Back in the early 80s, a series of models called "MA.K. ZbV3000" was
released by Nitto. These were mostly 1/20th scale PA suits, along with
a few vehicles, and had a lot "harder" look to them then most Japanese SF kits
of the time. The following page has information about the line, which
has recently been re-released, along with a great many pictures:
http://www.q-net.net.au/~nipngnwm/index.html
Of particular interest is this page:
http://www.q-net.net.au/~nipngnwm/makartwork.html
which consists entirely of designs and artwork by fans of the series.
Several of these pictures show very interesting camouflage patterns --
and show them very clearly, too.
Also nice is the only 1/72 scale kit in the line, a tank called (and I
don't know why...) "Nutrocker":
http://www.q-net.net.au/~nipngnwm/nutrockerphk1031a.html
I have two of these kits, from the origninal release, and they are perfect for
SGII. The PA trooper that comes with the kit is almost exactly 25mm scale, and
he blends in fine next to my NSL PA. It's a neat, and
different, design -- well worth picking up, if you can find someone who
deals with Sentai (the US distributor -- I don't know about elsewhere)
it's worth picking one up.
> At 11:47 PM 10/9/99 -0400, you wrote:
"Nutrocker":
> http://www.q-net.net.au/~nipngnwm/nutrockerphk1031a.html
The Starship Modeler page has reviews and pictures of a few of these models at
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/mecha/mechintro.htm about halfway down.
I like the "krote" walker myself.
[snip]
> Also nice is the only 1/72 scale kit in the line, a tank called (and I
Armed with Stinger missiles....?
<Bad joke that sadly reveals my age....>
BIG GRIN
Jon (GZG)
> http://www.q-net.net.au/~nipngnwm/nutrockerphk1031a.html
it's
> worth picking one up.
> At 12:11 PM 10/10/99 +0100, The Jon wrote:
Well, Jon's joke I have to admit I don't get, but I can drop an idea on why
the tank is called Nutrocker:
IIRC, the first generation power suits in the background for the
story/game
(Maschinen Kreiger, aka SF3D) were... either shaped like nuts, or it's just
that the pilots were called nuts. Not sure. ^_^; In any case, the
Nutrocker was a stopgap-measure tank developed by the Shutoral
Government to try and hold back the mercenary armored suits while they
developed their own... and it proved to be effective enough that the design
stuck around afterword. The tank is *actually* supposed to be called
"Nutcracker" but the translation from Japanese was lacking a little
something... and then the name got established, so who wanted to change it?
('Sides, Nutrocker
is cooler. ^_^ ) In any case, there's a whole slew of material, comics,
videos, models, etc. available on this series, but most of it's in Japan,
though the map & counter game was translated and released in the US. The
original series (TV, I think) was shot using highly detailed models the writer
had built... it's pretty nifty.
See also "http://www.sf3d.com/", it's another site with a bit of the
history, etc.
> At 12:11 PM 10/10/99 +0100, The Jon wrote:
The instrumental track "Nutrocker" (beatnik version of Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker Suite theme) was originally released by Bee Bumble and the
Stingers, in the 60s; later (early 70s??) there was a cover version by
Emerson, Lake and Palmer......
Sorry, guess this was a bit obscure even for MY very warped sense of
humour.... ;-)