SCALE MODEL NEWS

From Mat Irvine: Here’s a look at Revell-Monogram kits for release in 2012. I’ve previously  mentioned the recreated Renwal Blueprint series, with the futuristic Teracruzer and Mace missile, but there’s much more coming down the line. Car kits First up, the lime-green 1932 Ford 'Rat Roaster' ( above ) shown at October’s International iHobby Expo in Chicago was a taste of things to come, as the car will soon be released as a brand-new 1:25 scale kit. In fact, there’s a feast of US wheels coming our way, as the Rat Roaster will be joined by a 1950 Oldsmobile Coupe, representative of an automobile marque that has largely slipped through the running boards until now. This fully-detailed kit, seen as a test shot at iHobby, will have various build options, including the choice of finishing as a plain-Jane stock version, or hopped up as a mild custom. Both the Ford and Oldsmobile should be available early 2012. Metal to plastic Corvette The 1962 Corvette will also be available around ...

SMN report: Mat Irvine spotted the next Revell reissue of a classic Renwal military kit when he was at the iHobby Expo  recently. It will be the futuristic Teracruzer and Mace missile set, and as you will read in Mat’s article later today, there’s been a sea-change at Revell where packaging is concerned. Original boxes revisited Instead of the photo-style ‘History Makers’ packaging previously used, the Mace and other kits are now being treated to a revamp of the original Renwal boxes - and that’s excellent news, for they really were designs of their time, and deserve to be seen again. Mace - an early form of cruise missile Inside the brightly coloured box of the 1:32 scale Teracruzer and Mace kit, you get 278 components, including a combat crew of five figures, three of whom are shown below. Cold War warrior The Mace was a nuclear-tipped winged missile, launched straight off its transporter-launcher with the aid of a rocket booster, which dropped away after a short but powerful bur...