On the Italeri website, under News, there is a pdf listing their planned releases for this year. Besides the PT-109 and Vosper crew sets, there are two other 1/35 items of interest. First is kit #6524 "LCVP with US Infantry". The box art shows a fully loaded LCVP and appears to say it includes 30 figures! I think it is their previously released LCVP with the addition of troops to fill it up. The second item is kit #6522 "US Infantry on board", which lists 10 figures. It seems that these are intended to fill out any landing craft you might want. Many of Italeri's releases are being labeled to tie into the 70th anniversary of D-Day. The addition of a load of troops to Italeri's nicely done LCVP should make it attractive to anyone looking to do a D-Day diorama 'in a box'. Since I already have their LCVP kit in my stash, the set of 10 troops sold separately is quite welcome and will come in handy. Of course we will have to wait to see what the quality of molding is like. Their figures haven't been as good as some other manufacturers, but with a little TLC I've found them to be quite serviceable and much cheaper than the resin alternative. There is no mention of their promised British X-Craft sub, but they do mention some 'surprise releases' in store, so we can still hope. Al

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Al. I had the 80' Elco Crew set that they came out with right after their first PT kit (PT-596). It was just okay. The sculpting was inferior to what we've come to expect from dedicated resin figure manufacturers and details were pretty soft. But maybe these will be better. At least they might work in a pinch. Warriors made some exceptional resin figures to go with Italeri's PT-596 but, unfortunately, they are no longer available.

If the price for their 10 man LCVP set is anything comparable to their 80' Elco crew we'll go broke buying enough to fill a boat. I think the Elco set was $29.00 for a set of 10.

Thanks again Al.

Would be nice when they release them. All these announcements, they wet the appetite but the waiting is very long and then some don't seem to ever appear. Hope they will make enough of the Vosper and 109 kits as I missed out on the 1st set which though they are in the catalog, are long gone. Would really like to find a set.

Very interesting, the new troops set will go nicely with my Higgins LCP(L)I think.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25721684@N00/10315192196/in/set-72157632269542118


Regards,

Christian
www.mtbhulls.co.uk

Nice to see the LCVP back again, missed it first time round.

really missing the X craft though that is one I have been looking forward to.

Si

really missing the X craft though that is one I have been looking forward to. [Quoted]

You and me both Simon. At least it still appears to be scheduled for this year, according to some kit release tables that I've seen on another site. Probably sometime around Christmas, if Italeri holds true to form. We can only hope, pray, and keep our fingers crossed. Al

Hi all,

I'm a newbie so apologise if I'm telling you something you already know, but I too was looking forwards to the Italeri X-Craft so e-mailed them, and this is the response i got back...

...we regret to inform you that the kit you asked for has been dropped from our list of new releases, so, for the moment it wouldn't be produced.
However, for any kind of information regarding the release date of our products, we kindly ask you to contact our importer in your country (see the home page of our web site www.italeri.com) or we suggest you to register in our web site in order to receive our monthly newsletter.
 
 
Kind regards,
ITALERI S.p.a.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news to anyone that was unaware of this.

G

Thanks Glod,

That is disappointing, having been to Tromso and seen the wreck site, I am trying to build up a collection of models of all the aircraft & naval vessels used in attacks against her, as well as of course the ship herself. (Hoping Trumpy might do that in 1/200th)

Oh well will have to resort to resin in 1/72

Si

Couldn't agree more Simon, probably one of the most anticipated models of the last years. Shame it turns out to be vapourware........