Krachenvogel Part 3 of 3

Here's the last of in the 3 part series of WIP for Krachenvogel. Hopefully this has been useful to all of you...

Krachenvogel Part 2 of 3

Here you go, Part 2 of 3 of Krachenvogel WIP. Enjoy!

Krachenvogel Part 1 of 3

As promised here comes the Krachenvogel!!!! Didn't even notice it when I was a non-Ma.K fan. Now its like digging for treasure thru my magazines to find Ma.K articles hiding in them...
This article is from MKW no. 186 June 2006.
Enjoy!





Stay tuned for Part 2!

Fliege - Autumn

Continuing from his previous work, Felix made this stunning diorama titled Autumn. Its another one with a strong anti-war theme. I've never seen a Fliege being done in non-space setting before. One of these days I will attempt to translate the contents to English for my English-speaking friends... Someday... in the meantime, enjoy!

Wait! Do I hear a low-humming sound? Its a Krach..!?

My favourite Ma.K kits

My favourite kits

Here's a picture of my most favourite Ma.K kits. In the back is the Land Gans and the Oskar. In the front is the Krachenvogel and Neuspotter. Notice that all of them have one thing in common: the Neuspotter head. For some reason, I love anything with a Neuspotter head attached on it.
Another thing these kits have in common is that they are hard (sic very hard) to get and ridiculously expensive. These 4 boxes of plastic and resin easily cost me $1k in SGD. Some people would say I am crazy, I would definitely agree.... :)
In recent news from Japan, Mr Kow Yokohama said we can buy Nitto parts (in thousands) and cited the possibility of buying Neuspotter heads as an example. I immediately thought of organising a Mass Order for 1 thousand of them! lol. I would then put Neuspotter heads on every fixture I have in the house, bathroom.... That's just a thought.
Why take a photo of it to show off? That's just for memories sake, for my church has just bought a new place and we need money for renovation. Some sisters in my church sold off their jewelery to fund it. Me? The only thing I have worth money are plastic kits... I will hold off as much as possible to try to keep them, but I might have to sell. Its not a big deal, even though I love these kits. Just let me cry a bit first. :)
At the end of the day, I can't take them with me when I pass on...
(I am tempted to say : Its just plastic, but this might offend many of my fellow modelers lol). Hey I take the hobby seriously, but there are many things far more than it.
Well the rest of you reading this post, just some thoughts from the handsome man... What do you think? Share with me in your comments!

PKA W Kauz

This time I've the opportunity to review the Kauz, both the old SF3D boxing and the new Ma.K box. I don't really like the majority of the Strahl suits, but Kauz and Melusine are the exception. Been holding onto the new box for some time now, while looking out for the Melusine conversion, which is hard to find and expensive (last I saw was 9500yen). Without further ado, on with the pictorial review. I will focus a little bit on the difference between the two also.

The Kauz uses Fliege sprues with an additional Kauz sprue E, and indeed the Kauz is an upgraded version of the Fliege that uses indirect vision which is the main disadvantage of the Fliege.

Details

Scale: 1/20
Type of material : injection molded, multi-media, gray colored plastic
Number of parts: 100+ in 5 sprues
Decals: yes
Instructions: yes
Overall quality: Very good, virtually no flash
Overall accuracy: Accurate
Date of release: 1985
Release price: 1000yen
Current Running price in YAJ: 4500yen - 6500yen

Pictures

old and new boxes compared (old is in front)

box opened

Fliege Sprue A and B

Fliege Sprue C and D

Kauz Sprue E, Figure sprue and multimedia. The figure sprue is tan in old box and white in new box.

Sprues from the new Ma.K boxing containing 2 extra parts.
(the white parts in the left)

old box front

old box back

new box front

new box back

old camo card front

old camo card back

new camo card front

new camo card back

old decals

New decals

Instruction comparison showing the extra part in top right hand corner. (new one is on top)

Thoughts & Comments

An interesting kit with lots of potential. The casting quality is the same in both boxing. I quite like and personally prefer the decals in the new box.

4th Shipment is IN!

Postman delievered this on Friday... Today I'm having food poisoning and in between toilet visits I took some pictures... Don't worry, I wash my hands before handling the kits. lol.
Now is the massive task of opening up the unsealed stuff and checking that the parts/decals/instructions/camo cards are in and allocating them to those who reserved them.
Also averaging out the pricing and adding the split shipment costs.
I realized that I am not good at logistics, messed up one of my friends' Fledermaus shipment. Hopefully this will not happen again...



Ashley's not around to take picture this time. :)

Contents: AFS MkI, Kauz x2, Krachenvogel, Fireball, Krote x3, Jerry, Fliege x2, Gans, Racoon x2, SAFS x2, Gustav x3, Hornise x1, plus 3 Hobby Japan books.

SAFS - Spring Peace on Earth

Found on Model Kit World, SAFS - Spring Peace on Earth is a piece by Felix Sin. A competition piece for a Hong Kong modelling contest. Its an anti-war theme. Very nicely done! When I first saw this, I thought it was a very unique diorama. Instead of showing an SAFS in a fighting pose or in a maintenance build, it showed a damaged SAFS with a supposedly dead pilot inside. Note the entrance wound on the side of the suit. I let the pictures do the talking.




This piece really made me think about war, which is often made glamorous by movied but in reality cruel and sad. Even though the setting is cheerful and bright, it brings sadness viewing it. This is not just art, but delivers a powerful message from Mr Felix, the modeller, to the viewer. Few dioramas evoke this kind of emotion.
I wish I could make Ma.K like him!

PKA M Melusine scans

Published in Model Kit World magazine No.146 in 2003, This was the first time I saw a Ma.K model in MKW. At that time of course, I bought the magazine for the Gundam models... Looked interesting to me but I never did give it a second look. today I went back to dug up all my old old MKW magazines and started scanning them to share with you guys...

MKW is a Hong Kong based modeling magazine which covers a variety of models from armour to figure, with the reviews of G-System resin Gundam models which I love...

Anyway I can't get this magazine here now which is a pity, but there are plenty of articles which I am scanning in so stay tuned!

Note: These completed model kits' photos belong to their respective owners and if there are any issues, I will take them down immediately. I respect the owner's rights!
Enjoy!

Ma.K Brick Works resin figures

Finally took the plunge into these Brick Works resin figures. No. 3 on the right is the Mercenaries Woman Maintenance Crew, aka female grease monkey, No.2 on the left Mercenaries Women pilot heads (2 pieces). I read about them in the Reviews section in the maschinenkrueger forum. The details are very sharp and the hair on the heads was crisp. A bit on the expensive side, No. 3 is 2850yen while No.2 1700yen.
Gonna wait until I am better at painting figures before I attempt on No.3. Will try out one of the No.2 pilot heads on my SAFS BBQ build to see if it fits...
Vomit money... :)

PKA, Konrad, Fireball SG Painting Heads scans

The last in the series of scans shows the different techniques of painting heads and their pros and cons. If you can read Chinese, this is a very good reference....

PKA.K Konrad WIP scans

Finally, PKA.K Konrad WIP scans... I really like the color scheme on this one... Enjoy!

Intro page

WIP1

WIP2

WIP3: note the additional modding done.

PKA H0 WIP scans

Next up, PKA H0. This is a hornet's scheme. Take note of the 3 completed Ma.K on the last page.

Intro pageWIP1

WIP2

WIP3

WIP4