July 29, 2010
Product News
NEW ARRIVALS:
Dragon DRA-6606 PzKpfw.III Ausf.N w/Winterketten s.Pz.Abt.502 Leningrad 1943, Smart Kit Lots of "Slide Molded" details, weld seams, fenders w/detail on both sides, etc. This kit also has "Magic Track" Ostketten w/separate ice cleats.
DRA-6637 M7 "Priest" Mid Production, Smart Kit Another really good looking kit featuring lots of interior details including realistically textured floor, well detailed suspension, crisply molded pioneer tools, metal barrel for the newly designed and nicely detailed 105mm and DS T-48 Track.
Retail is $55. on each of these kits but, R&J currently has them on Special for $44.00 each.
FineMolds FM30 IJA Type 94 6-Wheeled Truck, Hard Top. 123 Crisply molded parts in, for lack of a better description, "flesh colored" styrene. They did the tires/wheels in styrene, not rubber/vinyl YEAH! Also they are moulded so the seam is on the back of the tire not down the middle of the tread, nice job! Clear plastic windows and lights and a small decal sheet are also provided. A nicely illustated 12 page instruction booklet is included. It contains a 2 page vehicle history, if you can read Japanese! Overall this looks to be a very nice kit.
FM31 IJA Type 94 6-Wheeled Truck, Canvas Top. Basically the same as above but a few more parts (total of 133) for this soft cab version. Retail is $72. on each of these kits but, R&J currently has them on Special for $60.00 each.
Greatwall Hobby (aka LionRoar) LNR-L3523 Rheinmetall 12.8cm K44 L/55 High Velocity Anti-Tank Gun. An interesting gun, unfortunately there is not any history included in the instructions. Oh well, some internet searching required! The kit does include the limber so the gun can be assembled in firing or travel position. No vinyl tires in here either! Nicely molded, the kit comes with a small fret of PE, some wire and small springs. A 7 page extremely well illustrated instruction book + a full color painting guide sheet w/5 views is included. Retail is $58.00 but, R&J has them on Special for $45.00 each. An upgrade set, LNR-L3523T, that includes PE gun shields & turned metal barrel is coming soon. We already have these on order.
Sovereign 2000 Upgrade for LionRoar Motorcycles. Beautifully cast in resin, reminds me of K59's stuff.: S2KA006 Zundapp KS750 Motorcycle Upgrade. R&J's price $17.00
S2KA009 BMW R75 Motorcycle Update. R&J's price $17.00
S2KA010 BMW R75 w/sidecar Update. R&J's price $33.00
RE-STOCKED ITEMS:
Cyber-Hobby CHC-6610 Wittmann's Last Tiger Befehlspanzer Tiger I Late, Normandy 1944. Limited Editon (One Production Run) We finally got 6 more of these kits, but, I'm told these are the last of them. Only have 3 left in-stock. Original Retail was $59.00 But, it's already become a "Collectible" and selling for $65-70 or higher in some cases. We are selling them for $55.00 each No Discounts!
CHC-9102 Sherman M4A4 75mm Orange Box Super Value Pack w/DS Track & Bonus U.S. Tank Crew set. $25.00
Dragon DRA-6228 Sherman Mk. Ic Firefly Hybrid Smart Kit Lots of extras i.e. clear pscopes, composite hull w/ cast texture & DS T-48 Track. Retails for $54.00. R&J has 3 of these on Special @ $42.00 each
Sovereign 2000 S2KA001 2 Pounder Ammo Set: Consists of metal rounds & casings + 20 boxes & crates. $17.00
S2KA003 2 Pounder Diorama Base 4.5" x 4.5" resin display base w/sandbage emplacement for 2 pdr. $14.00

June 22, 2010
Product News
FineMolds Has announced an Imperial Japanese Army 6 Wheeled Cargo Truck. FM30 is Canvas Top version & FM31 will be Hard Top version. No prices yet but, ETA Mid July.
LionRoar/GreatWall LNR-L3519 3.7cm FLAK 43 ($19.00), LNR-L3520 Armored Cab SwS Weapons Carrier ($52.00), LNR-L3520C SwS Weapons Carrier w/FLAK 43 ($66.00) And, LNR-L3523 12.8cm Pak 44 L/55 High Velocity Anti-Tank Gun. I am hoping they do the FLAK versions of the 12.8cm (both Single & Double) as well.   All 4 LNR kits should be here next week.
Masterpiece Models has some new 1:35th scale items:MMDA001 Wrecked Japanese Zero, nicely detailed w/multi-part cockpit inserts ans P.E. details for canopy, flaps, rudder and ailerone ($49.00), MMET002 European Cottage, 6" x6" corner structure w/detailed stone facade & shingled roof ($26.00),  MMET003 Village Corner Building 4"x 4" x 7" height ($26.00),   MMPT006 Pacific Stronghold, 10"x10" multi-level Diorama Base w/palm log seawall obstacle and realistic ground texture ($36.00),  MMPT006A Same as Pacific Stronghold Base but includes Japanese Steel Pill Box ($45.00),  MMCD7002 German WWII FLAK Emplacement Bunker ($29.00),  MMCD7014 Chateau Approach cobblestone street section w/stone wall and raised grounds ($29.00)   Masterpiece also has 3 new submarine kits in 1/192nd, call us for more info.
Tristar has, or will very soon release their 2nd Early Brummbar kit. This kit, TRI35040, is a "Mid production Early" and includes some very interesting features and a very detailed interior. TRI35056 "German Infantry taking a rest" is a new set of 4 figures, 2 seated & 2 laying down in relaxed poses. We will be getting these new Tristar releases as soon as they are available.
Website News
Updated Masterpiece Models product page.

May 27, 2010
Product News
WESPE Models arrived with some interesting new kits. Such as; WES35080 Ford-Marmon Herrington WWII Staff Car, WES35082 Magirus Maultier WWII German cargo half-track, WES35100 Ford LRDG, based on Ford 01A Van, these trucks pre-dated the Chevy 30CWT & WES35101 Chevy 30CWT LRDG That's right a complete kit, in resin, of the 30CWT Chevy. Imagen these 2 LRDG vehicles together in a "1 of a kind" Dio.!
Website News
Updated WESPE Models product page.

May 11, 2010
Product News
MK 1/35 Sent us some interesting new stuff. Among these was "A Big Surprise" MKA084 a complete resin kit of a Farm Tractor circa 1938. This is expertly cast, 48 extremely clean parts requiring very little clean-up. This "generic" tractor makes a great center piece or use as accent piece in any farm/countryside scene. All but 1 of the tractors have already sold to modelers I described it to over the phone. No worries though, we have already ordered more. Another interesting item is MKA083 "Mixing Set" it consists of 3 metal tins, 3 small plastic bottles, 1 eye dropper, 1 pair latex gloves and some plastic stir sticks all for just $6.00. Not sure why Gerard decided to do this mixing set but it is useful to have stuff and the set is a good value.
We are offering a "Half-Price Special" on MK Editions "Tanks & Military Vehicles of WWII, Vol. 1" This soft cover book of 78 pages features articles on detailing which include many photos of real vehicles as well as models. Featured are: Geschutzwagen (10.5cm leFH18 on Hotchkiss), detailing article on the Hetzer, and similar article on the M7 Priest, the DUKW and the Bergepanther. Some very interesting, although now some what dated information on Sherman Family kits & conversions. Plus, 3 pages, with about 12 photos of the Saumur Tank Museum. This book, normally $24.00 is now Special for half-price $12.00, while they last!
Website News
Completed updates to LIFECOLOR product page and to
MK 1/35   product page.

April. 28, 2010
atWebsite News
Completed updates to New World Miniatures product page and our own R&J Products page as promised. Check out the new products & photos

April. 25, 2010
General Information and/or Commentary
Sorry for the lack of updates AGAIN!. Show season is underway. We've been to 3 shows in the last 5 weeks 2 of the show were fairly close Vancouver, WA (near Portland, OR) and most recently in Seattle. But, the other was in Santa Clara, CA. Nothing like a 2000 mile round trip drive over a 3 day weekend to wear you out!. In any case, we had a good time at all the shows. It's always great to see old friends.
Product News
Dragon/Cyber-Hobby continue to put out interesting kits the most recent being DRA #6386 Nashorn Smart Kit, DRA #6228 Sherman Mk.Ic "Firefly" Hybrid Smart Kit, DRA # 6362 M21 Mortar Motor Carriage Smart Kit and CH#6583 SdKfz 7 flatbed w/2cm 4 barrelled FLAK 38...A super nice kit!
Masterpiece Models Has released a rash of new items recently. The 1:35th scale items include: FLAK Sled for 20mm FLAK this makes it so easy to add any 20mm FLAK 38 to the bed of any cargo truck. Works great in Zvesda Mercedes L4500 or Tamiya's Opel "Blitz", 3 WWII Japanese Defensive Positions, 1 Palm Log Bunker w/removeable roof on a small base and 1 Sandbag Bunker w/palm log retaining wall on a larger diorama base. They also have a very interesting Steel "Pillbox". These hex. shaped prefab. pillboxes went up fast and were used on many of the islands. Other new 1/35th items include: Quonset Hut, FLAK Emplacement and diorama bases of a factory boiler room and an approach to a chateau. They also have a very nicely cast "Little Boy" atomic bomb kit in 1/12th scale.
New World Miniatures We received our initial order a couple weeks ago and I am very impressed with this line of figures. A local modeler used their LRDG crew in a vignette he built for the Seattle Show. The well animated NWM figures were nicely finished and really added to this award winning vignette. NWM's U.S. Half-Track crews were very popular at Seattle IPMS and we "sold-out" of their 2 newest 1/35th figure sets, NWM35052 SAS Jeep Crew (2 figure set) and NWM35059 Panzerjager Crew (2 half figures). Their newest 120mm-1/16th scale figure is NWM16001 USMC 4th Div. Saipan by our old friend John Rosengrant. As usual John has used his awesome sculpting talents to create one obviously battle weary "Jar Head" armed with a 12 guage pump, Superb!
R&J Products RJ35202C Parts for the modified early Brummbar. Includes Mid roof, hatches and external fume extractor parts + 8 steel roadwheels, plus instructions about which kit parts to use to recreate the modified earlies sent to Italy in early 1944. RJ35204 WWII Italian Small Arms Ammo Boxes 8mm MG, 20mm & 37mm ammo boxes, great stowage for AS42/43 Scout Cars etc. RJDP725 Opuntia Cactus. Local Modeler, Ed Schnabel made some cactus for his LRDG vignette. They looked so good many who saw photos on the web asked for them. Sooooo, Ed sent me some masters with photos to use for packaging. I only had enough time to cast up 10 sets (8 in 1/35th + 2 in 1/16th) for the Seattle IPMS Show. And they were all gone before the end of the show. It looks like these cactus are gonna be popular, no worries, we are making more! Each 1:35th set consists of 38 pieces in different sizes & shapes. Enough to make 5-7 plants. The interesting thing about the Opuntia Cactus is, in addition to being found in deserts world wide, they are also found on many Pacific islands! We also make a set (RJDP1605) for larger scale i.e. 1/24, 1/25th & 1/16 This set has 24 pcs and makes 3-5 plants. We are also close to having our Brummbar interior update set (RJ35006) completed. Rather than doing a complete interior as originally planned (before Dragon & Tristar Brummbar kits were released), we have decided to use parts from our Pz4 lower hull interior set (RJ35005) and add some additional parts i.e. grenade & shell storage bins, etc. needed to detail a Dragon or Tristar Brummbar interior. We expect RJ35006 to release in May 2010.
Website News
I updated the Masterpiece Models page but have not yet completed the updates for, New World Miniatures or R&J Products pages. These should be completed within the next 3-4 days.

Jan. 22, 2010
General Information and/or Commentary
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I have been totally focused on updating our paper catalog for the last 8 weeks. I am happy to report the new 120 page catalog is now done. In fact, we just got them back from the copy shop today! The next project, which I have already started, is an update of all the product pages on this website. This won't be done "overnight" either. But, it will get done over the next couple months.
Website News
I have updated 2 of the existing pages Accurate Armour &
Blast Models. I have also created 3 new product pages for Bravo-6,  Master Club and  New World Miniatures.

Some find the Brummbar information below of interest so, we have decided to leave it here for a while longer. FYI, our modified early update set (RJ35202C) for the Cyber-Hobby Early Brummbar kit is now available.
March 19, 2009
General Information and/or Commentary
Thought I would share some information & observations on Brummbars. I have been researching them after noticing some interesting variations among the recent releases from Dragon/Cyber-Hobby and Tristar .
I. EARLY BRUMMBAR:
There were only 60 Early Brummbars produced. 52 of these were on Ausf. G chassis. A total of 8 were based on Ausf. E or F chassis. I have not found an exact count of E's vs F's but, the timing of their production suggests that most of the 8 were most likely Ausf F's. So, 3 or 4 E based Earlies seems like a fair assumption. That makes them only about 5% of total Early production, right? So why did both Dragon (Cyber-Hobby) and Tristar feature Ausf. E's as the basis of their Early Brummbar kits? How can you tell? Just look at the muffler. Only the Ausf. E had the long muffler which is the only muffler provided by Tristar. The Cyber-Hobby Early, because it uses Dragons' Mid Brummbar sprues does happen to have the short muffler but it's marked as not to be used! Don't get me wrong, these are both very nice kits, I just wonder why both companies limited their research on Early Brummbars to the E based vehicle at Kobinka? By doing so, they overlook 90 - 95% of the Early Brummbar production? I was hoping their research would uncover more information about how many of the 8 were Ausf. E's versus F's instead they totally ignored it! I also wonder why none of the Brummbar releases have any steel roadwheels? It is known that the extreme weight of the sloped front armor, mantlet & gun severely taxed the front suspension and crushed the rubber right off the front 2 roadwheels on either side. They were replaced by "steelies" in the field on some earlies. Many of the Mids had "Steelies" on the front 4 roadwheels on either side. The kits don't seem to address this at all and yet Tristar provides over taxed suspension parts so we know they were aware of the extreme frontal weight problem. Oh Well!
II. MODIFIED EARLIES:
After the battle of Kursk all remaining Early Brummbars (approx. 26) were sent to a factory in Austria for refitting. This refit was very significant because it brought them up to Mid Production standards. The largest and most noticeable feature of this refit was the replacement of the fighting compartment roof with that of the Mid. The reason for this was the poorly designed fume extractor system in the Early. Ducts on the ceiling were supposed to take the fumes to the large fans mounted on the rear wall. Apparently the fumes went thru the eyes, noses & throats of the crew first! The Mid fixed this with a fume extractor mounted on the roof directly above the gun. The rear wall of these Modified Earlies wasn't changed so the large external fume extractor covers were still there even though the fans were no longer functional. Any Ausf. E based Earlies received the shorter muffler at this refit and it is believed all 26 vehicles were given a coating of zimmerit before they were dispatched to Italy. If you study photos of what appear to be Early Brummbars in Italy you'll see the flat, round (hockey puck shaped) fume extractor on the roof above the gun. Also if the front part of the loader's hatch is open, look for a bullet splash across it, this is another "telltale" of the mid roof. The roof was very different over the gunners position as well, as were hatch hinges. These features are only visible in an overhead photos which are rare in the field. If you wish to model an Early Brummbar in Italy, it won't be accurate without the modifications. We are currently working on an R&J Products conversion to accurately represent these "modified early" Brummbars.