SCALE MODEL NEWS

HERE IS ANOTHER excellent video from Tom Grigat, whose YouTube subscriber count is currently not far short of 50,000. That's pretty cool, Tom, and we hope your fanbase keeps growing! SMN report: Tom reckons the model reminds him of an early Batmobile. That’s an interesting thought, though reality is just as fascinating, and is fact rather than fiction. The Romfell Panzerwagen was a 1915 Austro-Hungarian armoured car, which had an unusual inward-sloping body, designed to deflect enemy fire downwards. It was designed by Hauptmann Romanic and Oberleutnant Fellner, who combined their surnames to create the Romfell brand name. Their creation had an air-cooled machine gun in a pillbox-style turret. Overall, the Romfell seems like an excellent design, even if it’s likely that only one was ever made. The kit is made by US manufacturer, Copper State Models (CSM), which specialises in World War I-era models. The Romfell has transparent headlight parts, full engine and interior detail, and c...

Dragon of Hong Kong has added a pair of 1:48 scale Apollo 11 kits to its excellent - and expanding - range of real-space models. Both kits are enlarged versions of previous spacecraft made to 1:72 scale. These big-scale spacecraft models are more or less straightforward enlargements of the 1:72 scale originals, so any comments on the smaller versions also apply here, but a bit larger! It also means that slight faults apparent in the smaller kits are somewhat enlarged here, but they still look the part. One kit into two Unlike the 1:72 kit, in which you got all the Apollo 11 modules - Command (CM), Service (SM) and Lunar (LM) - in a single box, here they have been split into two separate items, so one kit contains the Command and Service Modules (CSM), the other the Lunar Module. Bagged components for the LM, showing the landing leg gold finish. Slight changes The CSM kit follows its smaller 1:72 scale counterpart closely, but some mods appear to have been done to improve constructi...

MAT IRVINE WEEKENDER: Here’s an intriguing duo of kits from Revell-Germany, a 1:100 scale Apollo pair, one titled: “Apollo: Command Module”, the other a same-scale “Apollo: Lunar Module Eagle.” There’s an intriguing aspect to this. Two eras of Heller box style - note the LM (top) features the original-style ‘Heller Cadet’ logo. Small scale space kits Anyone who is familiar with Revell space kits knows that Revell has made small-scale versions of these subjects since the 1960s. But you may notice that the scale of these two kits is listed as 1:100, whereas the original Revell kits were released in 1:96 scale. Note also that the Command Module kit has the cylindrical Service Module included - strictly speaking, the kit should be titled “Command and Service Module (CSM). 1:100 scale CSM (left). And (right) the 1:96 scale Revell version, showing that while parts are similar, they are laid out in different positions on the runners. Note the moonscape base. Marketing mystery As for the 1:10...