Saturday 12 May 2018

Fine Molds 1/48 Type 98 at Shizuoka


Courtesy of the kindness of Mr Li here are some images of the forthcoming Fine Molds 1/48 Type 98 on display at the Shizuoka Hobby Show. Should whet a few appetites! 







The linked HLJ feature also shows the construction layout and other details and there is an interesting HobbylinkTV interview with the Fine Molds President Kunihiro Suzuki discussing the kit here. According to the blurb this is the first 1/48 kit to feature the Type 3 bomb used air-to-air against enemy aircraft formations.


Also on display the Fine Molds mainstream re-issue of the former 'magazine special' Ka-14 with new alternative cowling.




With very special thanks to Mr Li for sharing his images with Aviation of Japan.

Image credits: All  images © 2018 Inside the Armour Publications (FB) via Li Yen-choo; Additional Type 96 and Ka-14 images © 2018 Fine Molds Corp. 

6 comments:

WD said...

Thanks for posting these Nick. I especially like the fact that they issued a Ka-14 with an alternate cowling. (I've got the magazine-issued iteration.) Now, if only they'd kit an A6M2 prototype and an A6m2 Model 11.

Warren

Mark Smith said...

Re the Babs, marvelous news! Great value! And earlier versions coming, if the sprues are any evidence. Thanks for the coverage, Mr. Li and Nick. I had better order one more...

Dan Salamone said...

Looks beautiful, cannot wait to get my hands on this kit. Would love to see Fine Molds release a set (or two) of Japanese air dropped weapons, much like Hasegawa did in 1/48 for modern aircraft models. Thanks for the images, Mr. Li!

Dan

73north said...

WONDERFUL review of the new Fine Molds kit - I always admire this little known company for its wonderful Japanese Subjects ( especially the A7M Reppu in 1/48 scale ) - thanks for posting

Anonymous said...

The Babs is great news indeed - I had actually begun research into scratch building one by acquiring drawings and enlarging them to 1/48 -
Now I don't have to . The modular nature of the components in the sprue photos bolsters my hope for the earlier version. If we see it as well in Asahi Shimbun's " Kamikaze " markings I will die a happy modeler . The only thing that could possibly be better would be Nick helping us with the blue color- ( hint hint ) . I have pre ordered mine and now I must sit and wait.
Thanks to Nick and others for sharing this happy news - Richard

Ken Glass said...

Hello Nick,

Thanks for this update on these pending new kits.

Regards,
Ken Glass