SCALE MODEL NEWS

Mat Irvine: This Atlantis model depicts an amoeba, a single-celled organism generally accepted as the smallest ‘living animal.’ In fact, the amoeba name can refer to a wide range of single-celled organisms, but this is the one generally found in pond water, known as Amoeba proteus.  The size of these tiny beasts does vary, but if we take an ‘average’ Amoeba proteus (if there is such a thing), its length or width, whatever you call it, ranges from around 200 to 700 micrometres across, about .5 mm. The size of the Atlantis amoeba model is about 200 mm at its widest, so the scale works out to around 400:1. The model is moulded entirely in clear styrene because, at this size, ‘colour’ doesn’t really come into it, as colour pigments are generally larger than the object. So amoebas are basically clear, and consequently moulding the kit entirely in transparent styrene is appropriate. This could make a visually boring model though, so the instructions suggest painting various sections, to ...

PETER CHIANG’S LATEST MODEL COMPETITION in Singapore focused on an ever-popular subject, the Supermarine Spitfire fighter. David Jefferis: The recent mini-Airfix Spitfire Group build from Hobby Bounties featured a wide range of models depicting the classic British single-seater.  Kevin Leo’s entry was the First of the Few which was the Spitfire prototype K5054, complete with its two-blade propeller.  First Prize winner was Jonathan Kua, with his Spitfire Mk I, dating from August 1938. This particular aircraft was based at RAF Duxford, in Cambridgeshire, now the Imperial War Museum Duxford, an airfield that still hosts many aviation events, including spectacular air shows, fascinating visitor museums, and hangars packed with droolworthy historic aircraft.  Other Spitfire entries included a beautifully-painted Seafire, complete with arrester hook and folded wings. But perhaps the most unusual entry was Lee Stringer’s Red 5 which was an 'Air War meets Star Wars' concoctio...

  A SUPER-DETAILED LOOK at English rural life around 1930, seen through extraordinary dioramas that feature railways, villages and landscapes. David Jefferis: We recently went to see the Pendon Museum, based in the handsome village of Long Wittenham, south of Oxford, UK. It was well worth the trip, as the museum includes among the largest dioramas anywhere, and certainly the biggest ones we've seen in southern England. The Vale Scene features buildings, landscape and railways that were seen in Oxfordshire’s Vale of the White Horse. The Vale area has changed significantly since the 1930s, so it’s not surprising to learn that this giant diorama is probably the best representation of those long-gone times.  The Dartmoor Scene shows an imaginary Great Western branch line, somewhere between Exeter and Plymouth, running high along the southern edge of the wild lands of Dartmoor. Details of the diorama include notices warning against trespassing, and about not crossing the line, ‘...

  IF THIS ROCKET LOOKS LIKE a German V-2 rocket, that’s because it is – sort of. The Chinese Dong Feng 1 ( East Wind  1) ground-to-ground missile was based on the Soviet SS-2  Sibling  missile, which itself was a lengthened V-2. Mat Irvine:  This Bronco Models kit is not brand new, being first issued in 2019, but it has only recently come to my attention. It is a relatively simple kit, moulded in two runners, one in light grey for the missile, the other dark grey for the classic V-2 launch pad. On the side of the box it claims to be ‘No Glue, No Paint, Quick Build’, but although the rocket halves, engine nozzle and even the fins can be ‘snapped’ together, smaller parts, especially those for the pad, still have to be glued together. In addition, although the two grey colours could avoid painting, some more appropriate shades are a better bet. Main assembly is indeed fairly simple, but the launch pad has a number of very small and very fine parts, especially where...

HERE'S ANOTHER SUPERB VIDEO from master model-maker, Tom Grigat. Enjoy!

ATLANTIS MODELS CONTINUES to reissue kits from the past with this 1:25 scale Revell Mooneyes Dragster. However, it’s not quite the original Revell model. Although Atlantis has all the parts required, Revell never issued the kit in exactly this form. Mat Irvine:  The model indeed depicts the famed Mooneyes dragster, built by Dean Moon in 1961, but what Revell issued at the time was a Double Car Kit, where you could build two complete kits from the one box. This box contained the so-called sanitary bucket ‘T’ (a hot rod based on a Ford Model T) and a Mooneyes dragster. Revell never issued Mooneyes by itself, though the individual runners were issued separately in various parts boxes, you could assemble enough components to build Mooneyes individually.  This time round, Atlantis have rectified the situation by supplying half a dozen of the separate runners in one box, with brand-new box art. One runner has the engine parts, another the wheels, others the chassis and body pan...

THIS 1:72 SCALE REDSTONE SPACE LAUNCHER is a recent issue from Horizon Models, a relatively new Australian model company. Mat Irvine: This latest Horizon Models 1:72 scale release features a Redstone launcher, which can be assembled to make any one of the following versions: Juno I with Explorer 1 satellite, US Army PGM-11 Redstone IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile), Sparta and WRESAT (Weapons Research Establishment Satellite). Horizon provides identical runners for most of the parts, as rockets tend to be vertically symmetrical. In some places, this can mean slight modifications to one half as against the other, such as filling in an indentation or drilling a hole. You also get some runners that are the same Horizon’s Mercury-Redstone kit, basically the lower section of the first stage, the fins and the launch pad.  The finished colours and markings differ between the four options, so you can build only one specific rocket from the kit. Unfortunately you can’t swap them ...