SCALE MODEL NEWS

SMN REPORT Automotive model fans prepare to open your wallets for this 1:20 scale 1979 Ferrari 312T4. Produced by the excellent Japanese Model Factory Hiro, and due in December, the kit is proclaimed as ‘a hybrid injection’ kit. MFH reckons this is a new term to cover the massively multimedia nature of the production, containing components produced in white metal, photo-etch, spun-aluminium, and plastic injection. Sounds great to us, and as the pictures show, the results ought to be spectacular in the hands of a reasonably skilled model maker. What’s in the box? * The kit will have parts for 1979’s Belgian Grand Prix, when Scheckter clinched the championship, plus alternative parts to show the car as it raced in the Spanish, German and Austrian GPs. * The body cowling and other outer parts are plastic, the main inner parts of white metal. * Monocoque parts are die-cast aluminium - MFH says. “Just brush it and you can have the feel of real metal.” * Intakes, exhaust end and wheels centr...

MAT IRVINE REPORTS On August 14, 2010 , SMN featured a 1:32 scale kit of the Aoshima Japanese Hayabusa asteroid sample-return mission space probe, originally known as MUSES-C. Since then, Aoshima has issued two variations of this model. The first kit adaptation came as the Next Generation Asteroid Probe Future Creation Model ( pictured top ) a title that may roll off the tongue better when spoken in Japanese! The NGAPFCM is a future mission concept that uses the Hayabusa bus (‘bus’ being the general name given to the main body of a satellite or space probe), and the kit is more or less identical, the only real difference being that it lacks Hayabusa’s large high-gain antenna. New parts The original Hayabusa kit has some 40 parts, moulded in light grey, as shown in our previous article . The NGAPFCM has a new runner with just three new components, two of these being for the new stand. Size is around 200 mm (8 in) across the solar panel ’wings’. Hayabusa movie There’s also a third variat...

MONSTER REPORT I journeyed to Scotland recently with a team to investigate a famous legend, Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. We explored all around Loch Ness, visited the tourist sites, went to the museums, cruised out on the water, and theorised late into the night. We came to some fascinating conclusions, which you can read about in The REAL Loch Ness Monster   available from Amazon, Apple, and other online eStores. And there is a model connection with the book too. Models in the book What about the models for The REAL Loch Ness Monster ? We used several different sorts for reconstructions in the book, not only for Nessie, but also for related images, such as a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur, shown in the book as it might have appeared a split second before annihilation from the mega-explosion of a giant meteorite. Papo and Photoshop The model dinosaur we chose was a realistic creature from the French figure company Papo, which was shot in closeup against a plain background with a Pana...

SMN REPORT Having reviewed the excellent 2001: The Lost Science , we thought you’d like a look at the model kits AJA Models has on offer. If you have the slightest interest in the classic movie, then AJA could be the place to source your next kit. The resin products of AJA Models are not exactly cheap, but as you can see from the pictures, they are of fascinating subjects, such as the French weapon satellite ( above ).  Weapons and more All four of 2001 ’s orbital weapon satellites are available ( German and US above ) but the kit that particularly tweaks my interest buds is the portly-but-perfect Aries lunar shuttle. It’s a design that was conceived to be a real-space possibility, which is probably why it looks so realistic today, nearly half a century later. Interior detail kit The assembled kit looks extremely convincing, and not surprisingly benefits from the careful weathering shown in the photos. The interior kit, which shows off the circular seating arrangement well, is a pl...

MAT IRVINE REPORTS Ask any film enthusiast, and probably many non-enthusiasts, to name the best science-fiction movie of all time, and you will probably get 9 out of 10 voting for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey . For all those fans - and for space modellers too - comes the new book,  2001: The Lost Science by Adam K. Johnson. About the book Adam Johnson - also the driving force behind specialist model outfit AJA Models - has compiled and written the most detailed reference book on the movie so far, full title 2001: The Lost Science - the Frederick I. Ordway III Collection . With much material supplied by Dr Fred Ordway ( more on him below ), a great deal of the content has never been published before. Its 112 pages are full of detailed original plans (of which there were originally 2,400!), many of them painstakingly digitally enhanced, as the original blueprints have long-since faded. Examples of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ process are shown in the introduction. Other 2001...

  DAVID JEFFERIS REPORTS On November 6, Vectis Auctions, the world's largest toy auction house, will hold an auction featuring an impressive collection of Airfix kits. And that’s not all, for the sale includes the magnificent Roy Cross box art ‘Bomb the Tirpitz ’ shown here, reckoned to be in with a chance to fetch between £9500-£15,000 GBP ($15-24,000 USD). The painting shows an attack by British Fairey Barracuda dive bombers on the German pocket battleship Tirpitz , in 1944. The artwork is close to my heart, as many years ago I had possession of it for a while as reference for a book I was working on. Like a good boy, I returned it safe and sound, but would have loved to have framed it for the wall! My advice to anyone who’s interested is this - whatever you pay, it’s worth the money for a gorgeous piece of art, signed by master artist Roy Cross. Vectis has this to say “ Airfix Original Artwork, comprising: Gouache Painting for the box top of the 1968 release: 1/600th Scale Germa...

Well, it just had to happen - a LEGO replay of Felix Baumgartner's supersonic high jump. We're not quite sure what scale this model is, as estimates of LEGO's manikins range from around 1:30 to 1:40. Whatever, this is a fun piece of video making to promote the Austrian Model Maker's Fair. Great stuff! Note that the vid is a cunning viral which seems to have worked. Well, at least it's around the internet and on show here, so top marks to ad agency Ogilvy Vienna, who were responsible for it. The Modellbau Messe will be held on October 25-28. Here's a link if you want to take a quick look , plus there's a version of the video with 'Space Control' audio.

KIT REVIEW BY MAT IRVINE If any decade turned the van from commercial vehicle to a statement of cool, it was the 1970s. Until then, the humble panel truck was most likely seen carrying building materials, making store deliveries, or toting tools-of-the-trade. But in the 1970s, vans were tricked out with custom paint jobs, sound systems, maybe a kitchenette, even - if you were lucky - a double bed. And now in 2012, comes a Round 2 Models reissue of such a custom creation, the AMT 1:25 scale Ford Econoline Phantom van. New name Examine the box-tops to see an obvious change to the new kit, and that’s its name. The 1970s original was called the ‘Vantom’, a play on the words, ‘phantom’ and ‘van’ to impart a suitably spooky character. This time round, it’s called the Phantom, as apparently the name Vantom is being used by Mattel. But the rest of the kit is the same, with options to build it stock or as a mild custom, with spooky decals provided. Custom options Most kits of this era were reas...