Grand Opening: toyconstruct.blogspot.com

Hey Fellow Hobbyists!

Hope the wait didn't prove to be too long, for we have finally set up the new blog, after going through a fair amount of planning...such as the banner design, blog layout, categories of hobbies etc. It's titled toyconstruct to include both models that require construction, and ready-made models that we have collected for all this time.

JQ and I have put a couple of posts about how each of us got started on the modeling/collecting hobby since childhood, and a common thread appears that it all starts with: Dad.

And from now on, JQ and I will be putting in about a couple of posts per week...and we have also taken a new batch of modern military, warhammer fantasy and Japan-fan stuff too.

So without further ado, allow us to gladly present the new integrated blog!

toyconstruct.blogspot.com

See you guys there :)
Joshua

Announcement to Dear Readers

Greetings Dear Readers,

It has been a pleasure and a privillege to have blog and let you guys read and enjoy our photoes of our hobby items for so long. While we have maintain a simple and slow-mo approach to displaying our stuff, we are just happy to have a small following checking us out.

But Josh and I wanna do more, We wanna make it more awesome and span out on the range of the hobbies that we have as guys. As such, we wanna do an integration of the two hobby blogs that we have now.

Furthermore, We wanna do more than jus show pictures of Warhammer and Modern Military Stuff. Its gonna span out to Jap-Fan stuff., Sci-Fi, Game Reviews and Everything interesting about being a geeky or nerdy guy. From toy collectibles that we enjoy, to the places where u can get cool stuff, We hope that what we aim to provide in the new blog will satisfy and fulfill ur appetites and involvement in the blog.

We also aim to attract my readers and also further improve our blog in the "attraction" and "interest" factor. We shall increase our entries from just the usual one pic per week routine, to more than one pic per week. On top of that, we aim to give QUALITY pictures and also more entries per week than the usual one.

With a manpower of 2 and on occasion, some help from our dear friend, Weiting, It will be a big task but we will give it our best and see where it goes from here. During the integration process, we might go for a hiatus for a certain period.

Till then, we like to thank all the loyal readers and u will see more of us soon once all is done and sorted out.

Stay tune for updates.

CHeers

PLA Troops

Hey Guys

Here's wishing all of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR, and all the best as we continue on into a new decade!

Today we have another shot of JQ's Battlefield Evo PLA Ground Forces squad, wielding a variety of weapons and ready to engage the enemy...the soldiers are pre-painted 1:65 miniatures which come with rules and are ready to play right out of the box.

The soldiers carry a QBB 95 machine gun, PF 98 anti-tank rocket launcher, and 2 QBZ 95 assault rifles.

Apparently, some modelers have proceeded to modify the figures themselves, and examples I have seen fired missiles (with smoke trails) added onto anti-tank soldiers and APCs. Sometimes I just wish I had the time to sit down and really learn how to do these things...as they make the figures look much better than before. Examples of conversions of units in Battlefield Evo:

More examples can be seen at this conversion contest forum thread:

http://www.evocommand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1271&start=0

Well, it's time for me to hand over the blog to compatriot JQ, and thanks again for coming down and continually supporting the blog! Do take care, and see you guys soon!

中国人民解放军陆军 (PLA Ground Forces)

Hey Everyone

Hope you all had an enjoyable time over the past Christmas weekend...which is infamous for crazy shopping and maddening traveling, but also holds special significance for some (like me) in the form of Jesus' birthday and the gift of salvation. I'm curious, how many of us actually buys military toys/models for our friends and family?

Today we're taking a slight departure from the Fuchs and moving onto the soldiers of the PLA ground forces, who remain the largest standing army in the world, and have put in considerable modernization efforts to catch up with their contemporaries.

If you'd like to read up more about what's going on in the PLA, there's a database website (which sounds rather official to me) that you could read up about a lot of things, such as write-ups on their equipment and blogs about military events.

http://www.sinodefence.com/

While I was snooping around, I also found out that China enjoyed very close political relations to the US in the 1980s (to counter the Soviets), and China actually acquired Blackhawk helicopters from the US during that time...in spite of the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 and consequent US sanctions, the PLA was able to keep the Blackhawks in flyable condition, taking part in multiple exercises and high altitude missions (a few were lost to crashes and pilot errors).

More info can be found here:
http://www.sinodefence.com/airforce/helicopter/s70.asp

Fuchs from the Back

Hello Everybody

I've been away with some traveling, and just got back home to have some time to do up the next post, so I do apologize for the slight delay.

This time, we have another shot of the Fuchs 6x6 APC from the back, mainly focusing upon the crew doors on the vehicle.

The TPz Fuchs can carry a total of 10 passengers, and has found willing buyers of the APC, ranging from Saudi Arabia and even the United States (as the M93 Fox). It has not been deployed in active combat, but has served in peace-keeping operations such as in former Yugoslavia under the KFOR.

To build on POI's point, wheeled vehicles have their own advantages and disadvantages when compared to track systems...a big "up" for wheels would be the durability of the vehicle, as it can operate even if a wheel or 2 are destroyed (in contrast of complete immobilization in tracked vehicles). Also, wheeled vehicles can operate for prolonged distances, as it does not suffer as much mechanical strain as the tracks. However, tracks (the 'continuous railway' when it was invented in the 1800s) are better at spreading out the weight (improving mobility in mud) and provide a smoother ride across uneven surfaces.

All in all, it really depends on what the vehicle is intended to do...maybe one day we will see walkers, with the Japanese leading the front with their gundams (their Asimo technology is really impressive) :P

Fuchs APC

Hey Everyone!

Great load of thanks goes out to JQ for putting the posts up for the past 4 weeks, and for you all who come down and read the posts/pics we put up.

Today we're featuring the German Fuchs APC, again made by our favorite Galoob (Micromachines)

There's actually a pretty long story how JQ and I tried to guess what the APC was. On first impression, it looked like it came from the BTR series, only to find that the Russian APCs have 8 wheels, and not 6. JQ and I pulled our hair out as we scoured the internet for a picture of a similar APC. The closest we came to was the German TPz Fuchs, which matched the toy, but had an even spacing of wheels (which the toy did not have). And on a random ebay micromachine hunt, we did find that micromachines listed the APC as "panzer-transport" or something to that effect...indirectly confirming the TPz Fuchs identity.

So here it is...the TPz Fuchs (Fox), the 2nd wheeled armored vehicle serving in the Bundeswehr, first made in 1979. It's reported that the Fuchs can run with 1 or 2 wheels totally damaged. Interesting piece of trivia: maximum speed is 105 km/h (65 mph), which is pretty darned fast.

Longbow Ah-64D and Apache AH-64C

Here we have the AH-64D LongBow on the left and the AH-64C Apache on the Right.

While they do not look as close as they are shown in the picture. The Ah-64C and Ah-64D in real life are pretty much the same helicopter.

Unfortunately, Micromachines failed to make a proper scale of both helicopters. The Longbow is distinctively differentiated from the Normal Apache by its large radar dome on the helicoper's main rotors.

The elevated position of the radome allows detection and (arcing) missile engagement of targets even when the helicopter itself is concealed by an obstacle (e.g. terrain, trees or buildings).

Further, a radio modem integrated with the sensor suite allows a D-variant Apache to share targeting data with other AH-64Ds that do not have a line-of-sight to the target. In this manner a group of Apaches can engage multiple targets but only reveal the radome of one D-variant Apache.

Just an extra info would be that the Longbow on the left is Joshua's while the Apache on the right is mine. The ufnny thing is that Joshua's Longbow looksmuch more like the Ah-64 than mine as my cockpit is way fatter.

While military enthusiast like me can tell such a difference easily, there are more detailed military enthusiast that scratch build model kits and can tell the disparity of various model kits that i hardly even noticed. Not too long ago, i was in the http://www.modelwarships.com/ website forum and it was discussing on the disparity of scale for the Shanghai Dragon Arleigh Burke Kit.

Such in-depth research really amazes me at times and makes me aspire to do be better which bring me to the part that I am organising my military kits and models so that i can get ready to take pictures wif Josh. Furthermore, i wanna do my models in an intensive manner as i have not for a long time.

In any case, Hope u have liked the 4 weeks of entries that i have posted. Josh is taking over for now and will be doing lots of interesting entries too.

Stay tuned and thanks for the constant support.

UH1 huey on Greenfield

Undoubtedly the Popstar and Father of Helicopters, the UH1 Huey is a testament to Leonardo Da Vinci's concept on a aircraft that could vertically take off and hover.



Vickers was talking about how the Uh1 Huey go hand in hand with the Vietnam War movie "Platoon". And i have to agree. The Uh1 Huey has always been an iconic helicopter. From Mel Gibson's "We were Soldiers" to "Rambo". Every Vietnam War scenario were filled with these warbirds.

And the evidence of their influence is still seen today around many parts of the world. Even in "Courage under Fire", a Gulf War movie starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan had the Huey as a medic helicopter.

As such, We pay homage to the UH1 Huey for being a darn good helicopter, putting men on hoverflight into the new century and the new era of warfare.

On a sidenoteL Sorry guys for the short entry, didn't edit it totally so i am extending it now. I'm gonna get to work on my models soon and will be updating you on it as i progress on.

The UH1 Huey in the night

The UH1 Huey

You know, across every generation of warmachine, there will always be one founding father for each type of warmachine
.
From the infamous Sopwith Camel that took man to the air to the F86 Sabre or Mig 15 that took Man into the jet age, there will always be an iconic warmachine that would revolutionise the way wars are fought.

The UH-1 Huey was one machine that brought a new era in the way of fighting. Deploying troops in the hot zone and taking injured out where no plane can go. The UH-1 Huey was the poster boy for helicopters. It was also the icon for Vietnam.

And as such, I give my due respect to the helicopter that did it all and is still doing it at this current day.

Heres to the UH1-Huey

If u wanna noe, The picture was done using some led lighting to look like as if its the night time and tht spotlights were on the ground giving a coloured outline of the huey.

Hope u guys like it. :)

Cheers

Closeup on the Tu22

Hello Guys, Im back again after a month of exams and studying. Its good to be back and I shall continue of from Joshua's Introduction of the Tu22M.

Here is a Macro shot we did and i though tit was fantastic. Firstly, it gaved a nice touch on closing up on the micromachine. Secondly, the lighting and background were perfect.

Particularly like this picture among our shots on this particular take on the Tu22M



Just another information to share on the plane, The Tu22M is nothing like its Tu22 brother. The designs look different. The external structure of the plane was also undoubtedly different in appearance. However, unlike its older brother, the Tu22M did not suffer the failures of the Tu22.

On a side note, the Tu22M in this picture reminds me of "thunderbirds" as this pic somehow gives a sort of 80s spacey like feel to the plane. Another sort of ambience the picture and more in particular, this plane, is that it looks like the type of plane that would be taking on Gozilla or helping Ultraman in his fight against monsters.

I dunno, but the whole look of the Tu22M reminds me of some past 70s or 80s feel and give me an impression of how designers of tht time envision whas a futuristic bomber would look like from their predecessors.

Other than that, I am please to announce that this next two months or so, I will be going intensive on my military models. I will be continuing my construction of the Ticonderoga VLS Cruiser and proceeding on to try and fix up as many othe rmodel kits and paint as much as possible.

After so many months of not doing it, I feel deprived and am urging to take up my paintbrush and step up the pace on model making. Furthermore, Im still brainstorming on the integration, and it will happen soon.

Cheers

Tu 22M Backfire

Hello

Today we have a shot of the Tu-22 Backfire bomber by micromachines, just that the nose was painted black which kind of took away the 'classic' look of the actual Backfires that did not have black noses. Oh well, I am just picky.

The Tu-22M represented a general trend in 1970s aircraft design: the use of swept wings. The variable sweep wing was initially attractive as it provided a blend of short take off and efficient cruising, famous planes including the Tomcat, Tornado, Flogger and the Aardvark. However, it was found that such designs were complex and added too much weight to the aircraft, which saw a stop to its use in military aircraft design, with the last major military swept wing aircraft was the Tu 160 Blackjack.

Man, I grew up reading about these planes, playing them in flight simulators, and reading that they're obsolete is somewhat sobering to me....at least telling me that I am indeed getting old :P

Well, it's about time for me to hand this blog over to my partner in crime...so let's welcome JQ once again!

The Falcon Flies High

Hey Everyone

Thanks again for your kind comments as we share our interest in modern military models.

This time, we feature another shot of our micromachine F-16 Falcon, in its regular grey scheme (one the few micromachines to have a realistic color scheme I have to add).

For those Battlestar Galactica fans (like myself and JQ), the F16 proved to be such a capable fighter that it was unofficially named the Viper by her pilots, after the mainstay interceptor of the science fiction series.

Interestingly, this unofficial moniker has lived on, as Lockheed Martin has led development in the F16IN "Super Viper" program, implementing 5th generation technology into the 4th generation airframe, making the F16IN the an extremely advanced 4th generation fighter. Technologies include reduced radar signatures, and even advanced radar technology (that is also exported by the US) that the company claims that no other competitor can match in the export market today. The F16IN was designed for the Indian Air Force, and it is interesting that the words 'protecting a nation's sovereignty' and 'global war on terror' appears on the company's website:

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/f16/f16in/index.html

Falcon in the Sunset

Hey Folks!

Thanks for your continued support and readership...and we really appreciate it. The integration stated by JQ is still in the theory phase, and it isn't planned to happen in the near future yet. We will provide a definite update when we do get it going.

Today we're featuring another icon of 20th Century Air Combat, and that is none other than the F-16 Fighting Falcon! A veteran of many fronts, the Falcon continues on to roar in the skies of today.

The development of the F-16 is a pretty interesting one, having competition from aircraft that were to become the F-15 and the F/A 18. Initially the US chose to develop the FX aircraft for air superiority missions after Vietnam (the 'pre-F15), while a group of innovators pushed for a mixed budget airforce: have expensive and low cost fighters at the same time, to fulfill required roles at an economical cost.

Prototype competition then became the name of the day, as the Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program was hatched, which looked into making an airplane complementary to the FX. In the end, FX led to the F-15, while the LWF gave us the F-16, but the navy went for the F/A-18 (which lost to the F-16) instead of the navalized F-16.

It is interesting to know that these aircraft all have a shared history, and eventually became so successful that they are still actively deployed by many countries all over the world. USAF is already replacing them with the F-22 and F-35, while advanced versions are still being made for export to other countries...

Not many fighters can make a claim to longevity as much as the Fighting Falcon!

Harriers and Pop Culture

Hey Everyone

Thank you for coming down to this corner of the internet, and thanks also go out to JQ who provided us with a good ol' salvo of articles on the pics we have taken of our miniature micromachines.

This time, we are continuing with our slew of Harrier pics, this time a closeup on the cockpit of a 'Terror Troops' AV8B Harrier II.

The American developed Harrier II is currently deployed by USMC, Spainish navy (Armada Española) and the Italian navy (Marina Militare). As we know, there are different variants of the harrier jet, with the Harrier II starting as a joint US-UK (McDonnell Douglas and Hawker Siddeley) project until the British pulled out due to financial constraints (due to over-runs from the Rolls Royce engine), only to later return and develop a Harrier II variant based on the American design (giving us the Harrier Gr.5/7/9).

The Harrier's ability to hover was a fascinating ability that found homage in popular culture, and it was most well-known for its appearance in the hollywood movie, True Lies (bet some of you guys still remember that scene well). It was reported that the film employed actual Harrier IIs from the USMC with their pilots, provided by the US government at a fee of $100,736 for about 4 hours ($2,410 per hour). Of course, this doesn't include expensive payloads and extensive support network to strategically deploy the aircraft...duh. That's where our tax money goes in haha.

Interestingly, Pepsi ran an ad for a Harrier jet up for grabs at 7 million Pepsi points, and someone actually used a loophole (to by points at 10cents each) to buy the jet for $700,000. He used a certified check (with his earned Pepsi points, to claim the Harrier jet from Pepsi, who of course did not fulfill the demand since the jet easily costs more than a million bucks. This led to a court case, with the judge deciding that the person had ought to know the ad was a joke, and he had no grounds in stating there was a breach of contract and fraud when Pepsi didn't fulfill his demand (details are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_v._Pepsico,_Inc.).

Interesting stuff huh?

Harriers Veering off

The AV8Bs making a hard right.

Hi there. This week, its still the AV8Bs.
Its funny. Me and Josh were just coming up with better ways to shoot the two harrier jets. But i guess after 13 years into Modern Military Models and also enjoying the beauty of detail and improving on the modelling side, i am not really satisfied with the picture as compared to our others.

What do you guys think?

Problem is, to make better detailed Micro Machine pictures, I will have to paint it over and put in my extra detail. Furthermore, Model kits and other collectibles take a long time to make it into an awesome sculpt.

But like they say. No Pain.. No Gain.

Regardless of it, I hope U like the pictures i have served up for you. I noe the entries are a bit bla dee bla bla.

But now, i will pass the time to Josh to feature one last closeup on the AV8B and many more cool stuff.

On a sidenote, the integration to an UBER hobby Blog will come soon. And hopefully, it will attract more of you guys and also be a good place for ppl who take interest in these stuff. As for modelling progress on my side, I have done nothing because I have nothing with me in KL.
That is because I am pretty sure I cannot accomplished anything during this period and hence i did not bring any equipment or models to do during this few weeks.

Im off to Kill my exams.

Till the next time, Stay tuned and enjoy reading.

Cheers

Harrier and His Wingman

Back again with this weeks post. And posted promptly. But i must say, my schedule is getting insane because I have exams that I will have to deal with very soon. (being a student, of course)

In any case, here is another view of the Harrier AV8B patrolling over the skies. I must say, the detail of micromachine doesnt make this picture that great. And even when it is an SLR camera, it doesnt really showcase the magnificent dynamic and structure of the AV8B Harrier Jet.

Nevertheless, it is a Micromachine, so it definitely lacks the details and makes up for durability to give kids around the age of 8 and beyond the advantage of crashing it around and playing with their Imagination in mind.

Still remember the days as an 11 year old kit getting my hands on some awesome micromachine military and playing with them. Some of the vehicles had great detail for that size..

Ahhh but gone are the days.. Because Galoob went to hell, Hasbro took over, Destroyed everything, and now you dun even see modern military in the toy department other than the Tamiya Models at the small corner. (Talking in retrospect to Singapore Mainstream Toy Department).

Well thats all for today.

Cheerios PPL.

Harriers in the Horizon

Greetings again. Sorry for the late entry. But as usual, it is the busy schedule and the hectic days that have brought me to my delay.

In proceeding today, we shall focus on the Harrier AV8Bs. These were the versions that were improved from the Original Harriers and were also adopted as a close air support for the US Marine Corp.

These VSTOL aircraft have been the primary aircraft that have remain as the one and only VSTOL close air support aircraft in the world. It is a capable plane that has the ability to have a vertical take off.

It has remain the dominant VSTOL aircraft for the best of 20 years or so, but it will most definitely be retired as soon as the F35 VSTOL version get into full production after development progress.

Nonetheless, it will be marked in history as a revolution in aircraft design and development.

On a sidenote, Josh and I have acquired Todd Mcfarlane's Figures, which look exceptionally awesome. The details are jus insanely good and also we have taken pictures that we will be developing soon.

I have also finally cave in and bought a 12 inch figure that i wanna equipped and make it look like a Modern Day Soldier of My own Army :p.

Model Progress for the Ticonderoga has been uberly slow and even as I have pending models to build an dpaint, Im considering to acquire GHQ products of the Russian Udaloy Destroyers and other stuff.

Money Money Money.. Going away real fast.

The eye of the A-10 Thunderbolt II

Im back again!

This time , the picture feature is the A10 Thunderbolt targetting a BLurred out T-80 tank in the foreground. Like a Swooping hawk ready to attack its prey, the A10 can unload a variety of weapons to eliminate the T-80. From its vulcan cannons to hellfire missiles, this tank killer of the sky is a close air support provided by the US Air Force not to be mess with.

The A-10 saw combat for the first time during the Gulf War in 1991, destroying more than 900 Iraqi tanks, 2,000 military vehicles, and 1,200 artillery pieces. One has to wonder, which is more fearful for a tank crew. To be eliminated by the shear power of a M1 Tank's 120mm Gun or getting wipe out from above by the A10.

It is known for an A10 to easily cut through a Russian Tank Platoon with ease and can be said to be more efficient than the M1A1 in taking out heavy armour.

But while record shows its strength, we must understand that in every conflict that the A10 has been in, it is in the environment of which US has Air Superiority.

It can be debatable that if there is no achievement of Air Superiority, the A10's operating range could be limited to zone which are potentially not covered by Enemy Air Support.

Regardless, in modern day conflict, its always the country with the highest technology and experience in war that holds a very strong upperhand.

In the case of today, That would be noneother than the US of A.

Bradley Car Crush

Hey Military fans!

Thanks for the great responses and the discussion that followed...JQ and I really appreciate your readership and support.

For today, we have one of JQ's micromachine M2 Bradleys crushing a hapless car that got in its way.

This was another one of those photos that was perhaps inspired by the boyhood fascination with tanks crushing cars under their sheer weight...for those C&C fans out there, the color scheme of this tank reminds me of the Nod light tank, which was actually a M2 in grey color scheme (not that I remember seeing one like that in real life).

Of course it is possible to state that it is indeed sad that wars have almost always occurred in the vicinity of civilian centers and cities, where civilians not only get killed by cross-fire, but are executed and even tortured for 'strategic purposes' or even ideology. Most of us are fortunate to live in places not touched by war, and yet can we remain blind to what's happening in warzones elsewhere? I find it somewhat disturbing that my life is completely detached from what others are going through right now in wars and insurrections (news on TV is perhaps the closest I'll get), and I wonder what can I do in response? Pray for peace? Donate money to the care of displaced persons? Preach against war and hatred for another?

Well, I hope I didn't bring down your mood for the day, and it's something that I've been thinking about. Thanks again for visiting this humble blog, and allow me to pass the blog back over to JQ!

The Ubiquitous Humvee

Hey Everyone!

For today we have a feature on JQ's 'modified' Humvee micromachine. I guess it is quite noticeable many of our models (especially the recent posts) are all from the US..

I don't know if you'll find this piece of trivia interesting, Lamborghini, the famed makers of classics like the Countach, Diablo and Murciélago, actually made the Cheetah: a competitor with the Humvee for the US Army's search of a dedicated military transport vehicle. Considering the jeeps and mutts of the past, the Humvee provided a much increased level of protection for its crews, and yet it was found short of armor when it went against insurgents in Iraq.

Well, isn't it true that 'victors write history'? Looking at the present situation, we commonly believe that the Nazis were evil (I don't deny that, but I just question the wide generalization), the US did the world good through foreign intervention, Sadaam was an evil ruler ought to be removed etc. History is not as fixed as it seems, and can prove to be fluid under the influence of dominant parties. This happens in religion too, when marginalized groups get exaggerated beyond their beliefs, that they strike us as heretics. The West has a stronger hold on the media than other regions, and especially in the US...the news corporations are indeed very powerful.

On a model collecting perspective, maybe that's why there are much more US models out there than other nations...