I've never seen that before Pat. That looks really cool!

Really cool stuff you guys are posting. This is my latest order from SBros:

For some reason, the COVID pandemic has slowed my kit purchases.  Maybe seeing everyone hunkered down building stuff has inspired me to also get going and build something instead of browsing the Internet.

-BUT-

I did see this advertised on Micromark's website.

I became interested in this car when I saw a real one in the early 2000's.  I had no idea what is was, but the styling fascinated me.  It looked kind of futuristic back then, but now it looks quite ordinary next to others in the crowded crossover market.

It turns out that the Isuzu Vehicross was based on a concept vehicle and entered limited production just for a couple of years.  At around $40K MSRP, is was seriously overpriced in late 1990 dollars.  It looked like a compact SUV, but was actually pretty big and heavy.  There were some quirks like the spare tire fairing obstructing the rear view, and difficult access to the two rear seats wedged between the wheel wells.  The Japanese issue of the car offered a color rear view camera, which was not common back in the day, but would have been a useful addition to US customers.  Anyway, it was a weird looking car so of course I was interested in having a model kit of it!

That chassis looks really difficult to mask and paint.  Looking over the kit parts breakdown, it seems Tamiya got lazy.  But I suppose back in the day when this kit came out, this was pretty standard fare.

Hey G, remember Joe Isuzu? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJMq_7alQpU

plasticjunkie

Hey G, remember Joe Isuzu? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJMq_7alQpU

 

Ah yes, good old Joe, the pathological liar-salesman for Isuzu.  So 80s!

Just picked these two up off Evilbay. Got them good and cheap. They look pretty cool.

BK

And now for something completely different!  This is another late war "Napkinwaffe" design that was proposed but never built.  The Germans were desperate to stem the crippling tide of Allied bombers, and one idea was to disperse such aircraft away from vulnerable airfields.  They were to be located around high value targets and lie in wait for the bomber streams.  Rising vertically from their concealed locations, they were to attack the bombers, then slip back down presumably avoiding the swarms of jabos that would have undoubtedly crowded the skies.  The Wespe featured a host of unusual features: prone pilot, tail sitter configuration, annular wing, and turboprop engine.

My only question is:  Where are the fuel tanks?

Oh wait, I have another one:  How does one safely bail out of a flying meat blender?

I started scratchbuilding one many years ago and finished the airframe.  But a scaling error on my part resulted in a HO scale model!  I only found this out when I tried to stuff a 1/72 pilot into the cockpit and discovered he would never fit in the tiny space.  I'll see if I can find the original model and its half built correctly scaled counterpart.

RG, I can’t imagine that thing being able to dogfight, looking at that wing area, and being turboprop it would not have any major speed advantage over the escorting fighters. A bit safer than the Natter or Komet due to the engine, but otherwise...

This is probably the first modeling related gift from my family that I’ve received in I don’t know how many years... a LED Photo Tent. Dimensions are 50cm x 50cm x 50cm, so it will fit the majority of my builds for photos. An early Fathers Day/Birthday present from my youngest 

Stik,

The Wespe was supposed to take down bombers like the Me-163, so dogfighting would not be a priority.  The small size of the airframe would indicate limited fuel supply, so like the Komet, it would have had to hurry back to base after an intercept.  No time to tangle with the Mustangs, Thunderbolts, and Spitfires.  Bingo fuel means bail out for a VTOL aircraft!

I do think the 2x 20mm cannon armament would have been too light to reliably destroy bombers though.

Anyway, it’s a zany design so I love it!  Darn, I forgot to look for the ones I started...

RG, nice addition. That caught my eye on scalemates yesterday, deffinetly one to add to the stash. Lok forward to seeing how it builds.

Certainly in the Triebflugel category of weirdness.

Real G

Stik,

The Wespe was supposed to take down bombers like the Me-163, so dogfighting would not be a priority.  The small size of the airframe would indicate limited fuel supply, so like the Komet, it would have had to hurry back to base after an intercept.  No time to tangle with the Mustangs, Thunderbolts, and Spitfires.  Bingo fuel means bail out for a VTOL aircraft!

I do think the 2x 20mm cannon armament would have been too light to reliably destroy bombers though.

Anyway, it’s a zany design so I love it!  Darn, I forgot to look for the ones I started...

 

Oh yes. I grasped the concept immediately. A point defense interceptor. But unlike the Natter and Komet, it would not have had the initial rocket speed alone to get thru the escorts before getting to the bombers, so it would have needed the ability to fight their way thru to them in a realistic scenario. Otherwise it would have been just as vulnerable as the Me-110 or Me-410 against escorting late model Mustangs and Thunderbolts. Not to mention the Shooting Stars, Meteors, and Vampires that were just then coming into service.

It sure makes for interesting “what if?” discussions. The Western Allies were not that far behind in fielding jets. 

Stik,

I think the Heinkel Lerche and Focke Wulf Triebflugel would have also had the same problem with speed.  But VTOL aircraft have higher power to weight ratios so they would be able to accelerate faster than conventional prop driven and early jet fighters.

All this is entirely academic of course, as it’s Luft ‘46.

Now where did I put that UFO model...

Real G: Ohhhhhhhh, that's cool!!! So the pilot was supposed to bail out and ditch the plane- awww whatever it is??? It has the same issue with the USAF Pogo- I can't imagine trying to back the blasted thing down to a landing strip without crashing. 

SP: Very cool there too! I really need to pick up one of those- it would really help my photography... 

Well, I found out the local Korean resturant was open at 50% capacity so I drove over last weekend to have my first sit-down resturant meal in three months. Nearby is the local hobby shop so I stopped over and picked up this. I could have gotten it twenty bucks cheaper online but it's worth it to support the local store. 

And ordered these from Squadron a few weeks ago- just never got around to posting them. I have a box full of Tamiya and Academy storage somewhere- but it went missing years ago. So these are replacements. They look a bit oversize to me, but they're nicely molded. 

I was a little leery to order them since Squadron said 'available to order' rather than 'in-stock' under them. But they arrived in less than a week, a little longer than Sprue Brothers would have taken but no big deal. 

Gamera: Wonderful addition of the P-38. Good to see you got one. Glad you got your Squadron order in a timely manner.

BrandonK: I'm liking that Porsche 904. Sharp looking car. Gentleman had a restored one at our local car show a couple of years ago. It was gorgeous.

Real G: Now that is one interesting subject. Cool.

Just one new addition lately. Thought it would be a cool build.

Thanks guys, I am looking around for some replacement decals but otherwise want to build the P-38 straight outta the box. And Tamiya provides the nose weight and canopy masks- so really you don't have to buy anything else other than cement and paint! 

Joe: Cool stocker Gremlin! I want to take something like a Gremlin or Pacer and build it into a Road Warrior after the bomb sorta vehicle someday- someday I'll get to it...  

Gamera, very nice acquisitions! The stowage looks very useful! And the new Tamiya P-38? Well what can you be worried about there?

Joe, that Modified Gremlin makes a horrid looking car look almost decent... Lol!

Gamera

Joe: Cool stocker Gremlin! I want to take something like a Gremlin or Pacer and build it into a Road Warrior after the bomb sorta vehicle someday- someday I'll get to it... 

I would love to see you pull that off Gams. Epic that would be.

stikpusher

Joe, that Modified Gremlin makes a horrid looking car look almost decent... Lol!

I know, right?. That's what attracted me to it.

Well, this I ordered for Christmas and HLJ finally got it in stock and shipped it. 

Didn't need it, don't know when I'll get to building it but after seeing James/Snapdragon's build I couldn't help myself... 

Just the box is friggin' huge- it's about a half metre / 21 inches wide and about 15cm / 6 inches deep! 

And I ordered this too. Hopefully I'll have some fun chasing my sister's wussy dog around with it...

Gamera,

It would be great if you put in red LED eyes and have it say "Exterminate!  Exterminate!" as it goes after the dog.  

Gamera,

Nice scores with the P-38 and Nick!  You'll have to post a video of the dog and centipede if possible.

Just got a box in from HLJ.  A year or so ago, I got on a Group B rally car kick and thought it would make a cool collection so I've slowly been accumulating some of the major participants.  Today I got in the following:

I also got a couple of decal sets for the C7R from Scale Motorsports.

The decals on the left are for the C7R presentation in bare carbon fiber.  The decals on the right are for the C7R test mule.

Superb rally cars, I remember most of these as a rally marshall in the day!

Just got this in last night. Tamiya's f-16 with aggressor decals.

Lewbud: Ohhhhhhhh, love those rally cars. Now that might be the sorta car I can get right, matte finish and covered in mud! 

Nick: Sharp! I think you'll love that F-16. And cool looking decals. 

Two more new additions this week. The first is from a small UK company called Scorpion Miniature. They mainly detail in al things Scorpion and Scimitar related, though they have start branching out. As well as the AFV club kits, they also sell there own AM sets and AM sets from Hong Kong Creation Workshop as well as others. Having already got some of their Scimitar sets to build a vehicle from the Falklands war, this time i bought the Scorpion direct from them and some AM sets and decals to do a vehicle based in Hong Kong in the 70's.

And the second one i picked up today in the LHS. It re-opened on the 15th and this is the first time i have been in since early March. I needed some airbrush cleaner and decided to give my support my picking up a kit as well.

And thats the story i am sticking with.

3 British subject in less than a month. Somthing has come over me.

I needed some different decals for my Mercedes Benz GT3 build so bought...

 we had some Christmas gift cards for INTU, a multiple shopping mall owner, pushed into administration this afternoon, so needed to spend them. One of the shops at INTU Milton Keynes is LEGO so..........

Got some goodies in the mail today! First up is Eduard models 1/800 scale navy figures for my USS Kitty Hawk build.

Also got my next build with a gift card I needed to use. This is going to be a monster build but can't wait to start.

I have been kicking around the idea of hosting an Iraq War GB if anyone would be interested.

Gamera,

Rally cars are shiny at the beginning of the race.  Weathering is something car modelers have yet to embrace on a wide scale.  

Nick,

Nice haul with the F-16 and decals.  Looks like you may need a few more kits looking at those decals.

Bish,

I like how you kept both sides of your modeling brain in balance. 

Pat,

Look forward to the MB GT3.

John,

I can't imagine trying to place 1/800 figures, and I build 1/700!  The Stryker looks nice.  To guage interest on a group build, just go over to the Group Builds area and ask, pretty sure there will be some interest.