SCALE MODEL NEWS

A Baker's Dozen for you today, with subjects ranging from the gorgeous Imai Thunderbirds kit above, to Belgium's Tin Tin, the suave super-spy James Bond, and the British sci-fi hero Dan Dare - and of course, Dan's Venusian nemesis, the melon-headed Mekon, nastiest alien super-villain to strut the spaceways... Pix 8 and 10 courtesy Mat Irvine.

We trust you've had a great Festive Season so far - relax here over some tasty models...

Hey, we hope you've had a great Christmas Day... and here's a Boxing Day slide show of interesting stuff. Come back daily to see a group of models each time. And... enjoy the rest of your day!

If you have broken off your Christmas Day festivities to have a look at SMN, then we'll just say: "Thank you for visiting Scale Model News in 2011 and we look forward to your company for the rest of this year, and of course, during the New Year 2012 to come." The pix are of our stellar (well, Star Wars) light display - and after the festive season is over, those attractive blue LEDs may well find continuing use as blast-pit lighting for our big starship landing field diorama. But that's another story, to be told in 2012!

SMN report: Recent rumours have swirled around the notion of Revell adding to its big-scale range with a Heinkel He 219 Uhu (Owl) night fighter. And it seems that this really is going to happen, and that it won’t simply be a scaled-up version of the 1:72 scale kit already available. Neat radar antennas If the Heinkel He 219 Uhu comes anywhere near the standard of Revell’s recent Heinkel He 111, then 2012’s modelmakers are in for a treat. When assembled, the twin-engine aircraft model should measure some 485 mm (19.1 in) long, with a wingspan of 578 mm (22.8 in). Delicate items such as the Uhu’s fork-like nose and tail radar antennas will really benefit from being produced in big 1:32 scale. Advanced design The two-seater He 219 Uhu was a sophisticated design that included not only an advanced night-interception radar system, but also the world’s first operational ejection seats. It was the first German aircraft with tricycle landing gear, and had it been available in greater numbers, ...

Mat Irvine reports: Since its inception, Round 2 has reissued kits that haven’t seen the light of day for many years. But they aren’t all straight down-the-line reissues. Many of the new kits supply more parts than originally, often by combining parts from several versions that you didn’t get first time around. Also, some parts are supplied in varied colours - for example, plain transparent parts in the early kits are now supplied with three other transparent shades, so you can mix and match if you wish. Dune Buggy diorama One such up-and-coming reissue is the classic Mayers Manx Dune Buggy, which features a return of the original cardboard diorama background - Wiktor Hamburgers - that hasn’t been seen since the first issue. There will also be body options available in transparent metalflake plastic, though you’ll be lucky to get one, as the model is part of the ‘Katch the Kat’ scheme.  Katch the Kat ‘Katch the Kat’ is a collector-chase idea in which one of every dozen kits will be...