The Toyota Prius has made its way from a government incentive driven experiment to a very successful mainstream product offering. As such it really deserves to be noticed for its place in history. The Prius body styling and the kit subject matter in general, however, may only appeal to the Prius enthusiast.

The Fujimi kit represents the 2009 model year of the 3rd generation Prius and is an all new kit. White, clear and chrome trees are all individually bagged. Also included are soft rubber tires, a small decal sheet and window masks. Part count is just over 80 pieces and the build up is fairly simple. The result is a curbside model with no open elements.

Italeri has been releasing more Italian WWII subjects in both 1/72 and 1/48 scales over the past several years, with mixed success. Several were excellent kits such as the CR.42 and the SM.82 while others, like the most recent Re.2002, were poorly received by some modelers. The recent release of the MC.200 has drawn some negative pre-release publicity as well as comparisons to the well done PCM kit released earlier. Being a sucker for anything in splotchy camouflage, I jumped at the opportunity to try the kit for myself, and found a solid effort with good points and some bad points as well.

The Aircraft

The Vampire certainly qualifies as an “early jet”, being second oldest to the Meteor in RAF service. The Vampire’s twin-boom layout was a result of the low power of the early jet engines. The shorter the tail pipe, the more power the engine could deliver. The Vampire’s original mission was strictly as an interceptor, with only the 4x 20 mm Hispano cannon as armament.