AC-130: Quick Review

Monday, April 22, 2013

AC-130 delivering its cargo of new Patton tanks

I just received the AC-130 Gunship today and I'm very pleased with it. Assembly was a piece of cake and there was very little in the way of flashing, so a quick once over with a hobby knife was not required in this case. Fit and finish is good with the exception of the seem between the top and bottom fuselage. This has always been a hit or miss issue since the plane's inception back in 1990. It can, however, be rectified with a bit of ingenuity.
The addition of a Patton tank to the set is especially nice since it's the same scale (1:48). You can squeeze up to 3 tanks into the AC-130...or well over 100 soldiers. Although the plastic is the same deep green as the tanks and soldiers, it's more pliable than the plastic used to cast the soldiers and tanks. It's also has less gloss. Actually there should be no gloss. These are military vehicles, after all.

The AC-130 is an excellent addition to the TimMee Reissues and any toy soldier collection. A big thanks to Jeff Imel for resurrecting a truly fun and versatile TimMee product!

Fresh from the factory!

Pieces / parts

Hercules C-130 Gunship Now Available!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

VictoryBuy has just released the TimMee C-130 Hercules Gunship and is now available for purchase here and includes free shipping!

"The Tim Mee Hercules C-130 Gunship is once again proudly manufactured in the United States and available as a 27 piece set. Set includes the Hercules Gunship, 2 dozen M16 Soldier figures, an American flag with base, and a bonus Patton M48 Tank. The airplane is modeled after the Lockheed AC-130 and features spinning propellers, rolling wheels with metal axles, cockpit entrance door, rear access loading ramp, dual barrel rotating turret, and 3 pivoting machine guns. The wingspan measures 24.5 inches across, and the fuselage is 24.5 inches long x 10 inches tall to top of tail. The aircraft, tank, and soldiers are made from slightly stiff olive-green color HDPE plastic with a little flashing. The flag stands 2.75 inches tall with a black base, white pole, and sticker flag. The plane and tank are approximately 1:48 scale and the figures are approximately 1:35 scale. The first version of this aircraft was produced by 'Processed Plastic Company' (Tim Mee's parent company) in 1990 and modeled after the C-130 Cargo Plane. The tooling was later modified to create the AC-130 Gunship version. The Hercules may be the most impressive army men vehicle of all time. These are real toys, meant to be set up, knocked over, picked up and played with for years to come. Snap-together assembly requires some hand strength, so adult assembly is recommended. Warning: Choking Hazard, contains small parts. Not for Children Under 3 years. Recommended for ages 5 to 105!"

— Jeff Imel (VictoryBuy.com)

Tim Mee Hercules C-130 Gunship 2013 Reissue Assembly

The M48 in Review

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Reissue set

The last time I got my hands on a new TimMee Patton tank fresh out of the factory was in 2003. I was smack dead in the middle of Ohio at a Marcs Discount store and found a small bin of them tucked away in the far corner of the store. I'd been searching for months after my interest in them had been rekindled (see 'The Story of My Collection'). What I thought would be the same beloved tank from my childhood turned out to be a new cost-cutting version. Gone were the antenna, stickers and more importantly, the clip-on wheels. Also noticeable was the hard plastic and less than perfect casting. The reissues come from the same mold. According to Jeff Imel from VictoryBuy, it wasn't feasible to make any changes to the tooling ("for the time being"). He decided to go ahead with the skid version reissue based upon the success of the tanks from the NOS bulk vehicles he acquired last fall. Fortunately, the casting on these tanks are, for the most part, clean. The fender dimples are still there...and that's most likely due to the stiffness of the plastic used...not the casting process itself.

The classic and the reissue

The color is a deep army green and is MUCH better than the green hues used during the late 80s through 2005. However, the decision to use glossy plastics is puzzling since these are, in fact, military vehicles.
After Processed Plastic Company closed their doors for good it was a foregone conclusion that we'd never see the likes of these tanks again unless they were listed on Ebay or found sitting on a table at some yard sale. Jeff Imel did what some of us wanted to do so badly. And that was to somehow bring them back from the fate that was dealt to them by the dreaded Chinese clones. I know I did. Well, we got our wish. Only now we don't have to search the discount brick & mortars to find one. They're just a mouse click away. Time to even the score.

► TimMee Green Patton M48 Tank 3 Piece Playset at amazon.com