SCALE MODEL NEWS

THERE ARE PLENTY of companies making aftermarket parts for model cars, but few offer a range as comprehensive as that available from The Modelhaus. Mat Irvine:  The Modelhaus is run by Don and Carol Holthaus, who have attended specialist shows for many years. However, they are on a countdown to retirement in May 2017, so make a note to get The Modelhaus kits and accessories while you can. The 2015 40-page catalog ( below ) is packed with goodies for the model car builder. The Modelhaus has a vast replacement parts range for existing models, which can be a life saver - lost that tail light from an AMT 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass? The Modelhaus can do you a replacement, as a close inspection of the 2015 range ( below ) will show. Don Holthaus ( below ) serves a line of customers.   Carol Holthaus ( below right ) behind the counter on the stand.     Some of The Modelhaus complete models ( above, below ) on display at the October 2015 Toledo Collectors Toy Fair . The Modelha...

MODEL CAR HISTORIAN Bill Coulter has written three excellent colour books for anyone who loves retro-style Americana, and the greatest pony car of them all, the Ford Mustang. Mat Irvine:  The books of Bill Coulter ( below ) come with tasty titles: The Nifty ’50s , The Sizzlin’ ’60s , and Fifty Years of Mustangs . The ‘Stang is a fave ride of Bill’s, and like the other two books, is printed in full colour and features buildups, box art, magazine features, diorama ideas, even period colour charts. Fifty Years of Mustangs cover and sample page ( above, below ). The book has a whopping 216 pages in all. The Sizzlin' '60s ( below ) has 74 detailed pages. The Nifty '50s cover ( below ) features seven American classic cars. A sample page ( below ) features a suitably dressed lady driver from the period. The book extends to 56 pages. Bill ( below ) performs an essential author's duty: signing a book.   And ( below ) Bill signs a title just for me. Bill ( below left ) talks w...

SCALE MODELWORLD is the national show for the UK IPMS (International Plastic Modellers Society). It was held over November 7-8, 2015, at the Telford International Conference Centre. Mat Irvine: An important part of Scale ModelWorld is the competition, open to all IPMS members, UK or otherwise. It is split into categories such as Aircraft, Ships, Military, Cars, Figures, Space, Sci-Fi and Fantasy. 2015 National Senior Champion and Best Space, Sci-Fi or Fantasy ( header and two pix below ): Russian Baikonur Soyuz Launch Pad with Soyuz TMA-21 space mission, by Bruno Gire. After the judges of individual categories have made their choices, the leader of each category picks the overall best in their own section, to be entered into the overall ‘Best In Show.’ This means that selection is tight - they’ve already won in their own category and now there is the unenviable task of judging dissimilar subjects. With the wealth of entries being in aircraft, military and ships, it is usual f...

THE HOLLYWOOD HIT Guardians of the Galaxy was a rip-roaring space opera that punched its way to popularity, and now stands in third place on the Marvel Studios all-time hit list. And now Fantastic Plastic has released a 1:144 scale kit of the Milano , a ship that plays a similar sort of role in Guardians to the Millennium Falcon  in the various Star Wars movies. SMN report: According to Fantastic Plastic, Guardians of the Galaxy had, “…a unique design ethos, featuring spaceships that bristled with colorful wings and fins that served no apparent purpose* other than to look cool. The ‘hero’ ship was the Milano , piloted by self-proclaimed ‘Star-Lord’ Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt). The ship was purportedly named after TV actress Alyssa Milano, Quill's boyhood crush just prior to his abduction by aliens.” Still from the movie ( below ) shows Pratt at the helm, green-skinned alien in the co-pilot's seat. The box ( below ) boldly announces the scale, a useful 1:144 that wil...

ANOTHER AIRCRAFT KIT TO LOOK FORWARD to in 2016, the upcoming 1:72 scale Airfix Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress looks to be well waiting for. And that’s just as well, because release isn’t slated until Q3 2016, so it’ll probably be October 2016 before we see the kit in stores. The big difference between this new B-17G and earlier Airfix releases is the attention to detail, particularly in the interior. As the cgi images ( below ) show, there is plenty to be seen - and with added crew in position, a finished model ought to be a Faberge jewel of vibrant interest.   As for the real thing, Airfix has this to say, "…Arguably the most visible manifestation of American military might in the Second World War was the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress four engine bomber. Operating in massed formations, these distinctive aircraft were designed to conduct daylight precision bombing missions against strategic enemy targets, with the ultimate aim of literally pounding them into submission.  "As its...

FOR THOSE OF US WHO didn't make it to the huge IPMS ModelWorld at Telford, UK, here's a roundup of what was there. SMN update: Videomaker 'Armour Empire' has included plenty of variety in the slideshow. Our choice goes to the brief glimpse of the Caspian Sea Monster, surely one of the oddest military concepts ever conceived or built. Armour Empire has been busy this year, and here's another slideshow, this time of the IPMS show at Cosford, back in April 2015. It's a great venue of course: what's not to like about a show that's held against a background of real aviation hardware? If you can make the trip, then a visit to RAF Museum Cosford makes for a fascinating day out.

  GEORGE BARRIS, PERHAPS THE BEST KNOWN US car customiser - and inspiration for many custom car kits - died on November 5, 2015.  Mat Irvine: George Barris was born George Salapatas on November  20, 1925, in Chicago. He was from a Greek background, and started a lifelong love of cars at seven years old, building balsa wood models, and winning local model-building contests. George and his brother Sam, who died in 1967, later started working with full-size car repairs, and also altering their design - which signalled the dawn of the customizing boom. Barris and friend ( below ) show off the bat-winged X-Pak 400 hovercar.   George got involved with TV and movies in the early 1960s, with two of his most famous creations, the Batmobile and the Munster Koach. Around this time, he also got involved with the fledgling model car industry, particularly with the manufacturer AMT.  AMT made models of the Munster Koach and Drag-U-La, though not the TV-series Batmobile, whic...