1/35 Japanese Figures ?

Dragon did a nice set that was recently reissued along with a set of Marines and a resin Nick Cage figure from the movie Windtalkers. Fine Molds also does a series of Japanese crewmen.

Which ones do you mean? the WWII variety or the medieval variety?

WWII, the four figure set with the solider and sword.

Correct, and a fine set it is, but as you say 1/32. Put these next to 1/35 figures, especially older ones like the Tamiya set, and the difference in size will look totally ridiculous.

Rob

Other responses have already shown there are a few more, but they are rare. I wonder why, really. You get positively buried under the ever increasing pile of releases of German subjects, you can get all the US you want as well, and Russian and Commonwealth aren't too bad, but where are the WWII Japanese? I could understand minor nations getting mostly ignored, but the Japanese were a major player.

Rob

and while we are at it, I've never seen any 1/35 Italian figures either. Last time I checked they were in WWII too..well at least for awhile.

Craig

Italeri and (I think) dragon had a few sets at some time, so like the Japanese, they are represented. There was also an Airfix "squishy plastic" set.

Rob

not sure there were too many 6' 7" Japanese soldiers. who used these

1/32 figures anyway, especially if they were not compatible with the standard 1/35 armor? I always thought the squishy figures were designed just for firecrackers and magnifying glasses..

Craig

Two possible reasons come to mind:

1.) Japanese AFVs weren't all that great, so they aren't very interesting as model subjects... the same holds true for Italy. 2.) Japanese model companies may equate Japanese ground troops with things like the rape of Nanking, and would prefer to put the whole "unfortunate historical incident" as they refer to that and the Korean "comfort girls" behind them, ASAP.

Pat

Marx made a few 54mm Japanese figures, too. I'm guessing but I think around 12-16. They were soft plastic and those with my son's "Iwo Jima" set came in a tan colour. IIRC, they were very "athletic" poses.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

That's OK, we were talking about Italians. Hang on, not too many of those manage 6'7" either, do they?

Wouldn't dream of putting any of the squishies to serious modeling use, but the same scale was used for their Multopose series, and those were/are definately worth while.

Rob

Power on the battlefield does not equate historic or modeling interest. I'll built a nice looking, ineffective oddball before considering a bland winner. Both nations had (to my eyes at least) odd and interesting looking vehicles, that would be prime candidates if I were into building armour.

That would certainly be a consideration, in fact this may well explain their absence from most Japanese product lines, and more recently from the various other Asian lines, but there are companies outside of Asia. Why don't/didn't the European and especially American companies pick up the Japanese subjects? Atrocities never stopped them from putting out one German set after the other, even making up loads of luft46 stuff when real subjects run out. Even ROG has plenty of WWII German stuff kicking around.

As for putting their past behind them, as long as there are those who can use the past for their own political or financial gain, neither Japan nor Germany will ever be allowed to do so. This will be made to fester long after all those involved have died. The sins of the ancestors will be visited upon the decendants as long as it remains profitable.

Rob

Yeah, but they were some mighty tough enlisted troops, due to having to drag their officer's espresso machines through the furnace-like heat of the North African desert. It's no wonder after that that liberal socialism replaced Fascism in no time flat in post-war Italy. One must applaud the Italian Communist party, who makes official support of the Catholic Church a key party plank. COMRADES! Let us think of this as "Reformed Atheism"! Like Lenin's "New Economic Policy", it moves forward in a incremental manner to achieve its ends. Or as the revolutionary Hero-Nanny Mary Poppins said: "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" during her successful agitprop tactics among the striving and downtrodden chimney sweeps of London to open their eyes to the Red Dream.

Patsky

It does in this case...the Pacific Theater of war was one where very few combats occurred where AFVs on either side met each other face-to-face like happened in the Europian Theater. The island-hopping tactics meant that neither the Japanese or Allied forces used tanks in any large numbers during combat, as they all had to get to a point of combat by sea transport. This also favored the use of infantry and fairly light artillery....why do you need a cannon with a twenty-mile range on a island that's around ten-by-ten miles on a side? That was field of combat perfect for howitzers and mortars with added naval gunnery support on both sides. If the US actually had done an invasion of the Japanese home islands, things would have been different; but that never happened.

You sound like me; I like the stuff that didn't work, and the crazy-ass ideas. That's why I have my model He-177 and Ba-349 Natter. Everyone else would have a diorama of the battleship Bismarck firing its guns; I'd have a diorama of the battlecruiser Hood being straddled by Bismarck's shells just before it all went bye-bye. :-) Beautiful ship, interesting concept....didn't pan out quite right though.

It took them approximately forever to realize the interest in Japanese Kamikaze weapons. First time that happened was the Hasegawa "Betty" with the Ohka in 1/72 scale around... although Hawk Model Company had a Ohka out around thirty years before that in 1/48th scale.

Hell, tell me about it - Ive got around forty Luft 46 models in 1/72 scale sitting in my bedroom; a lot of them due to Huma Models of Germany.

Trying to forget the truth of what happened in the past leads to future disasters for the nation that tries it. Once, the US set out to bring the blessings of democracy to Vietnam at the point of a gun. It didn't work. ...but around forty years later, it seemed like a doable thing again. It would all have worked if only we had had Rambo with us. In the movies, you always can win.

Pat

I guess that means not to expect anything soon from Trumpeter.....

Craig

don't forget to show a jarhead demonstrating how NOT to use a japanese tree mortar. ouch!

I don't know about a "tree mortar" but the "Knee Mortar" was good for a quick trip to the hospital.

Pat

same thing. the japanes called it a tree mortar because you were supposed to use the bowl of a tree to anchor. i cite ian hogg and my uncle.

In case anyone doesn't know what we are talking about, it's this odd little weapon:

proved to be a fairly effective weapon capable of being carried by a individual troop. The grenade it fired seems more like a rocket/shell hybrid than a conventional mortar round, as it carries its propellants internally, with the gas exiting through holes in the base of the projectile.

Pat