Hasegawa 1/20 Ma.K. Figure Set A Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Maschinen Krieger (Ma.K.) is a science fiction genre that was started in the early 1980s under the banner of SF3D by Japanese artist Kow Yokoyama and was published for a few years in the Japanese hobby magazine Hobby Japan. While many of the science fiction and fantasy kits that are produced in Japan are based on one or more anime (Japanese animation) television and movie series, or at least as a manga (Japanese comics), SF3D was created out of a series of scratch-built futuristic combat vehicles and armored suits. At the time, Nitto produced a series of kits based upon Kow's designs. When a copyright dispute arose in 1985, Hobby Japan dropped the series out of their magazines and Nitto discontinued the kits. Since that time, companies like Modelkasten, Wave, and Brick Works stepped in and continued the genre under a new banner - Maschinen Krieger (Machine Wars). You'll note that while Ma.K. is supposed to take place roughly 900 years into our future, the vehicles, uniforms, and even names/designations are inspired by World War II Germany.

I remember seeing various armored suit kits in the past for the series 'Maschinen Krieger' (Ma.K) but they were usually from specialty hobby companies, but when Hasegawa threw their hat into this ring, it was time to take a closer look. Their first entry into the Ma.K series was the Ma.K. Falke, a subsonic raider that features an anti-gravity lift system and a more conventional forward thrust propusion system ( reviewed here).

The kit came with a seated pilot figure and a standing crewperson dressed in warmer weather attire. Hasegawa followed this kit up with the first of what may be several sets of 1/20 scale figure sets to provide vignette options for your own build of the Falke.

This new figure set provides four figure and a number of background details all molded in styrene. The kit is presented on three trees of styrene parts, two in desert tan containing the four figures and one in gray/green containing the details.

The figure set has two pilot figures, one standing and one seated, both wearing cold weather gear. Two ground crew figures are also provided, one standing and one kneeling over his work, also both wearing cold weather gear.

The details provided in this set include:

• Toolbox
• Ratchet set
• Gas torch
• 2 x Jerry cans
• Coffee cup
• Oil can
• An array of screwdrivers, pliers and other tools

This figure set comes with a nice array of decals to provide alternative markings to the Pf.85 with matching uniform markings for the crew and a set of maintenance stencils for the Pf.85 as well.

This figure set provides a nice set of alternative figures along with some background vignette details (tools, etc.) to allow you to display your Falke in a late autumn or winter color scheme and have the figures dressed to match the scene.

My sincere thanks to HobbyLink Japan for this review sample!