SCALE MODEL NEWS

A look at Hanslope Model Expo 2011: Top of the agenda for many visitors were the 'secret spaceships' - model spacecraft that have appeared in broadcast TV shows. Mat Irvine worked with the BBC for many years, and his comprehensive collection of Visual Effects (VFX) rocketry is one of the very best, so seeing them landed at Spaceport HaMeX was a great hit for science-fiction fans. Mat Irvine with some car models built for his latest book 'Scale Car Modelling'. Growing each year Mat was pleased with the weather: "It was much better than 2010’s cold and frosty nastiness. In fact, conditions for last Sunday’s HaMeX 3 were just right for most, being mild and welcoming." He added: "The event is getting bigger and better too. Most sales tables were pre-booked, and for the first time we had to overflow into the side hall, as well as the main." Through the doors Attendance figures for the show are still to be finalised, but HaMeX was at least as busy as last ...

SMN update: Corgi has announced a target release date of March 2012 for the 1:76 scale New Bus for London (NB4L) now under development, and currently running on a similar schedule to the real thing. The Corgi diecast model will scale out to 146 mm (5.75 in) long and be marketed under the successful London Original Omnibus Company (OOC) name. As planned, the first OOC New Bus will wear the livery, destination, and numbers of the first route that the new bus will serve. Corgi planners are expecting to see details of this route very soon. New Bus for London background It’s been a pet project for London mayor Boris Johnson, who drove the first one produced earlier this month, where they are being made in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Fitting in with London’s eco-friendly clean-and-green ethos, the bus is powered by a diesel-electric hybrid system, which cuts fuel consumption and noxious emissions by more than half.  On the highways The target in-service date is in time for the...

SMN report: Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic seems to be on track to become the world's first commercial spaceline, with a passenger-carrying spaceship, the VSS Enterprise , carried by a twin-fuselage mothership, VMS Eve . Both vehicles were developed by California-based Scaled Composites, headed by the veteran designer Burt Rutan. Eventually there will be two motherships and five spaceships in the Virgin Galactic space fleet. Spaceport America And now that Spaceport America, Mojave, California, has been opened, the craft have an operating base. It’s the world’s first private spaceport, with a suitably futuristic terminal ( above ) designed by the internationally famous Foster + Partners.  Voyage to the edge of space Actually, the word ‘spaceship’ is a slight exaggeration, for the Mach 3 craft are not designed to go into orbit, like the winged Space Shuttle Orbiters. Instead they will go just above the 100 km  (61 miles) mark, a somewhat arbitrary height called the Karman...

Weekend read from Mat Irvine: It’s probably a bit obvious to say that you see aircraft at an airport, but more to the point, many airports also display aircraft models. Military-civil combo One such, which I passed through recently, is Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport, Texas. It’s a military/commercial joint-use airport, in which one section is used by the Fort Hood military reservation, and there’s a check-in desk for arriving soldiers on the first floor of the terminal building.  Big enough for jumbos, small enough for models Being regional, Killeen-Fort Hood is not a large airport, although its single runway is long enough to take a Boeing 747. Commercial operations are mostly to link with larger airports, like Dallas Forth Worth to the north, using turboprop aircraft such as the ATR-72. But, apart from standard passenger facilities, the departure hall also features a number of model aircraft hanging from the ceiling, and in cabinet displays.   Robert Gray Army Airfield T...

HaMeX update: Hanslope Model Expo is due tomorrow, Sunday November 27, so there will be a chance to choose from a wide range of model kits for sale, mostly at very reasonable prices. Moonbase 3 TV series There’ll be lots of display stuff there too, including this surprise item - a survivor from the short-lived BBC TV series Moonbase 3 of 1973. Well, it appeared at the first HaMeX, so we’re betting that it might make a re-entry for 2011 too! HAMEX 3 details here .

HaMeX update: Hanslope Model Expo runs on Sunday November 27, so there will be a chance to have a look at some of the factual space miniatures from TV on display there. Marvellous models to see Co-organizer Mat Irvine will be at the show, with a small part of his ‘Mat’s Marvellous Models’ collection. You’ll get a chance to see all sorts of stuff, including items from popular TV science shows from the BBC, such as Horizon, Tomorrow’s World, and the long-running astronomy late-nighter, The Sky at Night. HAMEX 3 details here .

SMN report: LEGO builders number in their legions, but we've just come across someone who has blown our socks off, a Dutchman titled the ‘Mad Physicist.’ The day job The Mad Physicist is just that - a physicist - in his day job, and LEGO-building is strictly a hobby that’s far away from the computers and laboratory. The title came from fellow LEGO builders who sometimes seemed to think that he must have a way of doing things that others wouldn't normally come up with. Stunning LEGO models ‘Mad’ or not, the models are simply stunning, and we show just a couple here. The V-22 Osprey is not only a fair replica of the real thing - note the rotor blades even have their blade twists incorporated correctly - but it also has retractable landing gear ( pic above ). One of our favourite Mad constructions is called Brickston, a play on the South London borough of Brixton. We don’t know about the actual store names, but in general, the model matches our old-time memories of the place well....

HaMeX update: Hanslope Model Expo is due this coming Sunday November 27, so there will be a chance to have a look at some of the science-fiction miniatures on display there. Spacecraft nostalgia There can be surprises at the HaMeX shows. The last time the original London spacecraft - it featured in the 1978-81 BBC TV sci-fi series ‘Blake’s 7’ - was on display, someone bought their own tiny version to sit alongside it! Who knows what may turn up for HaMex 3 this coming Sunday 27th.  Battle among the stars To find out about the stars of Blake’s 7 and their battle with the corrupt Galactic Federation, including the classic (and prophetic) line: “In fact, creating an illusion of reality is quite simple”, visit the Internet Movie database here . HAMEX 3 details here .

SMN report: To science-fiction fans of a certain age - and robot lovers in particular - the name Hajime Sorayama may well be a revered one. For 64 year-old Sorayama made his name in the late 1970s and 1980s for producing beautiful airbrushed illustrations of ‘sexy robots’, humanoid machine-beings apparently made of gleaming metal, and most importantly, looking highly feminized. The bottom line was that, unlike standard-issue nuts-and-bolts droids, they were utterly gorgeous pin-up material. Sexy Robot books Coffee-table books of Sorayama’s works were published in their thousands ( above ) but it’s only recently that his sexy robots have made the journey from the printed page to three-dimensional miniatures. From book to model Now it’s the Japanese model company Yamato that has done the job. With Sorayama’s approval, Yamato has produced a very neat ready-built miniature robot, standing some 560 mm (22 in) high. It (she?) has a lustrous chromed finish, and like the original airbrush illu...

SMN update: Hanslope Model Expo is due Sunday November 27, so here’s a chance to have a look at some of the equipment that will be on demo there. Airbrush expert For example, is airbrushing an art that's new to you? Or maybe you need a new one? Whichever option fits the bill, co-organizer Paul Fitzmaurice of little-cars.com will be delighted to demonstrate his wide range from respected suppliers such as Grex and Harder & Steenbeck. Excellent prices H&S prices are currently very attractive, and a purchase also covers an included workshop DVD and cleaning brush. Compressors are another part of the airbrush zone, and here too there are good prices to be found, and doubtless Paul will be making offers and deals available for buyers on the day. Visit Little-cars.com here . HAMEX 3 details here .

SMN report: Reference last week’s mention of the upcoming Revell-Renwal Teracruzer and Mace reissue, Mat Irvine has kindly supplied these pictures of an assembled model. We’ve also shown the original box, so you can see the minor differences between the then-and-now kits.  More than just a static model You can also see that the kit has a classic hallmark of the era - working parts, indicated by the words: “fully operating model” on the box. The Mace can be displayed in a horizontal stored position, or raised into launch-ramp firing mode. In that respect, it’s quite similar to many of the better diecasts of the time, such as the Corgi Bloodhound anti-aircraft missile. Renwal design features The Mace shares useful kit-design features with the M65 Atomic Cannon, described by Renwal as “Positive Assembly” and “No Show” cementing. Designed in the first place as helpful aids to younger modelmakers, these are factors that could still appeal to anyone with a shaky hand. Look out there! Inc...

SMN update: A reminder to anyone living in striking distance of Milton Keynes, UK, that this year’s HaMeX launch is on this Sunday, doors open at 10.00 am. Open up your diary for the third HaMeX show! More details over the next few days and direct from the HaMeX 3 2011 site  here .