SCALE MODEL NEWS

FOLLOWING RECENT JAMES BOND articles, here’s a piece on converting two kits into one of 007’s more unusual forms of transport. Mat Irvine reports:  The second James Bond movie was based on Ian Fleming’s book  From Russia With Love , and came before  Goldfinger , where the idea of Bond using a specially adapted car – the famed Aston Martin DB-5 – was introduced. In  From Russia With Love  the vehicles were frankly ‘working props’, appearing on-screen for relatively short periods of time. But the movie did have one set of wheels that made an impact, a 1961 Chevrolet Apache 30 stake truck, carrying a load of cut flowers ( movie still below ). In the movie, 007 hijacked the truck to escape an attacking helicopter, driving across what was meant to be ‘east European’ countryside, with his latest lady friend ( see below )bouncing about in the pickup bed at the back, amongst the blooms. A kit of the vehicle was a non-starter, my idea coming from the multi-issue par...

MORE INTERESTING STUFF from Peter Chiang with these entries from his Hobby Bounties mini-Airfix James Bond competition 2019. The cars are all in 1:32 scale, the James Bond Aston Martin ( above ) being fitted with an ejection-seat cutout in the roof, and much else besides.   SMN report: Here we see a nicely assembled Airfix 4.5 litre Bentley ( below ) and VW Beetle with skis, both to 1:32 scale. Secret agent Bond ( below ) leaves his top hat behind. A change of scale ( below ) with Airfix 1:76 scale astronauts, here featured in a neat diorama setting. Click here for more info at Hobby Bounties.

SOME INTERESTING PIX HAVE ARRIVED from our man in Singapore, Peter Chiang, of Hobby Bounties . The classic 1:12 scale Airfix Bentley is boxed here in 007 guise. SMN report: The old Bentley kit is still a good one and well worth a build, as these pictures reveal.    The completed Bentley pictured here has been completed for Peter's mini-Airfix James Bond Competition, due for judging on October 26, 2019. Early box painting ( below ) featured the 4.5 litre Bentley in its race-winning paint finish of British racing green. And here Peter Chiang sent us pix of a Bond figure, a work-in-progress that's looking very impressive. It's based on converting Sean Connery to another of the best Bond actors, Daniel Craig ( below ). Click here to visit Peter Chiang at Hobby Bounties.

THERE’S AN OLD AVIATION question that runs, “Why do they put four engines on a 747? Answer: because they can’t fit six…” Well, that doesn’t apply to the Antonov An-225 as it has six engines as standard and holds the record as the largest aircraft in the world currently flying. Mat Irvine: The Antonov An-225 was initially developed to transport the Soviet Buran space shuttle, but with the demise of that project, the An-225 – named Mrija (‘Dream’ in Ukrainian) and developed from the four-engined An-124 – was mothballed for almost a decade. But then it was refurbished as a transporter for very large and heavy payloads. The Revell model is the first conventional kit of this giant aircraft, and is moulded ( below ) in standard 1:144 scale. You can build the An-225 in one of four poses. These are: landing gear up for in-flight display, gear down, with the large loading door open, and with the fuselage kneeling nose-first to allow vehicles to drive straight into the capacious hold. The kit h...

WE FEATURED THE BANDAI AT-ST WALKER in July 2018. Here it is again, with a video to show you the way this delightful kit goes together. SMN report: Bandai does a good job with the AT-ST ( header, below ) and other Star Wars kits. Moulding is top-class, and the component fit is second to none. We draw the line at Bandai's attempt at a laser blast ( below ). It's moulded in transparent red, but lacks realism, and is better left off. On the other hand, it's your choice! Here's the excellent build video ( below ) that shows every detail of an out-of-the-box assembly. Click here for info on the AT-ST at SMN. Click here for more Star Wars in general.

MODELLED BY REVELL AT 1:32 SCALE, this is the largest conventional kit of the first aircraft to break the sound barrier, a mission achieved on 14 October 1947. The flight was made ten years to the month before the launch of the Soviet Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. Mat Irvine reports:  The Bell X-1 kit is of reasonably simple construction, the bullet-shaped fuselage being in just two halves. The wings are in upper and lower halves, but the smaller horizontal tail comes as a single component for each side. A plus point for the kit is that Revell includes a fully-detailed cockpit, complete with a seated figure of the pilot, Charles ‘Chuck’ Yeager. He can fitted in place, or omitted, whichever you choose. The access door can be sealed shut, or left off. You even get the wooden stick Yeager used to help close the door – he didn’t let on to his bosses that he had broken two ribs the previous evening, making his movements somewhat impaired! Also supplied is the four-chamber R...