SCALE MODEL NEWS

SMN report Back in March Eurofighter released details of its proposed navalised Typhoon jet, and it looked really interesting, both as a concept and as an opportunity for a kit-bash. Now we’ve come across a similar proposal from Saab, with its single-engine Gripen multi-role fighter-attacker jet. Like the carrier-based Typhoon-N, Sea Gripen would not need a catapult for takeoff, instead being able to launch using a ski-jump - so it makes another, cheaper, competitor to the Lockheed Martin F-35, currently on order by the UK Royal Navy. The Gripen is designed to use rough strips - or at least, sections of Swedish highway - as wartime runways, so the lightweight aircraft seems to have the hard-working basics for seaborne ops already built in.  Easy conversion We show here Saab’s promo pix for the concept, and as is usually the case with sales material, the proposed differences are claimed to be minimal both technically and in cost - but that digital camouflage scheme is certainly a wi...

SMN report It’s something of a helicopter time at the moment - the stealth machines used in the bin Laden raid, a possible European-issue NH90 stealth-design, and now the news that British Army WAH-64D Apache AH1s have been ordered into North Africa, operating from the amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean , in joint operations with French Eurocopter Tigers.  British Army Apache at RAF Fairford. Which Apache model to make? There are plenty of Apache models out there, including the diminutive 1:144 scale Revell kit, but for a complex machine like this with so much detail in the cockpits, weapons, and rotor assemblies, smaller models are not really the most satisfying way to go, and even 1:72 scale doesn’t appeal to us. No, in our view 1:48 is the best all-round scale for doing justice to this state-of-the-art attack helicopter. And for the easily-recognizeable ‘D’ version, which mounts a Longbow radar atop the rotor mast, both Italeri and Hasegawa kits make good starting points. Front c...

David Jefferis reports The excellent HobbyLink Japan webstore is offering good deals on kits and ready-builts featuring the Ma.K (Maschinen Krieger) sci-fi universe, first created back in the 1980s by Japanese artist Kow Yokoyama. Fully configured fighting suit The main star is undoubtedly the 1:6 scale fully finished, articulated, and lighted Maschinen Krieger SAFS (Super Armoured Fighting Suit), complete with an extremely well sculpted female pilot figure. The 400 mm (15.75 in) tall suit - with multimedia parts in plastic, metal and vinyl - is highly limited, with just a 600-item run, so there are not many to go around.  Lighting up the SAFS All the various parts that should move, do move, and there’s cockpit lighting that includes a green-lit information panel, a blue inner cushion light, plus indicator lamps. What’s also a good feature is that the curvaceous pilot can slip neatly inside the SAFS, when the order goes out for her to get ready for battle. Popular sci-fi series In ...

SMN report Here’s one for the keen London Olympics 2012  collectibles lover, a 40-strong range of London taxis, each one decorated with graphics representing a different sport. The taxis are small, about 1:64 scale, and are very basic in appearance and detail - you get wheels, windows, a simple interior, but that’s about it apart from painted lights, grille, and an attractive mini-box.  Olympics 2012 The appeal is in the Olympic connection, which is fair enough, but it does rather raise the question:  why is it that ‘popular attraction’ collectible models are, almost without exception, produced down to a price, rather than being a life-affirming ‘best they can be’? Pocket money purchases and casual buying are probably the answers to the question, but how nice it would be if a few more items of tourist tat were tourist treasures instead. Hey ho, rant over, a collection of these would indeed be quite good fun, or one or two in the sport of your choice could be good to decor...

SMN report These pictures show a Revell’s-eye-view of its Audi R8 Spyder, a kit that’s due out this summer. To 1:24 scale, the model measures some 184 mm (7.25 in) long, with a component-count of 110. To judge from the test shots, the detail looks up to scratch, with a particularly well sorted engine under that lift-up cover. The cockpit too shows care and attention, with a steering wheel that has the correct flattened underside, and general layout that follows the real thing reasonably accurately. For super-detail fans, we’ve included some official Audi promo pix, so you can add the extras that could turn a decent kit into a show-stopper. We’re not sure if it’ll be possible to reproduce that beautiful coloured stitching on the leather though - now there’s a challenge! R8 Spyder textures It’s good to see that a hardtop will be available - for display purposes this could be placed separately next to the car. Generally, it will be worth taking care with texture and finish on this kit - t...

SMN report The expert Italian aviation team of David Cenciotti and Ugo Crisponi have got together again to visualise a type of helicopter that Cenciotti thinks could also have taken part in the bin Laden raid in Pakistan. Modifications to the Chinook Like Crisponi’s visual of the MH-60, this Stealth-Chinook depicts many similar features of such a machine, including smoothed and faceted nose and air intakes, but the Chinook's signature fuselage sponsons are shown here modified with a similar treatment. The rotor heads have discs to cover the complex connection assemblies, and the blades themselves are spectacular hooked scimitars.  Good starting point for a stealthy build.   Boarding a standard-issue Chinook. Refuelling options Once again, Cenciotti and Crisponi have included a retractable landing gear and cleaned-up fuselage surfaces, free of all the usual humps and bumps that increase the radar cross-section. A notable omission is the in-flight refuelling probe sported b...

David Jefferis looks at a model car quartet Here are four new 1:18 scale resin-based models from the French OttOmobile company, all to 1:18 scale. They are all well up to OttO’s usual standards, even if the subjects are hardly mainstream, especially to anyone (like me) more attracted to the speed and power of Mustangs, Ferraris or Batmobiles. However, that’s OttO’s successful philosophy: producing subjects that mainstream manufacturers won’t touch. They are all the same price at 39 Euro, and don’t forget that OttO’s pre-order system means models are often sold out soon after they have been announced. A Spanish 124 This boxy Italian car was designed and produced by Fiat from 1966 to 1974, but perhaps more importantly has also been manufactured in clone variations around the world - and is still being churned out in Russia. All in all, the 124 design will have notched up more than 15 million units by the time production finally stops in 2012. The OttO model is actually the Spanish SEAT 2...