SCALE MODEL NEWS

We’re keen on auctions at SMN, and find that local ones are a good, if unpredictable, source. You can pick up bargains of all sorts at these sorts of places, offering as they often do, house-clearance articles at knockdown prices. You don’t know what’s there until viewing day of course, but there is often treasure to be unearthed - unbuilt plastic plastic kits, collectible model rail, toy soldiers - you name it, you might find it. Many articles are grouped together in these general auctions, and these can be simply mouthwatering - at the last auction we attended, a box containing ten Airfix kits, a feast of miscellaneous Hornby items and even half a dozen fair-condition Dinky Toys went for just £20.00 GBP ($29.00 USD) - a bargain or what?! Specialist auctions are a different matter, and here values are carefully monitored, with items more likely to be sold as individual lots. One of the better known of specialist auction houses is the German Breker outfit, and above we show two of Brek...

Report by Mat Irvine It’s a brave person who starts a new model company these days - but that’s what not one, but two guys in Long Island, New York, have done, namely Pete Vetri and Rick DelFavero. Pete and Rick run Megahobby, a mail-order company that supplies a wide range of model materials. But now they have decided to look at relaunching many out-of-production kits, especially those from Lindberg and Aurora, and to create the new company name Atlantis for marketing the kits. Aurora returns Rick and Pete have also employed the talents of long-time model maker and kit historian, Andy Yanchus of Brooklyn, NY, who was for many years Project Manager at Aurora. Andy has been helping Rick and Pete out, not only with background information, but also in building box-top models and designing the artwork. To date, Atlantis has issued three kits - two UFOs first issued by the small company Light Force, and the old Lindberg Flying Saucer. Flying Saucer Although (relatively) recently reissued by...

Report by Mat Irvine One of the original comic book ‘superheroes’, (though strictly speaking he actually wasn’t), was the fast-shooting detective Dick Tracy. Inventor of the wrist-watch radio, Tracy has been immortalised in model form by two kits from Aurora, (since reproduced by Polar Lights), and by his car from the 1990 movie starring Warren Beattie, by AMT, though this was really no more than a 1936 Ford two-door Coupe. But visit the Volo Auto Museum in the small town of Volo, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Chicago, as I did recently and you can see the much more exciting model of transport for the yellow-coated detective, seen in pictures shown here. Volo is a treat for anyone interested in cars. It is basically an auction house for collectible cars of all eras, from classic to modern. But over the years it built itself up into a museum par excellence, with not only many of the cars for auction on display pre-sale, but many acquisitions made by the museum. Many of the acquisition...

Here’s an interesting freebie for model truck fans who can make a trip to the Netherlands next week. It’s the fifth Tekno Event, to be held at the Dutch diecast manufacturer’s HQ in De Lier, on Saturday, May 22. Tekno Truck Museum On the day, can have a chat to Tekno officials, browse through the wide-ranging Tekno Museum and best of all, get a closeup eyeball at the 100 or so full-size trucks that will be parked up for inspection. Most of these trucks on display will have been featured by Tekno as available models or ones slated for production.
 Limited Edition Tekno Truck There will also be demos showing how Tekno’s models are planned and made, plus a fascinating video showing the production process in action. A Limited-Edition Event Special 1:50 scale Scania R620 truck will be available to purchase at 100 Euro ($125 USD) and these trucks will be available on the day only. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.  The Event is open from 10.00-17.00 and parking is free. There’s lots more ...

Report by David Jefferis Star Wars was only the second sci-fi movie I saw in which the special effects (SFX) were thoroughly believable - no jerkiness to the action, no visible wires holding up the spacecraft, no rubbish alien makeup to chortle at. And the actors romped along in their roles, and could truly act! Since then of course, there has been a never-ending cascade of collectibles for fans to drool over or purchase, and the franchise is still going strong, with new TV series for a younger audience. Star Wars Y-Wing tactical strike starfighter New stuff aside, one of our all-time faves here at SMN is the handsome Rebel Alliance Y-Wing, designed by Colin Cantwell of the SFX company Industrial Light & Magic, and first introduced in 1977’s Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope . The design was fresh then, and remains so today. There are various kits and collectibles available, ranging from pocket-sized up to a substantial 1:48 scale. But the one shown here sits nicely in the middle of...

Here’s a bizarre little miniature cannon that actually fires solid rounds the size of a ball-bearing. That doesn’t sound a deadly danger, but watch the video to see what the little thing can actually do - Coke can, beer mug, balloon, they all die in the face of its firepower. And note the recoil too - that's quite a kick from a few grains of powder. One-off homebuilt weapon Now this is not a kit that you can can buy from your local model store - the thimble-size cannon is a one-off. In fact, in many countries you might need a weapons certificate to own one, which is probably just as well, though it certainly takes this writer back to those misspent early teen years spent creating small-scale mayhem with flame, fireworks, old Airfix kits and water! Death to computers? The video makes good viewing, though the cameraman was a bit brave (or foolish) doing the demo quite so near his computer - you wouldn’t find the SMN crew endangering a MacBook Pro the same way! Meantime, for firepowe...

SMN reports More gorgeousness from our friends at Fantastic Plastic this month, with yet another weird and wonderful ‘never-flew’ project from the Cold War era. This blast from the past is a 1:144 scale kit of the Convair XAB-1, originally released by Hawk Models in 1959, to the fit-the-box scale of 1:180. Rare original kit from Hawk models In keeping with the heroic concepts of the 1950s, the XAB was a biggie, and FP’s 30-component resin kit scales out to a length of some 432 mm (17 in) with a wingspan of 305 mm (12 in) when built. As you can see from the pictures, it looks great when assembled. Cold War project A word about the XAB project itself: in the 1950s, US designers explored many ways to gain air superiority over the rival USSR. As planned, the XAB incorporated nuclear power, with engines that could theoretically provide near-infinite range, and flight-times limited only by human endurance on the part of the flight crew. The two parasite jets could be released when necess...

Sometimes things just don't go right. A while ago, I was hard at it on my Apple MacBook Pro, lost in music from my iTunes collection while also sipping away at a tasty glass of fine dessert wine... suddenly an interruption, and - WOARH! - the entire contents spilled onto and into the keyboard. A ghastly moment, and one that amazingly did not result in death for the trusty computer, though it had to be dried gently next to a radiator for a week! And this time round, 'the moment' came during a rare evening free for modelmaking - wrecked by a leaking bottle of liquid poly, compounded by components spilling over the floor. So it was a neat moment when I changed hats and did some garage clearing, only to discover this Caldwell cartoon in a 1980s issue of 'Omni', a fine magazine that predated 'Wired' for must-readability for technogeeks like me. Coincidence or not, it brought a smile into the model zone mayhem!