This is the third (of four) in this TrainCraft series. The other volumes are:

• How to Build a Model Railway
• Constructing Buildings for Model Railways
• Euston – A History and Modelling the 1875 Station (available for preorder)

These intensive, informative, and well photographed books are written by David Ashwood (the Vice Charmain) with the Market Deeping MRC (Model Railroad Club), now located in Essendine, near Peterborough, England.

As a plastic scale modeler, I was pleasantly surprised that this is a book focused on model railroads. As most of us modelers are open-minded, I wanted to know what I could learn from another fun hobby I shared as a lad; I was not disappointed.

ICM isa hobby company based out of Ukraine and has provided IPMS-USA a six (6) bottle acrylic paint set for review, WWII German U-boats Acrylic Paint Set.

In the Box

The paint set contains six (6) 12ml bottles with nontoxic water based acrylic paints. The following colors are provided:

• Sky Grey (1033)
• Dark Sea Grey (1034)
• Dark Grey (1037)
• Brass (1018)
• Oily Steel (1026)
• Clear Red (1011)

Straight out of the bottle, the paint’s viscosity is thick and purposely prepared for brush painting. The instructions do recommend thinning 40-60% with water or thinner for airbrushing. All surfaces are recommended to have primer applied prior to painting. Volume wise, the paint takes up about 70% of the bottle and has “room” to add thinner if so desired.

Note, the bottles are not the usual dropper style (think Vallejo) but a twist off cap and a large opening to allow brushes to enter the bottle.

A new 3D printed Marsden Matting (AKA: PSP, Perforated Steel Plate) is now available from Majestic Frames out of Warner Robins, Georgia. Due to a lack of affordable individual PSP for the modeler to create a 1/48^th scale diorama base, an IPMS member (and a small business owner) took it upon himself to fill a void in the hobby.

In the Package and Product Notes

The sample review came in to two (2) Ziploc bags. Each bag has 105 pieces, enough plates to cover an 8 X 10 inch base (203 X 254 mm). One bag has a “(T)” in the title which has 0.03 inch (0.8 mm) thick plates. The other bag has 0.05 inch (1.3 mm) thick plates. Each plate size is 0.3 X 2.5 inches (7.6 X 63.5 mm). In addition, a sample base was also sent with PSP already installed on a matt board and unpainted.

Inspecting the plates, they are created by a 3D printer using small diameter bronze filament. They are flexible yet brittle when reaching its breaking point.

Neverland Hobby has been involved in the plastic model hobby for a while and have jumped into the pond with there first release, a 1/144 Kriegsmarine U-Boat U-96. As a bit of background, U-96 was a Type VIIC version of the U Boat which sunk 27 ships and was it self sunk in port by allied bombs. It is known for having the markings of a laughing swordfish.

New decals of the F-16C Block 30B Nellis Cajun Aggressors in 1/48^th scale is available from TwoBobs Aviation Graphics. Markings are for the 926^th Wing, 706 Aggressor Squadron based out of Nellis AFB, Nevada, December 2023.

In the Package

There are two (2) decal sheets provided. The main sheet provides the colorful tail markings and stencils. The second sheet is smaller and has some dedicated stencils for the Kinetic kit and ECM pod. They are printed by Cartograf and have minimal excess clear film around the edges. The colors are vibrant and the registry is perfect.

This decal set has markings for 2 aircraft. One for the colorful splinter and tail scheme (SN 85-1501, Nicknamed: “FELON”) and the dark gray “Have Glass V” scheme (SN 86-0222). It also has markings for five AN/ALQ-167 ECM “Angry Kitten” Pods.