SCALE MODEL NEWS

Here we go again, seeing out the last of the old year 2012, and looking forward to the New Year 2013 to come. Of course, some countries are already there, including Australia, which has celebrated with the traditional Sydney Harbour firework display. Estimates reckon that no less than 1.5 million people turned up for the show. Excellent stuff! And here's a reminder too, that the SMN 'collation site' Scale Model News Xtra is worth a look, not least as a reminder of just how many articles there are to read! We've added a link in the top bar of SMN to make visiting SMNX easier in future. Once again, a Happy New Year and Best Wishes to you all.

Gerry Anderson, creator of a host of children's TV series, including classics such as Stingray, Thunderbirds, and Space 1999, has just died, at 83 years old. More on the Anderson legacy at our sister site Starcruzer .

Here's a selection of scale cars, fresh from the craft bench of Mat Irvine. Enjoy!

Best wishes to you all from the SMN Crew, and here's to some great scale modelling in 2013. We'll be showing some tasty stuff this week before model news starts again after the festive break.

Airfix is going to be busy in 2013, with a spectacular release list that's guaranteed to keep model builders occupied throughout the year. Here's a taster of the more interesting stuff coming our way, highlights from the upcoming Airfix release list. 1:24 scale The North American P-51K Mustang makes an interesting choice. The original was differentiated from the famed 'D' mainly by the propeller, which was made by Aeroproducts, instead of Hamilton Standard. Some canopies also differed slightly, though this was more likely due to production variations, rather than a planned redesign. 1:32 scale Two Airfix rally cars are now presented together, and very good they look too. State of the art racing machines feature in the form of a Ford Fiesta WRC and a Mini Countryman WRC. The single-car kits are very good indeed (and are especially well presented) so the Twin-Pack makes a good way to buy the two at once. Paints, brushes and cement are included. 1:48 scale This is a big Ai...

SMN REPORT Kitty Hawk is a newish model company, with a limited range of kits on sale. The company motto states, ‘the finest military miniatures’, so our question is, do Kitty Hawk kits match up to that promise? We looked at the first kit that Kitty Hawk produced, a 1:48 scale Lockheed F-94C Starfire to see what it was like. Rocket defender First of all, the choice of subject is interestingly unusual, and as lovers of early jets, we found the Starfire to be a draw, its design featuring a Pinocchio-style nose radome and a gun-less weapon system consisting of multiple Mighty Mouse folding-fin rockets, fired from pop-out launch tubes ( above ). Fire all! These rockets were widely used on NATO interceptors of the time, though it was just as well they weren’t needed in an East-West shooting war, for they were hardly leading-edge where accuracy was concerned. Firing a two-dozen volley of not-so-Mighty Mice was somewhat akin to pulling the trigger of an old-fashioned blunderbuss loaded with n...

FIRST LOOK FROM MAT IRVINE Here’s one more of Revell Germany’s intriguing kit series featuring the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. This one is the ballista, a potent and deadly version of the catapult. As in other kits in the series, you get a selection of pre-cut wood parts, and an assortment of other contemporary materials, in this case rope (well, ‘string’) and a threaded metal rod, used to get your ballista primed and ready to fling its rock load at the enemy. Backup materials There are 41 parts to the kit, and Revell also includes a similar set of associated materials, as featured in other da Vinci kits - there are detailed instructions and a booklet explaining Leonardo’s thinking behind the project. In the picture ( above ) small parts are contained in the bag at the front, along with a bottle of PVA wood glue. The main components ( below ) are neatly presented. You also get a frameable parchment-style print with Leonardo’s image and his original design. Improve and dev...

FIRST LOOK FROM MAT IRVINE Here’s one for 1:24 scale enthusiasts from Tamiya, a sports car kit of the Toyota 86. The real thing is a collaboration between Toyota and Subaru, who set out to develop a common sports car, designed with echoes of the 1980s in mind. The vehicle has the classic performance combination of front-engine/rear-drive, and uses a horizontally-opposed ‘boxer’ engine, a type used by Subaru which allows a low bonnet line. The name is...? The Toyota is also called the GT86 or Scion FR-S, depending on where it is sold, but apart from badges and some trim details they are the same vehicle. The Subaru equivalent is less confusingly called the BRZ in all markets. The Tamiya box side shows two other paint schemes, Lightning Red ( above ) and Sterling Silver metallic ( below ). Engine detail The Tamiya Toyota 86 kit features an engine, and although it is built on a solid chassis, the main engine block and details are visible through the opening bonnet. The interior has two se...

SMN REPORT The long-awaited Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer is here at last. It's a big kit too, made to 1:350 scale and measuring some 436 mm (17.2 in) long when assembled. The kit has 203 components and decals for all six Type 45 ships: HMS Daring , Dauntless , Diamond , Dragon , Defender and Duncan . Assembly time Airfix reckons it takes five ‘flying hours’ (‘swimming hours?’) to build the kit, though skilled modelmakers will doubtless take much longer, in order to paint the various parts before final assembly. Weathering importance One thing - as this is a semi-stealth design, the sides are flush and carry less detail than traditional ships of this kind. It could be a case of adding some extra weathering to bring those surfaces to life. Still, that’s a suitable challenge to fill these long winter nights. The real thing Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers have distinctive straight edges and sheer superstructure, free from much of the usual clutter. This is so that the ships have a relat...