SCALE MODEL NEWS

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...

SMN report Here’s an update on the continuing Batman Automobilia series, now into its fifth 1:43 scale vehicle, the Gangbusters-style retromobile from the 1940s, and a very neat model it is too. All the Batmobiles are presented in the same stackable clear plastic oval boxes, which make them look very presentable indeed, though as this writer is in pre-housemove clearance mode, storage issues put any thoughts of a collection into cold storage! The accompanying magazines are pretty good too - the picture above, from the launch issue, shows the attention to detail that has gone into this production. The Eaglemoss website reveals details of Batmobiles four and five. Predictably enough, the first three Batmobiles were the hot items, but for a keen Bat-fan, this is the opportunity for something like completeness in one aspect of your Batman collection. Green Lantern figures For superhero lovers, Batman is of course just a starter, and Eaglemoss is catering to this market with a ran...