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Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
March 14, 2011
Company
Aoshima
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$39.98

A Brief History

The High Transfer Vehicle nicknamed “Kounotori” or “White Stork “was designed as an unmanned resupply module for the Japanese Experiment Module and for the International Space Station. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) began development and design work in the early 1990’s with the first flight of “White Stork” taking place on September 10, 2009. “White Stork” can dock with the I.S.S. and unload its cargo in a shirt sleeve environment. Cargo can also be unloaded through a large opening in the fuselage of the “White Stork” using the Canada2 arm. Cargo can be mounted on a retractable payload “sled” which simplifies the extraction of the cargo, and that “sled” is represented in this excellent kit.

The Model:

Review Author
Charles Landrum
Published on
March 14, 2011
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$6.25

Quickboost continues to deliver targeted resin details; designed to improve one overlooked aspect of a model, for a wide range of subjects. Here are three recent releases:

Quickboost states on their website that this set is for the Trumpeter Mig-29A. Unfortunately Trumpeter has only modeled the later model Mig-29s, the –K and –M variants. So I reviewed these covers against my Mig-29K build up and Mig-29A kit.

Review Author
Dave Koukol
Published on
March 14, 2011
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/302
MSRP
$16.95

US Coast Guard Cutter Roger B. Taney retains the claim to fame as the last surviving vessel of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Its keel laid in 1935 and commissioned in 1936, Taney served for over 50 years, seeing combat action during World War II and Vietnam, as well as performing weather station, search-and-rescue, and drug interdiction duties. Taney was decommissioned on December 7, 1986, and presented to the City of Baltimore, and now serves as a museum ship.

Review Author
John Tinay
Published on
March 14, 2011
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$22.95

Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s Beatnik Bandit was introduced to the automotive public as the May ’61 cover of Car Craft magazine. The second in his series of show cars, it became popular as it toured the custom car show circuit in the early 60’s. In the next years, “Big Daddy” Ed Roth continued to improve the breed of custom show cars with his creations. The “Fiberglass Wonder” is now permanently housed in Reno, Nevada in the National Auto Museum.

This kit was originally released in the 60’s and has been re-released multiple times. In this incarnation, there are 128 parts, some of which are not called for in the instructions. The kit includes a detailed chassis and suspension, with a blown V-8 engine. The bubble top is hinged and the front wheels are positional. Molded in solid white and clear plastic, there are also numerous chrome-plated parts and soft black tires. The decals are for the authentic Ed Roth designed paint scheme.

Review Author
Rick Ewing
Published on
January 9, 2022
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$34.95

The Albatros D. III was built under license by the Oesterreichische Flugzeugfabrik AG (Oeffag), totaling 281 aircraft (153.01-153.281). These aircraft had beefier lower wings and the powerful 200-hp Daimler engine. The spinner had a nasty habit of coming off during flight and damaging the airframe. Starting with 153.112, the nose was blunted for the remainder of the production run. This change also increased the speed of the aircraft another 9 mph. The main drawback of the plane was the buried and slow firing Schwarzlose guns. At the insistence of the pilots, these were placed on top of the fuselage in the following 253 series.