SCALE MODEL NEWS

HAPPY NEW YEAR! HERE'S A ROUNDUP of scale goodness to enjoy before 2017 really gets rolling. SMN report: Scale modellers can perhaps look to their bank accounts in the New Year. Maybe its time to invest in some collectible kits to lay down for that retirement package. The 5 Space Ships of the Future ( header pic ) is certainly a rarity. Whatever you pay for this Lindberg Line multi-kit is likely to be a decent investment, as they are not making them any more. The content is an interesting mixture, as the box contains three future-factual designs, a satellite rocket, and an entirely fictional flying saucer, complete with alien pilot. Love that wheel-type space station, at the time thought to be the look of the near future. Meantime, Russian designers have come up with all sorts of Ekranoplan ground effect (GEV) designs ( below right ) which allow high speed cruising over flat land or open water, such as the Caspian Sea. Crazy enough to look more like science fiction than reality, a...

Mat Irvine discusses: Back in June, I gave details of the Airfix resin-moulded range of ruined buildings, aimed mainly at military diorama builders. The example I highlighted was the ruined workshop, and I hinted that the figures in the scene - French resistance fighters, with a Citroen Traction Avant - were waiting for a spy drop from a Lysander delivery plane.  Box back includes Humbrol paint details plus aircraft details in four languages. World War II spy plane Well, since then the drop appears to have happened, so here is an extension to that article. It revolves around the British Westland Lysander high-wing monoplane, a mainstay of RAF undercover work during World War II. The Lysander was ideal for the task, as it could fly in what we might today call ‘stealth mode’, and could land on unprepared surfaces in the dead of night.  Built-up model and instruction sheet. Secret operations The original Airfix 1:72 scale Lysander was one of the company’s first aircraft kits...