SCALE MODEL NEWS

THIS IS A reissue of the original Matchbox kit of the Cold War-era RAF Handley Page Victor V-bomber, which was first issued in 1984. Revell-Germany took over the Matchbox name, along with most of the tooling in 1991. Mat Irvine:  The Revell-Germany Handley Page Victor K Mk 2 is a comprehensive kit of over 100 parts. The components are moulded in a light greyish-green duck-egg blue (!) and despite its 30-year plus age, the tooling has survived pretty well. What you get ( below ) in the box - parts, plans and decals. The box art on this new release depicts markings used in Operation Desert Storm. Note that the kit does not represent the original Handley Page nuclear strike bomber. Instead, it models the K Mk 2 air-to-air tanker, a version to which many Victors were converted. The conversion included fitting refuelling pods to the wings, which, when combined with the central fuselage refuelling station, allowed three aircraft to be refuelled simultaneously. The Victor K Mk 2 was used ...

IF YOU ARE IN REACH OF Northern France, a trip to the site of a World War II Nazi rocket base could provide some excellent source reference for model projects. SMN report : La Coupole ( ‘the cupola’ above ) was a planned launching site for the supersonic V-2 rocket, the aim to launch them towards Britain at a rate of up to four an hour. Parts for the rockets were to be assembled in secret workshops all over the Reich, while final assembly and launch preparation would be carried out by slave workers in the long, dank tunnels of La Coupole’s underground complex. A massive project, La Coupole had a metres-thick concrete dome built in and over an old quarry, but luckily for the Allies it did not stay a secret for long enough to go into serious action. Timely bombing raids managed to crack the dome and finish the place off as a threat. La Coupole has many interesting machines to look at, from twisted propellers to rocket motors, and even a piloted V-1 flying bomb ( header and above ). The V...

LAST WEEKEND saw the second ANDERCON, organised by Jamie, the late Gerry Anderson’s son. This time the event was held at The Athena conference venue, Leicester, UK. Mat Irvine: ANDERCON, held on June 13-14, 2015, had all the features you expect of a science-fiction convention - guest signings, stalls selling merchandise, stage events, and a luscious range of related models, ranging from Thunderbirds to UFO, and many more besides. Mamas Pitsillis of Studio 2 Models showed this large-scale UFO ( below ). It’s a working model, at least so far as the watery part is concerned.   A Thunderbirds diorama ( below ) depicting the Tracy Island study. Display ( below ) trailing the new Firestorm series, with ship at left. Mac’s car ( below ) from Joe 90. A Dinky Toys diecast in good condition fetches big bucks on eBay, so maybe it's time for a new version to be released.   A giant-sized Eagle Transporter ( below ) under construction. When the model is finished it will measure more than 2...

 THE FUTURISTIC QUEST LABS DRAGONFLY is a suborbital craft that featured in the 1960s TV series, Jonny Quest. The design’s huge tail might look unlikely to any real-life aircraft designer, but it has presence, that’s for sure. And now the Dragonfly is the subject of a Moebius Models 1:144 scale kit. Mat Irvine:  This is the first commercial kit of the Dragonfly, which is very much in the style of what Aurora might have made when Jonny Quest was first aired. That’s even more obvious when you look at the stand and nameplate decal that both mimic classic Aurora style. As is increasingly common with a number of model companies, the box base ( below ) is used for additional information.   The Moebius Dragonfly is a simple kit, with just 11 components (plus a spare nose probe) and a two-part transparent plastic stand. Two other parts are also transparent, the flight deck canopy cover and the engine nozzle insert. The flight deck’s tiny windows need masking before painting white...