Hobby Boss continues its run of tanks and vehicles from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). When you look at the cover art for this kit, the vehicle bears a strong resemblance to the iconic HMMWV. Well, this was based on said vehicle. It’s manufactured by the Dongfeng Motor Corporation for the PLA. I don’t know if this means Hobby Boss will also begin producing the HMMWV line, but their catalog indicates several variants of this vehicle in the works. The kit of approximately 170 parts includes six sprues and several body parts, one small sprue of clear parts, a fret of photo etch, four tires, and decals. As with most Hobby Boss kits, it includes two color profiles, one for a UN mission and the other for the PLA. The PLA version has no markings. The parts look great, with a fair amount of detail, though there was a small amount of flash on some of the parts.

History Brief

Our subject is a Los Angeles Class submarine, the USS Greeneville, SSN-772. It was named after the city of Greeneville, Tennessee, home of President Andrew Johnson, and is the only US Navy ship to have borne that name. She was ordered on 14 December 1988 with the contract going to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia. Her keel was laid 28 February 1992, she was launched 17 September 1994, and commissioned on 16 February 1996. The Greeneville had a few bumps and mishaps early in her career but is still serving proudly today.

Our model features an ASDS Advance SEAL Delivery System. It is basically a midget submarine that rides piggyback on larger submarines and is primarily used for covert and clandestine operations by the US Navy SEALs.

This issue represents a milestone for SAM. This is the inaugural issue for Volume 35. Thirty five years of providing a high quality publication to the modeling community is a momentous event and SAM deserves a “Well Done” for that remarkable achievement.

Even if this issue were not the launch for Vol 35, it would have caught my attention immediately. There, on the cover, is one of my favorite modeling subjects. In any scale, the Ju-87 has always been an enjoyable project for me, and in 1/32nd, by Trumpeter, well, it just doesn’t get any better than that. In 9 pages of richly detailed text, Editor Jay Laverty shares the tools and techniques he used to produce an excellent model of the Ju-87B-2.