Toy Fair Nuremberg 2020
My highlights of the show Hello everyone and welcome to my report about the Toy Fair in Nuremberg. This year i had again the chance to visit this internationally renowned trade fair and to document one or the other new model kit release for you guys. However, just as last year it was my personal highlight to meet my scale modelling buddies in Nuremberg and hang out at the show with them. I am sure that you probably know one or the other of these gentlemen. If this is not the case you can find the links to their online presence in the video description below. Unfortunately i can only show you a small selection of all the model kits, which were presented there. There was a lot to see at the show and it would be too much to show it all in one video. I want to say something about the show in advance, though: All the new kits at the fair were very interesting, but the new things, which got already announced by the kit manufacturers, but weren´t presented at the show, are at least equally interesting.
I don´t really understand this practise of some manufacturers and why they shroud that information in such mystery. Where would you want to show your entire line of new products to the public, if not at the Toy Fair? Reading about it online is neat of course, but when i travel to Nuremberg to visit the Toy Fair i want to see pretty much all the new releases. Because of that i decided to include some of the most interesting new kits, which weren´t shown at the Toy Fair, anyway.
I think this is a good supplementation for my report. Let´s start with Academy. Here they had two new 1/72 scale aircraft kits, an USN F-14A, which is still a bit hard to track down in Germany, and a new F-35B Furthermore Academy will bring back two older aircraft kits in 1/48 scale, namely the SBD-1 and the V-156-B1, which was an export version of the SB2U Vindicator. There will be also a new tool Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär. The Zimmerit will be included in the kit, they are going for the textured decal option. The coolest release in my opinion wasn´t shown at the booth. They are working on a new Panzer III Ausf. J. AFV-Club did not have a booth, but at least Astromodel brought along a picture of the new Centurion Mk.I boxart. The Centurion kits by AFV-Club, which are already out there, are one of my favourite kits i had to deal with up to this point. Because of that i am very happy to hear that there will be this new variant. Hornby and Glow2B presented a couple of new Airfix kits.
The new Cromwell Mk.IV in 1/35 scale caught my attention in particular. In contrast to most of the other vehicle kits by Airfix in this scale we are looking at a new tooling. The new Centaur kit in the same scale had been announced already, but wasn´t shown to us in any of the booths. The American Case tractor, first released in 2016 by Thunder Model, will be available as a reboxing by Airfix. When it comes to 1/48 scale we will get a newly tooled Sabre kit. It was about time for that to happen. AK Interactive presented a new line of acrylic paints. They claimed it is absolutely revolutionary. The color formula is new, with higher pigmentation and allegedly the airbrush gets never clogged with these paints. We will see how true that is at some point. Those, who are interested in color sets and weathering products, saw plenty of that at the booth of Ammo by Mig Jimenez. I think this concept starts to wear off a bit now and i was hoping to see more new things.
The Panzer I with Breda gun in 1/16 scale is already available and the F-104G Starfighter in 1/48 scale is a reboxing of the Kinetic kit. The real new stuff comes from other brands, like Ark Models with their 1/48 scale La-11, Bronco with a T-34/85 kit in the unusual 1/32 scale, and Copper State Models with two new WW1 armored cars, namely the Belgian Minvera and the Italian 1ZM, both in 1/35 scale. I got me their Romfell armored car not too long ago and was very impressed by that kit, so i will certainly keep an eye on these two new armored cars. Last year there was a lot to see at the IBG Models booth, this time it was less exciting.
The new Scammell variants in 1/72 scale caught my attention. They are doing the heavy breakdown tractor and tank transporter version. On the trailer i spotted a Cruiser Tank Mk.I, which has not been announced by IBG Models. That could be interesting! My personal highlight wasn´t shown there, though. There will be a new version of the Lancia 3Ro truck with 90/53 AA gun. Last year i thought of this variant already, when i saw their 3Ro truck for the first time. I am fascinated by this vehicle for quite some time now and it is now certainly on my list. ICM has somehow become a premium brand in the last few years and they continue to work on it. There were a bunch of new kits to be seen. There will be a brand new Gladiator Mk.I in 1/32 scale and another B-26 Invader variant in 1/48 scale. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen in the classic car scale 1/24 was also a highlight. The spokes are made out of photo-etch. A very tempting model kit for me.
Just as we expected there will be a couple of new figures as well. To their series of 1/16 scale figures they will add a Roman Centurion and the French Zouaves from WW1 in 1/35 scale are already available. This new set about the Chernobyl disaster in 1/35 scale came as a surprise to me. Besides a few Stalker figures and radioactive zombies there wasn´t really much around when it comes to model kits. I started to look a bit deeper into the subject and found a couple of announcements by ICM, which might be the start of an entire series of model kits about the Chernobyl disaster. There will be a set of fire fighter figures, resembling those men who arrived at the scene first. There will be also figures of the rescue teams, which worked in the area at a later stage. I think this has great potential and is of interest for many scale modellers out there.
However, this is not the end! They are also working on vehicle kits, which are very sought after and desired by many modellers, who want finally decent plastic injection molded kits of those vehicles. There will be a Leyland truck, the Sd.Kfz. 247 Ausf. B, an armored T-Model and to my special delight there will be the FCM 36 tank, all of that in the classic 1/35 armor scale. I am really wondering why they do not show us such incredible new releases at the toy fair. Italeri mostly showed us their well known models and presented a couple of re-releases, some of which date back to time before the Noachian flood.
I found their 1/72 scale buildings fairly interesting. They are meant for tabletop gamers. I am sure that their Pegasus Bridge could turn into a real gem with a little bit of extra work to improve the detail here and there. In addition i want to mention that Italeri is working on a new tool Semovente kit in 1/35 scale. Of course they did not show that at their booth. A lot more could be seen at the booth of Modellbau König. This well known online vendor presented the new kits of those brands, which are distributed by MBK in Germany, but also the new kits of their own model kit brand "Das Werk". Here is the list of their new kits: A 2cm Salvenmaschinenkanone SMK 18, a set of crew figures for their AA gun, the 5 ton Einheitsanhänger, which i find really useful, and a version of their Faun L900 truck with closed cab. All of that is in 1/35 scale. The "Elli" and "Walli" planes in 1/32 scale were enthralling in particular. What looks like an entirely fictional aircraft at first was actually a project that reached the prototype phase before the war ended, at least when it comes to the version with only one engine.
To represent the wooden parts of the real plane there will be a decal set, which gets sold separately. I am not really into that kind of models, but i am certain that this model kit will be selling like crazy. The other releases by Das Werk are all reboxings, like the Kettenkrad, which comes from Dragon, and the Würzburg radar and the Kugelpanzer come from Amusing Hobby. Besides that i saw a few more things in the 1/35 scale range, like the German version of the M109 SPG and the M16 meat chopper by AFV-Club. There was a Jagdpanzer Elefant with full interior by Amusing Hobby and two new Panzer IV variants by Border Model. There was also a 1/72 scale Chieftain by Takom. Wingnut Wings is also coming forward with new kits in 1/32 scale. There is a Hansa-Brandenburg D.1 and a Handley Page O/100 bomber. It was really impressive to see so many new kits at the MBK booth. Let´s continue with MBR, where i saw a pretty awesome selection of model trees, which are a nice addition to many dioramas.
Same can be said about the products by MiniNatur/Silhouette. Meng did not have its own booth, but was represented by Glow2B. I was mainly expecting new vehicle models in 1/35 scale, but to my great surprise it looks like this brand got into the Scifi genre as well. The model kits on display of space stations and futuristic vehicles are all appearing in the very successful Chinese movie production "the wandering earth". This movie or series is not really well known in Germany yet and i really don´t know what it is about either, but the models look very interesting, especially the space station. The brand MiniArt had probably the greatest "new-kit-density" of all the booths at the show, and mostly cool stuff! I am especially taken by this really funky vehicle, which saw or still sees service with the South-Lebanese forces. The basis of this kit is the really nice T-55 kit by MiniArt, which is available for some time now.
After the release of a full interior T-34/85 in 1/35 scale by Italeri last year it is time for MiniArt to make one as well. They have chosen a vehicle with the characteristics typical for one particular production plant. Furthermore it looks like MiniArt is hopping on the Panzer IV train as well. They are working on two J versions, which feature full interior as well. When it comes to the full interior of tank kits it is easy to get into arguments with fellow scale modellers these days. I personally really don´t have a particular opinion on the topic.
I am sure that this kits will be well received. There are also some news in the figure section. We get some civilian car mechanics, train staff, a modern British tank crew, Afghan civilians, Soviet tank riders and pigeons. Figure kits, which are announced already, but were not on display include US troops with ponchos and mine clearing devices. All in all i would say that the booth of MiniArt was the nicest of the entire scale model section. They even showed us the large majority of their upcoming releases. As we have seen already this is not the policy of many brands these days. At the Glow2B booth i saw this box of an enormous Antonov An-225 in 1/72 scale by Modelsvit, a brand i haven´t heard much about before. Length and wingspan are both over 1 meter. I am sure that the Revell booth would have been nice to have a look at, but access was only possible with an appointment. Because of that i can really only tell you that they are working on a new tool SR-71 Blackbird in 1/48 scale, which will be released in 2021.
Apart from that it looks like Revell only showed the usual stuff, so i think i haven´t really missed a lot. Special Hobby and CMK shared a booth and had a lot of models on display, but most of them were not really relevant for me. However, i liked their Piaggio P108B and the ARL 44, both in 1/72 scale. I was very pleased to see that Tamiya showed up with a couple of new kits as well. Of course i like their R35 the most. This vehicle was previously available by Heller and Hobby Boss.
Since the Heller kit is not an option for those people with a sane mind you only had the Hobby Boss option. I was intrigued by the KV-1 as well. To my surprise and joy it looks like the kit parts feature some very nice steel textures. The West-German version of the M47 Patton is just a reboxed Italeri kit with a few additional parts. The well known M8 Greyhound kit, which was first released by Tamiya in the late 90s, will stay around for a while with two new figures and some accessories. Their 1/48 scale range got a new addition – a T-55 tank. I quite like the thing. Unfortunately there are not really a lot of figures or diorama components available in this scale. Those of you, who like their Tamiya paints and build vehicles of the DAK from time to time will be happy to hear that Tamiya has released a few new paints, which are meant to represent the real colors.
Personally i am not a color-fetishist, but everyone has his own spleen i guess. New releases in the civilian vehicle section were not too common this year, but Tamiya had a few. There will be a new Kawasaki Ninja with a few new parts in 1/12 scale and a Ford Mustang GT4 in 1/24 scale. The true eye-catcher was the Volvo FH16 recovery truck. It is an RC model in 1/14 scale. If you don´t find this totally awesome then there might be something wrong. As always Trumpeter and Hobby Boss presented their models together. For the ship builders they have a giant 1/200 scale Scharnhorst coming up. In the foreground there is the hull of a 1/350 scale Bismarck for easier size comparison. That is a new kit as well by the way and the release will be soon. Apart from that we get two armored vehicles in 1/35 scale. The first is the Russian recovery tank BREM-1M and the second is a FlaKpanther, one version with a FlaK 36/37 and one with a FlaK 41. Hobby Boss will release the launch vehicle for the SS-23 Spider missile in 1/72 scale, and in 1/35 scale there will be a Jackal 2.
When it comes to aircraft i saw another kit variant of the B-26 Invader in 1/32 scale. They are also working on a Me 262 in 1/18 scale, but it is not clear here whether it is a new tool or a reboxing of the Merit kit. Just as i had expected there were tons of paint and some diorama accessories on display at Vallejo´s booth, but that wasn´t too exciting really. While looking around i noticed these paint masks. Besides the usual emblems and insignias for military vehicles i saw a bunch of rather unusual patterns. I think that these are useful for car model builders in particular. Finally we take a look at some of the new kits by Zvzeda. They are releasing the Russian nuclear submarine "Tula" and a brand new SU-100 assault gun in 1/72 scale. Last year we had a couple of releases by several manufacturers of the Russian AA System Pantsir-1 in 1/35 scale. Zvezda is also making one now. It is an impressive vehicle for sure. We will see how the kit compares to the other ones by Trumpeter, Meng and Tiger Model at some point.
This completes my report about the Toy Fair in Nuremberg. As always it was nice to have a look behind the scenes and see the upcoming new kits in person. I think it was not optimal that a lot of the very relevant new kits were not on display there, but it is not a tragedy. I enjoyed my time there anyway and i am looking forward to visit the show again next year. Hopefully my report was enjoyable and entertaining for you.
See you again in the next video, your Hamilkar Barkas..
