SCALE MODEL NEWS

HERE'S AN EXCELLENT VIDEO UPDATE from Shizuoka, presented by Hobby Link Japan (HLJ). There is plenty to see on this half-hour video - from aircraft to tanks, they're all on view. We're huge fans of Tamiya precision scale models, and the company's new 1:32 scale F4U Corsair looks terrific. This is the bubble-canopy version, and complements the Tamiya model of the earlier 'birdcage' aircraft. Airliner enthusiasts will see that a 1:200 scale Mitsubishi MRJ regional jet features from Fine Molds. A release date has not yet been set, though it's likely to be soon. The real thing is scheduled for a first flight in 2015, with airline service aimed for 2017. If the performance meets the proposed spec, the MRJ should be a success - at the time of writing, Mitsubishi had booked 407 orders and options. One new kit that has us hooked - though it's slated for limited distribution - is the Skunk Model Works 1:48 scale  F-16XL. This cranked-wing design was conceived to ...

Round 2 continues to mine its back catalogue to reissue many of the older ‘Cars of the Stars’, while adding some new ones. This is one of the latter - in this form at least - as it originated as a much older AMT kit of the classic Meyers Manx Dune Buggy. Mat Irvine: This time the link is one of Elvis Presley’s many movies (often thought one of his better efforts) Live a Little, Love a Little from 1968. In it, Elvis plays photographer Greg Bolan, who juggles jobs, girlfriends, and bosses. As such, he needs a suitably quirky mode of transport - enter the Meyers Manx, kit box (below) loaded with useful reference photos. This kit first came out around the same time as the film, though at that point there was no movie connection. It was issued as ‘The Original Meyers Manx Dune Buggy’ and came complete with a card diorama, as was common with a number of AMT kits of the period, and which have since been recreated in a number of retro-reissues. So far as the plastic parts are concerned, this...

IF YOU'RE IN EAST ANGLIA then a trip to Great Yarmouth is a must, as a 'Super Models' exhibition is being held at the Time and Tide Museum, an inspirational place that's converted from a piece of Yarmouth's heritage past, a building that was once used to smoke herrings. We made a short video to view ( bottom ) but first here's a bunch of shots we took while visiting this old herring smoke house. The gleaming metal curves of the steam loco ( above ) make for a classic piece of scale model engineering. The multi-level garage ( below ) has dozens of hand-made 1960s-era wooden cars, none more than an inch long and each one beautifully detailed. The wooden scale model of the Handley-Page Victor ( below ) was made at the design stage for wind-tunnel testing. The landing gear retracts, as do the wing flaps. They are attached to a stub wing, itself joined to a fuselage half. During tests, smoke could be blown with the air in the tunnel, to reveal to the flow of air and ...

HERE'S A CHANCE to have a quick look at the Norfolk and Suffolk Air Museum, at Flixton, near Bungay, Suffolk, UK. Outside, there are plenty of preserved aircraft to look at, but for scale fans, it's the indoor displays that hold the real treasures. Huge variety marks the models on display at Flixton, and they are distributed inside the main hangar and the other enclosures. These pictures contain a selection from one small part. Enjoy. More to come from Flixton in the near future.