SCALE MODEL NEWS

The partwork publishers are hard at it with model products these days, and we’ll doubtless be seeing a bunch of new items launched after Christmas. Meantime, here are a pair of ready-built models to inspect, coming piggy-backed with collectible magazine-style publications. One of the biggest partwork publishers is Eaglemoss, and here are two of the company’s current offerings, though they are not necessarily available in all markets. You’ll have to visit the website to check on current availability. First off, a decent 1:43 scale James Bond Aston Martin DB5, contained in its own transparent plastic box with mini-diorama display. The car featured in the early Bond movie, ‘Thunderball’ of 1965, the fourth in the still-running series. The car itself has been moulded well, in particular the overall lines have been captured accurately, with enough detail to make you think the creative team cared about their job. The vertical protective screen behind the rear window has a small ‘star’ showin...

To coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the famed TV sci-fi series Doctor Who, a massive event was held at the giant ExCel exhibition complex in London’s Docklands last weekend, November 22-24, 2013. Among the exhibits was this Sea Base 4 from the 1983 episode, ‘Warriors of the Deep.’ Mat Irvine reports: Some 8000 Doctor Who fans passed through ExCel each day, taking in shows and talks by actors who have featured in DW stories over the 50 years. There were also props, costumes and scenery, and of course a wide range of merchandise, celebrating both the original TV shows (now called ‘Classic Doctor Who’) to more recent series (‘New Who’). Visitors could also explore a display that celebrated the BBC Visual Effects Department, which of course was a large part of - especially - the Classic series. Visual Effects itself no longer exists, gone the way of most of the BBC departments that actually made the programmes. One of the staged panels during the three days (picture above) was where ...

Italeri has just released a motorbike kit that will have working-part fans drooling to get their hands inside the box. The video shows that this unusual kit is one that presents the maximum number of working parts, revealing functional and visible movements of the classic Italian Moto Guzzi 850V, from sliding front forks to moving clutch lever.  The 1:6 scale means that those details are big enough to work with and display. And if you want to create a diorama, then that same big scale means that there is a galaxy of ready-made figures to choose from. Italeri has provided more than 770 highly-detailed components in this kit, to be assembled with a mixture of glue and screws, all parts contained in a luxury box, divided into compartments with special trays for the accessories. Somewhat oddly, Italeri has chosen to add the warning ‘Electric motor not included in this kit’ on the box top. Perhaps that’s in case anyone confuses ‘working parts’ with ‘rolling motorcycle.’ The V-twin engin...

Brilliant news from Airfix at the IPMS Scale ModelWorld show is the soon to be released 1:24 scale Hawker Typhoon. The newcomer looks to be well up to the standard set by other recent releases to this mega-scale, including its stablemate, the de Havilland Mosquito. Component trees on display showed plenty of detail, and a highly convincing pilot figure. Transparent parts look clear and the canopy near-scale in thickness. We can see this being a kit of the year, and expect an impatient nail-biting wait until we get our hands on one. 

The massive IPMS Scale ModelWorld is on again this weekend at Telford, UK. For anyone with an interest in scale modelmaking, it’s THE show to visit. In addition to the model displays and judging, there are plenty of things going on, such as these items from the IPMS news update: * The Valiant Wings Publishing book, ‘Airframe and Miniature No 6: North American Early P-51 Mustang’ will be available, with copies for sale. Come by, grab a copy and have a chat. Plus there are plenty of on-stand demos, including. * Saturday, November 9: 1000 and 1200: Richard Franks on the many uses of Aizu masking tape and pickup pens. * 1100 and 1300: Steve Evans shows how to create effective pastel weathering and paint chipping using watercolour pencils. * 1500: Daniel Zamarbide will be signing copies of his Airframe Constructor book 'How To Build the North American P-51 Mustang.’ * Sunday, November 10: 1000 and 1300: Richard Franks demonstrates the uses of Aizu masking tape and pickup pens. *And ther...

Set for near-future release is a 1:48 scale F-101 Voodoo from Kitty Hawk Models. But can this model beat the classic Monogram kit to the same scale? We don’t have too many details at the moment beyond these tantalizing CGI development screen shots, but Kitty Hawk’s other kits are pretty good, so this upcoming Cold War and Vietnam War warrior ought to be something worth waiting for. The model will be a biggie when it comes, as the Voodoo was a largish beast - to 1:48 scale, the model should measure some 438mm (17.2in) long with a wingspan of 250mm (9.8in). Talking of Monogram’s old kit (below), two items that really shone were the well-sculpted crew figures, so it will interesting to see whether a pair are provided with the new kit, and if so, how they compare. The F-101 was developed in the 1950s, and set a number of speed records, including a JF-101 testbed aircraft that flew at 1943.4 km/h (1207.6 mph) on December 12, 1957, beating a previous record of 1811 km/h (1132 mph) set by the...