Airfix The good news is that they haven't deleted any military kits from their range, however they have only added 2 re - releases these being the SDKFZ 234/4 (due Feb 99 ) and the SDKFZ 22/kubelwagen set ( due March 99). They have also re - released the old series 4 kits the strongpoint ( now called the forward outpost) and the jungle outpost (both due March 99) - however this time as series 3 kits, and without their vacform bases. Airfix have also re released 4 boxes of their 1/76th scale soft plastic figures : German infantry, British paratroops, US Marines and Japanese infantry ( all due March 99). As far as aircraft releases go, there is not lot of interest to the wargamer, except for the Gloster Meteor jet ( due March 99 ). And definitely worth a mention is the re- release of the German E - boat in 1/72nd scale. For the science gamers there is a range of eight robots called 'web warriors' designed for the younger market, but those with a healthy imagination may be able to set these to good use. Revell/Matchbox The bad news is that they have deleted the 1/76th M3 stuart, now only available in the joint tank/figure range within Revells catalogue. On the plus side is that their prices remain the same. Moreover, Revell has by far the best news for 99, that is they list the following as new releases in 1/72nd : Tpz Fuchs 1 ( due Sep - Dec 99 ), Leopard 1A5 (due July - Sept 99 ) and a Marder 1A3 (due July - Sept 99). These represent Revells first efforts in downtooling from their 1/35th scale range - Hence the years 2000 and 2001 may see their Luchs, Unimog, M109, M110 and MLRS appear in 1/72nd. Their 1/76th plastic figure range sees one new release: modern US infantry. 1/72nd Aircraft releases of interest see the H21 flying banana, Mil 28 Havoc, and Mig 29. 1/100- 1/144 releases see the Tornado, Rafaele, C160 transall, and a Kamov Hokum. Naval gamers have the pleasure 1/700th releases of a 1990's HMS Ark Royal, USS Saipan, and a 1990's HMS Manchester. Science fiction gamers have the release of the Babylon 5 space station to look forward to. Italerei On the aircraft front - not a lot of interest to gamers except that for another H21 flying banana kit and the re-release of the Me 321 Gigant glider. The good news from this company as in previous years is their release of 1/76th soft plastic figures which in 99 are ; Dark age Mongol's, Teutonic knights, Napoleonic accessories ( wagons etc ), and Napoleonic French horse artillery. Esci/Ertl For 99 this company has made a token effort in the 1/72nd plastic kit market with the re - release of 4 World war aircraft (Neuport 17, Fokker VII, Spad VIII, Sopwith Camel ). Most of the soft plastic figures have been remarketed except for the Vietnam range, Colonial range, ACW range, and Ancient range. They have re-affirmed several 1/72nd military kits for 99: Leopard 1A2, M1 Abrahms, Stug III G, Tiger II, Opel Blitz, Blitz Ambulance, SDKFZ 251/1, SDKFZ 251/1- rockets, SDKFZ 251/7 engineer, Panther, Elefant, Hetzer, SDKFZ 250/3, SDKFZ 250/9. Back to Frontline Vol. 1 Iss. 2 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 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