I wonder if the Tank Crew figures will actually be Bronco's own or if they are MiniArt's. The box art artist is the same guy who does alot of MiniArt's and Master Boxe's art work (I personally feel he is the best figure artist out there). Roy

Bruckenleger auf Pz.Kpfw. II-D. Sure is "cute"! But I share the modest surprise of those who anticipated either a -D Flammpanzer or a new-tool Marder II-D popping out the Bronco chute - this one seems a bit of an odd-ball choice - way cool (least for us who dote on odd panzer variants), but still odd. I'll buy one. But I'll probably take the bridge and graft it onto the new Dragon -B kit, and build the -D by itself. I suspect that "Mr. Bronco" saw the 3 pics that do show a -D with the bridge, and, having the D on hand, went there, when it appears that most of these beasts were actually built on Pz 1B and Pz II A/B/C tanks - least so far as available pics show! That Staghound is pretty cool, too! Bob

Knowing Bronco, Marder II will be worth the wait. Never used Bronco's figures, do they make they're own, or share other manufactures molds? The British AFV crew looks like a well rounded set, lots of scope with this release. Nice one Bronco!

This seems to be a pretty common marketing strategy used by many of the manufacturers, and not just Bronco. They release the less common or less desirable versions of a particular vehicle family first. I think they do it to increase sales. The early-birds will pick up the first releases, and the plastic kit maker scoops the resin AM makers who might have based a quick resin conversion of the less well known / desired version on the plastic kit chassis. Look at AFV Club's Churchill series. Arguably, the Mk IV was the most desired version, but they started with the Mk III. By starting with the Mk III, no quick AM resin conversion was viable to back-date a Mk IV. This was followed by the engineer version, which again meant that a resin conversion to a base-kit Mk IV wasn't viable. Only then was the actual Mk IV released. Think also on the Tasca Firefly's - Why start a Sherman tank family of kits with that version instead of the more common Sherman I or II (M4 or M4A1)? DML does this with German armor all the time. They release the un-Zimmerited version of a vehicle that was only produced with Zimmerit. They catch the early sales to guys who'll dream about maybe one day tackling the Zimmerit by scratch or AM. Then, after sales slow down, DML will release the same vehicle with molded-on Zimmerit. Undoubtably, many of the sales of those new kits go right back the same guy who bought the un-Zimmerited kits earlier. If Bronco started with something other than the Bruekenleger, then some smart resin maker would release a conversion of that, and the few guys who really do want that version would already have the Bronco kit and AM conversion set in their stash by the time Bronco released the plastic kit of the same thing. This way, Bronco gets some extra sales over the potential AM competitors. On the other hand, the Marder IID version would take an AM maker longer to bring to market (being more complicated) and knowing (or suspecting) that Bronco will come out with that verison anyways, the same AM maker will probably not bother with a Marder conversion. So, all the Pz IID varient sales go to Bronco. A guy who is willing to cross-kit and up-date the AM conversion for the old Alan kits can be overlooked by Bronco. Guys with those skills or motivations are few and far between and don't make up enough of the potential plastic kit market to signifcantly impact their sales. Besides, that guy is now conflicted about the amount of effort and will quite likely choose to wait and buy the newer Bronco kit. Bronco wins again! Just smart business, really...

Judging from the 17 lb crew, the figure break-down, sculpting style, and especially the facial features are very different from typical MiniArt style. Even though the cover artist is the same for these companies, the same sculptor does not seem to be shared. The same seems to be true of this new set. Personally, I prefer the MiniArt sculptor. He has a more casual look to his figures, especially in dress style - open collars, rolled up sleeves, varied clothing, etc.

I go for the trackset for the valentine tank... Remco

Would have been nice to see the Staghound A.A. done in 1/35.....oh well.

It's actually been available for around 3 years...

I am pleased to see Bronco getting into the figure side of the hobby regardless of who made them as they are needed for British AFV models, I am also pleased to see Bronco expanding its range of tracks. I would like to see some modern AFV crews from various countries and I suspect they will follow in the fullness of time.