shadopilot

I have a few tanks. They are mostly diecast from Solido, Verem, Polistil, Dinky, Dragon, Ultimate Soldier, Minichamps, Replex, Corgi, Del Prado and others. Many are custom built and painted. Some are very rare. I have the complete Polistil series and all of the ultra rare Britains 1/32 all metal Centurion tanks. I also have the Playme MBT-70 which is supposedly the rarest diecast tank there is. This isn't all of them! I have more boxed up in closets, under beds and in the garage! I had a large collection of built up plastic models but ended up selling them to make room.

blitzkrieg65

NICE!!! U definately have tanks and Aliens on the brain, I guess all the tanks can wipe out the Aliens! Hey what is that beast underneath the Tiger on the floor???

The Blitz

shadopilot

Thats a SHADO mobile from the 1960's British TV series U.F.O. It needs to be restored.

shadopilot

Yeah, I collect ALIEN heads too. I have 5 of them. This guy is in the garage for now because he's so big.
Custom Takeya "Royal Guard" alien.

shadopilot

This is my studio scale British TV show Space 1999 laser tank. Its a replica thats very rare. It was made using the same Tamiya Chieftain 1/25 lower hull and running gear as the original from the show. Its R/C compatable and has working lights. Its missing a part on the dish antennea that I have yet to install. The previos owner put some parts and decals that don't belong. I will eventualy get to restoring it.

wackywheelz

Nice collection.

If only we could walk into shops and buy diecast armor here... I have to buy stuff in from overseas all the postage adds up. Local hobby shops are so "nah we dont have tanks.... but we can sell you a nitro buggy" lol.

When I read that you guys could buy 1/6 stuff in places like Walmart (we dont have anything like that here) it just kills me [&:]

shadopilot

Most of the armor I buy and sell is online. Walmart only carries the Ultimate Soldier stuff. Toys-R-Us and Target sometimes do too. You guys in UK and Australia have to deal with the the import tax too. Luckily here we don't have that. Usualy when I ship to another country I check the "gift" box on the custom form to try and help the buyer out. Doesn't always work though. They sometimes will charge the tax based on the stated value of the merchandise. They are highwaymen I tell you!!

BIGMIG

Hey thats quite the collection you have,how long have you been gathering them up.I was looking at the 1/35 scale models,was just looking at the various prices of the kits.I seen some that had 500 parts,did you put a lot of them togeather from kits.??And was wondering which one's out there on the market thats the best models for the least amount of dollars. BIGMIG

wackywheelz

Tamiya and Dragon/DML have always had the best step-by-step instructions, part fit and true-to-scale - Trumpeter is "up there" with them two.

Italeri and ESCI, at times with certain kits, need a certain degree of interpretation. Most have sprues are named by letter (A) and numbers on the sprues to find the part, whilst one manufacturer (early Italeri) doesnt - and makes you look at the sprue-map in the instructions to find a part's location on a sprue - a nasty task when theres a lot of parts involved (can give examples in pictures if wanted).

All that said, I pick all my kits either on sale at my local hobby shops (rarely) but mostly on ebay. Tamiya kits in shops are often overpriced compared to their Dragon counterpart (which often feature photoetch detail, alum barrels etc etc), I think the overpricing is a leftover from when the Tamiya kits used to be wholly worth the money (most came with components to motorize them but as time wore on the parts stopped being included but the pricing stayed the same). Some kits are found quite cheaply. For basic figures Tamiya, advanced (without going aftermarket) I'd get Dragon, especially the Gen2 stuff. ESCI and Italeri have huge super-human figures (almost 1/32 looking) which dwarf their Tamiya/Dragon counterparts.

200-350 parts is common, 450-500+ are often "link-by-link" tracks -- each track link is a part and adds to the total - Tamiya generally does 1 piece rubberband tracks. Seperate links take ages to put together (to start with) but looks more realistic and takes paint better.

shadopilot

As wackyweelz said. Tamiya and Dragon are the best.

pzrwest

I see a liner from a ww2 german helmet in the 4th pic

Panther F

Nice collection! It's great to see another Sci-Fi fan! Space 1999 ... I have the video collection and still watch it today!

I need to show the wife your shelves so she can see that it can be worse!


Jeff

shadopilot

Thats what it is. Its a repro though. I bought a repro helmet and didnt need the liner. Its not that great. Kinda crappy actualy. You can just see the helmet in the 3rd picture underneath the shelf thats holding the VCR. Behind the Alien queen statue. The helmet has a monster prop head in it.

YHR

I love the lost in space robot, "Danger Will Robison"

pzrwest

Well in a 1916 helmet it is the correct liner. They had a 3 section leather parts where the M1918 had the same liner as the M35 and later helmets and no chinstrap lugs on the skirt like the 1916 model the chinstrap fastened to 2 square rings on the liner

swathdiver

Space 1999 gave me nightmares as a little kid! Remember those brown tree looking things waving around in the firey orange room? I want my Mommy!!!

The_Stuff

Wow impressive collection. enough armor there to scare some little kids!

also, can we see a shot of #1 pic from higher up looking down? cant see all the goodies in the cases!

shadopilot

Here's the helmet. Its a repro from India I think. I repainted the outside in black. I might get some SS decals for it.

shadopilot

In the case are 3 Polistil tanks. T-62, Leopard and the very rare M60A1. Some Delprado tanks in foreground.

shadopilot

2 more Polistils. This completes the set. Centurion and King Tiger. Polistils are semi-rare and made of heavy diecast metal with working metal tracks. They were only made for a few years in Italy in the 1970's.

shadopilot

Some of my custom Solido/Verems. Sturmgeschutz, Nashorn, ( a very difficult conversion done by me.) and a Afrika Korps Panzer IV. The large tank in the foreground is the ultra beyond rare Playme MBT-70. Its a Solido type tank made in Spain. I'll post some better pics of it later.

shadopilot

The three diecast Centurions are made by Britains in England during the 1950's. They are very rare. About $1000.00 will get you these. The one with the 155mm gun and the desert tan one are very difficult to find. The breech opens on the 155mm version and it takes a 2 piece metal shell that is spring fired. Once you fire the shell the breech can be opened and an ejector removes the spent case. Just like the real thing. They are all in mint condition. The Minichamps Panther with the circus like camo was realy used by the Germans. Anybody want to take a crack at painting their Tamiya R/C tank that way. I bet not!!

The_Stuff

wow thank you for the pictures and the story that goes with the tanks!!!!

if someone buys me a HL King Tiger, i will paint it like that and keep it like that for life :P

kurtmeyer

lets see the space 1999 eagle 1 collection!!!i ama true fan of the series...i love SPACE 1999!

shadopilot

For all things Space 1999 go to http://www.eagletransporter.com/foru...896205890f2d29
Tons of stuff on the Eagle from Space 1999.