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Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
October 11, 2011
Company
AFV Modeller
MSRP
$14.95

The summer issue of AFV Modeler lives up to its pedigree as a world-class modeling magazine. The cover article is a riff on Luftwaffe ’46. Using what I believe is the Dragon Panther II kit, Miguel Jimenez (MIG products founder) describes his flight of fancy – the Americans and Germans unite at the end of the war to battle the Communist menace using German equipment. The bulk of the article is devoted to giving the tank its marvelous finish. Using color modulation and the hairspray technique, the author gets a fantastic result using advanced finishing techniques.

The next article features Denes Benedick’s diorama. Set in the last days of the 1940 French campaign, the Bronco A13 Mk. II and Adler Kfz. armored car builds a very nice diorama depicting the British First Armored Division on the offensive.

Review Author
Tom Pope
Published on
October 6, 2022
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$22.95

Introduction

1947 was a much simpler time but there were complex problems to be solved. 'Let's put a rocket motor in a small fuselage shaped like a 50 caliber bullet and see if we can maintain controlled flight, faster than the speed of sound'. Sounds simple enough.

Looking back now, the X-1 was simple in shape, power and design and we are still learning from those tests.

Revell has re-released the X-1 as a model kit that captures that simplicity with great detail.

My thanks go out to Revell for providing this kit for review and to IPMS USA for letting me do the review.

In the Box

There are 49 parts in this kit molded in gray and 2 clear. At 1/32 scale, the parts are big and easy to handle and assemble for young, small hands or us 'more experienced' folks with sausages for fingers. A few of the bigger parts separated themselves from the sprues in shipping.

Review Author
Tom Pope
Published on
October 10, 2011
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/500
MSRP
$22.99

Introduction

In 1968, in the first peak of the AMT Star Trek model series, AMT released the Leif Ericson Galactic Cruiser as a start to an intended line of original, AMT-designed sci-fi vehicles. Each ship was to have a story, including key characters. The ship was designed by Star Trek's Enterprise designer, Matt Jeffries. The Leif Ericson was a sci-fi modeler and fan-favorite even then.

In the summer of 2011, AMT re-released the Leif Ericson with its original box art design, with parts cast from the original molds (reviving the clear parts) and an updated Light Emitting Diode (LED) kit.

My thanks go out to AMT for providing this kit for review and to IPMS USA for letting me do the review.

Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
October 8, 2011
Company
SuperScale International
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.00

The decal set consists of one 4.75 x 7.5 inch sheet accompanying by a color glossy 8.5 x 11 inch instruction and placement page in a ziplock plastic bag. I always appreciate the resealable bags, for storing unused decals afterwards and protection from coffee. The decals themselves were printed by Cartograf. Markings for two aircraft are provided, BuNo 162224 of VAQ-135, and BuNo 163527, VAQ-137. Very well-done and unique unit art is included for each aircraft, as well as numerous decals for some ECM pods and drop tanks. The formation light panels appear to be a reasonably accurate color. Unfortunately, there are only formation lights for one aircraft. Consider this if you actually are going to build both aircraft off this sheet. General and detail side views of both are included, and there are two general top and detail views. FS colors are provided for the color schemes, and the decal inks appear to match the FS color chips fairly well.