It pays to keep your eyes open these days, as anyone who follows the changes in the plastic kit market will have noticed, the West is facing a deluge of imports from the East. Some of dubious quality are some not. The latest items to appear are from 2 companies new to me. The first are from Omega of the Ukraine - the first releases in their 1/72nd range are the BTR - 152K, ZIL 157 mobile command post, ZIL 157 stake truck, ZIL 157 fuel truck, BTR152 B troop carrier, these retail in the region of £ 4.99. The kits are excellent, very good value for money. Each model has a small number of parts, all highly detailed with little or no flash, and are on a much higher level than other recent Eastern European kits. It took me about 15 minutes to make the BTR152 K. The ZIl truck a bit longer. Each model also has an superb decal sheet with options for several Soviet satellite states and other middle east allies, and even an Angolan option. These are available from Pocketbond in the UK, but you see them appear in Beatties stores. Further detailed reviews will follow. The second company is Galaxy (Fujan) Toys Co, from China. They have 6 1/72nd scale tanks in their range ; Abrahms M1a2 , Leopard 2a3, M60a1, Challenger 2, Giat Leclerc, and the Merkava 2. A sceptic may suggest that these are copies of kits from the west, they are not !!! They are brand new toolings. Each kit comes on 2 sprues, one of them being for the wheels which in some instances have little detail - the M60 wheels being very disappointing. Otherwise the detail is excellent, being the equivalent of the Esci models. The kits are easily built in a short time. The tracks are the soft rubbery ones most modellers are familiar with - the main criticism being that the tracks are the same for each kit - which will bother the rivet counters. Scalewise they are a good 1/72nd, the M60 is only slightly smaller than the ESCI one for example. The price however makes them attractive, they retail for £ 2.99 !!!!. The problem is availability: I know of only one stockist, which a fellow SOTCW member kindly informed of. That is The Turntable, 11/12 Bellevue Terrace, Blackwood Hall, Luddenfoot, Halifax, HX2 6HG. 01422 883489. He does mail order, but charges a premium rate for P & P. Watch out for new releases from this company, they list the same items in their 1/48th range but add the AMX 30, Marder, M2 Bradley, M3 Bradley, and a type 47 Remocon - whatever that is. Back to Frontline Vol. 1 Iss. 2 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Rolfe Hedges This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com