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Friday, December 30, 2011

Welcome to the wonderful world of F.A.T.S



I have always love the idea of F.A.T.S (Future Advance Tactical System) and have finally decided to dedicate a full blog to this paper toys design.

This new blog will record all the characters and vehicles in the F.A.T.S universe.

Little Plastic Man is proud to give you fats-universe.blogspot.com

Welcome to the Wonderful World of F.A.T.S
Now choose your side.

Coming to a blog near you.

Monday, December 26, 2011

1:72 scale United States Tanks



Dragon Armor, Easy Armor and Forces of Valor are usually the brands I buy for my 1:72 scale tanks collection. It is not that they are my favourite brands but they are easily found and affordable here in Singapore.
Another brand that I like is Hobby Master (HM). I love their details and weathering painting techniques. They also cover a huge variety of tanks.
Not as heavy as compared to the Forces of Valor tanks, that equates to lower metal content but their sculpting and painting are much better.
However, in places where I found them, they are pretty steep in price.

In my recent trip to Taipei, I found a shop that was selling HM's tanks and for a very reasonable price.
So what does a good toy collector do....grab them!
I will be reviewing the WW2 United States Tanks.

US Willys Jeep 7th Armored Div.,
814th Tank Destroyer Bttn.,Recon. Company No.22,
Jan 1945 Belgium

The US Willys Jeep was manufactured from 1941 to 1945. These small four-wheel drive utility vehicles are considered the iconic World War II Jeep, and inspired many similar light utility vehicles.
Wanting to replace their outdated light vehicles the U.S. Military received three tenders. Bantam Car Company was the initial winner but couldn’t meet demand so the job went to Willys-Overland Motors. Willys was to take the best design features of the three submitted tenders and build a standardized vehicle. Eventually in order to meet an even greater demand the Ford Motors Company was asked to build a similar vehicle. During World War II there was a total of 647,870 Jeeps produced by the three companies; Willys-Overland produced 362,841 of them.

In 1:72 scale, this jeep comes in pretty small but is still able to pack in the details. I love this piece as the details and painting are very good.
The windshield can pivot up and down plus the wheels are made of rubber and can roll.















US M8 Light Armored Car
82nd Armored Recon. Battalion,
2nd Armored Div., 1944

The American M8 was equipped with a 37mm gun and 6X6 wheel drive and was the
main recon vehicle used by the US military during WWII.
The only positive thing the crews had to say about the vehicle was it was reliable and fast on roads. It performed poorly off road, was very lightly armored with only sheet metal for a floor. It had an open top with no periscopes and exposed the crew to weather and enemy fire.

Another armor vehicle with great details and painting.
I also like the fact that the wheels are made of rubber and can roll.













US M10 Tank Destroyer "Duckbill"
France, 1944 "Corsair II"


Originally developed as part of a mobile tank destroyer force in 1941.
The M10 tank destroyer, formally 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage, M10 was a United States tank destroyer of World War II based on the chassis of the M4 Sherman tank.

The 'duckbill' version of the M10 was the configuration put into production later in the M10's development. The 'duckbill' was actually a more effective turret counter-weight to offset the weight of the M7 76mm main gun. The extended 'duckbill' also provided a better 50 cal machine gun mount.

Seriously what's not to like about a tank destroyer!
I like the fact that you get to see the inside of the tank from the top. The details are amazing.
I particulately like the weathering effect on this M10















M5A1 US Light Tank
E Tank Company, 83rd Recon Battalion
3rd Armoured Division "Victory"

The M5A1 was the major variant of the M3 Stuart, formally Light Tank M3.
It an American light tank of World War II and supplied to British and Commonwealth forces under lend-lease prior to the entry of the U.S. into the war—and used thereafter by U.S. and Allied forces until the end of the war.

This is a very cute tank.
I like the overall design of this tank and Hobby Master has done well to capture it in this die cast model.













LVT(A)- 1
Saipan, 1944 "Blue Beach 1"


The LVT (Landing Vehicle Tracked) was a class of amphibious vehicles designed for the U.S during WWII. The original idea was for a cargo carrier from ship to shore. It wasn’t long before it evolved into a troop carrier and a fire support vehicle.
The LVT(A)-1 was given a turret almost identical to that of the M3 Stuart Light Tank along with other fire-power.

This is one very well made model.
The details are great and the nice blue wash is eye catching.
I am really pleased with this tank.













LVT-2 AMTRAC Unkown Unit,
Saipan (Mariana Islands), June 1944


A vast improvement over the LVT-1 came with the arrival of the LVT-2 commonly known as the “Water Buffalo” and also as just the “Buffalo”. The new machine was provided with better armor, a newer Continental engine and the same transmission found in M3A1Stuart tanks all riding on a new suspension.
This made it possible for the LVT-2 to carry 6,500 pounds, 2,000 pounds more than the LVT-1. The one flaw with the LVT-2 was the bilge powers were powered by gasoline so when the gasoline ran out the LVT-2 usually foundered.
One of the many battles the LVT-2 was used in was the Battle of Saipan that lasted from June 15, 1944 – July 9, 1944. On June 15th over 300 LVTs landed 8,000 Marines and by the end of hostilities the Americans had landed 71,000 personnel.

Just like the LVT(A)- 1, this is a great model.
I especially like the great details you can see in the hull of the tank.
Plus the machine guns look sweet!















Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A very F.A.T.S Christmas!

It is beginning to feel like Christmas and I am getting the feel good Christmas feeling.
For this holiday season, I decided to incorporate my F.A.T.S (Future Advanced Tactical System) design with Christmas.
I love the contrasting theme.

If you like what you are seeing and would like the template, please hop over to my facebook and like the photos. If I can get 40 likes, I will make the template available.
I am also thinking of dedicating a whole blog just for the F.A.T.S universe so if there are many likes, it might just push me to do so...:)

Wishing all my readers a very F.A.T.S Christmas!

Update: Check out the new F.A.T.S blog



Saturday, December 10, 2011

Hot Toys Superman The Movie Christopher Reeve



Not being a comic reader, my real exposure to Superman is when I watched him as a little boy in the movie "Superman The Movie".
At the time, Superman was played by Christopher Reeve.
So please forgive me when I can only relate Superman to the one played by Christopher Reeve!

Which better company to do a Reeve's Superman than Hot Toys. Given their superior track record, we know the figure is in safe hands.
As a mark of respect the figure is dedicated to the memory of Christopher Reeve and a part of the money collected from the sale of the figure will be donated to the the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, which funds research into spinal injuries and their treatment.
Hence there is no better reason not to get your hands on this figure.
As a mark of respect, there will not be a stupid joke at the end of the review...:)



This is seriously one of the best looking packaging I have seen.
The packaging itself can be a display piece!
It is actually a no brainer to use the "S" logo as the centrepiece of the packaging but according to what I have read on the internet, HT graphic artist Dixon Chan thought that the "S" logo was somehow expected and he didn’t want to use it but everytime he tried out different designs he always came back to that logo.
So here it is.

The logo being a diamond shape made it impossible to stand upright...so what did they do?
Yes they created 2 triangular tip bases to hold the diamond shape logo.
But when you close the base, it forms one triangle and together with the diamond logo it forms a square for easy packaging...cool.

When you open the box, you will see that the figure is dedicated to the memory of Christopher Reeve.
There are 2 layers, 1st layer for the figure and the second layer are the parts to form the Fortress of Solitude base.

Base


Closing the base forms one triangle


A perfect square!


The packaging as a display piece.




1st layer


2nd layer


Wonderful sculpting here.
After a slight miss with Indy's head sculpt, I am glad this was not the case.
I will just let the photographs do the talking...









Not counting the Fortress of Solitude base as an accessory, there aren't much accessories. Well it does make sense right, the man of steel doesn't need any weapons...
Oh if you get the exclusive version (which I did not) you get the the lump of green Kryptonian meteorite on a chain that Lex Luthor uses on Superman.
Other than that, he comes with a selection of six hands which are great for some classic poses like the flying poses!

Now to the Fortress of Solitude base.
It looks really cool but the shards of ice crystals could not be completely inserted into the snowy base. Is it just my figure?...I think so because I don't see anyone else complaining.
Anyway, the base is really good and well made but again it is huge!
I simply do not have the space to display this base. I really feel wasteful as I know that I have paid for this beautifully made base but I just can't display it!
In the end, I have to settle for the normal base given to all Hot Toys figures.





Just a point to note, I am not sure if there was a little tear on his outfit (right leg) before I took the figure out.
So be careful when posing him because even though the material of the outfit is stretchable, there is a chance it could tear.



Overall a great looking piece. Too bad I could not display him with the Fortress of Solitude base.

































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