SCALE MODEL NEWS

SMN report: If you like the look of the 1:48 scale Revell B-17G we featured earlier this week, then these items could be just the thing if you’re into dioramas, or simply wish to add a few items to bring some life to a static model. Follow-me Jeep Follow Me Jeeps were used at airfields to help control ground traffic, with Jeeps that were far from the front lines painted with bright colors for clear visibility. This neat and detailed 1:48 Hasegawa model comes complete with a driver, radio operator, and pilot figure. Painting instructions are supplied for the red-and-white check model used by the US Army Air Force, plus khaki versions.  Plain-Jane dashboard Interiors of military vehicles like this were generally very simple, though note that Hasegawa has included a rack of radio equipment in the back of the model, which just goes to show how things have moved on in the years since. The picture above, of a Willys Jeep fascia panel, was taken in the Imperial War Museum, London, used he...

SMN report: Tabletop navy fans have something to look forward to in the months ahead - it’s the 1:350 scale Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring from Airfix. No details have been released yet, apart from the box art shown above, but to this scale, the model should be some 435 mm (17.1 in) long, a size that should ensure plenty of detail on this characterful ship. Stealth destroyer The Type 45 destroyers - Daring is one of six built or on order - are ‘semi-stealth’ in their design, with clean, slab sides, designed to reduce their radar signature.  As you can see from the pic above - note the Typhoon making a low pass - much of the clutter that normally hangs off a ship’s sides, such as the life rafts, deck equipment and so on, is now hidden behind flat panels. The mast has been treated in similar fashion, with an absolute minimum of radar-visible antennas. Smaller alternative Type 45 Although there’s some months wait for the Airfix kit, the smaller 1:700 Dragon kit is available now. And i...

David Jefferis on close encounters: On the night of September 19-20, 1961, the US couple Betty and Barney Hill reckoned they experienced a close encounter with a UFO. During the incident they ‘lost’ two hours, but survived intact, to file a report to US Air Force investigators the very next day. They claimed to have seen a silent, cigar-shaped craft, crewed by up to 11 humanoid aliens. The Hill Incident There was no hard proof for their story, but the Hills insisted it was true, and that they had been kidnapped for a short time by the UFO. The event became the first widely-publicized claim of an alien abduction, and was later published as the best-selling 1966 book The Interrupted Journey and the 1975 TV movie The UFO Incident . Well, the Hill Incident took place half a century ago, and assorted UFO stories have rarely been out of the media since, or indeed, from toy and model company brochures. So what’s available right now? Atlantis UFO invader from outer space This 1:48 scale model...

SMN Report: Scale Model News is expanding again, with the addition of a neat slideshow feature. It's simple to use - after you click on the 'Read more' button, the rest of the article appears on a new page column. Click on any of the pix in the column and you should get a zoom enlargement on screen. Click on that (or press the right arrow on your keyboard) and you will sequence through the show, pic by pic. Test example Well, that's the theory anyway, so here are a bunch of Flying Fortress pix to to test it with. The aircraft is that grand old stager from World War II, the Boeing B-17G, the 'G' model generally reckoned as the best of the Fortress line. Feature-rich Revell B-17 The 1:48 scale kit is by Revell, and for anyone (like me) who has a thing for the Fort, then there are various features that make it an interesting kit to consider. First off is the decent bomb bay, complete with crisply moulded load. The tyres have the correct cross-pattern tread, while t...

David Jefferis reports: Excuse me while I drool over memories of the utterly gorgeous Erin Gray, aka Colonel Wilma Deering, female star of the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century . I mean, forget the science-fiction - she was the draw so far as I was concerned! Card models from Germany Ahem, tongue back in mouth, let’s relive the gadgets of the series again, thanks to the German paper-engineering website Paper Aviation. It’s a really interesting site, packed with card models to download through the online store there. But crucially, PA includes freebies too, so you can try out some of the models before you buy others. And one of these is the neatly-drawn Thunderfighter shown here, the single-seat space-combat craft from this popular 1979-81 Universal TV series. Print your own spacecraft The Thunderfighter comes on a series of A4 sheets, at which size it is 1:32 scale, though you can vary this simply by changing the enlargement factor on your computer printer. The model actually ...

  Mat Irvine looks again at a big rocket kit Earlier this year, I had a preliminary look at a 1:24 scale V-2 kit from a new company to the field, SpaceMonkey Models. It’s taken a while, but now I’ve finally had a chance to have a more detailed look at this big-scale release. For the picture above, I added an AMT 1955 Chevrolet Cameo pickup. It's a few years more recent than the V-2, but gives a good sense of scale. Construction starts by removing two end-mouldings, one of them here the ‘ball’ at right. This is replaced by the conical top, a standard injection-moulded part.  During fin assembly, the gates - where ‘injection’ takes place - need removing and the area sanding flat. Blow moulded ‘Vengeance Weapon’ As I said first time around, the kit is made of the usual material - polystyrene - but the way the main part of the kit is moulded is not so usual, as the blow-moulding technique is used. It’s common for flying model rockets, where weight is the primary consideration, but...

SMN report Woodland Scenics offers a vast range of rail-orientated models and accessories, though it's fair to say that many - even most - are also suitable for other forms of model making, in fact anything where a building, diorama or landscape scene is needed in a hurry. Speed and smiles When speed is important, a ready-made solution can make all the difference, and this is where the many finished models from Woodland Scenics come into their own. A further attraction is that many of them are all-in-one mini-scenes, often with a sense of humour or tongue firmly in cheek. And all of that adds to audience participation and that excellent 'ooh aah' factor! Taster for the Woodland Scenics range There are many, many such scenes available - these ones we show here are tasters to give you some ideas. These are all to H0 gauge - international 1:87 scale - which makes the buildings reasonably compatible with the outsider British-only 1:76 scale 00-gauge. Where vehicles are concerne...

Mat Irvine looks back: Although the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight was on April 12, true space fans celebrate the achievement all year round. Well, that’s my excuse for looking at this kit in September! Cutting Edge 1:144 scale rocket at left, compared with the bigger Mach 2 version. The cosmonaut was borrowed from the Airfix kit. Other Vostoks I have already covered the Airfix A-Type Vostok launcher, made to 1:144 scale, the generally accepted size for launch vehicles, and indeed, two of the other A-Type kits - the Apex/AER Moldova and the limited edition Cutting Edge resin release - have been in this scale. But how about a kit that’s twice that scale?  Mach 2 Vostok from France This you can now get from the French limited edition kit company Mach 2, under the ‘Lift-Off Serie’ label. Having built this 1:72  kit, I have to say this is really one for the dedicated, as it is not an easy or straightforward build. The kit is in styrene, so will assemble...