SCALE MODEL NEWS

Airfix Vostok launchers built up, with empty tanks (left) and full ones (right). Mat Irvine solves a question of colour Last time (article here ) I pointed out that whatever colour Vostok space launchers really were, they were not white. However photos have often made them appear partially white, so what was going on? Super-cold liquid The truth is that the ‘white’ in published pictures was correct, but it was not paint - instead, it was actually frost. This is because Vostok’s rocket motors used cryogenic fuels, or to be totally accurate, a cryogenic oxidizer in the form of LOX, or liquid oxygen (the ‘fuel’ was the far more mundane liquid kerosene). LOX is cold - very cold** - and once the rocket is fuelled, it chills water vapour in the atmosphere immediately outside the tanks, and ice forms on the metal skin - which of course shows up white! A real Vostok, almost certainly Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok 1. Note the icing. Other rockets too The same was true for the US Saturn rockets. The fir...

SMN annual review How to condense a whole model year into a readable piece? Impossible without filling half of Wikipedia! So here’s quickie scoot through five items that entertained us, big and small... In February we clomped through the last of the winter snow to a Collector Fair near Oxford, UK. There were the usual stalls sprinkled with tempting treats, but star of the show was the splendid O-gauge three-rail electric layout.  Of course, items like this are hardly ‘true scale’ - they are (or were) a half-way point between a non-scale ‘toy’ and a true-scale ‘model’ - but you can enjoy them for what they are - immensely pleasurable objects that also have the benefit of action, controllability, and in Kidlington anyway: lots of lovely clickety-clack noise! The trackside accessories were a joy to behold - for example, many of the buildings were re-used decorative biscuit tins, and very fine they looked too. The station was a piece of original tinplate railwayana, and looke...

David Jefferis reports Here we have 100 colour pages of the new and revived Airfix Magazine - well, it's now retitled Airfix Model World for 2010 - and a pretty good effort it is too. I’ve been involved with several magazine launches over the years, and know a little of the sweat and toil that goes into the first one. It’s always a steep learning curve and I doubt this launch AFW is an exception. So well done to the team involved. What’s it like? First off is the cover - and centre-spread - both of which feature the work of the Airfix ‘wunderkind’ box-artist, Adam Tooby. He’s already up there in the pantheon of the best - Roy Cross, at last you have a decent successor. Tooby manages to combine the precision of computer generated imagery with an artist’s touch for the finished work. I reckon we’ll see a few of his box-tops appearing as art prints before too long. See inside Editorial is wide-ranging, with a strong feature on the 1:48 Sea Vixen kit from Airfix, which has some very ni...

SMN report The new Airfix Model World magazine, promo’d by Key Publishing as ‘your complete guide to the world of scale modelling’ will have its official launch this coming Thursday. For older model fans, AMW is a rebirth of the much-loved Airfix Magazine, last published in October 1993, but this new version promises to be bigger and better, with more pages and a more colourful format. The new mag will focus on model aircraft, but also feature cars, ships, sci-fi and space, armour and figures, plus news, reviews, and plenty of step-by-step tips. An 'Ask the Experts' feature should be useful too. The lead article in the first Airfix Model World promises to home in on the 1:48 scale FAW2 Sea Vixen carrier jet that flew from Royal Navy flat-tops from April 1964. The pic above is from Airfix, depicting an unpainted test-shot before full-scale production of this interesting kit. It will be available soon. Airfix Model World will be available by subscription or on newstands - look ou...

SMN report Key Publishing has announced the launch of Airfix Model World, a new magazine for scale modellers published under license from Airfix. Key is a big aviation publisher already, with titles that include Flypast, Airliner World and AirForces Monthly, so the new magazine should slot nicely into the list. Wide ranging content It looks like a marriage of experts, with Airfix’s model experience being balanced by that of Key in magazine publishing. Airfix Model World will cover all aspects of modelling, but with the focus on aviation, the largest sub-sector within the market. The first issue of the new model monthly will be published on November 4, 2010. It will have 100 pages, be priced at £3.99 GBP in the UK, and will have (and we quote here) ‘superb production values’. Sounds good! A trip back to Airfix Magazine At which point it’s worth having a look at the old Airfix Magazine, which was produced from June 1960 to October 1993, under a variety of publishers. At its height, the m...