SCALE MODEL NEWS

  NOT CONTENT WITH making Star Wars kits from 'a long time ago', Revell now journeys to another fictional past with the 1:72 scale Haunebu II. The kit is an absolute must for all Luftwaffe 1946 fans. SMN report: What if World War II hadn't ended in 1945? What if Hitler's forces had gone on fighting? What if the vaunted V-weapons had included ultra-speed flying saucers? Questions like these make the what-if world of Luft 46 an endlessly fascinating subject. And that makes this latest kit from Revell all the more of a must-have for sci-fi and fantasy fans. Revell says of the Haunebu II saucer: “Work began on this spherical aircraft in 1934. Its propulsion and the neutralisation of centrifugal forces inside the aircraft was achieved employing Vril energy fields. “Airworthy prototypes of the Haunebu II with speeds of up to 6000 km/h first flew in mid-1943, but did not finish the flight test phase due to the effects of war.” We like the sound of those Vril fields – definitel...

WEIRD DESIGNS ARE A FEATURE OF Luftwaffe 1946, aircraft designs that were being worked on toward the end of World War II. And perhaps the oddest Luft 46 project, and frankly least likely, was the Haunebu II Saucer, as featured in this 1:144 scale Pegasus kit. Mat Irvine:  Some Luft 46 designs are well-known, and in fact flew, such as the Me 163 Komet, Junkers Ju 287 and Bachem Natter. Others remained as paper projects, such as the Arado Amerika bomber, the Focke-Wulf eight-engine transport, various Horten designs, and many others. As for the Haunebu Saucer, there is no evidence that a flying saucer was ever designed or built. However, that hasn’t stopped model companies producing semi-fictional kits. The first of these was probably a resin model from the Hong Kong-based Anigrand Craftswork . Then the Japanese company Wave issued the first conventional styrene kit, though this hasn’t been widely available. Now Pegasus Hobbies has made the 1:144 scale version I feature here. The Pega...

Pegasus Hobbies is the brainchild of Larry Thompson (on stand, above) starting some years ago with accessories produced for model car builders. Today, Pegasus is far better known for its kits covering the wide topic of science-fiction. One of the latest from Pegasus is artist and designer Greg deSantis' take on that perennial favourite, the Nautilus submarine, and I am talking here of the original Jules Verne version, not the later nuclear boat, as used by the US Navy. On the stand (above) was this assembled example of the Pegasus Jules Verne Nautilus. There's an interesting YouTube video on the kit too (below). Of all the design variations on this famous fictional sub, the best known has to be the Disney version, but this one - although reminiscent of the movie - is actually very different, with definite touches of steampunk in its appearance. It’s a multi-material kit, with parts in injection plastic, resin and photo-tech - and yes, the squid is included! Pegasus has more kit...