This is a new one to me; a Russian subject produced by an Irish company and manufactured by a Chinese company. Corporate politics are beyond me.

In any case, what we’re dealing with here is a conversion of the ubiquitous and trusty little World War 2 Komsomolets artillery tractor into a tank hunter, mounting a hugely oversize 57mm gun. Apparently only about 100 of these were made and used in the defense of Moscow. I’ve always been a big fan of little tanks, and this one certainly fits the bill. Never having made a model from Mirror Models, I was interested in the challenge and wanted to see what this was made of.

I need to preface this review by saying I had a major setback towards the end of this build. All of the in progress pictures I had been taking were deleted on my computer somehow. I was able to recover some of them, but not all. I did my best to capture what I thought was important during the build. Hopefully the review will still be of use even without those photos’s I lost.

The US Navy’s pending new guided-missile destroyer class looks like something entirely out of a science fiction movie. Known as the Zumwalt class (Admiral Elmo Zumwalt was the youngest officer ever to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, and he led the USN during the time of the Vietnam War), it features a wave-piercing hull and sleek form to reduce its radar cross-section. The first-of-class USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) was launched in October 2013 and she’s expected to reach initial operating capability in 2016 at a cost of about $1.4 billion. Only three 14,654-ton Zumwalt-class destroyers will be built by General Dynamics. With a crew of 142, USS Zumwalt will reach speeds of 30.3 knots. Her armament includes 20 MK 57 VLS missile modules, two 155mm guns and two Mk 46 30mm cannons, plus she will carry two SH-60 helicopters and three MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Author's note: the Zumwalt reminds me of the CSS Virginia ironclad.