Hi everyone, Tomeko here.

Figurines and model kits, train models and car models etc, our shop happens to have a large amount of products aimed more for the male audiences. So I thought I would introduce something friendlier today.
(Translation: Women and children, Come on!)

You can hug them to sleep! Or display them!
Great things that will bring you relief to your rough life.



Plushies.


Chaste Mary 1 limited edition with plush toy


This is a manga by the author of that popular bacterial manga [Moyashimon], Masayuki Ishikawa. This limited edition version basically is the first volume of the manga plus a fluffy plush toy.



A somewhat cute, mysterious animal... well, plushie.
Apparently it's supposed to be an owl. Apparently.
Just staring into its eyes gives you an indescribable feeling.
Its roughly the size of a handball, and its really too sweet for just an extra of a book...

This item here is limited edition, so its highly unlikely for it to be produced again after the initial batch... (you don't hear of a limited edition book to be remade very often, anyway.)


Persona4 Teddy bear


Kuma from Persona 4 has been made into a plushie!
It's not too large, nor too small, you could take it to bed and sleep with it...... may be not, it might be a little too round...



The main attraction of this item is that, just like from the original series, the head comes off! It would be kinda sad if you lose either of the head or the body, so lets put it back together when you are done playing with it.


Kampfer Harakiritora Plushie


The [entrails animal] series from Kampfer has actually been turned into a plushie!
The name and the guts coming out might kinda put you off this plushie, if you didn't know the original series, but its pretty cool as a fan item.


Smile Slime Plush toy series

*the image is of Babble

The series of popular monsters from Dragon Warriors (mostly slims) turned into plushies! Other than Babble, there are Slime King and Slime Tower etc. lined up in the series. I thought I'd mention it since we coincidentally started taking reservations for their restock today~

The shape of Babble looks quite comfy as a pillow, don't you think?
Though its poisonous...


But yeah, such cute things filled with happiness, plushies!
Would be nice to dust them often for people with asthma or weak lungs, too.
And I think plushies last longer if you play with them lots, instead of just leaving them displayed.

Anyway, that's about it for today!
See you next time.

By Tomeko, who loves plushies.

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Sorry for the image being a rip of Toaru Railgun.
I tried to watch Railgun, but had accidentally fallen asleep... and when I woke up, it was 2am... Fully missed the episode...
I'm hoping to see something else tonight, I just hope I don't fall asleep again...

Anyway, good evening. Kapinozuka here.



The Keisei Railway airport train, [Skyliner].
It's the train that lnks Keisei Ueno and Narita Airport, familiarized to those who frequents Narita airport.
The Keisei Skyliner is a train that doesn't stop on many stations.

And this Skyliner is going to be released in B Train!!

B Train Shorty Keisei Electric Railway Skyliner Type AE100 (4-Car Set)


This item was only sold at the Keisei railway station shops or internet orders,
but Hobby Search is also going to deal with these too.

So I went a step ahead and built one here.
I had Tomeko-sama take the construction example photos for us.



From the Narita Airport, the kit lets you make a formation of 1st, 2nd, 5th and 8th cars!
Just be careful of the positioning of windows and doors when constructing.
The window parts for the 1st car do not fit the 8th car body.
(↑I can strongly state this, as I have tried it...)
You should be fine building this, as long as you keep the above in mind.

The interesting part of this is the front face bit.
There are two types per box...



Left: Lead car parts
Right: Rear car parts

They reproduced the headlight cover open and closed states!
Such detail!

In another words, by swapping the face parts,
you can recreate the formation bound for Narita or for Ueno, whichever you like.

Plus, the part has been made with the joint along the driver's door, so the joint line doesn't stand out very much.


The stickers included are direction plate for both ways, car number, train number, Skyliner logo, K'SEI group logo,
and the 100th year anniversary head mark, there are quite a bit packed in there.
but it didn't have direction plates for morning liner and evening liner, a bit disappointing!



Oh and this year, apparently the new Skyliner is scheduled for début!
The rival company, JR East has also underway with the upgrade for their Narita Express from series 253 to E259 as well.
It looks like this year will be a year of change regarding access train to Narita Airport.


But yeah, there have been a few B-trains related to the Keisei line, but with the Skyliner's arrival, the quality of collection will surely improve.
I sincerely wait for your pre-order.


By Kapinozuka



~Today's trivia~

The reason Keisei AE100 series has an emergency exit near the face...


is because there were plans for it to run on Toei Asakusa line!!



For the Keisei rapid line running directly from the Toei Asakusa line to Narita airport and Haneda airport,
a very dynamic plan had been resting on this AE100, but this didn't quite happen due adult reasoning...

Customer Evaluation     Average Evaluation is 5.00.  1 people have submitted their evaluations.

I overslept one station on the train last night,
and although I dashed to the other side, the next train was in 20min...
It's really sad living on the countryside...
Anyway, Tomeko here, wishing she could stick onto a train like a remora.
How do you do?


Oh yeah...

Since last month, we have been improving our trade on the import model kits. From tanks, ships and aircrafts, to detail improvement parts of each kind, we are adding them slowly but surely. So those of you who are interested, now would be good to check them out!

Right. These new face model kits, I'm slightly hesitant to say,
are rather minor items...

The models that are popular here in Japan are mainly the Japanese, German, and American models. Others such as the French, Russian, and British etc. also has well known crafts, I gather.
Periodically speaking, I think the main ones are from WWII up to now.

Today, I'd like to introduce products, which is not any of the above.

Avia B.534 ver.2


A biplane of Czechoslovakian Air Force, yup.

......there really aren't much reference text nor knowledge with me for me to give you a decent explanation of this item, I apologize.
But it comes with a German Air force decal, so I'm assuming its been taken by the Germans, may be.

By the way, I heard that Czechoslovakia was, until recently (well around my childhood, anyway), was two separate countries, Czech and Slovakia. Its not a very familiar place from the Japanese, but I know that it's a very good manufacturing country that has the car maker Škoda auto, and created automatic pistol Cz75 etc.

...though I didn't know about Avia...

But this kit. The point that makes this item rare is the fact that it's a biplane. It's a form you can't disregard when looking at the history of planes, but there aren't many of these left as model kits. I guess it could be because it was from pre-WWII, so its harder to make into a model kit.


Moving on, the next item is not quite minor, but an interesting item with things you would wonder about.


Fiat 626 NML Kitchen Vehicle


Fiat. An Italian car manufacturer that's still around to this date.
Apparently they were still around back in WWII, making cars for military purposes.
The kind of cars they were making, were...

Kitchen Cars with oven installed, to bake bread on the battle field!
Enjoying food in any occasion, a very Italian like vehicle.
(*extracted from the product info.)



...

......

gee, you really would have to wonder, what is wrong with these people...?

I really hope this wasn't actually used on the front line, where they exchange leaden bullets, but the fact that its preserved as a military vehicle is just... amazing.

And one question popped to my mind...
To bake bread... did they make it from scratch, squishing flour and stuff...?


Right right, the final item that I actually really recommend.

Focke Wulf Fw-190D9


Focke Wulf.
A name that most people who are even remotely interested in military stuff would have at least heard of before.
This is a model that many manufacturers, regardless of the country they are from, are productizing, but this particular item has an interesting selling point... and that is.



You can see the engine from the undercarriage hanger!

You don't really expect to be able to see it, but you can see a bit of it... this kind of realistic design is very nice, and it would be interesting to compare it with models from other companies.



Now, the import model kits generally have instructions written in a different language, so its not very recommendable for someone new to model kit building. There are some that are easy to construct, but there are some that aren't so simple, I believe.

So if you would like to challenge the import model building, I think you should gain some exp. by making normal ones to some level. (I had once experienced making a kit from Dragon, and had glued parts at the wrong place and saw hell... though the kit itself was quite nicely arranged.)

Anyway, that was it for today's blog.
See you next time!


By Tomeko



Extra.
Lacking knowledge of Czechoslovakia, I almost wrote [that place where the president and wife had been executed, right?] etc, but that's a secret. (I apologize to all Rumanians, Czechs, and Slovakians out there.)

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Hi everyone, Kapinozuka here.
I had to visit Osaka at end of year, and I took some photos of trains while I was there, in the name of Climate Observation.
The images may not be the greatest, but please enjoy.

I've taken them at the Noda Station on the JR Osaka loop line, late morning on the 31st of December 2009. Now, lets see the which trains goes by here, shall we?

★The main train of Osaka loop line, Series 201!

Chuou line? No no, it's the loop line.

The one that's become the main train of Osaka loop line, the series 201.
The car which has been given a JR West's original constitution improvement menu,
and its been reformed so much that its hard to believe it's a series 201 from just looking at the side.
Looks like it will be active for a long while.

- Series 201 Reform Builder Replacement Cooler Car Orange Color (8-Car Set)
- Series 201 Renewal Train Orange Color (8-Car Set)
- JR Series 201 Constitution Improvement Train Orange (4-Car Set)
- JR Series 201 Constitution Improvement Train Orange (Add-on 4-Car Set)

Mean while, one would picture the Chuou line, when hearing the orange series 201 of JR East, but there aren't many left these days, and looks like it will be retiring soon.

- Series 201 Chuo Line (Final Formation) (Basic 6-Car Set)
- Series 201 Chuo Line (Final Formation) (Add-On 4-Car Set)

★A Dramatic Reformation! Series 103 with High Driving Stand

On the JR West, the 103 is still very active!
Here, we have a car known as '40N Constitution Improvement car', that has been reformed. the sides has been greatly reformed, with the interior now almost the same as that of series 207.
You wouldn't think it's a series 103 form the look.

However, if you get on one, it still has the groaning noise that was familiarized in the Kanto region, which is sure to make you realize that its still a series 103.
It was very nostalgic, as they have all retired on the JR East.

- Series 103 JR West Renewal Car Osaka Loop Line Orange Color (8-Car Set)
- JR 103 Series Kansai Type Unit Window Car High Driving Stand Orange Color (4 Cars Set)
- JR Series 103 N40 Orange High Driving Stand (4-Car Set)
- B Train Shorty Series 103 Improved Car, Osaka Loop Line (Orange)

★It's still active! Series 103 with low driving stand

Out of the series 103, the group with low driving stand.
These are also still active on the JR West.
Known as [40N], this also had been largely reformed, and regarding the one in the photo here (Kuha103-44), the door-frame window had been blocked, ventilator had been removed, the front window had been replaced etc., the reformation are kept simple.

- 103 Series (Osaka Loop Line) 8-Car Set
- Series 103 Osaka Loop Line (8-Car Set) (non-reformed car)
- JR 103 Series Kansai Type Unit Window Car Low Driving Stand Orange Color (4 Cars Set)
- JR 103 Series N40 Orange Low Driving Stand (4 Cars Set)
- B Train Shorty Series 103 Improved Car, Osaka Loop Line (Orange)

When seeing the low driving stand series 103, I automatically imagine the Musashino Line... could be because im from Kanto.

★ Yamatoji Rapid Service! Series 221

This is a JR West original electric train.
Debut as the [New Rapid Service], and is now mainly operating as the [Yamatoji Rapid Service].
The coloring used is the Kansai district's traditional [Kansai Express train color], which suites the JR West.

The Osaka loop line has more than just orange trains running on it, it seems, like this Yamatoji line that goes right through.

- Series 221 (Basic 4-Car Set)
- Series 221 (Add-On 2-Car Set)

★Kansai Airport Rapid Service! Series 223

The train that's extended on the previous series is this one, the series 223.
This train passes through Osaka loop line and Hanwa line to link Kansai Airport and Osaka City Center.

...and it was clearly traveling a lot faster than other trains, so I couldn't shoot at the right timing...

- 223series 2500 `Kanku, Kishuji Rapid` (4-Car Set)
- JR Series 223-0 Kansai/Kishu-ji Rapid-service (8 Cars Set)
- JR Series 223-0 O-CAT Luggage Set up Car (8 Cars Set)

and speaking of Kansai Airport...

★Its called "Haruka"! Series 281

The Limited Express "Haruka" is the series 281 train.
Linking Maihara, Kusatsu, and Kyoto Stations with the Kansai Airport, the Airport access express train!

- Series 281 Haruka (6-Car Set)

★Here it comes!! Super Kuroshio

The limited express, [Super Kuroshio] has come!
[Super Kuroshio] and [Kuroshio] is an express that links Kyoto/Osaka and Shirahama/Shingu.

This one is the series 381 express electric train.
The front part is JR West original design.

- J.R. Limited Express Series 381 `Kuroshio` (Basic 6-Car Set)
- J.R. Limited Express Series 381 `Kuroshio` (Add-On 4-Car Set)
- B Train Shorty Series 381 `Kuroshio` (4-Car Set)
- B Train Shorty Series 381 `Super Kuroshio` Old Painting (4-Car Set)

And just when I thought about finishing up...

★The Dolphin came!!


The round face designed with an idea of a dolphin, the series 283.
It's used for the express [Ocean Arrow].

There are only 6~9 of them, so naturally there aren't many of them running.

- Series 283 `Ocean Arrow` Basic A Improved (6-Car Set)
- Series 283 `Ocean Arrow` Add-On C Improved (3-Car Set)
- Series 283 `Ocean Arrow` Add-On B Improved (3-Car Set)


So that was an observation of an hour and a bit,
and it was quite interesting to see the variety of trains that runs here.
As a person from the Kanto region, I thought it was rare to see the series 381, 283, and 223 etc, as there aren't many in the JR East. And there was the nostalgia of seeing the series 103, although it had been reformed.

It may be just another day at the train station,
but I would recommend seeing the variety of trains that goes past the station if you have time.

By Kapinozuka



★Extra! Series 201 Yamatoji Line (Kansai Line)

This was taken on another station, but it's a Yamatoji line (Kansai line)/Osaka East line. The coloring is yellowish green.

- Series 201 Reform Builder Replacement Cooler Car (6-Car Set)
- Series 201 Renewal Train Olive-green Color (6-Car Set)
- JR Series 201 Constitution Improvement Train (4-Car Set)
- JR Series 201 Constitution Improvement Train (2-Car Set)

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Hey, did you know that the Takekopter (bamboo propeller) from Doraemon wouldn't actually work in real life, as the person wearing it will just spin and wont leave the ground.
It might even be worse, the neck...might come o...—Self Restraint— (The Qwaser of Sti_mata)


I'm sure anyone realistic that knows about Doraemon would already know this, right?


So yeah, Gabas here Good Evening!
Hey, did you hear about the new version of IRC SWIFT by Tokyo Marui? They made the new one even smaller!

And its called!!

IRC(Infrared Control) Heli Micro Helicopter Mini X!!


...? It's a little hard to tell the difference just looking at the image...



How bout this!



O_O !?
That can't be right!
Its impossible for them to almost halve the size, just like that...




You saw it correct!!
It looks roughly half the size of the original! A tiny 11.5cm!!
PLUS, it still has all the great equipments from the original!
Even at this size, its still equipped with the gyro by Murata Manufacturing Co.!
And of course, it uses the twin rotor!
You can freely make it ascend, descend, hover, move forward and backwards, and turn left and right!!

Hmph, I'm sure its it uses crappy plastic frames or something, being so small and all!

No no, that's not the case at all!
It uses PROPER

metal frame!!!



WOW, Marui is so awesome!


Marui : That's right, we'd never do a half arsed job!

huh?

WOAH!!

~The End~

wait wait, its not over yet!
This product just shows the great level of technology Marui puts into their products!!

meh, I bet they will just gradually release like 3 different colors at a time or something!

Marui : Nop, we didn't slack there either!
















7 color variations released all at once!!

pfft, they will release extra parts later or som...

Marui : I said we don't do half arsed jobs, didn't I?


That's right, A spare rotor set for miniX will be released for each color too!!

Even with such small body, it has 8 LED equipped on the airframe side, as well as its own heliport! Such great content!
T.H.I.S.!
is a must buy product!

Yup, so that was it for the IRC Heli Micro Helicopter miniX intro,
scheduled for release in Feb. from Tokyo Marui!
We are still taking preorders, so reserve yours before its too late!
Right then, see you in the next post~

By Gabas

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