SCALE MODEL NEWS

IF YOU LOOK HARD enough, you can usually find an interesting anniversary. And in 2019, Round 2 used the 65th Anniversary of Godzilla, perhaps the most famous of all movie monsters, to add a creature-feature to its list. Mat Irvine: Round 2 already had a license for Godzilla, so decided to take the old MPC Willys Jeep, and reissue it as a Godzilla movie star. This movie is in fact the sixth from 1965, this one being ‘Invasion of Astro-Monster.’   The MPC kit is the first Jeep model kit to 1:25 scale, being issued in 1968 as the ‘star car’ from Hogan’s Heroes , a US sitcom of the time. Putting aside the improbability of a World War II German prison camp internee being allowed his own vehicle, the kit has provided modellers with a Jeep in an automotive scale, rather than the more usual military 1:35.  The model is fairly comprehensive with a separate engine, chassis and four-wheel drive running gear. It has the simplified interior you get with a utility vehicle, plus an optional...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL and we hope 2020 brings you as many models and kits as you might wish for. And if you enter model competitions, well, we hope you win a few prizes! These pix share several things in common. They are science-fiction subjects, and all date back for decades – truly a look at the futures of yesteryear. Well not quite, as the Star Wars subjects are all from a universe that was 'far far away, and a long time ago.' Mind you, the fantasy machinery created by the creatives under the direction of George Lucas look as futuristic as anything from other sci-fi franchises, such as Star Trek. The British interloper starred in the TV series Blake's 7, and this particular model shows something that was in the future when the first Star Wars movies were made. And that's 3-D printing, now a commonplace way to make models, even if it hasn't replaced traditional kits just yet. Click here for more Blake's 7 at SMN And click here for more Star Wars.