SCALE MODEL NEWS

This week in 1962 – actually September 23 – saw the first episode of the Jetsons, a US cartoon TV series featuring a ‘space age’ family living in the Orbit City of 2062. Mat Irvine:  75 episodes of the Jetsons were made by Hanna-Barbera Productions, who also made the famed Flintstones cartoons. The Jetsons featured family man George, his wife Jane, their children Judy and Elroy, and the family dog, Astro. The family’s main form of transport was George’s flying car. Remember this was written at a time when we all reckoned that in the future there really would be a such a machine in everyone’s driveway. However, it took until 2001 for the first model kit to appear of this car, from Polar Lights. It was one of the company’s simpler kits with snap-together pre-coloured parts, and all five family members.  Twelve years later, the kit was reissued in a different box, though this time with only two of the figures, George and Astro, and these were pre-painted in a different pattern to...

A GRAND OLD CLASSIC, the Airfix Bentley is still an excellent kit that shows off the famed Le Mans race car incredibly well. SMN report: And now Airfix is releasing the 4.5 litre Bentley once more. But you don't have to stick to classic looks when you make it, as Mike Turner Design has some ideas for a modern take ( below ) on an old machine.  The MTD Bentley has double rear tyres, a popular racing item in the early days of auto racing. It's easy enough to ape the look, simply by adding matching tyres at the rear. The wheels look rather like Porsche components, though the large 1:12 scale means you might have to make these yourself or cut off the tops from plastic bottles. Either way, by leaving behind the old spoked wheels, Mike Turner has mode the whole car look much more modern.  Shown ( below ) on one of the banked racing circuits that were built before World War II, the Bentley is shown leading competitors, following far behind. The LED lights give a modern, st...

WE COVERED THIS NEW MAGAZINE when it was launched in 2019. Now Fantasy Figures International (FFI) has reached Issue 6, so it’s time for another look. Mat Irvine: FFI seems to have settled down to doing ‘what it says on the tin.’ Early issues included some articles on subjects that were not really ‘fantasy,’ more traditional historic figures, but that was probably down to gathering enough articles to fill the pages. But now the vast majority of features back up the fantasy label. OK, in this issue there is an article on the Millennium Falcon , but that’s OK as Star Wars is generally regarded more as ‘fantasy’ than ‘scientific’ science fiction, even if the Falcon is a spacecraft, not a figure. There are quite a few manufactures of fantasy figures. Some traditional kit companies are represented – two examples in this issue are Hasegawa and Airfix – but most models are from smaller ‘garage’ companies, such as Evolution Miniaures. Intriguingly, two articles in this issue of FFI use the s...

SMN MODEL MAKERS are mostly used to working with plastics and similarly easy to work with materials. But long before plastics were invented, models were often hand-crafted from metal. SMN report: So here's a video that shows how traditional skills and a lot of patience were used to create a metal miniature of an F-4U Corsair naval fighter from World War II. Unusually, there's no sound track, so crank up some of your own background music if that's your thing. But look out carefully for detail, like the push-rods that operate the flaps and other moving surfaces. And note that, because the F-4U model is made of metal, there's no need to simulate worn surfaces – rubbing any paintwork will reveal the actual metal that lies beneath. It's a gorgeous piece of work that matches the splendid metal model P-51D Mustang ( below ) that can be seen in the entrance hall of RAF Museum Cosford, UK. Click here to visit the SMN article.