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61

General Discussions / Lunar New Year - Year of the Ox - 210211

« on: February 11, 2021, 03:37:07 pm »

Our Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China studios will be closed for Chinese New Year (CNY @Feb 12) starting today (Feb 11) until Feb 21. Normal operation will resume on Feb 22.

Our UK, US, and AP webstores will continue to operate during this period. Facebook and forum will still be updated regularly; however, replying to posts and messages might have some delays.

To celebrate our Lunar New Year, we will post NEW WIP updates during the first 3 days of CNY on Facebook to celebrate our Spring Festival. Have a prosperous and healthy Year of the Ox!

Enjoy!

62

Work In Progress / Project of the Month - Feb 2021 - M551 Sheridan 210201

« on: February 01, 2021, 02:47:49 pm »

New Project of the Month for Feb 2021 is the US M551 Sheridan Light Tank.

While we have stated it will be a resin/pewter kit, we might turn this into a plastic kit if there is enough demand for this light tank.

The M551 "Sheridan" AR/AAV (Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle) was a US light tank. It was designed to be landed by parachute and to swim across rivers. It was armed with an M81/M81E1 152mm gun/launcher, which fired both conventional ammunition and the MGM-51 Shillelagh guided anti-tank missile. The M551 Sheridan entered US Army service in 1967 and was rushed into combat service in Vietnam in January 1969. In April and August 1969, M551s were deployed to units in Europe and South Korea, respectively. Now retired from service, it saw extensive combat in the Vietnam War, and limited service in Operation Just Cause in Panama, and the Persian Gulf War in Kuwait. A total of 1,662 were built.

Enjoy!

63

Work In Progress / Vietnam War - USMC Sculpts 210122

« on: January 22, 2021, 03:28:09 pm »

Even though we had started the USMC digital sculpting for a while, we had never posted them on the forum. Here is the USMC sculpt breakdown...

Enjoy!

64

Work In Progress / M113A1 APC Drawings Update #3 210214

« on: January 01, 2021, 10:21:56 pm »

Our first post for 2021, a brand new project... a plastic M113A1 APC for the Vietnam War and Cold War era!

Just imagine, waking up on the first day of 2021 and saw this on the forum... Happy New Year!!

The M113 was the most widely used armoured vehicle of the US Army in the Vietnam War and was used to break through heavy thickets in the midst of the jungle to attack and overrun enemy positions. It was largely known as an "APC" or an "ACAV" (armoured cavalry assault vehicle) by the allied forces.

Enjoy!

65

General Discussions / 2021 Looking Forward... Happy New Year!

« on: January 01, 2021, 12:48:34 pm »

2021, Looking Forward…

Happy New Year… Make sure you build and paint all your models every week for the love of the hobby. Have a safe and wonderful New Year!

Last year had been a challenging year for many, if not all of us. The pandemic had reshaped our work styles and had changed how the world works. For us at Rubicon Models, not able to do regular visits to our factory in South China, visiting clients and attending tradeshows had made us seeking new solutions for things that we had taken for granted.

Rubicon Models had expanded our studio to include a self-contained manufacturing facility to produce small volume high-quality items. This will help speed up the release schedule for many of our finished projects. We currently have over 20 plastic and resin projects in the pipeline that will soon be available for release at the end of Q1.

For our new Vietnam War range, we already have over 10 active projects on our drawing table, and a few of them are now waiting for sprue layout and mould making. We are also very excited receiving the first plastic test shot of our Viet Cong Male Fighter sprue just a few days ago, and mould making for the VC Female & Command sprue had just started.

Our main focus is still on World War 2; several new projects will get started right after the holidays… from early war onward! Being bold, we might pick up one or two Cold War-era vehicles and give them a try too!

May the New Year bless you with health, wealth, and happiness!

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General Discussions / Goodbye 2020 and Thank you!

« on: December 31, 2020, 02:06:40 pm »

We all know 2020 has been a unique and challenging year for many, if not all of us.

Thank you, everyone, for the support.

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General Discussions / 2020 Our Work in Review...

« on: December 31, 2020, 02:01:33 pm »

2020 Year in Review

There is no simple way to sum up this year. The last 12 months have seen an unprecedented amount of disruption with our work and new releases, fuelled in large part by the coronavirus pandemic. It can be hard to feel optimistic when there are still so many challenges ahead. But in a year of unprecedented change, we also feel hopeful; against all odds, we were able to get two waves of new releases out of our warehouse with flying colours! As 2020 comes to a close, we share this look at some of the year’s milestones and what we’re looking forward to in 2021 (in a separate posting later).

- After 4 years, we had finally completed our M4 Sherman Digital Library project by releasing 8 Sherman plastic kits plus several resin & pewter upgrade and conversion kits.

- We had also completed our Panzer III Digital Library project by releasing 3 Panzer III plastic kits that covered 8 variants covering 22 possible built, including flamers and command tanks.

- Despite production and delivery issues, a total of 16 plastic kits were released this year.

- We had released a plastic Tiger II with full interior details & Panzer crew, with or without Zimmerit, a first in 1/56 scale with very positive feedback and reviews.

- We had announced a new Vietnam War range at the beginning of 2020, and by the end of the year, we had our first Viet Cong Male Fighter plastic sprue in preview. We currently have over 10 Vietnam War related projects in the work.

- We currently have over 20 plastic and resin projects that are waiting for production or in mould making. They will soon be available in the first half of 2021.

- We had finally completed the setting up of 3 independent webstores covering Europe, the Americas, and Asia Pacific regions. Each webstore has its own warehouse to support their territory too!

- We had also completed our studio expansion to include a self-contained manufacturing facility to produce high quality but small commercial run items.

BTW, the Staghound project is missing from the graphics below, it is still alive and kicking!

Goodbye 2020!

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General Discussions / A Synopsis on our M4 Sherman Kits 201226

« on: December 26, 2020, 07:14:47 pm »

There are no other 1/56 scale model kit manufacturers that have such a comprehensive range of M4 Sherman variants in their product lineup.

Rubicon Models had spent 4 years building an M4 Sherman Digital Library to produce 8 plastic kits plus several resin conversion kits for the modelling and gaming communities. Components on these plastic kits can also be interchanged to create even more historically accurate variants in a "mix-and-match" manner. Here is a summary on what you can do with our M4 Sherman kits.

Enjoy!

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Official Assembly Instructions / 280100 Tiger II with Zimmerit (interior details included)

« on: December 16, 2020, 06:48:14 pm »

Assembly Instruction for Tiger II with Zimmerit (280100)

Last Update: 201216

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Official Assembly Instructions / 280099 Tiger II without Zimmerit (interior details included)

« on: December 16, 2020, 06:38:33 pm »

Assembly Instruction for Tiger II without Zimmerit (280099)

Last Update: 201216

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Official Assembly Instructions / 280098 British Valentine IX-X-XI

« on: December 16, 2020, 06:17:43 pm »

Assembly Instruction for Valentine IX-X-XI (280098)

Last Update: 201216

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Official Assembly Instructions / 280097 Valentine II-III-IIIcs-IV-V

« on: December 16, 2020, 06:14:49 pm »

Assembly Instruction for Valentine II-III-IIIcs-IV-V (280097)

Last Update: 201216

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Scenery Products / 283007 Domestic Furniture Set

« on: December 16, 2020, 06:07:13 pm »

Assembly Instruction for Domestic Furniture Set 1 (283007)

Last Update: 201216

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Scenery Products / 283008 Market Produce Set 1

« on: December 16, 2020, 06:03:32 pm »

Assembly Instruction for Market Produce Set 1 (283008)

Last Update: 201216

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Work In Progress / Bell UH-1 "Huey" More Working Prototype Details 210223

« on: December 02, 2020, 05:33:27 pm »

Our "New Project of the Month" for December 2020... the Bell UH-1 Iroquois "Huey".

Another FIRST for Rubicon Models - something that is airborne! This will be a multi-sprue plastic kit in 1/56 scale covering the UH-1D and UH-1H variant.

Final features are not confirmed but will include full interior, stretcher variant, and multiple weapon system support.

This project is not just for the Vietnam War, but for every other conflicts that used air support!

Somehow, the word ZOMBIES lingers...