2007 BlackHole Show Coverage – Arnie’s Exclusive!

Arnie’s Airsoft is the 1st to bring you coverage of this years BlackHole Show, featuring new releases by Tokyo Marui, VFC, Best Gun and more this year I have taken some video footage for you all to experience all the new toys in more detail along with the usual high quality pictures. The full report can be found in the Readers Review section of the forums, or you can click the “read more..” link at the bottom of this post.

Just to wet you appetite here is some footage of STAR’s new AW L96 Gas rifle!

…well I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

Well it’s that time of year again where anyone slightly interested in Airsoft or collecting makes their annual pilgrimage to the Tokyo BlackHole Show. I woke up on a cold and wet Saturday morning at 6:30 and got everything charged up and ready for the day.

I wanted to be at the show before the doors opened so I met up with the other members and headed on in. As a regular to the show and also technically being a there to report on the show for Arnies Airsoft I was able to procure a Press Pass for myself and BadSailor, whom by default was then roped into taking some photographs for me.

This year the show was at its usual place the Tokyo metropolitan industrial trade center, but unlike other years it only runs the Saturday and Sunday rather than the Monday which is a public holiday here in Japan.

Unlike previous events, this years BlackHole Show was on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor with Tokyo Marui’s booth being right as you walk in. I was a bit disappointed with the stand this year as it wasn’t as big or impressive as the Shizoka Hobby show, or even last years BlackHole Show. But putting that aside all you AEP and AESMP fans will not be disappointed.

Tokyo Marui will officially release the Vz61 Scorpion in the early spring of 2007 along with the AEP H&K USP .45 Auto and in 2008 the M92F. The reason for the delay is due to them making some upgrades to the internals as well as following what I suggested months ago that they will release 1 AESMP a year, so those waiting for the others you’re going to have to wait!

Tokyo Marui Booth Video

Also sharing the second floor was a real steal importer of decommissioned guns, now for anyone who purchases this kind of parts for their Airsoft collection will be shocked by the price you’re looking at over ÂÂ¥65,000 JPY (ÂÂ£290.00GBP for a real steal SUSAT that is totally broken.

Another great stand on that floor is the Hakko stand, these guys make high quality real steal optics and they had some amazing offers such as a 1st generation Night vision scope for ÂÂ¥8,000 JPY!!! The urge to buy this just for the sake of it was immense, but I’m glad I didn’t as I was able to pick up a Heckler & Koch red dot scope that featured on the original images of the MP7A1 for ÂÂ¥4,000 JPY.

The 3rd floor is where all the action is for the serious player with well over 100 stores and possible near on 100 private sales booth your guaranteed to find those little parts that you’ve been after to complete (Although alas I was unable to find a CAR9 adapter for the M4!). Also on this floor were several Hong Kong and Taiwanese based manufactures such as STAR, VFC, Best Gun and others!

The VFC Team

The VFC Team: I stopped off at the VFC booth first as I was deeply impressed by their H&K416D kit and I wanted to see if they had any new offerings for 2007. VFC will be releasing a FN-SCAR/L sometime in early 2007 along with the FN-FNC, they had no prototypes or mock-ups as this one is tightly under wraps until it’s finished. What they did have though was their new AK-74N and AK-74UN. Now these two rifles are exact copies of the real-steal and as you can see from the photograph they can take real furniture from the actual AK. The rifle also strips down in the same fashion as its real steal counterpart making this probably one of the most realist Airsoft replicas I have seen! Take a look at the video and you’ll see just what I mean!

VFC AK-74 UN Demo Video

VFC will also be releasing steel barrel, vortex Flash and QD Silencer for the M14, these were again of a very high standard and took a little over 1 minute to disassemble.

Next door to VFC was STAR, they only had one gun on display and that is the new L96 with folding stock it goes by the name of AW 338, now unlike the Maruzen version this is a gas gun! Pull back the bolt and you will see the loading valve, check out the videos of just how detailed this gun is, I’m just hoping they are paying a little more attention to the internal for 2007 as they have nailed the externals on this and previous releases.

STAR L96 Gas Valve location and bolt action Video

STAR L96 Folding Stock Demo Video

Best Gun was also there, for those that don’t know who they are they released the MRP kit in early 2006. This year they were displaying the new M4 Monolithic Rail Platform with quick release barrel and also a prototype of their forthcoming WA2000 Sniper rifle. I also liked their home made gun stands, Genius!

Again it looks like we are going to be looking at Taiwan and Hong Kong for new and innovative ideas.

Also on the 3rd floor was one of my favorite stands Tac-Nylon. Tac-Nylon is a Japanese company that specializes in webbing and pouches for the Airsoft community. He’s a one man show but has actually got the rights to produce multi-cam products here in Japan. He has come up with some cool bit’s and pieces like watch band/covers and radio pouches for popular brands like Motorola and Siemens they also come with an extra battery storage space. Not only that but he will make you custom items to suit your needs. The other great thing about Tac-Nylon is that he will haggle and I managed to get ÂÂ¥1,000 JPY off both my purchases!

Although I was very skeptical about some of the stands selling of Multi-Cam Ciras’s for ÂÂ¥60,000 JPY when in actual fact they were the copies that you can get from Redwolf, WGC and other Hong Kong retailers for a snippet of the price. I did mange to pick up though a Black Water Range Vest in Multi-Cam, if this is a fake or not I will let you decide, but for the price I’m more than happy as this will replace my Black Hawk Recon vest here in the summer when it reaches 45ÂÂ°c and 100% humidity!

Talking of Redwolf, I bumped into Chris Kong, Christopher Pun and Jerry Lee from Redwolf all of them from the UK, along way from home and it was nice to hear the familiar accent.

The fourth floor was more of the same but mainly given way to the private stands or vintage clothing and odds and ends. If you’re prepared to muscle in and spend a good few hours of your time wading through the piles of junk you do occasionally come across a nugget be warned a lot of this is not marked with a sales price so it all depends on if the stall owner likes the look of you, I was quoted ÂÂ¥45,000 JPY for a pair of Oakley A frame goggles, the same can be bought from a motor-cross shop for ÂÂ¥5,000 JPY. I did mange to pick up a Heckler and Koch wind breaker for ÂÂ¥2,000 JPY which is a bargain!

Along with a clearance shop selling Tokyo Marui magazines and optional parts for major discounted prices such as M14 high capacity magazines for ÂÂ¥1,600 JPY. You can see how easy it is to spend your money here! Some other classics were available such as this MMC L85 for only ÂÂ¥15,000 JPY that’s a staggering ÂÂ£65.00 GBP.

Also on the floor CAW had a booth and was selling their products at a really good price and all the guys I went with were sorely tempted to walk away with a M203 a piece.

Next to CAW was the Tasco stand another real steal optical company. Every year they knock down the prices of their products to bargain basement levels and you can’t help but walk away with at least something. This time both me and BadSailor bought some scope mounts with integrated 30mm weaver mounts. We thought that it was ÂÂ¥1500 JPY for one but it turned out it was for two, so we swapped one of each. ÂÂ¥1500 JPY for one low and one mid height scope mount was even better! Not only scope mounts but they had also their complete selection of scopes and red dots on offer.