That's a surprise, for certain! What a cool little vehicle for Big T to make in plastic. I'm not big on soft skins but this one will be too coll to pass up.
Oh no, I just nearly finished Accurate Armours Standard Tilly and now this .
But perhaps this is the Austin or Morris Tilly. These are also nice looking cars.
...and we will see it packaged with the Spitfire kits. Or maybe Tamiya are going to do a Hurricane.
Tim
PS Or Maybe Hasegawa will do a Tillie as well, and put it with their Hurricane. Nothing like a spot of completely silly duplication, I say. We have two jeeps, and two karoganes, so why not two tillies!
Alot of Australian Bomber crews were taken out to their aircraft in Tillies. Driven by a cute female driver. They seem to have had alot of fond memories of those driver's. It will be interesting if Tamiya includs a cute female figure!
It also wouldn't be out of place to see Tillies on a US base in the UK, so you could stick one of these next to any UK based Allied aircraft. Alot of cross over can be had with this little model! Which should be good for sales. As Tim said in another posting. It's all about sales.
to see what else can be made from whatever variant Tamiya produces. While I am glad to see the Big T thinking outside the box, this is a bizarre choice considering what's still missing from their line in mainstream vehicles. Was there any significant use outside the UK by British or Commonwealth combat units? Even as a rear area communications/hack type vehicle? One hopes the chassis is decently detailed. But still - this, instead of a CMP 15cwt? (And they did the early CMP Quad with the #11 cab for the 25 pdr in 1/35.)
Obviously, they weren't used exclusively by the RAF....I've seen a number of pics showing them in N.African use. This must be the "fresh kit never previously done" that we've heard rumors of for some time now. It will work for me.
But Bruce has touched on something that we've sniffed in the air over the past few months. Tamiya may have made a directional change in their marketing strategy. Question is; are the aircraft modelers responding in greater numbers than we have in the past for fighting vehicles ? It would appear the Wizard thinks so. If what we've heard about plastic model products is true; (from conception to release is between 8 - 10 months), then the diversion was made while he was still at the helm( and as Chairman of the Board, I'm not so sure he still isn't running things ).
But not to worry, good folk; we have a member or two much closer to the industry than the rest of us, and they've assured us Tamiya's future is very much committed to 1/48.
"to see what else can be made from whatever variant Tamiya produces."
The only possable conversion of a "tilly" would be to turn it back into a saloon car (Austin, Hillman or Morris at least, the Standard differs too much), or perhaps a mobile tea wagon. I'm happy one is going to appear in plastic. I've fancied doing another for some time after building an ASAM/Hart Models Austin kit, but the price kept putting me off.
This message has been edited by GeoFF03 from IP address 81.154.172.220 on Nov 6, 2008 4:49 PM This message has been edited by GeoFF03 from IP address 81.154.172.220 on Nov 6, 2008 4:47 PM
Big T is going back to the formula that made them the industry leader in the 70-80-90's.....They would release one or two sure fire winners, and then take a chance. If you look at the releases around the M13/40, Pink Panther, LRDG Chevy, etc.....they were the staple items Tamiya became known for.......BUT, the kits that seem to be re-released today that still sell......the oddball ones!!
So, we have a 222(even though not theirs)......a MarderIII(big hit looming) and then....a Tilly. Same scenario with the Kurogane(although the Home Market ate it up!!)and the releases before it.
The sales on the two hits guarantee the lineage....and allows time for sales of the funky kit to be amortized!!
I've mentioned this before....and it seems they are back on that proven path!!! I sure hope so!!!
Dave
so I kind of looked around. It seems to be a sort of car/truck thing with a short bed.
This link will take you to a photo of one. I'm sure that there are many variations of Tillies, and this is likely not be the exact type being released by Tamiya, but I assume that it gives a reasonably fair impression of what to expect:
To be honest, when I realized that no armament was involved, I lost interest on doing much more investigation. Still, I am pleased about the release of any new kit in 1/48.
I don't want to give the wrong impression from my comments above. If there were Tillies used in forward theater areas (not necessarily on the front lines), I certainly will be buying a number of them, and converting some to other variants, probably standard saloons (sedans). Admittedly, my modeling is almost exclusively combat related, but there are some rear areas where you'd see these supporting vehicles with front line vehicles. I am building a number of Ford staff cars and station wagons that were used for officers in North Africa and Italy, and one of these will be a Red Cross or staff wagon used at the Benghazi bases for the B-24s that made the low-level raid on the Ploesti oil refineries. So, if I can find Tillies up near the front, I'll be more than happy to add them to my miniature British forces.
I understand Bruce's point that this not being a combat area vehicle, it is more airfield-exclusive than many other airfield-compatible British vehicles could have been.
As usual, this being a Tamiya release, I would assume without even knowing anything about it that this is not the most ubiquitous or versatile choice that could have been made. But the simple fact that it is airfield-related makes it a wise choice that will help us in the end.
Yesterday at my club I had a few models to sell cheap. The two more expensive aircrafts and the U.S. staff car sold right away. However I could not even GIVE away the 250 half-track. This gives you an idea of how this little car will help us... AND of what we are up against!
I saw another 1/48th military vehicle in the LHS the other day, but the cost put me off my feed. Tamiya has a 1/48th F-19 Stealth fighter/bomber packaged up witha HUUMV (or is it HUMMV). That would be a nice vehicle to add to the still sparce modern pile, but at right around one hundred bucks, I'm sorry, Mr.T., it ain't gonna happen here.
Has the trend ever been to eventually box the kits separate after the initial combo box has been given a chance? I can't think of any...
And for that matter, who are the morons making these "marketing" decisions? Certainly not LHS owners nor the hobbyists. Probably the same sort of sales poofs that all but killed the plastic kit industry in this country by pushing pre-painted diecasts as the future of modeling....but don't get me started.
dan
"Has the trend ever been to eventually box the kits separate after the initial combo box has been given a chance?
Of the aircraft/vehicle combos that Tamiya have done, in only one case has the vehicle not become a seperate part of the main catalogue.
Me 262 + Kettenkraftrad.. ketten released seperately
Mustang + Ford staff car...staff car released seperately
Various Japanese fighters + Kurogane....Kurogane released seperately
P47 + US soldiers & jeep...the figures and jeep came first IIRC
Corsair + Moto tug...tug only released as a limited issue
Stealth + HUMMV.... still to early to know what will happen
There are other combos, I've just tried to list those where the combo came first.
Ah, one of my all-time favorite war flicks. I had never seen a Tilly before I saw that film when I was a kid. I thought it was a cool little car and still do. I don't care if it's not a front line combat vehicle, it's still cool in that uniquely British way.
Thanks, Pete!! I think they were in every theater and with all the Commonwealth countries, too. Should be a great kit for the AM guys to make different versions. I can't wait!!
Dave
I just collected well over 50 photos and technical details on all four of the basic "Tillies" built by British car companies: Austin, Hillman, Morris, and Standard. Since they did serve outside the UK, it should not be hard to find them in columns of vehicles on European or North African roads, and that really is all I was looking for - a chance to pose them with some of the combat types. I still have restoration pix to download, which will give me interior and mechanical details, at least for the Austin Ten Tillies. It's a sickness.....
My goodness, that takes me back. Our first family car was an Austin 10, a hand-me-down from my grandfather. My father liked it because the seat backs were quite low, and with me and my two brothers sitting in the rear, if we were larking about he could still get all 6 knees with one swipe. Ah, the good old days.
...my dad didn't learn to drive 'til we emigrated to the States in 1950. Somehow he managed to get hold of a 1938 Plymouth sedan, a faded blue beast with about the same profile as a Sherman. I vividly remember a snowstorm on a country road that ran along the southern perimeter of Lowry AFB, the old man running the Plymouth into the ditch, the Plymouth sinking in snow to the roofline! We had to roll down the windows to dig our way out. They don't make cars like that anymore (and if they're not careful, maybe no cars at all). Doesn't snow like that in these parts anymore, either.
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