Hasegawa 1/20 Mk.44H-0 White Knight Prototype Ma.K 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.

Ma.K has a growing number of modeling enthusiasts, which is interesting for a genre that was last published in Hobby Japan over 30 years ago. The subject realm is unique given that it doesn't have the synergy of printed, video, or movie features to help capture and inspire the interest of modelers unlike Macross, Gundam, Warcraft, etc. In case you missed the news, this is about to change - Warner Brothers has announced that they are producing a new science fiction movie based on the Ma.K universe. While that is likely a few years away, there are several CGI videos on YouTube that provide brief glimpses into the Ma.K universe and at these various combat suits/vehicles at work.

Here's the latest Ma.K. release from Hasegawa, the Mk.44H-0 White Knight Prototype. The White Knight combat suits are designed for low-gravity/no atmosphere combat on the lunar surface. Hasegawa released the Mk.44 Ausf.H a few years ago and this kit adds a few additional parts to render your choice of the Ausf.H production suit or Ausf.H-0 prototype suit. The kit is molded in styrene and presented on 14 parts trees plus one set of vinyl hoses.

Among the features and options in this kit:

• Detailed 'cockpit'
• Chest plate hinges forward to reveal 'cockpit'
• Front cover hinges open to reveal pilot's head
• Arms are movable/poseable
• Legs are movable/poseable
• Detailed heavy gun

As with the other armored suit kits in this series, this figure is posable after completion and provides some nice possibilities for fun or placed into a diorama or vignette. Have some fun and give one of these beauties a try!

My sincere thanks to Hasegawa USA for this review sample!