SCALE MODEL NEWS

At last 1:48 seems to be the scale of choice for new AFV plastic kit offerings. Tamiya already have a mouthwatering range of military subjects, even if it’s not terribly large. And now Italeri is launching a range of new-tool 1:48 scale vehicles. The first two are due soon, and are both World War II subjects. The armoured car is an Italian Autoblinda AB 41, in production from 1941, hence the number. The utilitarian looks belied its usefulness (though the four-wheel-steer system caused problems) and some were fitted with metal wheels to speed along Italian rail tracks. After Italy surrendered in 1943, German forces confiscated some 57 AB 41s and built 120 more. And one of these is the subject of this kit, complete with Iron Cross markings. The Kfz 305 truck is a soft-top three-tonner that was used in virtually every Axis combat arena, and Italeri’s kit features a metal chassis frame, which should give the finished model a nice heft. Decals are included but, sad to say, the stern-lookin...

Own-brand clubs are a powerful marketing tool that can cement brand loyalty among users like few other things. But let’s not be too cynical here - virtually all such clubs go out of their way to offer value to their members, and the Hornby Club is no exception. For 00-gauge rail fans it’s almost a no-brainer, as Hornby offers a number of useful items, such as: * A welcome pack, including membership card, stockist list and service dealer list. * The Collector - a bi-monthly enthusiasts magazine, and the Collector Plus twice a year. * Exclusive competitions in every issue * 10% Discount from selected Hornby stockists, as well as Hornby.com * Fully-working Hornby locomotive, exclusive to club members (while stocks last) All of which is a pretty good deal. The free loco is a 0-4-0 saddle tank, while there is also a good discount offered on a Limited Edition 4-4-0 Class T9 LSWR locomotive, an express passenger design by Dugald Drummond, introduced in 1899. Sixty-six of them were built over ...

Science fiction fans generally have something of a love affair with robots. Whether they are small and helpful (R2D2), tall and shiny (C3PO), or deadly enemies (Transformer Decepticons), there seems to be just ‘something’ about a mechanical man that appeals, even more so if it’s a dangerous clockwork killer. And in Texas, designer-photographer Adam Voorhes has joined in robomania with the damaged machine-man shown above (top), its mobility-aid an old-fashioned wooden crutch under the arm. Adam’s even given a title to his creation: ‘Something seems to be missing’... Japan is ground-zero for robotics, both real and fictional, and robo-culture there is sometimes obsessed with them. Magazines such as the excellent Hobby Japan run big features, and Euro-comics such as the UK’s 2000AD run strips based on robo-themes. The diorama here shows an excellent ABC Warrior from the strip of the same name, wreaking havoc while on display at a model show. We recently reported on the T700 robot to 1:18 ...

David Jefferis reports All the big toy and model manufacturers are gearing up for the mega-huge International Nuremberg Toy Fair, held on February 4-9 this year. It’s an apposite venue, as the city has been famed for its handmade toys for centuries. In 2010, Revell will be exhibiting a Leonardo da Vinci themed range: “...We will present selected technical constructions of the brilliant artist and inventor as elaborately designed functional models of wood”. Sounds interesting to SMN, but plastic kits haven’t been forgotten either: “...the Heinkel He 111P and the BAe Hawk ‘Red Arrows’ are extraordinary model kits”, and ...”With the Tirpitz and the Bismarck we will launch two of the best known German battleships in 1/700 scale. Even as a model the M/S Color Fantasy , one of the biggest cruise liners with car deck, is considerably impressive. With two models each of the racing teams Audi and Mercedes we will get in the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) in 2010. Our range of street cars v...

The model world seems to be made primarily of two types of people - users and collectors. For users, a kit or a diecast is there to be assembled or displayed, rather than laid down for possible future gain. There’s also the true expert, for whom three of each item is required - “one to build, one for parts, one to lay down” is the aim - though having the space for it is another question altogether! The world of Limited Editions is aimed at the collector market, pure and simple. It’s doubtful whether a plastic kit that’s labelled this way ever gets built at all, although the Airfix Sea Vixen may be an exception. We’ll find out later this year for sure, as the first ones at least will be sold as a Limited Edition. But for many of us, the real deal is buying a kit for the pleasure of craftsmanship, or a diecast to display because you happen to like it for some reason. And here’s an example of a cheap truck - a 1:50 scale Volvo A25C from Cararama - that’s most certainly a ‘user’ item, yet ...

Here’s a tasty preview from Airfix of the upcoming 1:48 Hawker Siddeley Sea Vixen carrier-based jet. Due out in September the Sea Vixen is shown here in prototype form, created by an interesting machine that many of us would like in our back room. It’s called a stereolithography apparatus (SLA) and is a cunning piece of kit that translates 2-D computer information - typically three-view plans - into a lifesize 3-D model. It’s created by squirting precisely-shaped layers of resin on top of each other, each one being hardened by a pass with an ultraviolet laser beam. SLA is only for prototyping though - as you can see from the pix here, there is no fine detail on the model yet. Small vents, panel lines, and other bits and pieces are added later, after the SLA prototype has been adjusted and approved. The Airfix Sea Vixen will be the FAW.2 version that saw service with the Royal Navy from 1964, a flying career brought to a halt in 1972 by that bane of the UK military, defence cuts. When a...

David Jefferis reports Science fiction model makers have a hotline to spacecraft of all kinds with Revell’s easykit range, and here’s one of the more recent ones to fly through the SMN Towers airlock. The Slave 1 is, as all Star Wars fans know well, the personal craft of interstellar bounty hunter Boba Fett, and it’s certainly one of the more unusually styled craft in the long-running sci-fi saga. As the unboxing video shows, I was pretty impressed with the kit contents. However it’s fair to say that the build I did after the video was made had its share of problems, in particular gaps around the nose-cone, poor-fitting chin cannon, and difficulty in assembling the side ‘wings’. To do a decent job you have to resort to your craft skills, forget the ‘easy’ bit, and treat Slave 1 to a dose of TLC. Even then, it’s best to fix those pesky wings in place rather than allow them to rotate freely. Having said that, the potential is there for a spectacular addition to the sci-fi model shelf, an...

Mat Irvine reports Rocketry is about more than space launchers or missiles - there's also an important branch that has played an important, though mostly unsung role - sounding rockets. Named because they ‘sound out’ what’s going on ‘up there’, sounding rockets have launched small payloads to the edge of space, carried instruments to great heights, and been important in rocket motor development. The two most important such rockets have been the British Skylark series (last flight 2005) and the American Aerobee. From first flights way back in 1947, the Aerobee was developed into the Aerobee-Hi (first flight 1955), the X-8 ‘X-Plane’, and the 150, 170, 300 and 350 series. They varied in performance, including altitude, from 130-450 km (81-280 miles) but all were suborbital. 1037 Aerobees flew in total, the final one being a 150-series launched by NASA on January 17, 1985, making today the 25th anniversary of that last flight. Scale models of sounding rockets have been few and far betw...

Here’s a nice new feature added to this pair of 1:50 scale diecast trucks from Corgi - the curtainside is partly drawn back, to reveal some of a load that’s normally hidden from view. The Volvo FH12 unit in RM Page markings measures 345 mm (13.6 in) long and comes with a generic boxed load. Detailing is pretty good throughout, and includes multiple lights, warning beacons and roof antennas. The other curtainside features a DAF 105 tractor in Ken Mallinson livery. This one reveals a bunch of red barrels, and hanging off the back is a Moffett Mounty load-shifter used to fill and empty the vehicle. Tractor, curtainside and Mounty add up to a length of some 355 mm (14 in). The nice thing about 1:50 scale is that it sits nicely next to the plastic kit 1:48 standard, opening up the door to a mass of dioramas, mixing kit-built aircraft with diecast trucks. It’s fair to say though that most diecasts, including these two, are far too clean and shiny to look comfortable next to a well detailed k...

Mat Irvine reports Today is the 37th anniversary of the second - and last - landing on the Moon by a Soviet automated rover, the eight-wheel Lunokhod 2, taken to the lunar surface by the Luna 21 carrier vehicle. Following the Lunokhod 1 that landed on November 17, 1970, Lunokhod 2 performed even better, sending back more than 80,000 TV images and travelling nearly 37 km (23 miles) over a period of some four months, until it stopped working. The precise reason for this has never really been determined, but it’s thought that either moon dust covered the radiators and it overheated, or perhaps it fell into a crater - or both. The Lunokhods (Russian for 'Moonwalker') are arguably the most delightful-looking spacecraft ever designed, fact or fiction. They actually look more as if they were created by Rowland Emett (famed for his whimsical creations) than as working scientific equipment. A Lunokhod would make a great model kit, and although none has appeared to date, there is the ter...

SMN reports If you’re a sci-fi buff, then the ranks of the mainstream kit manufacturers present fairly thin pickings. Apart from Revell’s Easykit range of Star Wars machinery, there’s not a lot out there. However, if you widen your horizons a bit and graze the shelves of toyshops, supermarkets and newsagents, then things get a whole lot more interesting. The SMN crew regularly trawls big chains like Toy ‘R’ Us and Tesco, as well as local stores, and what’s on offer can be tasty indeed, especially as these retailers often have deals or special lines to tempt us. The Hunter-Killer from the movie Terminator Salvation is a case in point. Aimed at the children’s market by Playmates Toys (who launched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in 1988), it was on offer locally at less than half-price - what a bargain! And even better, it came complete with a 102 mm (4 in) tall T700 robotic figure, making it about 1:18 scale, just right for causing mechanized mayhem to any spare large-scale diecast v...

World War II model makers, in particular aircraft fans, will be pleased to see the latest from Hasegawa. The 1:72 scale model kit of the Luftwaffe’s Junkers Ju 88 G-6 is the radar-equipped night fighter (‘nachtjager’) version, complete with nose and tail sprouting spiky radar antenna trees. The kit also comes with a pair of the upward-firing cannon that were often fitted to the G-6, as well as three sets of decal markings. The Ju 88 was probably the single most successful German twin engine plane of World War II, with more than 15,000 of all types built throughout the war. Hasegawa’s kit is a neat one, with a wingspan of some 280 mm (10.5 in) and has 150 parts, enough to keep a model maker busy during the cold, snowy nights we’re having in the UK at the moment. The video is worth watching, as it shows all sorts of German night fighters of the era, including detail shots and commentary on Ju 88 G-6 version. Talking of German aircraft, here’s another mention for the Luftwaffe Museum in G...

Christmas gifts at SMN Towers included a 1:36 scale diecast assembly kit made by Welly from China. Welly aims its products mostly at the cheaper ‘toy’ markets, and is one of the lesser known names in the diecast business, but even so, the Boxster is a careful and impressive piece of model engineering. The Boxster’s ‘toyness’ is apparent in the fit-the-box scale and the inclusion of a (very powerful) pull-back motor, but the ‘modelness’ is shown by the attention taken over detail, in particular the instrument panel and the rear lights. With some care in the simple assembly - helped by the included mini-screwdriver - and some extra detailing on the mirrors, you can turn this Boxster into a decent shelf-top item. Note also in the pictures above, the fine ‘Boxster’ logo printing and rear-light texture, though the crooked numberplate will need replacing. The doors and their openings will also benefit from some retouching with matching paint - Volkswagen Mars Red looks like it will do the tr...

Here’s a pair of videos to give you some interesting weekend viewing. They’re definitely ‘of the era’, clipped accents and all, but these just add to the historical atmosphere. For model makers, there’s nothing like actually seeing a subject in the metal to catch some of those elusive details and perhaps just as important, the ‘sit’ of an aircraft in the air, and on the ground. Sadly, there are no Gannets in flyable condition today, but there are well-maintained examples on display at air museums in the countries that flew them - the AS4 we show here at top is at the Luftwaffe Museum, Berlin-Gatow airfield, Germany. As you can see, the Gannet had a complex folding-wing system, and a tubby fuselage that sat low on the ground - arming her up with torpedoes and sonobuoys must have been a back-breaking exercise for the ground crew! Visit the Luftwaffe Museum here . The Revell Fairey Gannet is available from model stores and online suppliers, including Amazon here .

SMN reports It seems to be something of a Revell week here at SMN, but it's all good news, with this neat 1:72 scale kit a real boon for fans of anti-submarine patrol aircraft. The Fairey Gannet was a British design that first flew in September 1948, and went on to have a long service history with the air arms of the UK, Australia, Germany and Indonesia. At first glance the Gannet seems to be a single-engine design, driving contra-rotating props - in fact, it was powered by the Double Mamba turbine, essentially a pair of side-by-side engines driving the props through a common gearbox. The advantage was that on long patrols, half the Double Mamba could be shut down to save fuel and extend range. The Revell kit is of the AS4 version, with seats for three, and a radome under the rear belly. It’s a new-tool offering, with many of the refinements that we expect of such kits, such as finely-drawn recessed panel detail, decent cockpit equipment including instrument panels and side units, ...