Italeri produces a number of HO scale (1/87th) railroad items, all featuring European rolling stock or motive power. The Vcff Hopper Car is another item in that successful and excellent line of kits. If you are an aficionado of European trains, specifically Italian equipment, then there is no question that this kit is of interest to you.

But why, you may ask, would I be interested in this offering? Foremost, the quality of this model is very high. The molding detail is excellent, showing lots of bolt heads, and the final product is quite accurate. In fact, placing it on my layout (yes…I’m an IPMS member and a model railroader, all at the same time!), I found that the gauge on the wheel sets included in the Italeri kit matches up with my Atlas track, and the model rolls properly on my layout. Beyond that fact, there are those who enjoy building plastic kits of railroad equipment, and this item makes an interesting addition to any railroad collection.

Cyber-Hobby has released a new helicopter, the Sea King HC.4 in 1/72 scale, that marks the 30th anniversary of its use by the English forces during the Falklands War (1982). The kit has 6 sprues for a part count of 151 pieces, of which 7 will not be used. In addition, a small photo-etch sheet of three parts is included, as well as a decal sheet printed by Cartograf that will allow six different ships to be depicted. The fuselage has delicate recessed panel lines and flush rivets molded in Dragon’s usual light gray styrene. Two types of rotor blades are also provided; one bending upward as in flight and one bending down as when on the ground. The kit also allows one to build the rotor blades in the stowed position; this is the option I chose to keep the shelf space down to the minimum. Back to the fuselage: it is made up of three parts, two halves and the fuselage’s bottom.

History Brief

The ultimate version of the Zero was the A6M5a type 52. Powered by one Mitsubishi NK1F Sakae 21, a fourteen cylinder air-cooled radial rated at 1130 hp for takeoff, 1100 hp at 9350 feet, 980 hp at 19,685 feet – amazing when compared to previous versions. The A6M5 also featured rounded non-folding wingtips, making a stronger wing for faster climbing and increased the diving speed to 460 mph. This Zero was better armed, with two 7.7-mm Type 97 machine guns in the fuselage and two 20-mm Type 99 cannon in the wings; these were belt feed instead of the older drum feed. Other less notable improvements, like thicker skin and added speed from exhaust thrust, were also implemented to the basic Zero design; however these improvements were still not good enough to compete with allied contemporaries, not to mention a shortage of skilled pilots. The Zero’s best days were now behind it; nonetheless, the IJN continued to upgrade the Zero until VJ day.