I will not hide the fact I enjoy watching Japanese anime and the original “Last Exile” anime is one of my favorites. (No kidding). It represents a wonderful fusion of Sci-fi and the golden age of flight. The show centers around the orphaned brother & sister pair of Lavie Head and Claus Valcaat and their fathers old Vanship. Claus and Lavie work as commercial pilots who deliver messages, cargo and whatnot up until they are dragged into a war. The series is available to watch for free on Hulu.com and can be viewed in either the original Japanese (with subtitles) or it is also available dubbed in English.

Less than two years after treating the modeling world to a state-of-the-art 1/48 scale Ventura PV-1, Revell has released a second version of the Ventura…the type ordered by the RAF in early 1940. According to Revell’s website there are 142 parts, but I counted 143. A number of them are common with the PV-1 kit, but a number of additional ones necessary to replicate the unique details of the RAF Mk.I and Mk.II are included. Twenty-one parts are molded in clear plastic. They are crystal clear and thin enough that interior details are easily viewed. All of the others are molded in a medium gray. As with the PV-1 kit, all parts are well molded with no flash or severe ejection pin marks to deal with. Recessed details are delicately engraved and a few raised details are nicely represented. Fortunately rivet detail is limited to a few conspicuous ones on the top of the fuselage and around fuel tank caps on the wing tops.

Background

Platz, out of Japan, has been involved in the 1/144th modeling community for a while. They have produced many of their own kits and have teamed up with another Japanese company called F-Toys. F-Toys produce various subjects, among them being 1/144th scale aircraft kits. These kits from F-Toys are typically pre-painted, mostly assembled, and somewhat snap together. Many 1/144th scale modelers will take these pre-painted F-Toys kits strip them down, add details, repaint, and decal them. However, now we are seeing Platz take those same F-Toys kits and produce them as traditional model kits. This T-34A is a prime example of that venture; first it was released under the F-Toys name as a pre-painted kit, and now it’s released as a traditional model kit.

The Kit