Some figures from small manufacturers

I was debating whether or not to write up one final post for 2019, and decided not to be lazy and just do a quick write up on some resin figures that I recently got in the mail.

The first pair of figures comes from Modern Armies in Miniatures. MAiM is a German company that produces it's own line of WWWII figures under the Front46 brand name. The figures are 3D printed and come in a number of different scales. Four sets are made in 1/72 scale (two of which for some reason are scarecrows). The other two are female support crew.

The figure in the plastic blister comes with the scaffolding still attached.

The second figure comes in a box filled with paper to protect the figure. I'm guessing the box is one-size-fits-all for all their products. They have a "No Recasting" warning on the box, which I've never seen a miniatures manufacturer use before.

Their website also warns that if the figure did not come in the original box, that it may be possible that the figure is a bootleg.

The figure that came in the box did not come with the scaffold, but if you look closely, you can see small divots at the attachment points which look similar to bubbles in cast resin, and may require adding filler to smooth out.

For the figure still on the scaffolding, I used a sprue cutter to detach the figure. Unfortunately, the clipboard and wrists on the figure are super thin, and ended up breaking away. As you can imagine, one of the hands promptly disappeared into the carpet never to be seen again.

So is the figure a low quality bootleg because it didn't come in a MAiM box? My guess is that it's probably one of their original releases. I'm sure that so many people were complaining about issues with breakage that they decided to just do the scaffold removal part on their end in their later releases.

The gray figure with the missing hand is the Mechanic with Clipboard (MAIM72003), while the black figure which is hard to see details on is the Mechanic with Wrench (MAIM72004).

I find the figures proportioned very much like Preiser model train figures. They're scale accurate, but seem off because their heads look too small. It might be hypocritical since I complain about the appearance of chunky figures with heads and hands that are too big, but directly scaling down digital models to 1/72 doesn't sit quite right with me either.

Next up are some figures from Paracel Miniatures, a family run business out of Vietnam. I actually had never heard of them before, but they have apparently been around since 2015.

They produce various resin figures in different scales, and have four sets in their 1/72 Mini Series.

The set that I bought was the NVA Tank Crew (MINI7201).

The set comes with one half figure, one three quarters figure, and one full figure, along with various bits of stowage for a T-54B. The resin is firm, but not brittle.

The figures are well sculpted, although I think they are probably on the tall side for T-54 tank crew. I'll probably pick up their other sets at some point in the future.

The final set is the High School Girl Part 2 Set (Troops & Peoples 1-72-006) from Kami de Korokoro that I picked up at WonFes (as mentioned in my last post).

The set comes with two figures, each with a choice of two different arm poses.

I used the arms that I thought made the figures look closest to the packaging illustration, but they are not an exact match.

The resin is decent, but the feet of the figures are not fully cast, and will require some sculpting to fix. I'm going to have to buy another one of these sets to build the figures using the alternate arms.

Anyway, that's it for 2019, and Happy New Year!

Wonder Festival 2019[夏]

I'm only writing about it now, but back in July I attended the Summer Wonder Festival at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. The show is largely focused on anime figures, but there were many 1/72 scale kits and figures with possible gaming applications that I'm sure many hobbyists would be interested in learning about.

The first item I bought was a 3D printed Japanese-style tombstone. I later found out these were novelty items for students to commemorate their lost college credits.

Circle: なんか作ろうよ

I went back-and-forth in my mind about this 1/72 Glocke by Tanhauser Gate before deciding to buy it. A figure was in the display for scale purposes and is not part of the kit, so I'm not sure where it comes from.

Circle: タンホイザーゲート

Some amazing figures from Demons Kingdom. Looks like stuff right out of the Dictionnaire Infernal.

Circle: デモンズキングダム

I was intending to go back at some point to buy the Forneus (フォルネウス) and Decarabia (デカラピア) figures, but there was so much going on at the show that I ended up forgetting.

Seventh Moon was one of the circles that I really wanted to visit. They had their new 1/72 kits from Macross on display, but I was looking for the 1/72 Daihatsu landing craft and Carro Armato P 26/40 that they announced before Winter Wonder Festival in February.

Unfortunately they did not have either in stock, and they don't ship overseas. I composed a senryū as an expression of my disappointment.

長い旅 でも舟いない 悲しいだ

A long journey But the boat was not there I am sad

Despite the setback, I continued on through the exhibit hall. I was drawn to the Trico figure sculpted by Yamaguchi Narumi because of the various figures of The Boy. The figures are smaller than 1/72 scale, but can be used as younger children. The models were completely sold out though.

Circle: sobae

The Boy

A lot of military and science fiction kits were concentrated in one section of the hall.

The Kami de Korokoro booth was in this section, and I picked up the new 1/72 High School Girl figure set they were selling.

Tenbowkissa was in this area as well. I was looking forward to their Falke model, but they were sold out. Luckily Tenbowkissa products are available through their website. I did buy one of the Camel kits though.

MEF & Team STRIKE! gr. is a circle that I never heard of before. They were selling 1/72 power armor, and I bought a couple of the models that I thought had more of the Maschinen Krieger aesthetic.

Circle: MEF & チーム・ストライク!・ゲルプ

Takasehatuenki had a booth selling 1/72 Hasegawa walking panzer conversion kits. I didn't buy any of these kits because I'm not a huge fan of walking tank designs that just take regular tanks and swap the tracks for legs (I'm looking at you too Rocket Models!).

Circle: 高瀬発煙機

I passed by a booth selling a 1/72ish Dunkleosteus and 1/2 scale Xidazoon. I should have bought the Dunkleosteus but I didn't.

Another circle I was looking for was gonBro. I actually bought their science fiction figures at Yellow Submarine in Akihabara a few days earlier, not realizing they would be sold at the show at a much lower price.

I bought his carrier deck crew figures which I didn't see at Yellow Submarine.

Circle: 1234gonBro

I included this picture of some Zoids because they are ostensibly 1/72 scale, but that said, I don't really have much of an interest in the majority of them.

The final highlight for me was the 1/72 scale Maschinen Krieger Digital Garage Kit display from Kaiyodo.

For years I've been trying to think of ways to convert my 1/76 SAFS to 1/72 scale, but now it is no longer as much of an issue.

I really hope that Kaiyodo will consider selling the stl files so that people can print up their own models. I don't know why, but there is something compelling about painting up as many SAFS as possible in all their different color schemes. It's not something that is really feasible in 1/20 scale, but it can be achievable in 1/72 scale.

I'll do more typical scale comparison type articles showing my purchases in future posts, and if anyone is interested in more about my experience at the show, I've written about it in my other blog.