerry", release a set of "Super Jerry" parts that can be used to upgrade a separate Jerry kit.  I think that a line could be drawn with kits like the Gans, which is actually a combination of two or three kits, and the extra parts are actually a substantial amount of the kit, but it would be nice to see them release, say a Kuster, with complete Krote parts, but the extras for the Kuster, and then release an upgrade set, with only the sprues for the Kuster. 

PE and other AM parts would be a discussion for another time.  However, I would like to see the Falke PE released for general pruchase.

[dr_robo]

As nice as that would be, I think Ma.k would lose it's cult status, you know? The hardcore fans willing to spend $200USD for a WF limited production resin trans kit doodad.

That being said, Gundam builders don't know how nice they have it. Kits that I bought back in 2005 are still in production, and they release like forty new kits a year. Granted, they're all Ashtray [color] Frame or that Gundam Underage stuff, but a release is a release.


If I could log onto HLJ and buy a Krote whenever I had a wild hair, or a Gans, or a Mel, or Kauz, or whatever I would lose my mind. Well, I'd be paranoid that the goodness wouldn't last and I'd buy eighteen of everything. Then I'd watch and wait for them to stop... then gradually as it dawned on me that they Wave and Hasegawa were doing full on production runs I would look at my huge stash and sigh, totally depressed. I caught myself trying to order 150 bucks worth of 1/35th armor the other day because 'what if I come back and there are none left!?' then I remembered that Trumpeter actually likes their customers. 

[Lincoln Wright]

This is a very complicated subject but the skinny is that it costs a great deal to keep kits constantly available. It keeps costs down to do a run, move on to another one, do a run and so on and you can plan your revenue and stay in business. Production is pegged at recent demand.

The legacy companies do it because they still have vast storage and logisitics capabilities. Tamiya, Hasegawa, Bandai but they hurting for doing it too. Its an outdated model based on a bygone era of incredible sales and profits that are now impossible. New companies don't do it, like MENG, Finemoulds and WAVE and never will. Their businesses are set up on the run model.

For WF, I'm also set up on the run model and it worked quite well, we are sold out and hit our targets nicely.  Sure there is still some demand unfulfilled but we can do another run within 6 mths which will help people to focus.

Does that make sense? These are all products made to sell, not to store. With such tight margins and competition for shelf space, we have to work business models that keep us in business or there wouldn't even be runs. There would be nuthin!

In a way, this is why some folks can charge you a premium for an out of production kit. They have been paying storage on it and pass that cost on to you. No, I don't want to pay it either and instead plan my purchases on available kits and add them to my stash.

[dr_robo]

That's actually really informative, Lin.k. I was just expecting you to say something smart-ass and disappear into the night! 

So Meng is on the run model, too? I'm glad I snapped up their Hilux kits already. Do you think the major players will convert to that model? Do I need to be buying 14 Tiger I Early production kits!? I AM BUYING 14 TIGER I EARLY PRODUCTION KITS RIGHT NOW.

[gausswerks]

Seconding that, very helpful rundown, Lin.K. I know so little about the industry behind kit making, but logistics/storage being a big deal makes total sense.

[dr_robo]

Keep your filthy hands off my Tiger I's!!

[nitevision92]

At risk of derailing the thread even further- is there any licensing /copyright stuff that prevents companies from releasing their own tools of existing kits/old kits from existing companies?

Say Tamiya wanted to go into the Ma.K business and release a 1/20 Fireball kit. Or Hasegawa wants to release an Oskar.

[dr_robo]

I'm pretty sure they would need a license. I think Wave and Hasegawa are making molds based on Kow's intellectual property, so there has to be some sort of agreement there.

As far as companies making models of actual military vehicles I have no idea. I don't think Tamiya got a license from General Dynamics to make a model M1 Abrams.

[Lincoln Wright]

Wow nitevision, at least I went with what folks are chatting about. Where did that come from!?! There's no risk, its 100% derailing further!! 

Not sure if your questions are directed at me and they aren't formed very well, there's 3 separate issues in your questions.

The easiest way to think about it is, "can KFC just up and make a whopper?". It's more than just a licence issue, it's just not brand savvy to veer so far off your regular target market so the bigger factor is "should they?". With one specialist and 1 large vendor already pumping out a stream of Ma.K kits and Tamiya's core customers being radio control (ok, tanks, ships and planes too!) fans then the answer is a clear, "no they shouldn't". Licensing is the easy one by comparision to making good marketing calls.

[turner]

Stay on target....stay on target.....

Anybody got any package shots of the new 1/35 suits?