I think these models are a great addition especially the car but I'd love to see both British and American style cars from the same time frame. If that was possible for them to do this especially with a driver either civilian or an army staff, even to include female drivers as this was common in the British forces. Kenny.

Does anyone know whether a manufacturer has to pay a licensing fee to use a GM or Ford of Chevy designation on a model? It just occured to me that might be holding up our having more Allied cars and trucks.

Hey Bill, Yeah, there must be something weird going on with the licensing fees of American trucks and cars. When Italeri recently reissued Revell Germany's Jeep (kit # 6468), the one with the .50 cal and bumper wire-cutter, the box art called the kit a 1/4 ton 4x4 Utility Truck. Their old kit #0314 is still called a "Jeep" so maybe that licensing fee hasn't run out. Tamiya's Jeep for the longest time was available but was never mentioned in their catalog and the kit had a Chryser/Jeep advert right on box side, at least the ones sold here in Canada. Very odd stuff. Cheers jjumbo

I work in that world, and the licensing fees for die cast cars bring in 6 figures in income for the car companies, since every year there's a new crop of vehicles. So they or their agents would take a dim view of a model company making money with a GM truck or Jeep name. We see it as history, they see it as commerce, LOL!

When it comes to historical replicas, I find these licensing fees incredibly evil and destructive, all for the sake of sheer greed. The communities that purchase historical replicas should band together and boycott one company at a time until they end this despicable practice. But affected people in the US did not support legislation to ban the practice in the first place and will not support such boycotts now. I find the whole thing very sad. I have the cars from Bronco and Tamiya on order. I hope the trend continues, and I hope one or more after-market companies supports these vehicles like they support AFV releases. It seems like 1/35 aircraft releases are _not_ supported, which is unfortunate. -Doug

Aircraft and armor are mostly separate worlds. I build 1/32nd scale aircraft, and you can "fudge" the two, but the only vehicles most wing nuts want are tanker trucks and the odd staff car. I bought (and loved) the Tristar Fiesler Storch, but apparently it was a bomb commercially. Pity, since I plan on putting it into a Russian dio. But it's big and needs a lot of dio ground.... I know MasterBox is planning on issuing full-scale 1/35th gliders and JU-52s with paratroopers. Be interesting to see how well they do. I haven't seen any annoncement of their release, so I wonder if MB has scaled that project back in the current economy?

That makes me sad. I have both the Tristar Storch and Bronco L4H and really like both kits. I was hoping they would open the door to a 1/35 Bf 109 or Ju 87 or P-51, but I guess that's very wishful thinking. I also build aircraft and sci-fi so if MasterBox ever comes through, I will buy them. I would love to have everything in 1/35 scale. (Except ships. I think 1/350 is just fine for those. Two big thumbs up to Bronco and AFV Club for all the new 1/350 subs!) -Doug

There are significant royalty issues with names, especially with the Jeep (even the grill is trademarked). I'm sure that affects what would or should be released, but allied vehicles also lack the "cool" factor that German vehicles seem to have. Just a basic OD paint job and a few tarps and boxes. Not as many figure options either. I really like the cars Bronco is producing. And Masterbox. The size is perfect. I think that figures would make the biggest difference in any car-civillian conversion or armored-. But the manufacturers have to see that. I will get one of these (the Humber scout car is calling me first) but I do wish there will be more of these type of releases. Staff cars and the Mercedes "gangster car", with figures, would be nice to see.

Does anyone know if the Sd.Kfz.221 Leichter Panzerspahwagen is going to be released soon?