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Thank you to the Eduard Company for sending this detail set for review, it is always a pleasure to see what your new products bring to the scale modeling world. Thank you also to the IPMS Reviewer Corps staff members who do the hard work in getting us modeling products to review, the reviews posted, and the news spread to the world.
The world’s perceptions concerning nationalistic colonialism have virtually reversed over the course of the last century, and the impact of such behavior and its aftermath by mostly European nations on less-developed areas of the world is still being debated today. That being said, for the figure modeler this era in human history is a goldmine of really interesting military uniforms, not least because so many of them combine European and local costumes in truly unique ways.
As far as global colonial powers during the 19th century go, France was certainly in the top three, having footholds throughout most of northern Africa as well as IndoChina and elsewhere. They incorporated large numbers of natives to help keep order in these regions, and in the process created some of these fascinating hybrids of dress. I can’t think of any other colonial power of the period who embraced this idea quite so enthusiastically, although perhaps the British are a close second.
Last summer Eduard released its much anticipated MiG-21MF kit in 1/72 scale. The initial release represents aircraft manufactured at the Gorky factory. In conjunction with the release of this kit, Eduard also released a separate resin cockpit set for these late model MiG-21MFs.
The set includes nine resin parts, a color photo-etch fret and an acetate sheet with 2 heads-up screens and is intended as a complete replacement for the kit cockpit and ejection seat. As you would expect with Eduard, the resin parts are beautifully cast with exquisite detail and the detail on the photo-etch set is crisp and sharp.
The Buk (Beech Tree) missile system is an integrated system of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile systems developed by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The Buk system is designed to counter all manner of airborne threats from cruise missiles to unmanned aerial vehicles. This new kit from Meng represents the Buk-M1-2 transporter erector launcher and radar (TELAR) vehicle. TELAR superstructure is a turret containing the fire control radar at the front and a launcher with four ready-to-fire missiles on top.
The Saab 37 Viggen was an aircraft ahead of its time. Its designers used an unorthodox construction which enabled the plane to meet all requirements which had been laid on it and in some parameters even surpass them. The Swedish Air Force ordered several various versions of the Viggen jet fighter, its basic design formed a universal platform which, using specialized equipment, enabled the plane to be used for different roles. The first prototype machine took off for its maiden flight on 8 February 1967 with E. Dalström at the controls. The aircraft was powered by a Volvo RM8 turbofan, a license-built variant of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D with an afterburner and thrust reverser which, in addition to the double-delta wing design, enhanced the plane’s performance the takeoffs and landings on short airstrips. The avionics of the Viggen was state-of-the-art at the time, the Viggen was the first type to be equipped with a computer with integrated circuits.
