German Toy Fair 2007
Part 2

01-05.02.07

Italeri
They had an impressive display this year, with lots of new kits in all genres.
Not surprising from an Italian firm was the announcement of a new SM.82.
The 'PRM' series, which includes those lovely information booklets, will also include the RAF version of the CH-47 Chinook and an all-new Westland-Agusta Merlin both in 1:48

MPM
Lots of new items from MPM, with the new Breda Ba.88 Lince on show as a set of early production test shots.
The new Douglas Havoc also on show in mick-up test-shot form
And the all-new 1:48 Fulmar

Planet Models
Probably the most interesting thing in our eyes due from Planet is the 1:48 Westland Welkin!

Revell
Being a German firm, Revell has a huge permanent stand in Hall 12 and here is what they had on show.
The 1:100 scale Caravelle has got to be a reissue
The 1:72 Albatros D.III is promised to be a new-tooling
The DH.2 and SE.5a are not though, being about 40+ years old.
The single-seat Eurofighter in 1:72 will be a brand-new tooling based on their 1:48 example.
The 1:72 Raptor will also be new, not a reissue of the Italeri kit.
The 1:72 B-1B Bone is a welcome reissue
While the 1:72 Draken is a reissue of the Hasegawa tooling
The surprise announcement of an all-new 1:72 Gannet is confirmed, it is NOT the Trumpeter kit!
Addition of the Hs 293s off the Fw 200 allow Revell to issue the He 177 in A-6 guise
The 1:72 Mil-24 is supposed to be ex-Itaerli (?), the Eurocopter Tiger is all new and the AH-1T is a revised tooling
Revell did the NH90 a few years back, this kit is a new one however, depicting the updated version
Still the subject of debate, Revell say that if this is not a new tooling, which the £12.99 price tag would indicate, then it is a reissue of the old Hasegawa kit and the price is wrong!
The only items due in 1:48 are reissues of the Monogram F-105G Wild Weasel plus the
F-86D Sabre Dog
In 1:32 they will reissue the ex-Hasegawa Bf 109K and the ex-Matchbox Sea Venom and Spitfire F Mk 22/24. When will they reissue the Matchbox 1:32 Bf 109E!?
The only new item in 1:32 is the Piper PA-18 Super Cub

Special Hobby
On show in their booth were test shots of the new 1:72 Harpoon
Whilst for 1:48 there was test shots of the new Skua and Roc series
In 1:32 the next release will be the Bell P-39D Airacobra

Tamiya
Not a huge number of announcements, but the all-new 1:48 F-16CJ Fighting Falcon was there for all to see
As was the revision to their Swordfish, which via a new sprue will be released in Mk II form

Trumpeter
As always Trumpeter had a lot of kits listed for 2007. Those that were there built up, or the box art on display were as follows.
1:48 Sea Hawk FGA Mk 6
The export Mk 100/101 Sea Hawk also in 1:48
In 1:32 the box art for the new P-47D 'Bubbletop' was on show
As was the 1:32 F8F-1B Bearcat's
In 1:24 the all-new Hurricane Mk I was on show in built-up form.

Zvezda
On show on their stand was their new 1:72 Junkers Ju 88G-6, which although not perfect does have a lot of things previous kits have not!
Hiding behind it in the cabinet was a built-up test-shot (we presume) of the all-new 1:48 Lavochkin La-5FN and in the background you can see the forthcoming Bf 109F-2 as well.

Well, we had a good time, apart from a flight home on the 'red eye' early Monday morning! There is certainly a lot planned in 2007, far more than in 2006, and we will do our very best to cover all of the new items in Model Airplane International as and when they are released.

«BACK»