SCALE MODEL NEWS

SMN report: Announced a few weeks ago, and now freely available, the mighty battleship Yamato from Tamiya is released in 1:350 scale. According to Tamiya, this is an all-new tooling of the ship, not a rehash of the previous Tamiya 1:350 scale kit. Big battleship From press pictures we have seen, it looks like Tamiya has really done the biz on this new Yamato , once the biggest battleship afloat and for a few years the pride of the Japanese Navy. It’s a mighty ship where models are concerned too, with an assembled hull fully 752 mm (29.6 in) long. Waterline or display model? The Tamiya 1:350 scale Yamato can be built as a waterline model, suitable for dioramas, or for display on a stand with the full hull visible. A neat feature, and one that is unique so far as we know, is that the big guns have turrets that extend below decks, just as they did on the real thing. This was so that shells could be loaded vertically from the ship’s magazine, based deep in the hull for maximum protectio...

SMN report: News last week of continuing delays on the Lockheed Martin F-35 aircaft meant that at least one defence planner was losing sleep. UK Admiral Sir Trevor Soar was reported - inaccurately, apparently - by The Times of London, as thinking about the French Dassault Rafale ( Revell kit above ) and US Boeing F-18 Hornet as backup aircraft in case of further delays. Typhoon-N alternative Other defence specialists reckon the Eurofighter Typhoon-N is worth looking at closely. And who are we to argue with that? SMN reported on Typhoon-N proposals some time ago, and we still reckon it makes a good alternative, not least because the twin-engine jet would need only a ski-jump for takeoff, not a full-house (and expensive) electromagnetic catapult system. The link to that piece is listed below. Rafale in miniature And what about models? The Rafale is a handsome looking machine that hasn’t has too many kits made of it, though the 1:48 scale Revell offering is pretty good. For a detaile...

Weekend read from Mat Irvine: The fact that this major Chinese model manufacturer has taken on established kit-makers at their own game is perhaps not a great surprise. China is responsible for producing a great deal of Western kit output anyway, so it wasn’t long before original kits started to appear. Many early attempts were not that good, and came from a number of small companies, many of whose names are almost forgotten. But Trumpeter is an exception, and is now regarded as the Chinese equivalent of Airfix, Revell, or Tamiya. The company has refined its products, with quality well up to expected standards. Soviet and Chinese limos Initially, Trumpeter concentrated on aircraft, AFVs and ships, though not cars, with the slight exception of a couple of typically Chinese limousines, the Red Flags. To make these 1950s-style monstrosities, themselves adapted from Soviet Zil limos, was perhaps understandable. More of a surprise - especially for US car modellers - was that Trumpeter then ...

SMN report: Earlier this week, we looked at matchstick-modeller Phil Warren's tabletop navy, and now we've been impressed by another modelmaker's dedication to duty. This time it's the work of Brian Bartlett, who has amassed a vast collection of card buildings, ranging from a miniature White House ( above ) to St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.  Building a collection over the years Brian started in 1988, with a model of Canterbury Cathedral, and through the following 17 years built the collection to more than 200 famous, and some not so famous, buildings of the world. Now 79, Brian is still making models, so the collection has room to grow yet. Prinknash Abbey connection Like most modelmakers, Brian's biggest problem soon became the question of: "Where on Earth can I store them all?!" The answer came in the form of a large suite of basement rooms, set in the grounds of Prinknash Abbey, near Cheltenham, UK. The monks of Prinknash (pronounced: "Prin-is...

SMN update: Over the years, there's been a never-ending waterfall of miniatures featuring the classic 1984 fantasy movie Ghostbusters . And here we go again with two more releases, though they are of the same subject, the Ecto-1 Cadillac ambulance, released in two scales. Cadillacs little and large This Ghostbusters research vehicle - based on a 1959-model Cadillac ambulance - is a highly-detailed diecast from the upmarket super-detail Hot Wheels Elite range. It's available in the two popular scales of  1:43 and 1:18, and while neither of these Elites are cheap, they would seem to be worthwhile, as in either scale, this Ecto-1 appears to be far and away the best we've seen so far. Hot Wheels tell us that the Ecto-1 models are in limited editions of 10,000 worldwide in each size.  Details, details… The delightfully-named ('Ecto' as in ectoplasm) Cadillac ambulance is simply loaded with detail - whether it's on the roof, inside the cabin, or under the lift-up hood...

SMN report: Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the Eurozone’s finances, the fact is that outfits like Italeri are still producing good stuff, and it looks like 2012 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for modelmakers. Here’s the latest batch of goodies from that sun-kissed land of pizza, pasta, luscious ladies, and (oh yes) model kits. Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter ( main pic and above ) was a major British success story in the early years of jet age combat. The shapely jet had a similar size and performance envelope as the US F-86 Sabre and Soviet MiG-15, was flown by the air arms of 19 countries, and nearly 2000 were produced. This Italeri release - marketed under licence from Academy - is to a much-needed 1:48 scale, a size that shows off the sleek lines of the original well, and scales out to a fuselage length of some 293 mm (11.5 in). What singles the kit out are the excellent markings supplied. The kit comes as a ‘Super Decals Sheet’ edition, with accurately-printe...