Bandai Armor Kits: When Were They Last Available In USA ?

Rob Gronovius

Plenty of Pershings released since that post. Tamiya has two, the WW2 T26E3 and the Super Pershing designed to take on the King Tiger. Dragon and Hobby Boss both make several each as well. All are good kits.

Thanks again for the info on kits manufactured as well as the manufacturers.

It will be good to have an American heavy tank of the late WWII period to display next to the German heavy tank designs.

Plenty of Pershings released since that post. Tamiya has two, the WW2 T26E3 and the Super Pershing designed to take on the King Tiger. Dragon and Hobby Boss both make several each as well. All are good kits.

Bob:

Thanks for that link to the very interesting review.

I must agree with Fred Brunet about the Pershing tank.

Not much press for the US tank, so I , too, knew of the Tiger I before I learned of the Pershing.

The Pershing is another tank I will want to build to go with the Tiger I .

That sounds like the Academy kit if it is 1/35 with interior. It was new in 1996. Here is one of the "first look" reviews before photos could be posted with text: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.models.scale/browse_thread/thread/c068b8634ca7a112/8188a4a2f46d134b?lnk=gst&q=academy+tiger#8188a4a2f46d134b 

I did a recent check of kits that did survive my 20 year absence from the hobby and found a Bandai 1/48 G kit in a box with the old Aurora M-46 - still don't know what happened to my 1/35th Mercedes 6 wheel command vehicle with Hitler figure.

One kit tempting me is the Tiger I in 1/35 with interior.

Hobby Boss and Tamiya 1/48 armor are often sold for around $15. Bandai kits that aren't collectible and have been surpassed by up to date HB & Tamiya offerings are about the same.

You just missed this guy dumping some 1/48 scale kits at $10 and $15:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/409173/thread/1318034689/For+Sale+-+Armor+Kits+-++1-35%2C+1-48%2C+1-6 

This guy has a Bandai Panther G for $20 + s/h
http://www.network54.com/Forum/409173/thread/1317904401/F-S+1-48th+sc.+Bandai+%26quot%3BPanther+G%26quot%3B 

A little steep, but $30 delivered for a Wespe:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/409173/thread/1317536554/F-S-+Bandai+1-48+Wespe+105mm+Self-propelled+Howitzer 

Four of the current 1/48 scale Hobby Boss kits are at the same prices as those Fuman kits from 1998. And these are much better models: http://www.squadron.com/SearchResults.asp?offset=0 

Rob Gronovius

Never an issue with HLJ.com, Scott Hards is a great guy and runs a superb company.

Edit: FYI, I dug thru some of my old Squadron Mail Order flyers*. In the December 1998 flyer, on page 17, they list five different Fuman (formerly Bandai kits). They are the Hetzer for $12.99; Wespe for $9.99; Valentine for $9.99; Nashorn for $9.99 and Jagdpanther for $9.99.

On the same page, they advertise the large scale 1/15 Bandai Hummel for $199.99 marked down from $325. And for a super great deal, the Hunnicutt Sherman book for $69.99. Dang thing will go for over $200 nowadays.

*Yes, I have a fairly extensive library of old Squadron annual catalogs and the monthly flyers. The annuals go back into the late 1980s until they were discontinued around 2005 or 06. I discovered them in 1988 and they were my main source of model kits while I was stationed in Germany. The monthly flyers look like the December 1998 one may be the oldest one at hand. I may have older, but they are most likely in storage boxes not easily accessible.

I probably have every single Squadron flyer from December 1998 to present. If I'm missing one, it's probably a flyer that came the month I moved from one duty station to another. But if I was a betting man, I'd bet I have everyone from December 1998 to this month and doubt I'm missing any.

Thanks for the info about HLJ.com- it looks like I'm going to need another source of some kits as Squadron doesn't currently carry some armor scales / brands.

Sounds like you collected Squadron Flyers like I collected Calumet Photographic catalogs and flyers during the same period.

Considering the current cost of 1/48 th scale armor kits- it sure would be nice if those old Bandai kits were the available at the 1990s price now.

Never an issue with HLJ.com, Scott Hards is a great guy and runs a superb company.

Edit: FYI, I dug thru some of my old Squadron Mail Order flyers*. In the December 1998 flyer, on page 17, they list five different Fuman (formerly Bandai kits). They are the Hetzer for $12.99; Wespe for $9.99; Valentine for $9.99; Nashorn for $9.99 and Jagdpanther for $9.99.

On the same page, they advertise the large scale 1/15 Bandai Hummel for $199.99 marked down from $325. And for a super great deal, the Hunnicutt Sherman book for $69.99. Dang thing will go for over $200 nowadays.

*Yes, I have a fairly extensive library of old Squadron annual catalogs and the monthly flyers. The annuals go back into the late 1980s until they were discontinued around 2005 or 06. I discovered them in 1988 and they were my main source of model kits while I was stationed in Germany. The monthly flyers look like the December 1998 one may be the oldest one at hand. I may have older, but they are most likely in storage boxes not easily accessible.

I probably have every single Squadron flyer from December 1998 to present. If I'm missing one, it's probably a flyer that came the month I moved from one duty station to another. But if I was a betting man, I'd bet I have everyone from December 1998 to this month and doubt I'm missing any.

Rob Gronovius

Frog and Fuman kits I got from Squadron.com about 10 years ago. I do not know if they are still in production or not.

Al Lefleche build the hover tank and I know the Hardgraph Semovente was built on this site too. It is a giant double barreled main gun tank. I've got both along with the Hummer-like Cyclops.

Hobby Link Japan carries the Batman series. I believe the Begins Batmobile is OOP and was replaced by a limited edition Dark Knight (black shiny plated kit). The other two should be available too. Cult TV Man should carry them too.

Thanks again.

Squadron.com had the Frog and Fuman kits 10 years ago?

Seems I missed out on a lot of good kits during my 20 year absence from the hobby

I will check Hobby Link Japan for Batman and other kits.

Ron: Am I correct in presuming you have ordered from Hobby Link Japan and have been satisfied by their service?

Frog and Fuman kits I got from Squadron.com about 10 years ago. I do not know if they are still in production or not.

Al Lefleche build the hover tank and I know the Hardgraph Semovente was built on this site too. It is a giant double barreled main gun tank. I've got both along with the Hummer-like Cyclops.

Hobby Link Japan carries the Batman series. I believe the Begins Batmobile is OOP and was replaced by a limited edition Dark Knight (black shiny plated kit). The other two should be available too. Cult TV Man should carry them too.

Thanks again for the Bandai info, Rob !

Like Tigerman, I didn't recall seeing Bandai armor kits since the late 1970s and am surprised by the number of Gundam kits being sold. I did not know they made any Batman theme kits.

I was unaware that some of the armor kits were re-released.

Were the Fuman and Frog label releases available in the USA or just overseas?

You piqued my curiosity about those Gundam Hardgraph kits, I'll do a Google Image  search to see what they look like.

And about Bandai, they've been going strong for a long time (just not in the 1/48th scale armor market as much). In addition to the Gundam kits (they make some outstanding Gundam Hardgraph sci-fi armor kits in 1/35), they make the outstanding line of Batmobiles to include the 1/35 scale Tumbler from Batman Begins and Dark Knight as well as the Michael Keaton Batmobile and Val Kilmer Batmobiles.

They are big into action figures. All those Power Ranger figures from the early 90s (my now 26 yr old stepson had to have them all) to the current Power Ranger Samari figures (my 7 yr old wants the cool ones, i.e. the guys not girls). They also do the Ben 10 action figures from the Cartoon Network TV show.

The Gundam line of models is very extensive covering decades of different iterations of the cartoons in various scales. Probably hundreds of different Bandai Gundam model kits.

The first one I bought was the T-34/76 at a now-defunct hobby shop in Radcliff, KY in 1987. It was new and still sealed.

Eduard released photo etch sets for some of the kits. I have one for the M4A3 and one for the Willys Jeep. Eduard showed up in the late 1980s early 1990s so the kits probably were available if they were to invest PE development into these kits.

The last one I saw was an old stock Opel Maultier (halftrack) that I bought in Walt's Tea & Hobby Shop in Petersburg, VA in 2002. No idea how long it had been hiding on that shelf.

Fuman in China had the molds and released a few of them. I know they did the M4A3(76)W and the Hetzer. They probably did more as well. I got those from Squadron.com many years ago during the 1990s. These included a little tin tube of glue and the decals were stickers printed on a solid sheet the same color as the plastic of the kit. The Sherman had a green sheet with white markings you had to cut out and the Hetzer had a tan sheet with black and white markings. You were supposed to cut them out, peel them off and stick them to the plastic.

The Fuman boxes were identical to the Bandai boxes with the vehicle profiles from front, back and sides. The Bandai logo was changed and Fuman was inside the logo.

A few of them were released under the brand name Frog in the 1990s. The Frog boxings were white with green heading. I have the Willys Jeep and Valentine Mk II. These boxings were nicer than the Fuman ones and included duplicates of the original waterslide decals. Frog also released Eduard photo etched sets for the Willys Jeep in Frog packaging (the PE fret says Eduard inside).

One of the more interesting reboxes I've seen is the M30 ammo carrier (M12 SPG without the gun) released by Academy. At first I thought it was a new line by Academy, but inside the kit is the same as the Bandai kit and even has Bandai on the sprues. Not sure where or when I got this kit. I do not know how many, if any more, Academy released under their name.

I don't remember them past the early-mid 70's.

I don't think any company has  rereleased them.