Fujimi has surprised everyone by leaking some interesting news just shy of the next Shizuoka Hobby Shop in Japan. They are starting a new series of historic Formula I racing cars in 1/20 scale (yes, 1/20 scale, like Tamiya!) and the first out of the gate is the last mount of the late, great Gilles Villeneuve - the Ferrari 126C2. Fujimi promises a June release on this one.
Lindberg, ah, Lindberg. I've never seen a product blitz as massive from a company that has been relatively dormant until its recent purchase by J.Lloyd International. Now, almost all the much-wanted 1/25 scale kits are either back or are coming back, the old ex-Pyro 1/32 scale series is starting a renaissance, and new tools are on the way - not to mention that all of the reissued kits are still being manufactured in the good old USA!I picked up two of the reissued 1/32 scale Pyro kits the other day - the '32 Ford Roadster and the '40 Ford Convertible. It was like a second childhood, reliving the memories buying and building those old kits back in their heyday of the 1960s - when they cost 49 cents each! Pyro was one of the first to mold kits in colored plastic; not so anymore - Lindberg's reissues are all in white styrene (better for painting, of course!). For the kits age, the moldings are still pretty crisp. Granted, they are simplified, but remember, they harken from a different era. No black vinyl tires. No chrome parts (one of the biggest reasons the Pyro line didn't catch on as the bigger AMT, JoHan, Monogram, and Revell offerings did.) But with Alclad II Chrome and Gunze "Tyre Black" paints available, those reasons are now excuses not to buy or build these little jewels.
Okay, let's ask it - why bother with 1/32 scale? With some TLC and some state of the art building techniques, those kits look every bit as good as a "professional" 1/25 scale build, for one. For two, there's a whole bunch of very nice 1/32 scale kits that never got the recognition they deserved - the Matchbox 1/32 scale series of classic and racing cars, Gunze Sangyo's 1/32 scale American Cars of the 1950s, Airfix' European Classics series - you get the idea. And let's not forget that the current state of the art in slot racing is concours-quality 1/32 scale! Am I kidding? Go look at the newest slot car releases from Carrera, Fly, and Revell, among others. Those puppies are so nicely done I'd be afraid to race them on a track and damage them. They are THAT good.
That said, I talked to Gregg about an article for MCM on doing one of these puppies right. I've got the '32 on my workbench now. I'll keep you posted.
That's it for now. Keep the plastic faith.
