SCALE MODEL NEWS

EDITOR KENNY CONKLIN tells us that the site showing his excellent Model Builder International isn't quite the real deal. As in, someone's posted it without permission. But all's well, you can still read MBI online. Click here for the official online read , as supplied by Kenny. Great stuff - enjoy looking through the pages. We're really looking forward to seeing the next magazine from this stable, titled SciFiantasy - right up our street, and it will definitely earn a place in our sister blog Starcruzer . Thanks for the info Kenny, and good luck with the new SciFiantasy magazine - the content will fit totally into the Starcruzer  scheme of things, as it's about to expand from a universe of stuff, morphing into a Megaverse of sci-tech, sci-fi, and amazing futures.

Here's a invitation to have a look inside Mat Irvine's palace of small wonders, his Marvellous Model Museum. It's packed with just about every model kit you have ever heard of - and plenty that you haven't... Dioramas are a Mat Irvine speciality, and here a Hummer H2 is shown parked in a neatly crafted off-road setting. A SCUBA-equipped cute custom car seen in an underwater encounter with a passing squid. Russian technology to the fore (below) with an Ekranoplan 'Caspian Sea Monster' depicted in ultra-low level flight over a small-scale seascape. Nostalgia in flight with a Phantom Mustang, looking just as good as it did when newly released more than half a century ago. Batteries allowed many functions to work at the touch of a button. Mat's window display (below) ranges from a Space Shuttle to a gaudily-decorated F-117 Stealth fighter. Spooky houses feature on the bottom shelf. The Beatles were the top-fave 1960s-era mega-band, and so deserve to be seen in ...

THIS LOOKS TO BE QUITE A BEAST from diecast manufacturer, Corgi. And the video interview shows that there's been useful cross-fertilisation from Airfix during the design process. Hardly surprisingly, the box ( above ) is a big one, though we shouldn't take the 'Limited Edition' label too seriously, except where the markings are concerned. There will doubtless be many variations in finishes to come, and maybe some intriguing models too - we'd like to see a Blue Steel version, and a Black Buck Falklands War veteran. The video ( below ) reveals that photo-etch parts are used for some details, and there are fascinating shots of various CAD drawings. It's well worth watching from start to finish. The model features a particular ex-Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan B2, serial number XH558. It's the same aircraft that has been the focus for the 'Vulcan to the Sky' Return to Flight campaign, details below. About the real thing In Corgi's words, "After the...

According to Editor Kenny Conklin, "Our hobby is not about gluing plastic parts together. Scale modeling has evolved into a three dimensional replication of a historical subject..." Important: if the link above is dead, click here for the genuine thing , as approved by the Editor. Which is a pretty fair summary, even if the historical aspect might not completely cover a particularly favourite model zone for the SMN Crew, science-fiction and fantasy subjects. Still, Kenny's words resonate nicely, and the pages of Model Builder International are full of lush photographs, supported by plenty of useful texts. It's all good stuff, and we can heartily recommend that you set aside some time to give MBI a good read from end to end.

Inspired by the original Aurora kit of the monstrous Addams Family, this Moebius Models production of 1313 Mockingbird Lane is something that Aurora might have made as a kit, way back when. Mat Irvine: Oddly enough, Aurora did come up a kit called ‘The Munsters’ Living Room’ (recreated as a kit by Polar Lights) but not the house itself. But now Moebius Models have come up with the goods. Being a building, rather than a car or plane, construction is slightly different to more usual modelling subjects. Thought has gone into how the finished model could be displayed, and to this end each window, and there are 24 of them, has a transparent insert, with a coloured image of the frames, drapes, cobwebs and the like. This has the reasoning of lighting the model from the inside - but more of this later. The house consists of four main sections: front door and hallway, three-storey tower section, the back rooms, then the largest section, termed the West Wing. These sections fit onto a single ba...

THE AMT 1960 FORD RANCHERO is a 1:25 scale model that first appeared as an ‘annual’ kit in 1961. This particular Ranchero is a 1960 version, but pickups didn’t change as much as sedans from year to year. Mat Irvine: AMT has also issued the Ford Ranchero as the vehicle used by drag racing legend, ‘Ohio’ George Montgomery. He won the Autolite-sponsored ‘Little Eliminator’ Ranchero in 1960, as his prize for winning at the Big Go drag races that year. He used the Ranchero as a push-and-tow vehicle for the rest of his career, and still owns the car. The Ford Ranchero was a sedan-based pickup, designed to give an owner the advantage of a car-like driving position, with a utilitarian pickup load bed behind. The pickup was based on Ford’s successful compact car of the time, the Falcon. The kit (above, below) features some original custom components, such as a pleated top for the cab, louvres for the hood, and horizontal ‘tube’ aerials. If you wish to build a service vehicle, the kit includes o...