ARII - EIDAI and GRIP - Scale 1/76

ARII is an old Japanese Manufacturer" with small dioramasets, the kits were simply to built and are "Out of Production" and not longer available.
The same kits are earlier or later temporary re-relaesed by the manufacturers EIDAI and Grip.

Click on the pictures

The Eidai V2 and Arii diorama kits
November 10 2006 at 4:11 AM, Dan Kanemitsu, Bron Braille Scale - Missing-Lynx members
I've been meaning to bring this up, but I keep forgetting. I talked to a representative from Arii at last month's Plastic Model and R/C Show in Tokyo and I talked about they're military kits. Arii is better known as "Micro Ace" now and they concentrate on model trains, but the representive said they plan on selling the German Secret Strongpoint as long as possible.
I recommended that they re-release the old Eidai 1/76 military vehicle kits. I realize that some of kits are overly toy like and don't even come close to being braille scale, but their PzIV and 88mm and others are pretty good for simplified wargaming models. (I should do a review of all the Eidai/Arii diorama kits sometime. I finally completed my set.) I mentioned how Hat is doing well with wargaming kits and having simple but good looking kits available for an affordable price would be a plus.
Unfortunately, the person (an elderly gentlemen) said the molds for the diorama kits are in really really bad shape. There are no plans at this time to re-release the Arii 1/76 military kits and he doubts if they'll ever release it again...
Even worse news, I finally asked the question about the V-2 rocket kit that Eidai released. As you probably know, Arii bought out Eidai's molds when they went under, but the 1/76 V-2 rocket and vehicle set has never been re-released. I was hoping that they had the molds but it was damaged somehow. Even worse, the person said they never bought the molds. The Eidai V-2 mold is completely MIA. Since Eidai went under over 20 years ago, this does not bode well in my opinion...
I guess that just means here is an opportunity for a new injection plastic kit to be made without worry about the past kit from re-surfacing...
Dan Kanemitsu

Arii is a Japanese plastic model manufacturer and is known as "Micro Ace" now.
Arii was founded in 1963 and started to produce plastic models in 1967. Arii has also many metal molds made by other model manufacturers,. 1/76 scale Diorama Set is reissue of Eidai/Grip 20mm (1/76) scale military models with small vacuum-formed diorama base. Black box issue (AR-109-300) was released in 1981 and white box issue (AR-109-500) was released in early 1990s. Line-up of black box issue and white box issue are same. Early catalog didn't show series number 12, but back side of early instruction sheet showed all of 12 diorama sets.----------Osuka Katsumi

Arii series number, kit number and Eidai/Grip kit number are as follows.

01 - AR-109A 701 BMW R.75 & Kubelwagen
02 - AR-109B 710 Kfz.70 with Schwimmwagen
03 - AR-109C 706 Strumgeschutz IV
04 - AR-109D 708 Wirbelwind with rader system
05 - AR-109E 711 Kfz.69 with Kubelwagen
06 - AR-109F 702 Sd.Kfz.251 & Sd.Kfz.234
07 - AR-109G 703 Sd.Kfz.7
08 - AR-109H 707 Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G
09 - AR-109I 705 Sd.Kfz.7/1 or 7/2
10 - AR-109J 704 88mm Flak
11 - AR-109K 709 Mobelwagen
12 - AR-109L --- Pz.Kpfw.IV with Kubelwagen
?? - AR-109M 713 German Secret Strong Point

ARII - Catalogue History

1971

1972

1974

1975

1976

1977

1979

1980

1981

1982

1982-1

1983

1984

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1993-1

.

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

.

Black box release - (1981)

Kit 02 - Schwimwagen, pak, Kettenrad and base
Kit 03 - Stug IV
Kit 04 - Pz. IV Wirbelwind, Radar-station and base
Kit 05 - Krupp Protz, Kubelwagen, BMW and base
Kit 06 - SdKfz. 251 with Pak, 8-wheeler and Kubelwagen
Kit 08 - Pz. IV Ausf G
Kit 09 - SdKfz. 7 with Flak
Kit 10 - SdKfz. 7 with 8.8cm gun
Kit 11 - Pz. IV Mobelwagen
Kit 12 - German Secret Strong Point

White Box release - (1990)

Kit 01 - Kubelwagen, BMW, tents, accessoires and base
Kit 02 - Schwimwagen, pak, Kettenrad and base
Kit 03 - Stug IV
Kit 04 - Pz. IV Mobelwagen, Radar-station and basement

Kit 05 - Krupp Protz, Kubelwagen, BMW and base
Kit 06 - Sturmpanzer IV - no picture
Kit 07 - Sd.Kfz. 7
Kit 08 - Pz. IV Ausf G

Kit 09 - SdKfz. 7 with Flak
Kit 10 - SdKfz. 7 with 8.8cm gun
Kit 11 - Panzer IV "Mobelwagen"
Kit 12 - Pz. IV with Kubelwagen

EIDAI

Kit 01 - Kubelwagen, BMW, tents, accessoires
Kit 02 - SdKfz. 251 with Pak, 8-wheeler and Kubelwagen
Kit 03 - SdKfz. 7 Tractor
Kit 04 - SdKfz.7 tractor with 8.8 cm flak
Kit 05 - SdKfz. 7 with 20mm Flak
Kit 06 - Sturmpanzer IV

Kit 07 - Pz. IV Ausf. G
Kit 08 - Panzer IV "Wirbelwind"
Kit 09 - Panzer IV "Mobelwagen"
Kit 10 - Krupp Protz, kubelwagen with pak and BMW
Kit 11 - Krupp Protz, Kubelwagen, BMW
Kit 01 - Combination set

Kit ?? - German Secret Strong Point