The Kit

The kit comes in a well-constructed box with a glossy photograph of a built model and the decal sheet on the front. Along the sides are more pictures of the built model and a brief description of the one-to-one vehicle. Inside, you will find over 240 parts on eight sprues, seven soft rubber tires, a comprehensive and colorful decal sheet, and a chrome adhesive sheet. Everything, except rubber tires, is individually wrapped in plastic. Parts for the body are molded in a glossy black metallic finish. The other parts are molded in a semi black finish; there are clear parts for the glass and a small chrome tree. The instruction sheet is a sixteen-page booklet. It has well-illustrated and easy-to-follow directions. The last two pages are dedicated to decal and chrome adhesive placement.

Several months ago, Cyber-Hobby came out with a kit of the Northrop YB-49 in 1/200 scale. They have now followed up on that with a new kit of the Northrop XB-35, again in 1/200 scale. With a wing span of 172 feet, this would be a very large model in 1/72 scale and still a good-sized one in 1/144 scale. With 1/200 scale, the XB-35's wing span is a manageable 10.32 inches in width. There are 70 parts with no flash in their usual light grey styrene and another 8 parts in clear. A few of these parts may or may not be used, depending on which propellers you use, or if you build a flying version or one on the ground. The two largest parts are the upper and lower wing halves, followed by the four propeller nacelles, but you are given a complete interior even if 90% of it will never be seen.

Let me start by saying that this review really took me out of my comfort zone. I am not a car modeler by any scope, but I feel that with reviewing this magazine it gave me a better appreciation for car models.

In this special of Model Art, the focus is primarily on the F1 series race car. Now, all of the F1 fans please be gentle with me as I give my review, as I am doing my best to interpret Japanese on a subject I know little about.

The issue starts off with coverage of Champion machines from 2006 - 2011. They use three different model manufacturers (Studio 27, Fujimi, and Minichamps diecast) to represent the winners. All the models are in 1/20th scale except for the Minichamps in 1/18th scale.