SCALE MODEL NEWS

JAMES BOND is the movie industry’s longest running franchise, with the 25th movie due for release in 2021. And now Round-2 has a license to produce kits of Bond movie subjects, using the AMT brand. 

WE ARE VERY sad to learn of the death of professional model maker Bill Pearson. Mat Irvine: A special-effects model maker extraordinaire, Bill Pearson is probably best known for being a model-shop supervisor for such movie classics as Alien (1979), Flash Gordon (1980), and Outland (1981). Bill was a member of the BBC Visual Effects Department for two years or so in the early 1980s, which is when I got to know him. While he was at BBC VFX he worked on a variety of programmes, including The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Doctor Who, and Blake’s 7. Later, Bill worked on Gerry Anderson’s Space Precinct (1994), The James Bond movie Die Another Day (2002), Gravity (2013), Duncan Jones’ Moon (2009), and the Red Dwarf series. The photos (below) are shown courtesy of, and copyright  The Prop Gallery  and Mat Irvine . Bill Pearson ( below ) seen in the early 1980s, while working for the BBC Visual Effects Department. Here, he is working on Supereme Commandeer Servalan’s spac...

FOLLOWING RECENT JAMES BOND articles, here’s a piece on converting two kits into one of 007’s more unusual forms of transport. Mat Irvine reports:  The second James Bond movie was based on Ian Fleming’s book  From Russia With Love , and came before  Goldfinger , where the idea of Bond using a specially adapted car – the famed Aston Martin DB-5 – was introduced. In  From Russia With Love  the vehicles were frankly ‘working props’, appearing on-screen for relatively short periods of time. But the movie did have one set of wheels that made an impact, a 1961 Chevrolet Apache 30 stake truck, carrying a load of cut flowers ( movie still below ). In the movie, 007 hijacked the truck to escape an attacking helicopter, driving across what was meant to be ‘east European’ countryside, with his latest lady friend ( see below )bouncing about in the pickup bed at the back, amongst the blooms. A kit of the vehicle was a non-starter, my idea coming from the multi-issue par...

MORE INTERESTING STUFF from Peter Chiang with these entries from his Hobby Bounties mini-Airfix James Bond competition 2019. The cars are all in 1:32 scale, the James Bond Aston Martin ( above ) being fitted with an ejection-seat cutout in the roof, and much else besides.   SMN report: Here we see a nicely assembled Airfix 4.5 litre Bentley ( below ) and VW Beetle with skis, both to 1:32 scale. Secret agent Bond ( below ) leaves his top hat behind. A change of scale ( below ) with Airfix 1:76 scale astronauts, here featured in a neat diorama setting. Click here for more info at Hobby Bounties.

SOME INTERESTING PIX HAVE ARRIVED from our man in Singapore, Peter Chiang, of Hobby Bounties . The classic 1:12 scale Airfix Bentley is boxed here in 007 guise. SMN report: The old Bentley kit is still a good one and well worth a build, as these pictures reveal.    The completed Bentley pictured here has been completed for Peter's mini-Airfix James Bond Competition, due for judging on October 26, 2019. Early box painting ( below ) featured the 4.5 litre Bentley in its race-winning paint finish of British racing green. And here Peter Chiang sent us pix of a Bond figure, a work-in-progress that's looking very impressive. It's based on converting Sean Connery to another of the best Bond actors, Daniel Craig ( below ). Click here to visit Peter Chiang at Hobby Bounties.

THIS STATE OF THE ART LUXURY YACHT kit is released by Revell in the model aircraft-standard 1:72 scale. Mat Irvine:  The somewhat generic title of this kit disguises the fact that it is a reissue of the earlier Revell Sunseeker Predator 108. However, the name may have changed, but the kit is the same. Even so, the new-box Revell Luxury Yacht 108 has several factors going for it.  Kits of boats in 1:72 scale are not that common, and kits of luxury yachts are even less so. And vessels connected with James Bond movies are ever rarer. The new name of this kit means that the Bond connection is missing this time around, even if the Revell Predator 108 mentioned its role in the 2006 Bond movie  Casino Royale . The Revell Luxury Yacht 108 ( below ) is moulded in white styrene, with smoked transparencies for the windows. When finished, the model can be displayed on the supplied three-piece stand. The big (for a boat) 1:72 scale means that plenty of detail is included, such a...

THE 007 JAMES BOND-MOBILE  featured recently made us look up the best known of all 007 cars, the Aston Martin DB5. SMN report: Back in the day, Airfix made cars to 1:24 scale, and the James Bond Special Agent 007 ( header pic ) was one of these. The kit itself was pretty good, even if the box art wasn't up to the standard of Roy Cross, who painted so many Airfix kit boxes. But the real DB5 standard-bearer is undoubtably the Corgi diecast ( below ) that right from the start came complete with many working 007 features.  In fact, Corgi is presently running an online vote for the Ultimate Corgi Top 10 . There's stiff competition out there, for the DB5 is up against such worthy Corgi Toys as the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang flying car, Thunderbirds FAB-1 and others. Argh, the agony of choice! You've got until December 19 to get your vote in. There have been plenty of DB5 kits over the years. The 1:24 scale Doyusha kit ( below ) had all th...