Hasegawa 1/20th Ammo Knights

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The Hasegawa 1/20th scale Mk44 Ammo Knights (Maschinen Krieger 44 Type) is hard to find in the UK. It was released in 2014 and these sci fi walking tanks are from graphic/comic serialisation not available much outside Japan. The original SF3D series was shut down after a few years only to re-emerge as the "Ma.K." (Maschinen Krieger ZbV3000) series. The Ammo Knights originate from yet another spin-off - "Robot Battle V". Needless to say this kind of thing has quite a cult following in Japan but is almost unheard of abroad. Of course Hasegawa are practicaly a household name in the UK & USA where they are better known for their aircraft and military vehicle kits.

Other than some Formula One kits the 1/20th scale seems almost unique to the SF3D Ma.K. sub-genre. There are quite a lot of small players in the Japanese market supplying these sort of sci fi kits from the graphic serialisation - all in 1/20th scale. It has its own aftermarket offerings too. Japanese modellers quite like to build some intricate dioramas around these walking robots.

This specific kit caught my attention in 2014 after I created a Small Wonder Twitter account and started to follow several of my counterparts in Japan who were building science fiction subjects. I was looking for a fun sci-fi build to follow-up the Finemolds Millennium Falcon. I liked the smoke grenade launchers on this one. Of all the topics I saw this one looked less like a toy and more like a tank on legs.

The project I have planned for this is a diorama. There are two kits in the (large) box. I will ignore the genre's scale and adapt these kits using 1/48th scale tank kit parts and accesories. It should be an interesting build. No doubt the SF3D Ma.K. fan base will be appalled so I apologise in advance. I am not a fan of the series - I just like the potential of this topic and would like to do something just a bit special. I have seen quite a bit of artwork from the walking-tank fanbase and quite like the idea of recreating a scene from the Soviet Great Patriotic war based post 1946. A genuine fantasy where walking robots have taken over from their crawling counter-parts but the technology is all very familiar. So I will be adding a couple of (cheap) Soviet GPW tanks to the collection for the turrets and various accessories. I have also purchased several German and American tank stowage sets for the diorama. I won't use everything but the rest will be great for 1/48th scale aircraft dioramas. Nothing will go to waste!

So, watch this space..

Hasegawa Ammo Knights Mk44

Kit Photos

You get a big box stuffed with sprues all to Hasegawa's very high quality. It might not look much from the photos because there are a lot of duplicate sprues to deal with. You get a detailed painting guide and a great set of decals. It is all very detailed for a science fiction subject that has only ever appeared in a comic strip.

What we see here includes a black sprue of flexible rubber connectors plus a sprue of clear parts. There is plenty of material here for a good kit bash. I will shorten the kit above the shoulder line and flatten it there to make room for a conventional gun turrent. I will remove features that resemble a "face" and replace sections of arm, leg & foot armor with tank kit parts. I intend the result to be a bit more angular with lots of flat surfaces and weld-lines. It needs to look less futuristic and nothing at all like a suit with a man in it. Tall order! (If you pardon the pun!) I will add lots of stowed equipment around the model just like the battle-hardened tanks of the Great Patriotic War. The result will be weathered with a well-lived-in look. The diorama base will use accessory items such as barbed wire and tank traps. I will probably not use the sci fi guns used in the tanks hands. If I replace them then I will use something like the German 88mm anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. To give a sense of scale I will try and use whatever figures comes with the kits - maybe spruce them up to look slightly weird with gas masks or some-such.

Aftermarket Extras
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Not really aftermarket items for the Hasegawa Mk 44 Ammo Knights but these 1/48th scale stowage sets will form an important part of the conversion of the 1/20th scale kits down to 1/48th scale walking robots. The sets include the: 1 - German Military Vehicle Stowage set by Verlinden (2238) 2 - Verlinden GMC 2 1/2 truck cargo set (2380) 3 - Black Dog Sherman accessories set (T48003) 4 - Legend Sherman Firefly stowage set (LF4101)
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More 1/48th scale stowage gear from World War 2: 5 - Legend Stug 111 Stowage Set (LF4102) 6 - Value Gear Tarps (VG-48003). Anything not used on our "re-imagining the Ammo Knights" diorama will be great for 1/48th scale aircraft dioramas. 7 - Also we have two Hobby Boss 1/48th scale Russian T-34/76 Tank (Model 1942 Factory No. 112) which supply all the greeblie we could ever possibly want for the mash-up. The Hobby Boss kit was very good value just £9.99 per copy and the part count is 385 across 13 sprues. It includes photoetch and real wire cable. Now THAT is value for money! Compare that to the Fujimi Bladerunner Spinner which costs nearly seven times as much with barely a fraction of the part count. 8 - The Tamiya 1/48th scale German 20mm Flakvierling 38 which will be used for the hand-guns.

Decals

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Hasegawa 1/20th Ammo Knights

Kit Photos

Aftermarket Extras

Decals