Italian M13/40

[Pinky]

Yes, that does seem to settle it.  There are 2 Matilda's in the set (again, probably the old ESCI kit), so that must be them in the photos.  It looks as though the apparent size difference I pointed out is just perspective.

I guess the pressure is back on Rubicon to do that M13/40 / Semovente kit 

[ripley]

Every one , including me , always thinks the Matilda is a small tank , in reality it is 2 inches longer than a Pzr III ( minus gun ) but 14 inches narrower ,and the  same height .  A Matilda would be nice in 1/56 though , but we will need early war tanks for it to go against  unless you take on the Japanese with a Matilda frog flame thrower tank 

[Pinky]

So, all that's coming from Italeri (it seems) is the IS-2.  That's no bad thing - it will be a nice companion to Rubicon's range of Soviet armour. 

[ripley]

If we get a JS 2 then a ISU 122/ 152 wouldn't be too hard to imagine for a future release . Hope Rubicon gets to work on some  the Italian tanks

[ultravanillasmurf]

Oh well.

In Ballardian's defence I could not see any indication of the scale of the Arras background in the supplied photograph and it does have 1/56 plastered all over the width of the cabinet. They did not pass the text of the poster by an English speaker either (a lot better than my Italian though ^___^).

Kudos to Ripley for identifying the models that were 1/56, I did note the Churchill in wellies.

[Rubicon Models]

We really wanted to do some Italians, but our work schedule had been so tight, we need extra hands to start any new projects.

Last year was basically trying new things and ideas, upgrading our equipment, and training people for this year.  That's also why we are not producing new kits as much as we wanted.

This year, we are ready!  University graduates are starting to look for jobs, probably is a good time to start recruiting too.  Hopefully will get some new blood into the industry...

[Patrick R]

Warlord/Italeri do have at least an Italian tank kit and a Chi Ha in the works.  I guess the next update will probably be at Salute with everything planned for the second half of 2017.

[H0ffmn]

Just curious, where did you find that out, about Italeri having a Chi Ha and a M13/40 in the works??

[Pinky]

Just curious, where did you find that out, about Italeri having a Chi Ha and a M13/40 in the works??

I was going to ask the same thing!

[Patrick R]

Because I asked somebody from Warlord about upcoming releases ?

[ultravanillasmurf]

Because I asked somebody from Warlord about upcoming releases ?

Oh, so no Mission: Impossible style abseiling into an office in Lenton, Bond style shoot outs in the factory or Jack Bauer interrogation of passing staff?

[Rubicon Models]

Because I asked somebody from Warlord about upcoming releases ?

We heard the same thing, but may be not from Italeri but from their own BA line...  similar to the Firefly VC! 

[Pinky]

But Warlord haven't done a kit of their own since the T-34/76 (I think).  Everything since has been Italeri or scaled-up PSC - including the Sherman V.  I'm not convinced they'll do a very good job on relatively detail-heavy vehicles like the Chi Ha and M13/40.  Anyway, hopefully they'll come with plenty of options - the Chi Ha kit could potentially include the Type 1 Ho Ni SP gun and the Shinhoto Chi Ha.

[H0ffmn]

Warlord did a decent job with their first few tank kits, the M-4, Tiger 1, Panther and T-34. Hopefully they don't use the same mold making process as they did with their Sherman V, it's a horrible kit.
But even better yet, maybe this thread will inspire Rubicon to move the M13/40 up on their priority list???

[Pinky]

I think the M4, Panther and Tiger I were Italeri kits, weren't they?

The Sherman V was scaled up from the 15mm PSC design, hence the heavy-handed detail.