Yes, ZIB is closing down now. Their owner is said to be seriously ill. And they refused to sell the magazines since high capacity real magazines are banned now in Germany. Legally speaking the SHOEI magazins are toy model parts, but ZIB wanted to make sure (they were also offering a large amount of real gunparts and magazines in the past) and sold all their SHOEI models without the realistic looking magazines. Quite some of their customers complained bitterly but with no avail.
You can still get the MKb 42 (H) there for a good price, but without the magazine! I heard that SHOEI themself are out of these magazines so this may be a problem.
SHOEI is mentioning some European partners on their website. It sure would help to know where in the EU you are located. SHOEI is also willing to trade directly with collectors.
http://www.shoeiseisakusho.co.jp/Sadly there are no new SHOEI models available at the moment. SHOEI produces them in limited batches. The last production run was the MP43/MP44/StGW44 series, but they are all sold out. The FG 42 Type 2 is currently in production and can be preordered, but SHOEI asks for a deposit to be paid.
I heard that the FG 42 Type 2 model is very complicated to produce and almost the complete production run is said to be sold. So if anyone is tempted to get this great model he should hurry up.
Thu Oct 06, 2022 1:55 pm
