SCALE MODEL NEWS

IF YOU WANT TO SEE live Daleks trundling about, Imperial stormtroopers marching forth, or robot dogs on the run, then smallspace 4 is the place to be, come July 12. Details of the smallspace 4 show are pretty much as the poster shown (top) but here are some pix of previous shows to whet your appetite.

  A GOOD READ coming soon will be MAT’S MARVELLOUS MODEL MUSEUM, an interest-packed book that takes you on a guided tour through Mat Irvine’s incredible treasure-trove of scale models.  We took the opportunity to sneak a peek before publication, and these pix were snapped through a window at midnight, in itself a fascinating cameo of scale models. In daylight of course, Mat’s models look normal, but as in the movie Night at the Museum  when night falls they take on a life of their own. However, unlike that movie, there’s no supernatural explanation to the weird colours in these pictures. Actually, Mat has installed blue and green strip lighting for after-hours viewing purposes. Even so, it looks great.   MAT’S MARVELLOUS MODEL MUSEUM will be available soon for download from Amazon and other internet stores. We’ll keep you posted on the publishing date.

Here is a VERY detailed unboxing and full content review, featuring the powerful CR90 blockade runner space craft from Star Wars. The review is based on the Star Wars gaming universe, and covers details such as cards, moves, how to shoot, rules and ideas, as well as good close up video footage of the Corellian CR90 ship. The ship itself is well thought of:  "The Rebel blockade runner is the pride of the Corellian Engineering Corporation's military vehicles. With its mess of huge engines, it can whoop any jerk-ass Imperial." Corellian Engineering Corporation advertisement. According to Wookiepedia, "...The CR90 corvette, commonly referred to as the Corellian corvette or the Rebel blockade runner, also known as an Alderaan cruiser, was a small, multi-purpose capital ship, manufactured by Corellian Engineering Corporation. The CR90 had a wide variety of users throughout the galaxy, from pirates to corporations to galactic navies..." Great stuff, though don't ...

SCALE CAR FANS have their annual treat at the HaMeX miniature vehicles show, held at Hanslope, UK. There will be the usual mix of beautifully crafted autos. To whet your appetite, here are some star cars from previous shows: Click here for more details. Click here for more details. Click here for plenty of background on previous shows.

THIS IS A NEAT CONVERSION from resin manufacturer Jimmy Flintstone Studios, based on the Moebius Models 1:25 scale1953 Hudson Hornet. This creates a Flower Car, a type often seen accompanying American funeral processions. Mat Irvine:  What you get in the Jimmy Flintstone box is a resin car body that replaces the injection styrene body from the Moebius kit. Everything else comes from Moebius, even the hood, and it is a perfect fit. There are only two modifications necessary to get the Flintstone bodywork to fit. Jimmy Flintstone provides the resin body ( below ). Other parts, including the hood, come from the Moebius kit. Note the fit of the styrene hood into the resin body. First, you need to trim the tops off the Moebius rear wheel housings, to allow a good fit on the new pickup bed. Second, the interior side panels need their rear sections removing. The rear seat isn’t used, and the kit’s windows require a bit of juggling to fit the resin surrounds, but as far as modifications go...

NEVER SAY THAT STAR WARS fans are short of ideas when it comes to scoring movie tickets. This nifty recent attempt used a Revell X-Wing, hoisted into the sky under a helium balloon. The aim? To be on the list for tickets to the upcoming JJ Abrams Star Wars: The Force Awakens which all fans (we reckon) are hoping will provide whatever it takes to repair the damage to Star Wars caused by that loathsome alien character, Jar Jar Binks. The stunt for Project Helium Tears was a bid to secure premiere tickets, and the video has racked up more than 380,000 YouTube views when we looked earlier today. Come on, JJ, just a couple of tickets! And in recent news, Revell will be announcing new additions to the Star Wars Easykit range to coincide with the arrival of The Force Awakens later this year.

THE 2015 CHICAGO TOY FAIR (though everyone still calls it the Kane County Toy Show) was held a couple of weeks ago at the Kane County Fairgrounds, Chicago. It was blessed with fine weather this year, and five of us turned up there bright and early, at 8 o’clock sharp. Mat Irvine: As usual you never know what you might find. There’s really no point in asking me, “What are you looking for?” as I can only reply, “I’ll know it when I see it!” This year I bought only a couple of items, though previous years have seen me with a dozen or more. But it was fun walking round, and looking at the wide range of goodies up for grabs.  Here’s a brief tour, starting with the single ‘outside’ shed ( below ) now in operation. This one usually deals with rabbits. Interesting guided missile carrier ( below ). Spares ( below ) for repairing tinplate models. Unusual packaging ( below ) for the Palmer 1964 Buick Rivera. It’s only really of interest for curiosity value, as the AMT version is a much better...