Shizuoka 2010: Dragon/Cyber Hobby

As mentioned in our Aoshima commentary, the 2010 Shizuoka Hobby Show marked the first time that Dragon (aka DML) has exhibited at the show since they changed their agent in Japan from Hasegawa to Aoshima.  They made quite a splash, too, with a large number of almost completely German announcements, too.

But first and foremost is the very American news that they’ll be releasing an M7 Priest.  Long-rumored, the M7, based on the chassis of the M3 Lee and sporting a 105mm gun, was a staple of the battlefield in the second half of WWII and into Korea, providing effective mobile artillery support to Allied troops.

From there out, however, it was essentially all Third Reich, with new variations of Mk II, Mk III and Mk IV panzers announced, as well as the news that they’ll be tooling the battleship Scharnhorst in 1/350.  Built in the mid 1930s, the Scharnhorst and her sister ship, the Gneisenau, represented the start of the German Navy’s rearmament after WWI and the Treaty of Versailles and both ships saw much action in WWII.  It’s certainly a worthy piece of history.

Click on the thumbnails below for full-size images.