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Review Author
Mark Aldrich
Published on
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$16.95

MiniArt definitely knows how to be creative with their sprues. This kit is nothing more than eight of their F sprues used to make a metal bridge with handrails. Sprue F is the sprue that was used in their “metal Stair”. This sprue is used to create the platform part of the stair kit.

This was a simple build. Cut some parts, do a little sanding and the bridge is done. The handrails are a different issue. They require lots of sanding or at least scraping. That is what I did to remove the large visible seam lines on the parts. When finished, the “bridge measures in at 5 7/8 long by 2 7/8 wide. Without the handrails attached you could get away with putting a number of vehicles on the bridge (as seen in the photos) If you end up attaching the handrails, you will be limited to what you can actually put onto the bridge.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Max Modeller
MSRP
$9.00

I have been a fan of both AFV Modeller and Air Modeller for a while due to their excellent articles, top notch photos and in-depth subject matter, so when two sample copies of Max Modeller (Volumes 6 and 7) arrived, I was eager to see what the magazine was all about.

First, the basics: each magazine is 68 pages, printed completely in color, on nice stock. The photos are perfect- -clear and detailed, and close up when needed. There are scattered ads for many UK and other vendors in the magazine. There is a review section of 5 pages or so and they rate the reviewed kits. The remainder of the magazine has five articles and this is where the magazine gets its name.

The first thing you notice is that the builds are not OOB or “How to Airbrush Camouflage”. They are in-depth articles with large amounts of sculpting, scratch building or detailing involved. Here’s a list of the 10 articles between the two and a few observations:

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
Mirage Hobby
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$18.95

German U-boat U-176 was ordered on 23 December 1939, and had her keel laid on 6 February 1941. She was launched on 12 September 1491, and was commissioned on 15 December in 1941 at Deschimag AG Wesser in Bremen. The boat was lost with all fifty-three hands on 15 May 1943, while on patrol near Havana, sunk by the Cuban patrol boat CS-13 after being spotted by an American OS2U Kingfisher on watch in the area. During the boat’s career, she served under a single commanding officer, Reiner Dierksen, performed training cruises with the fourth flotilla from 15 December 1941 until 31 July 1942, and was the front boat of the tenth flotilla on a cruise beginning 1 August 1942 until her loss. There were eleven ships sunk by U-176 during her career, consisting of 53,307 gross rated tons.

Book Author(s)
Robert Forczyk, illustrations by Ian Palmer
Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$17.95

The idea of comparing combatants and combat actions from various historical conflicts is intriguing, whether real or imagined. This new Osprey publication provides a refreshing historical account of British cruiser encounters with German commerce raiders. A single Hilfskreuzer could sortie for a long time, disguised as a merchant ship, sinking commercial shipping. When caught by a British warship, the Hilfskreuzer often effectively exploited the element of surprise, in some case sinking a warship of superior size and firepower. Countering this threat was a challenge to the British Navy, who did eventually prevail over the raiders.

The book content is nicely organized with the following chapters:

Review Author
Ryan Harden
Published on
Company
Skif Model
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$21.00

First Look

The 122 SpH 74 is a tracked, medium sized self-propelled gun in service with the modern Finnish army. A Soviet design, the SpH 74 is the Finnish designation for essentially the 2S1 Gvozdika that has been around since the early 70’s.

Skif’s new release is a reissue of their earlier 2S1 with the inclusion of new parts to allow the modeler to build the version currently in operation by Finland. As far as I can tell the new parts are mainly in photo etch, with the original plastic parts unchanged. In fact more than a few parts will go unused as they are 2S1 specific and not present in photos of the 74 I’ve been able to dig up.