Monday, June 06, 2011 - 04:38 AM UTC
In may every year, the Shizuoka Show is held in Japan. Being on home ground, Tamiya uses this to launch a variety of new releases. Here are the three, which i've identified as COMPLETELY new releases.
One of the more agreeable surprises was Tamiya's launch (last year) of the Soviet BT-7. Now, the company have never had a great deal of interest in doing variants, they've done a few over the years but never held a great deal of enthusiasm (as other manufacturers do) for doing infinite amounts of vehicles on the same chassis. So, the first of the two releases is an agreeable surprise:

35318 - FINNISH ARMY ASSAULT GUN BT-42 (1/35th scale)

Mounting a 114mm Howitzer with an extemporised turret on a captured BT-7 chassis this looks like a kind of mini KV-2...

The other 1/35th scale New-Tool is:

35320 - WWII GERMAN FIELD MILITARY POLICE SET (ICM moulds?)

Five figures (and dog) are included in this set which, it has to be said, looks like a marked improvement over many of Tamiya's other figure sets. Not likely to get the pulse racing to a dangerous level but with a good level of utility nonetheless..

Finally, another (welcome) 1/48th scale release with:

37010 - GERMAN HEAVY ARMORED CAR Sd.Kfz.234/2 PUMA

Included in this are some accesories in the form of fuel drums and jerry cans.
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Comments

I'll second Pat's comment about the Puma ... I think it's a reboxing of Italeri's kit, not a new tool. Frankly, I'd like to see them retool their Sdkfz 232.
JUN 06, 2011 - 06:12 AM
On reflection, I completely agree with your comments on the Puma. I'm really doubtful about the IDF Sherman although i'd be delighted to have ny doubts laid to rest. Anyone?
JUN 06, 2011 - 06:36 AM
from looking at the box behind the puma it looks like a 1/48 kit not 1/35 kit
JUN 06, 2011 - 08:35 AM
From what I saw on one of Hobby Link Japan's videos on Shizuoka 2011, the M1 Super Sherman lower hull and suspension is from previous kits and the upper hull, turret, T54E1 track, and figures are all new.
JUN 06, 2011 - 08:44 AM
a 1/48 Puma would be a nice addition to the family, but if its 1/35 scale i doubt it would stand a chance against Dragon's releases, especially if it is a rebox. The BT-42 is cool and unique- it should do well. The figures dont look too bad either. Still, i would expect such a big name to produce a lot more than this....
JUN 06, 2011 - 09:09 AM
Dunno where the doubt comes into this. The Puma is clearly marked as1/48th... Complete with open sponsons? Thanks Gary! So we'll chalk this up to 2 existing models with new parts and a new figure set (which may, or may not be ICM). Not exactly earth-shattering is it?
JUN 06, 2011 - 07:32 PM
Complete with open sponsons? Thanks Gary! [/quote] I think they finally got around to including parts to close up the sponsons, look at the sprue map shown in the vid, around 45 seconds in to it.
JUN 06, 2011 - 08:50 PM
Sponson floors are on the sprue layout
JUN 06, 2011 - 10:09 PM
I have the BT-42 on Pre-order from HobbyLink Japan. It's a July release and I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm not too wild about the figure though. Nothing a resin head won't fix. This is another very cool kit from Tamiya. I'm in the process of building the Tamiya Finnish Stug III ausf. G. It is a joy to build. I hope the BT-42 is as much fun to build as the Stug. The Tamiya new releases may be few and far between...but when they do release something truely new they usually knock it out of the park. Jeff
JUN 22, 2011 - 07:22 AM
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