Andrew Birkbeck
Reviews By Author
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German Main Battle Tank Leopard 1A3/A4Published:
We have not had a new kit of the Leopard 1 series of tanks in decades, so it was good to see the up and coming firm of Meng Models taking on the task of giving the modeler a state of the art kit to add to their collection of late 20th century MBT’s. So how did they do?? What’s In The Box
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French FT-17 Light Tank (Cast Turret)Published:
The 100th Anniversary of the tank going into combat takes place in September 2016, and as this anniversary draws closer I have become fascinated with these first creaking, clattering vehicles of death; part of the first modern industrial war in history. And while the British Army’s rhomboid shaped monsters that took part in that engagement at Flers-Courcelette during the Battle of the Somme were the first tanks to see service, the diminutive French FT-17 can legitimately lay claim to be the great grandfather of the modern tank: the first fully tracked armored vehicle with a rotating turret. And as luck would have it, Meng Models have produced a simply magnificent model kit of this seminal vehicle. Not only is this model exquisitely detailed, it is fully detailed, as it comes… more |
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French Char 2C Super Heavy TankPublished:
Following on from their superb yet diminutive FT-17 WW1 French tank, Meng Models of China provides the modeling public with a colossus of a tank model, the French Char 2C. Like the FT-17, the Char 2C was born during the years of battle in World War One, but came too late in the piece to see combat. Before the prototype was even completed, an order was placed for 300 of these gargantuan beasts, but due to the war coming to an end, this order was subsequently cancelled, and only 10 Char 2C’s were eventually delivered in 1921, becoming the largest tank ever to enter service in any of the world’s armies. The 10 vehicles went on to become mainly propaganda vehicles, “staring” in various cinematic productions to show the strength of the French military machine. Each of the ten tanks was… more |
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JGSDF Type 90 Main Battle Tank Workable Tracks w/ Rubber PadPublished:
Raupen Modell is a new firm whose first releases center on providing workable track sets for the 1/35th scale Tamiya JGSDF Type 90 Main Battle Tank. The accessory kit under review in this article covers the set that includes rubber pads for the metal tracks. A second, lower priced set covers tracks without the rubber pads. The kit’s contents come in a stout plain white cardboard box with a simple adhesive sticker label, and consist of approximately 45 small injection molded plastic sprues of a steel gray color. Each sprue consists of four track links worth of parts, each track link having four parts to it. There are enough sprues to provide for the 76 links per side required for a Tamiya Type 90 kit, with some left over for spares or to cover any parts breakage during assembly… more |
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Building the Wingnut Wings Fokker D.VIIPublished:
Anyone who has peaked inside the box of a WingNut Wings 1/32nd WW1 aircraft kit knows the potential joys that await the builder of such a kit. If you are at all familiar with WW1 aircraft modeling, you will undoubtedly have heard of Ray Rimell’s Albatros Productions Ltd., publishers of Windsock International modeling magazine and Windsock Datafiles etc. So imagine my delight when IPMS USA gave me the opportunity to review a publication that combines the two: a Ray Rimell publication covering the building and detailing of WingNut Wings’ four 1/32nd Fokker D.VII kits! Read on………. Contents
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D9R Armored BulldozerPublished:
Ever since I was a young lad, and would pass construction and road works sites while out driving or walking with my Father, I have loved bulldozers. Big, yellow and Caterpillar! Yet whenever I went to try and build a model of one, I always struck out. The only kit I could ever find of a Caterpillar product in injection plastic was a 1/25th scale kit, which was either too expensive for me as a young hobbyist, or the wrong scale once I got a job but moved on to focus on modeling military subjects in 1/35th scale. This year, however, Meng Models from China, a relatively new player in the model kit industry, has hit the ground running and provided the 1/35th scale military modeler with an amazingly detailed injection model of the mighty Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer. Read on! … more |
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Japanese Army Infantry, Peleliu 1944Published:
Within the past year, Dragon Models has issued a brilliantly executed model of the Imperial Japanese Army’s Type 95 Light Tank “Ha-Go,” arguably the most important Japanese tank of Pacific War (review at http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/type-95-light-tank-ha-go-early-producti…). Unfortunately, figures to go with such a vehicle have been in short supply over the years, with the various manufactures much preferring to produce German or even Italian figures from among the Axis forces of WW2, with Japanese subjects a distant third. Of late, though, this has changed with MiniArt, Fine Molds, and Master Box all releasing sets of WW2 Japanese figures in the past year. Now, Dragon joins them with a set of… more |
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Universal Carrier Mk.1 w/CrewPublished:
I will start this review with a simple statement: this is one of the most complex, highly detailed, and simply wonderful models I have ever had the pleasure to encounter. It has 13 sprues of plastic parts with exquisitely fine details. Additionally, there are three frets of photo etch brass parts, 32 metal springs, 8 tiny metal shafts, and a length of metal chain. The small set of decals covers 4 different vehicles from three different nations’ armed forces. And, despite all this complexity, the kit assembles, with a few notable exceptions, extremely well. So read on! Riich’s instruction booklet, as befitting a kit with this much detail, is very complex…but, despite this, is pretty easy to follow. The construction sequences number 44 in total, over 23 pages. Careful study of… more |
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Pz.Kpfw. 35(t)Published:
In the mid 1930’s, the nation of Czechoslovakia had one of the most sophisticated military arms manufacturing industries in Europe. Upon the German annexation of the Czech territories known as the Sudetenland in 1938, and the occupation of the entire country in 1939, the Czech armament factories fell into the hands of German forces. Two main tanks originated from these factories, known as the Panzer 35(t) and Panzer 38(t) to the Germans (“t” is short for the German word for Czechoslovakia, “Tschechoslowakei”). The Panzer 38(t) chassis soldiered on throughout World War Two as the basis for a number of tank destroyers and self propelled flak guns, while the Panzer 35(t) had a shorter career. Academy has produced a state-of-the-art kit of the Panzer 35(t) in what one might call in… more |
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Kharkov 1942: The Wehrmacht Strikes BackPublished:
Through their intelligence gathering operations in the Spring of 1942, the Soviet Military Command became aware that Hitler and the Wehrmacht were planning a forthcoming summer offensive. In order to disrupt the Germans, Stalin ordered Soviet forces, under the command of Marshal Timoshenko, to prepare and launch a campaign to disrupt German plans. The area chosen was the Kharkov sector, the intent being to encircle and destroy the German Sixth Army. However, unbeknownst to the Soviets, the Germans were planning their own offensive in the Kharkov area, code named Operation Fridericus. What started as a promising Soviet push ended up with a German rout of Soviet forces, and one of the Red Army’s biggest defeats of the Second World War. This book provides the reader with… more |