When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his underwater exploration, so when this kit came up for review, I was interested in learning more about it and building this kit.

The submersible is named "Shinkai” and can dive to a depth of 6500 meters (ed note: 21,320’); as of 2011, it is the deepest-diving vessel of its type, having been completed in 1989 and starting operation in 1990. It is currently operated by JAMSTEC (Japanese Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology) which was founded on April 1, 2004, as a semi-government research organization. Shinkai has a crew of two, plus one scientist, for a 3-person total complement. That sounds good until you find out they fit into a 2-meter diameter, 73.5mm-thick sphere made of titanium alloy.

History Brief

German military car, type 170V, first appeared in military service in 1937. The car had advanced elements of construction for that time, such as the front and rear suspension system and X shaped oval tube frame. It was because of the excellent suspension system that the 170V was most widely used civilian car in the Wehrmacht. By 1942, a total of 86,615 model 170Vs were pressed into service and remained in production well after the war had ended. Featuring a 4-cylinder, 38 h.p. engine, the car had a top speed of 108 km/h and could seat 4.

Let me begin this review by saying that I have all the OzMods 1/144 kits and love them all. Their subject matter is great. I only wish they would speed up their releases.

This latest release of the F-86D was a welcome addition to their small range and I was surprised to see that it came in a box instead of their usual bag and also that it was molded in a softer plastic then their usual brittle kind.

This kit had an almost complete cockpit that I was pleased to see. The seat is a two piece beauty complete with molded-in seat belts. I was disappointed with the instrument panel, so I reduced a 1/72 decal for an F-86 instrument panel to 1/144 scale and glued it to a piece of plastic card and put it in place of the kit one. The difference was remarkable. The cockpit tub was very nice with good side instrument detail.