Now that the major subassemblies are complete, it was time to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. I naively thought that it would all be downhill from here, even if it was a gently sloping downhill. I didn’t quite realize how many lengthy flat spots there would be along the way.
Anthony Tucker Jones really doesn’t need an introduction to military history readers with his impressive book pedigree, over 500 articles and his contributions to modelers through Pen & Sword and Casemate. His latest book builds on his impressive reputation, and his ability to tie in well-known history of a pivotal and influential German Field Marshall, along with amazing color photographs from Ian Spring’s digital archive, makes this a highly recommended book.
Rommel's Afrika Korps in Colour - Rare German Photographs from the Second World War, is composed of an introduction, five parts with 14 chapters, and an order of battle:
Do modelers really need another book on weathering models? The authors defend their position in the opening paragraph of the book,
“This is a book about weathering and designed with one audience in mind – the military modeler. To be sure, there are many books concerned with weathering military models available, but they all concentrate on weathering techniques – pre-shading, washes, pin-washes, dry-brushing, hairspray, you name it, it has a name and technique. This book is different; it does not tell the modeler how to achieve a particular finish. Rather, it is a reference book showing a range of real military vehicles and their components in real military environments.”
Chasing the Soft Underbelly - Turkey and the Second World War is an amazing, detailed and concise (for the breadth of history covered) book on Turkey’s involvement in World War II, its involvement in the Balkans, its neighboring countries, and the aftermath of World War I that saw the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. While this is not an easy book to digest if you don’t have any background with Turkey, the Balkans, or the principal players (especially the non- historically relatable Turkish leaders), it is well worth the time and money invested. It will fill in a lot of previously known factors of Turkey and its neighbors in the critical 20th Century.
WWII German Staff Car (from Manufacturer’s kit notes)
“The Mercedes-Benz 320 (W142), developed by Daimler-Benz AG, was launched in 1937. It was equipped with a six-cylinder engine with a volume of 3.2 liters (3.4 liters in later versions), which had 78 horsepower. It was available with a short (2880 mm) or long (3300 mm) wheelbase. The Mercedes-Benz 320 (W142) was the most prestigious of the three 6-cylinder middle-class models. One of the body variants for long-wheelbase cars was the Cabriolet. In turn, there were also several versions of this version of the Mercedes-Benz 320, which differ with number of seats, doors, and side windows. The four-seat Cabriolet B version had two doors and four side windows. This car was used by the Wehrmacht as a staff car and was also used as a vehicle for the transportation of senior commanders.
Ryan Aircraft was awarded a contract to develop a new, second-generation target drone based loosely on the Q-2A drone. It vaguely resembled its Q-2A ancestor in general outline. The BQM-34 would spawn a whole family of remotely controlled drones, from the original aerial target, up to reconnaissance variants.
Molded in light grey plastic, there are 42 pieces in all, four of which are not used in the build. The only major problem with the kit is that the intake lip, for some reason, is a separate piece.
Boxing up multiple kits into a single boxing and offering a discount is not a new concept, however, it has yet to be as effective as what ICM currently offers in their product range. This offering offers two great aircraft and a set of figures to compliment them. A diorama waiting to be put together.
As there are three kits in this boxing, the O-2A Skymaster and the OV-10A Bronco along with USAF Personnel in Vietnam, I’ll offer three reviews in one as well.
First off, the personnel. This single sprue contains the parts for five figures found on a USAF flight line.
Finding figures in 1/48th scale for Vietnam is a pretty hard chore. Whether you want to depict USAF or Army helicopter pilots your choices in the past have been pretty slim. Well thanks to ICM there is at least a new option.
Atlantis Models gets credit for another Tom Daniel classic save by resurrecting the Glowing Ghost of the Red Baron kit Atlantis M6742-Model Kit. At 1:4 scale it’s easy to work with and It’s a great kit for beginners too.
Attesting to its popularity the kit’s been re-released a few times in various versions as well as, but this fresh new 2023 offering by Atlantis Models is the first reissue in decades.
Originally released as kit #PC220 in 1969, and according to Tom, “I thought we could do something fun with the chrome helmet again (at the time) and sketched out this skeleton "ghost" design on a place mat at a Mexican restaurant.”
Also included is a beautiful new waterslide decal sheet featuring the Iron Cross markings from WWI and a rubber band to activate the “bobble bone” and invoke the jittering eyeballs.
The original, “far out” instructions now printed in red and black, detail the 10,740 steps required for construction.
For the 1974 racing season, four Porsche 911 Turbo Carrera RSR cars were produced for the Martini Racing Team introducing a turbo boost to the 911 platform. Powered by a 2.1 L turbo-charged engine providing nearly 500 HP, the #22 car driven by Muller & van Lennep took second place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
This 2023 model kit re-release has been issued numerous times by various manufacturers. Italeri gives it a skill level 2 rating. It’s a simple kit to build in out-of-the-box (OOB) form (minus the decals). The kit contains 42 pieces. The body is molded in a silver color. The rest of parts are on one tree molded in black, and there’s a clear window piece with headlight lenses. The model features soft rubber tires and colorful Cartograph waterslide decals. There are instructions for 2 versions with full-color decal placement images and paint callouts.
I’ve built two ICM AH-1Gs in 1/32nd scale. They are great kits, but the landing gear mounts can be fragile in the hands of a ham-fisted modeler like myself. On the two I built I had to pin and glue the gear back on a couple of times. It was frustrating as it was near the end of the build.
The difference between the early and late gear is the early gear has the fairing around the crosstubes. The late are just the round crosstubes.
Inside SAC’s typical blister pack are two white metal landing gear and four parts for the ground handling wheels. Mine were perfectly cast and were exact replicas of the kit landing gear, but stronger. This set does NOT have the aerodynamic fairings installed. Many of the later Vietnam era Cobras had the fairings removed to save weight but more importantly was they really didn’t help. They were a major pain to remove and reinstall.
