Worldwide Mail Order Plastic Ship Modelling Specialists for 25 Years!

Please E-Mail CAROLINE SNYDER, or the Token Yank,  JOHN SNYDER, for any further info you require, or for a full set of  either regular or trade price lists. To place an order, visit the online shop, or if you have any difficulty, simply e-mail or phone us.

Remember all prices shown here do not include VAT, so if you live outside the European Union, they are the price you will pay (plus shipping if applicable).  All EU customers must add 15% VAT, except in the case of books, which do not attract VAT.  Don't worry, it's good for the soul to know you're doing your bit to help the government.

PHONING WEM?

If you're phoning us, remember that our UK phone hours are 10AM - 3PM, Monday - Friday. For UK customers the number is 0844 415 0914. Overseas callers should dial 011-44-1568-709149. North American customers with orders or questions can reach us here in West Virginia from 12 Noon - 3PM Eastern time, Monday - Friday, by phoning 304-872-4212.

PAYPAL NEWS

We have had to change our policy regarding Paypal orders, due to the fact that around half of those placed never get paid for.  You will appreciate this takes up a lot of time (and therefore money!) in pulling the orders and then returning them to stock.  We have therefore instituted a policy whereby we will only process Paypal orders once a non-refundable GBP 5.00 deposit has been paid via Paypal.  Once this payment is received, the order will be processed in the usual way, with an invoice being e-mailed to the customer, the amount of the deposit being deducted from the total.  If the balance is not received within 7 days, the order will be returned to stock, the deposit being used to cover the costs of our wasted time.  Apologies to the many legitimate Paypal users whom this may inconvenience, but the time spent on these spurious orders was delaying our service to our regular customers.

CURRENCY CONVERSION

Want to know what your order will cost in your local currency? Here's the site we use to check the exchange rates:

XE.com will give you the current exchange rate, and it's just a matter of entering the amount and selecting the rate between UK Pounds (GBP) and your local currency for an online answer.

THINKING OF TRYING COLOURCOATS?

Have a look at the newest addition in the Readers' Gallery, the work of prolific master builder Garry Prettyman. If you read modelling magazines, you'll likely have seen Garry's build articles. Garry uses Colourcoats exclusively and, believe it or not, the models in his gallery here are all out-of-the-box builds!

Also, for those concerned with such details, click here for a look at the manufacturer's official Safety Data Sheet covering Colourcoats.

Remember, too, that any order of 20 or more tins of Colourcoats receives a 10% discount. Get together with your fellow modelers to put together a large order and get a price break.

12^th February 2010

For the first time in 6 days, it's finally stopped snowing here in West Virginia. We have more than a foot on the ground, and drifts up to 2 feet deep on our drive, so we're effectively snowed in. Getting to the mailbox means strapping on the cross-country skis! Still, as long as we have e-mail and the net, we can continue to serve our customers and bring them our latest news.

WEM NEWS

Speaking of news, Dave found a new patternmaker to take some of the load off Peter Hall, and he has delivered two new 1/700 Royal Navy Destroyer kits. K753 will be HMS Whitley (1940), a WAIR (anti-aircraft) conversion of the V&W Class. K754 will be HMS Venus (1944), a ship that was involved in the sinking of the IJN cruiser Haguro in 1945. Prices TBA, but should be in the range of our other 1/700 destroyers. Stay tuned for further surprises.

SHIP DETAIL PARTS

Master Barrels keeps churning out superlative new products. The latest additions are to their 1/350 scale Sea Master line, and their new USN 20mm Oerlikon just has to be seen to be believed:

That's right: 1/350 scale! This is the new "gold standard" in 1/350 detailing, and you can pre-order now as we have an order on the way:

1/35 Scale

SM-35-003, 1/35 S-100 barrels - Flak M42 3.7cm (x1) & Flak 38 20mm (x3)

1/350 Scale

SM-350-043 Prinz Eugen barrels: 203mm (x8) & 105mm (x12)

SM-350-044 Graf Spee barrels: 280mm (x6), 150mm (x8), & 105mm (x6) 

SM-350-045 German 37mm/83 SKC/30 barrels (x20) - almost all German warships between 1930 & 1943

SM-350-046 German 37mm/69 M42 (x20) - many German warships after 1944

SM-350-047 German 20mm/65 C/30 (early type) - almost all German warships

SM-350-048 German 20mm/65 C/38 (late type) - almost all German warships

SM-350-049 USS Arizona barrels: 14" (x12), 5"/51 (x10), & 5"/25 (x8) 

SM-350-050 USN 20mm Oerlikon - complete 3- dimensional gun, turned and etched elements (x20)

SM-350-051 USN 5’’/25 barrels (x14) - many USN battleship and cruiser classes, 1920s to 1940s

SM-350-052 IJN Mikuma barrels: 15.5cm (x15)  12.7cm (x8) barrels

SM-350-053 IJN Nagara barrels: 14cm/50 (x7) 

SM-350-054 IJN Akizuki barrels: 10cm/65 (x8) 

SHIP KITS

Academy: 1/350 Graf Spee Limited Edition, includes wooden deck, photo-etch, brass gun barrels, nameplate, brass chain, £68.08

CDs/DVDs

Still Motion Photographics:Volume 71, Royal Navy Part 4 - Ocean Escorts 1939-45, 560+ all-new views from the National Archives in Canada of RN & RCN escort ships of the Atlantic: Flower- & Castle-class corvettes, Town-class 4-stack destroyers, frigates, destroyer escorts, & cruisers, some never before published in colour, and all available for the first time on DVD. £17.25; Volume 72, CGNs: Long Beach to Arkansas, £15.95

AIRCRAFT ITEMS

Master Barrels haven't forgotten the aircraft modelers either. Here's the latest:

1/32 Scale

AM-32-013 German MG 15 barrels and etched sights (x2)

AM-32-014 German 3.7cm Flak 18 cannon barrels (x2)

AM-32-015 German MG 151 20mm cannon barrels (x2)

AM-32-016 Spitfire C-wing - Hispano 20mm cannons in fairings (Tamiya)

1/48 Scale

AM-48-024 German 3.7cm Flak 18 cannon barrels (x2)

AM-48-025 P-40E - N fairings with blast tubes for .50cal Browning (x6)

AM-48-026 British Mk 2 Browning .303 cal. w/flash hider (x2) 

ARMOUR ITEMS

Real Models: Sewards, Anthony, Rick Saucier & Miloslav Hraban. Canadian Leopard C2 Mexas in Afghanistan, 80 full-colour pages, 304 colour photos, English text. This is the 3^rd Modeler Photo Assistans book from Real Model, a full-colour reference guide detailing the Leopard C2 Mexas in Afghanistan during summer 2007.

We are pleased to announce the addition of the Black Dog range of armour accessories. Dave will be adding these to the catalogue side of the website for your shopping pleasure, so keep checking there for new additions.

1^st February 2010

January has come and gone--where the heck did it go? Makes for loads of news this time around....

Colourcoats Restock!

In spite of the frigid weather, Barry Keeler managed a shipment to us this past week.

Ship colours: RN 03 AP 507C Admiralty Light Grey; US 32 #46 Neutral Outside Gray (1945); M 20 Modern Russian Baltic Fleet Grey.

Aircraft colours: ACS 05 WUP Grey Interior Primer; ACJ 07 Mitsubishi Navy Grey; ACJ 14 Earth Brown.

The new year is bringing a host of new items (some of which we can't even mention yet!).

BOOKS

More reference material is on the way in the Shipcraft series of books: 

Abbey, Lester. Shipcraft 13: New Orleans Class Cruisers, 64pp (32 colour pp), profusely illustrated with photos & line drawings, £14.99. The 7-ship New Orleans class was probably the US Navy’s most hard-fought heavy cruisers of the War – three were sunk in action, but others survived massive damage and, by 1945 three out of four of the navy’s most decorated ships were of this class. Although designed within treaty limitations, they proved powerful and well-balanced ships, and their unparalleled fighting record makes them popular modeling subjects. 

Wiper, Steve. Shipcraft 14: Yamato Class Battleships, 64pp (32 colour pp), profusely illustrated with photos & line drawings. The Yamato class battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy were the largest warships of WW2 and the largest battleships ever constructed, displacing 78,800 tonnes. They also carried the largest naval artillery ever fitted to a warship - 18.1" guns. Neither Yamato nor her sister ship  Musashi made much impact on the war. Musashi was sunk during the battle of Leyte Gulf; Yamato, deployed in a deliberate suicide attack on Allied forces at the battle of Okinawa, was finally sunk by US carrier-based aircraft, and fewer than 300 of her 3,330-man crew survived.

Brown, Les. Shipcraft 15: Queen Elizabeth Class Battleships; and, Backer, Steve. Shipcraft 16: Admiral Hipper Class Cruisers. Both these titles due in late June, and presumably of the same size, format, and price  as the others of the series.

Brown, Les and John Lambert. Shipcraft Special: Allied Torpedo Boats. Due in late May, details to follow when available.

New from Squadron/Signal: Nimitz Class Carriers On Deck (On Deck series), £15.00

SHIP DETAIL PARTS

An item about which we are almost continually asked is brass propellers. Well, we finally have them, in a new range from G-Factor (follow the hyperlink and look for them under the appropriate scale):

GFA13501 1/35 Elco PT boat propellers (designed to be used with Italeri kits), £12.94;

GFA13502 1/35 S-Boat propellers (designed to be used with Italeri kits), £22.43;

GFA14401 1/144 Fletcher Propellers, £8.09;

GFA17202 1/72 Gato propellers, £13.61;

GFA35003 1/350 Arleigh Burke propellers, £11.57;

GFA35004 1/350 Gleaves Class Propellers (designed to be used with Dragon kits), £10.20;

GFA35005 1/350 HMS Hood propellers (designed to be used with Trumpeter kits), £11.57;

GFA35006 1/350 Bismark propellers (designed to be used with Revell kits), £11.57;

GFA35007 1/350 Gearing Class propellers (designed to be used with Dragon kits), £11.57;

GFA35008 1/350 Nagato propellers (designed to be used with Hasegawa kits), £11.57;

GFA35009 1/350 Shokaku propellers (designed to be used with Fujimi kits), £11.57.

Revell: 1/350 Bismarck Detail Set, no date, £TBA; 1/350 Tirpitz Detail Set, no date, £TBA; 1/350 Colombo Express Detail Set, no date, £TBA; 1/350 U-Boat Type VIIc Submarine Detail Set, no date, £TBA; 1/144 Zerstorer Z1/Z5 Detail Set, no date, £TBA.

Admiralty Model Works: 1/700 British RN Capital Ships' Ensigns Decals, £3.40.

SHIP KITS

Airfix: 1/400 HMS Campbeltown, no date, £TBA; 1/350 Trafalgar Class Submarine, no date, £TBA; 1/600 HMS Belfast (Starter or gift sets) £16.99; 1/600 HMS Hood (Starter or gift sets) £16.99.

Corsair Armada: 1/700 USS Medusa (AR-1) 1941, Repair Ship, £70.95.

Dragon: 1/700 HMS Ark Royal (Gulf War 1991) Limited Edition, £29.99; 1/700 HMS York, Type 42 Batch 3 Destroyer, £27.50; 1/700 USS Laffey (DD-459) 1942. Kit contains 2 vessels with full-hull option, £23.75; USS Livermore & USS Monssen 1942. Kit contains both vessels, £TBA; 1/700 USS Long Beach (CGN-9), £TBA; 1/700 USS VIrginia (CGN-38), £TBA; 1/700 HMS Daring, Type 45 Destroyer, £TBA; 1/700 USS Independence (LCS-2) Littoral Combat Ship, £TBA; 1/350 USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) 1944, £TBA.

Revell: 1/460  Atom Cruiser USS Long Beach, due May, £TBA; 1/144 U-Boot 'Wilhelm Bauer', due May, £TBA; 1/700 Bismarck (New Tooling), due July, £TBA; 1/700 Tirpitz (New Tooling), due June, £TBA; 1/144 U-Boat Type VIIC/41, due February, £14.99; 1/125 Calypso, due April, £16.99;

1/570 HMS Prince of Wales, £10.99; 1/350 USS Wasp Class with Photo-Etch, due February, £TBA.

Trumpeter: 1/700 USS Massachusetts (BB-59) 1946 fit, £19.99; 1/350 USS Momsen (DDG-92), £42.99.

AIRCRAFT ITEMS

Airfix: 1/24 De Havilland Mosquito NF.II/FB.VI, £110.63.

MasterCaster: 1/24 De Havilland Mosquito Weighted Wheels, £6.99.

Tamiya: 1/32 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc, £99.48; Green, Brett. How to Build Tamiya's 1/32 Spitfire Mk.IXc, £11.95.

ARMOUR ITEMS

Voyager 1/35: PE35306 1/35 WWII US Army M4/M4 DV Mid Tank (Dragon 6511 6579/Tamiya 35190), £18.00; PE35307 1/35 WWII US army M4 Mid Tank Skirts (Dragon 6511 6579), £9.95; TE027 1/35 Leaves (Pattern 4), £5.95; VBS0311 1/35 WWII U.S.75mm Ammunition with Cartridge (for all), £7.95.

Voyager 1/72: PE72022 1/72 European Iron Gates (Pattern 2) (for all), £1.30; PE72023 1/72 European Iron Fence (Pattern 2) (for all), £1.65; PE72024 1/72 European Iron Gates (Pattern 3) (for all), £1.30; PE72025 1/72 European Iron Fence (Pattern 3) (for all), £1.65; PE72027 1/72 Leaves (Pattern 1) (for all), £2.49; PE72028 1/72 WWII German Panzer III Grilles (quad set) (for all), £1.30.

9^th JANUARY 2010

It hardly seems possible that a week has flown by since my last news update--time flies when you're snowed in! Our neighbor managed to get her tractor stuck while trying to plow our drive, and then did the same with the 4WD truck they tried to use to pull the tractor out. Finally took a wrecker to get them both out, and he very nearly ended up in the same predicament!

SHIP NEWS

First and foremost, Dave and crew should begin shipping our 1/350 scale HMS Abercrombie kits (K 3561) next week. Dave reports that virtually the entire first production run has been pre-ordered, but that a few kits are left. If you want one of these, don't wait but place your order now. Otherwise you'll be waiting for the next production run to arrive.

Veteran Models has released its first superset with resin and photoetch set: VTA 70002 is the "ultimate" 1/700 IJN Kongo set; no price yet, so watch this space. However, you can place pre-orders now so that we're sure to order enough.

From Still Motion Photographics comes the first release of 2010. Volume 70 brings 480+ images of USS Coral Sea (CVA/CVB-43) from the 1940s through the 1980s, including photos of the various aircraft that graced her decks in those years, including never-before-published shots of aircraft that took part in the airstrikes on Libya in 1986. Priced at £13.58, you'll want this for your CD library.

AIRCRAFT NEWS

New on the 1/24 scale front are the Mosquito NF.II/FB.VI from Airfix at £110.63 (sold out at the moment, but restocks expected this month). New also in 1/32 scale is the Spitfire Mk.IXc from Tamiya with a price of £87.66.

WOULD WHOMEVER PHONED US....

asking about the availability of a Tamiya 1/700 IJN Mogami please call back? It is available, but Dave can't find your phone number!

1^st JANUARY 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's snowing (again) here in West Virginia, and the WEM remote computers have gone offline so that Caroline and I can't process orders for the moment. With the enforced idleness I've managed to get a couple of other tasks done--mounting a heated birdbath out on the front porch rail so that our little feathered friends have a water source that isn't frozen, and getting our new, 500-pound wood stove unloaded (by myself--levers & skids work wonders)  from the trailer in the garage so that I could move the trailer out and get the car in from the cold for the first time in a couple of weeks.  The Miata has been inside all along--definitely not the steed of choice for West Virginia winters. Next up: complete finishing and assembling sets of bookshelves so I can get the rest of my library unpacked and ready for answering all your questions.

Peter Hall spent New Year's Eve quietly at home with appropriate libations, and at his computer working away on the instructions for the new 1/350 monitor kits. I was able to post a colour profile of HMS Roberts a week ago, so it's only fitting--given Peter's efforts above and beyond the call of duty--to post some now of HMS Abercrombie. We're less certain of the colours she wore than we are for those of Roberts, so we're going to include alternate profiles to allow the modeller to paint her up in either 1942 Admiralty Light Disruptive Type camouflage, as seems to be indicated by available photos, or in 1943 Admiralty Light Disruptive Type camouflage, as stated in certain publications. Since the photo in question is from April 1943, and ships wearing the 1942 colours typically carried them into late 1943, it's a bit problematical. So you, the modeller, get your choice of colours:

If she was in 1942 colours, you'll use MS1 MS2, MS3, & AP 507C

If she wore 1943 colours, you'll want G5, B15, B30, and B55

Either way, you'll have the pattern correct!

The kits and their photoetch are with us, so as soon as Mad Pete finishes the instructions we'll be shipping the pre-orders. Fancy a vest-pocket battleship? Get your order in now because they're going fast!

  It's Christmas Eve, and Dave & the crew at WEM/UK have gone home to relax and begin the celebrations (or to do last-minute shopping), so I guess it's time for our last pre-Christmas product update.

Here's something to whet your appetite: Our 1/350 Monitor kits (see 2 December news below) have arrived and Peter Hall is hard at work on the instructions. He should have those ready by next week, and the kits will begin shipping as soon as we have the instructions and can get them packaged. Here's a teaser:

That's HMS Roberts--you KNOW you want one....

AFV Club have surfaced (pun intended) with three new 1/350 scale WW2 submarine kits: a Type VIIB with optional etched hand rails and choice of conning towers, priced at £11.29; a Type VIIC with optional etched hand rails, priced at £13.03; and the IJN's aircraft-carrying I-19 with a price tag of £17.37. 

From Hobby Boss come a pair of modern subs in 1/350, both priced at £6.95: a Chinese PLAN Kilo-class; and, a Chinese PLAN Type 39G Song-class.

Trumpeter is bringing more to the table: In keeping with their past practices of adding separate packs of ships' planes, a pack of 12 1/700 Arado Ar-196 seaplanes priced at £4.33.

23^rd DECEMBER 2009

Well, the weather folks were right about the snow--just got the amount a bit wrong. After posting the update to the web on Friday night, we relaxed a bit, enjoyed that rum-soaked ginger cake, read a while, and turned in. We awoke on Saturday morning  to nearly 3 feet of snow on the ground and still falling heavily, and no power. They finally restored power to our area after about 36 hours, so if you've e-mailed us and haven't gotten our usual quick answer, you now know why! It really is a winter wonderland out there, and we took a little walk that afternoon to chat with our neighbor, which gave us the chance to inspect our drive and determine we weren't going anywhere for a while, even with 4WD  (and to thank the power company linemen for their efforts, working round-the-clock in temperatures in the low 20s). We've got bright sun and temperatures in the 40s now, but freezing rain on the way for Christmas. Now it's time to get back to our customers before the next storm slams in and darkens our screens again.

More news tomorrow on Christmas Eve!

18^th DECEMBER 2009

Faced with the prospect of up to a foot of snow overnight tonight here in West Virginia, it must be time to just sit tight with some music in the background and a nice glass of zinfandel, and get caught up on more news. Got some good bluegrass music going in the background, the snow is drifting softly onto the front porch where it sparkles in the Christmas lights and squeaks underfoot, and our frozen pond has turned into a smooth white plain in the front field. Caroline has just brought up some rum-soaked ginger cake--mmmm!

Colourcoats Restock!

Our paint man, Barry Keeler, has been hard at work despite the cold weather that affects the thermal cut-outs on his machines. We received the following ship colours: US 05 5-H Haze Gray, US 06 5-O Ocean Gray, US 08 5-N Navy Blue, US 10 20-B Deck Blue, US 15 Mahogany Flight Deck Stain, RN 16 B.20, KM 11 Schlickgrau 58, M 08 Modern French Navy Deck Grey, GW 04 WW1 RN/USN #4 Grey, and GW 14 WW1 RN/USN #2 Blue/Grey; the following aircraft colours: ACF 09 Gris Bleu Clair (Sky Grey) and ACLE 10 Braun (FAS 3–NSFK); and in armour colours, ARUS 10 Earth Red FS 30177.

As a result of requests, we've made the PE from our 1/350 Kingfisher-class Sloop kit available separately as PE 35135, priced at a very reasonable £11.87. As with our other kit-derived sets, this will come only with an illustrated parts list.

For battleship fans, we have a new book from Seaforth Publishers: French Battleships 1922-1956. This is the English language edition of Jordan & Dumas, H/b, d/j, 10 x 11½, glossy paper, 232pp,  extensively illustrated with hundreds of photos & technical drawings, including 22 colour profile & plan views of the ships, and priced at £35.00.

A number of new items have arrived from Hasegawa.

For something a little different, there is the limited-run 1/350 resin kit of the IJN seaplane tender, Akitsushima, with a price tag of £373.90. This one is worth having just to be able to paint about the wildest camouflage scheme worn by any IJN ship.

Back in the realm of plastic kits is the long-awaited kit of the IJN light cruiser Yahagi in 1/350 scale. You'll need this for that 1/350 scale diorama of Yamato's last sortie. Yahagi, then under the command of Tameichi Hara, was lost with Yamato. Fortunately, Captain Hara survived to give us his superb book, Japanese Destroyer Captain. The 1/350 Yahagi kit has a price of £86.95. And to detail it, you have a choice of HAQG37 1/350 Light Cruiser YAHAGI Detail Set A at £21.73, and/or HAQG38 1:350 Light Cruiser YAHAGI Detail Set B at £39.12, or HA40075 1:350 Light Cruiser YAHAGI Super detail set for £60.86.

Bronco continues to expand their line, moving up in scale to offer this 1/200 scale kit ofthe Chinese PLAN Type 041 Yuan-class attack sub, priced at £10.43.

One item I missed the last time is a new kit from AFV Club: a 1/350 scale Cheng Kung-class frigate, priced at £51.06.

Finally, this just in: Airfix today formally launched its 

1/350 HMS Illustrious kit on board HMS Illustrious, presenting her captain with a cased, built-up kit. Rest assured that our own Peter Hall is well along with our PE 35132 designed specifically for this kit, and which hopefully will be available when the kit goes on sale next month. You know you're going to want this PE set, so best pre-order now to avoid missing out on the first production run.