SCALE MODEL NEWS

HERE'S A HANDSOMELY MADE BUNCH OF MODELS courtesy of our colleague Peter Chiang, of Hobby Bounties, Singapore.  David Jefferis: The sponsored competition is held annually, and proves that the modelmaking spirit is alive and well in this corner of Asia. The model of HMS Victorious ( below ) has a flightdeck loaded for action. Aircraft on view include a trio of Supermarine Scimitars and a quintet of de Havilland Sea Vixens. Sadly, it looks like a Scimitar missed the deck and is in the drink.  Other pictures here show a wide range of skills, though World War II is clearly the most popular theme and era for these scale modellers. An exception is the neatly made Grumman F-14 Tomcat, finished in the the colours of the IIAF (Imperial Iranian Air Force). These were exported as land-based interceptors to Iran in 1976, and a few are still in service by the present Islamic regime. As always, click a pic for an enlarged view. And click here to visit Peter's Hobby Bounties model store. ...

SMN VISITORS MAY WELL BE familiar with Peter Chiang, the dynamic head of Singapore's Hobby Bounties model store.  Here's a video that shows us how Peter turned his life-long interest into a popular destination for model makers, and one that's also home to regular scale competitions.

SINGAPORE'S PETER CHIANG recently ran a two-week Phantom II model build. For Phantom Phans, this was a superb competition, and the results reflect this. SMN report: The rules allowed just two weeks to start and build any Airfix Phantom kit. Social media communications were required, to show the start and to mark progress toward each finished model. The initial reaction from a lot of people was that it could not be done because of the number of stencilled markings that needed applying! Judging was by Mick Stephen, Tony James, C L Kwek, Mat Irvine and Peter Chiang ( wearing a tie in the pic below ). The results you can see in these pictures, and top marks to all from SMN. The winners were: Best build: Yee Soon Tuck (prize: Airfix 1:24 Spitfire) Fastest build: Razali Ahmed (prize: Airfix 1:24 Hurricane) Most colourful: Andrew Rozario (prize: £50 sponsored by Henry Low) Most difficult: Kevin Khoo (prize: £50 sponsored by Henry Low)

  Model makers have been busy again in Singapore, these photos taken at the Easter weekend competition held by Hobby Bounties, under the direction of Peter Chiang. SMN report: Paul Gallagher took top prize with his motorised Airfix 1:72 scale De Havilland Tiger Moth. Bearing in mind it's a petite model, getting the prop to spin was quite an achievement.  Razali Ahmed maintained his ‘master’ status with an Airfix 1:72 Nimrod conversion, taking back the military version to a Comet IV in Malaysia Singapore Airlines (MSA) livery. The nice Airfix 1:72 De Havilland Vampire was built by FOO Yong Shiong.

  THIS WEEK SAW the annual Airfix Competition 2020, organised by Peter Chiang, of Hobby Bounties in Singapore. Due to the Covid-19 and the Singapore Air Force Museum being closed, it was held online at Facebook, under the Hobby Bounties’ event 'mini-Airfix Cup 2020.' The pictures ( header, below ) are the entries from John Bartram from Sydney, Australia.   1. Airfix 1:144 Boeing Clipper Flying Boat, 1964 mould. 2. Airfix 1:72 Lysander, old original mould. 3. Airfix Hawker Hurricane MkI, old original mould. 4. Airfix 1:72 scale CAC Boomerang, old original mould.   Also included is a photo of Ng  Keng Leong’s F-51D Mustang. Plenty  more information,  pictures, and of course the winners, are to be found at the dedicated Hobby Bounties Airfix Cup web page.  Our personal favourite is the Batwing, which started out as a  standard Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk kit. It's nice enough out of the box, but the conversion to Bat-status by M. Razali Ahmad is original...