Scale Modelling news, reviews, features and more...
DELIGHTFUL DELTA
WITH ANTICIPATION for Airfix’s all-new 1/72 Avro Vulcan B.2 growing, the firm’s development team has released the first photos of the test-shot runners and a constructed model.
MID-ENGINED METRO
AUTOMOTIVE AFTERMARKET specialist Decalcas has released a superb photographic reference guide to the MG Metro 6R4 rally car, subject of two upcoming 1/24 kits from Belkits.
ON YELLOW WINGS
UKRAINIAN MANUFACTURER ICM has stayed with a biplane theme for its latest large-scale aircraft release, with a newly tooled 1/32 Stearman PT-17/ N2S-3 Kaydet.
GOING BALLISTIC
THE SOVIET Union’s Delfin/Delta IV ballistic missile submarines served much longer than expected, even outlasting the intended successor class (the Akula/Typhoon), but Zvezda’s 1/350 offering is just the fourth kit of the type.
BEST SPITFIRE YET?
WHEN EDUARD announced it was releasing a newly tooled 1/48 Spitfire Mk.I to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, it definitely grabbed modellers’ attention.
SPITFIRE OF THE SEA
VEHICLE MANUAL publisher Haynes has dipped its toe in the water with its latest Owners Workshop Manual, which describes the Royal Navy’s Motor Gun Boat (MGB) series.
MILITARY TONES
BETTER KNOWN for its auto paints, US-based Model Car World Finishes has recently launched a Military Finishes range, for armour and aircraft.
AIR-DEFENCE GREYHOUND
DESIGNED AS a regimental- level asset, Russia’s 96K6 Pantsir S-1 (NATO nickname SA-22 Greyhound) is popular with modellers and Zvezda is the latest to release a kit of this air defence system.
COSFORD CANCELLATION
SHROPSHIRE SCALE Modellers Club has announced it will not hold its annual model show in April 2021, due to ongoing uncertainty regarding COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
TORPEDO TWIN
Stuart Fone takes a look at the 1/72 Bristol Beaufort Mk.I and assembles his very own model. See all the pictures and the step by step guide here.
DISPLAY CASE
This month’s quartet of readers’ projects includes a varied selection of aircraft, automotive and military subjects
CENTENARY RETIREE
This is the first time Revell’s recent 1/72 Hawk T.1 hasn’t depicted a Red Arrows jet (as per the initial release and subsequent starter set); instead, it provides an all-black 208(R) Squadron livery.
MINUTE 'JUGS'
Here’s another small-scale double package in the form of Platz’s 1/144 P-47D Thunderbolt with early-style ‘razorback’ canopy.
SMALL CARRIER FIGHTER
Arma Hobby has again raised the bar for the level of detail in a 1/72 World War Two-era fighter kit with its newly tooled FM-2 Wildcat.
EUROPEAN RAIDER
Having delighted modellers with its ‘strafer nose’ Invader (see Invading Striker), ICM has subsequently released the bomber variant, which featured a glazed forward section for the bomber/navigator.
CZECH TRAINER
Having released the Si 204 initially as a newly tooled kit, Special Hobby has turned its attention to the licence-built Aero C-3A version.
UNFENCED AIRLINER
This is the second time MisterCraft has re-boxed Heller’s 1/125 Airbus A320, with this British Airways (BA) version following a Lufthansa-labelled offering.
TOOTHY NAVAL FIGHTER
Here’s a welcome return for Eduard’s superb 1/72 Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat as a ProfiPACK edition, containing photo-etched (PE) enhancements and pre-cut canopy mask set.
AGEING PIRATE
Italeri has re-boxed Esci’s 1/48 A-7E Corsair with a stunning new decal sheet, but the kit has not aged well, being produced when raised lines were all the rage and fit/accuracy weren’t regarded as being vital.
ALL-IN-ONE PACKAGE
Here’s a return for Airfix’s diminutive but detailed 1/72 Willys Jeep, this time appearing as a Starter Set with four Humbrol acrylic paints (26 Khaki, 33 Matt Black, 60 Scarlet and 86 Light Olive) plus a small tube of glue and paintbrush.
SELF-RETURNER?
Fans of modern military vehicles will find Zvezda’s 1/35 VPK-7829 K-17 Bumerang (boomerang) a delight, as this new-tool kit is a superbly detailed replica of the Russian amphibious wheeled armoured vehicle fitted with the modular DUBM-30 Epoch upper turret.
TANK TRACTOR
Not content with just releasing T-34 tank variants, ICM has indulged modellers by including the armoured recovery variant, known as ‘tyagach’ (tractor) by its crews and designated either T-34-T or TT-34.
ALL-WHEEL-DRIVE CARRIER
ICM has depicted another World War One truck with this 1/35 replica of the Four-Wheel Drive Auto Company’s Model B design, known as the ‘Truck, Three-Five Ton, Model 1917’ in US Army service.
UPDATED 'CATHEDRAL'
MiniArt’s ode to the M3 tank series (nicknamed the ‘iron cathedral’) continues with the Grant Mk.II.
RUSSIAN COLOSSUS
When it comes to anticipating market requirements, Tamiya inevitably hits the nail on the head by combining ease of assembly and low parts count with the maximum of detail, as evidenced by its newly tooled KV-1.
MOVEABLE MISSILES
Dragon’s recent 1/35 set combining three Mobile Interceptor Missile-23 (MIM-23) Hawks and the associated M192 anti-aircraft missile launcher comprises eight styrene runners – although this includes two sets of three duplicated frames.
MULTI-TURRETED TERROR
It’s great to see less well-known subjects, such as the Soviet T-28 multi-turret tank, covered by manufacturers in 1/72.
FRONTLINE TRUCKERS
Designed to accompany ICM’s Liberty trucks, these driver figures will be equally suitable for most other US Army vehicles from the 1917-18 period.
MAN-PORTABLE ARTILLERY
Zvezda’s 120mm mortar and crew is part of the firm’s Art of Tactic range, designed for wargamers but offering sufficient detail to make it attractive to modellers.
RELAXING SMOKE
This stunning two-figure set from Stalingrad is part of a larger six-piece ensemble of a Panzergrenadier team enjoying a break alongside a half-track crew.