SCALE MODEL NEWS

THE LOCKHEED MARTIN F-35 LIGHTNING II has had a long, expensive, and troubled development. However, the stealth aircraft is finally heading to operational service. For model makers, that means building a kit of the twin-fin stealth machine. SMN report: There are several F-35s available, in various scales. The Academy F-35A version shown in the how-to videos ( below ) is moulded in what is still the most widely built model aircraft size, 1:72 scale. The Academy kit comes in multi-coloured plastic ( above ) which enables the company to claim that you can build one without needing paint. And that's OK for beginners, or for those who simply want a desk-top display model, but to have any form of realism, it's the traditional skills of careful painting and weathering that will transform a 'box of bits' into a decent scale model. As a stealth machine, the F-35A has internal bays for weapons carriage, thus keeping the radar-proof contours of the aircraft in working order. How...

SMN REPORT “Build up your Chopper Squad” is the rallying call on the sales video for this latest UK partwork release, Part 1 available now. And it looks an interesting buy for helo fans, as there’s a 1:72 scale model included with every issue. First issue As usual with partwork publications, the first issue is a heavily subsidised whammo release, in this case a 16-page full-colour magazine, strapped on to a blockbuster backing board, which also acts as the base for a bubble-pack containing the meat of the business, a metal-and-plastic 1:72 scale helicopter. Army attacker In this first issue, the helo of note is a Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk, finished in US Army colours, as flown in the 1991 Operation ‘Desert Storm.’ Assembly in minutes What’s the model like? Well, it’s an easy build all right, containing the finished fuselage and six extra components in a plastic bag... it feels rather like shades of early Airfix, in fact. Those extras consist of a push-together stand base and arm, plu...

SMN report: The Italeri versions of Academy’s Leonardo da Vinci kits are proving successful, so what’s happening with Academy’s own productions? Well, there are plenty more on release, though as usual with these multi-market products, there are subtle changes in presentation, depending on where they are being sold. Da Vinci series Academy’s kits go under the simple title, ‘Da Vinci Machines Series’, rather than Italeri’s splendidly romantic ‘The Marvellous Machines’. Also, Academy bundles the da Vinci kits into a loose grouping called Educational Kits, which is fair enough, especially as these include rockets and robots - tasty stuff indeed.   iRoomba robot around the house Speaking as robot fans and collectors, we can’t have enough of ‘em around SMN Towers, though one had to go recently, due to pressure on space. It was an iRoomba robotic vacuum cleaner from US Robotics. A great little device to set in motion and watch, though its cleaning abilities were, should we say: “still in ...

Mat Irvine inspects Here is another model in the growing range of Leonardo da Vinci designs, a 1:12 scale (or thereabouts) kit originated by Academy in South Korea, but made and marketed in Europe by the Italian firm Italeri. The kit models Leonardo’s idea for a mechanical self-propelled cart, which would be, I suppose - if it had ever been built - the first example of a perfectly feasible ‘automobile’, predating Karl Benz’s three-wheeler by some 400 years. Multi-media parts with motor The kit is moulded mostly in conventional plastic, though there is, in common with all this manufacturer’s Leonardo kits, a pre-assembled clockwork motor supplied to power the completed model. The components are pre-coloured in various shades of brown, though a coat of paint - wood or tan, or similar - could be applied. However, if you want your cart to work properly, the areas where parts move against others will have to be monitored carefully. The solution for smooth running is to either mask parts so ...

Mat Irvine inspects an interesting mixed media kit In the middle of 2010, Scale Model News carried a report on one of the new kits from Italeri, originated by Academy, that explore the technological design marvels from the pen of that Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci. At the time it was said that this literally was a rebirth of interest as you would be getting models from not one, but three different kit companies. Two would use conventional plastic - as does the Academy/Italeri - but Revell planned kits that would use materials that Leonardo would certainly be familiar with - wood, cloth, and cord. da Vinci designs Six of the ten da Vinci kits have been issued, and they are not only an intriguing cross-section of his designs and inventions, but certainly look the part in these traditional materials. They are also reasonably easy to build, as both wood and cloth parts are pre-cut and pre-stained. Aerial Screw kit The first kit I’m looking at - the rest will follow - is one of Leonard...

SMN reports The ROK (Republic of Korea) kit maker Academy is on something of a roll at the moment - company representatives were delighted to collect 2010 Modell des Jahres (Model of the Year) awards at the recent Nuremberg Toy Fair for their quite superb 1:35 scale Merkava tank and 1:72 scale M977 cargo truck. And now Academy has a new-release 1:35 kit of the somewhat less-known M50A1 Ontos tank-killer. This was a small tracked vehicle in service from 1959-1965, and used with some success in the Vietnam War, by the US Marine Corps for fire support. Armament was a central machine gun, surrounded by six 106 mm (4.2 in) recoilless rifles, three on each side. Like all weapon systems, the Ontos (from a Greek word meaning ‘thing’) had some weaknesses, not least being the fact that the crew had to reload the rifles from outside, leaving themselves vulnerable to enemy fire. Still, the Ontos was light enough to be airlifted by cargo planes and CH-53 helicopters, making it a highly mobile weapo...