Bill O'Malley
Reviews By Author
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US Jerry Can HoldersPublished:
This is a nice set of jerry can holders that can replace the usually over-scaled plastic holders on military vehicles. The photoetch comes on one small fret that is about 1 ½ in. x 1 5/8 in. Four holders are provided with the photoetch. Each holder consists of seven parts: the holder, four bolts, and two straps for the jerry cans. The bolt heads are actually six-sided hexagons and are microscopic. I soldered the first bolt head into place, but the solder obscured the shape of the head. The subsequent bolt heads were glued into place with superglue, which worked much better. Folding the holder worked well. The corners of the holder are rounded so I bent them around a 1/16-in. drill bit, which worked pretty well. Hauler provides tabs for the bottom and side edges of the… more |
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Kenworth W-900 WreckerPublished:
This is a nice kit, with good detail and nice fitting parts. There is some cleanup for seams and flash, but it’s a fun kit to assemble. The Revell Kenworth has been around since 1996 and has been reissued in several configurations. It has included different sleepers, a previous wrecker, and even a dump truck. It appears that the only difference in this version of the wrecker are the decals. This behemoth of a kit comes in a huge box that is 14 x 20 x 5" tall. The kit is part of Revell's Historic Series and is listed a skill level five for ages 14+. The kit is 14 inches long and includes 411 parts, many of them very large. The kit includes eight large white sprues, three large chrome sprues, two small clear plastic sprues, one bag of rubber tires, one bag with a… more |
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US Army LeTourneau Sheepfoot Roller, Single & Double UnitsPublished:
Items
L.Z. Models from Ireland provide high quality resin models and accessories. These kits represent sheepfoot rollers manufactured by R.G. LeTourneau, whose machines represented nearly 70 percent of the earthmoving equipment and engineering vehicles used during World War II. The sheepsfoot roller is a flat head tamping roller, which employs tapered box heads, or ‘feet’ to compact dirt when towed behind a tractor or dozer. L.Z. has produced both single and double width units as separate kits. These appeared to be simple little kits, until I noticed that there are 100+ resin parts, and over 200 in the double roller kit. Each… more |
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Scale Model Handbook: Diorama Modelling 2Published:
This book uses seven dioramas to illustrate several aspects of modeling dioramas and figures, such as scratch built, conversion, figure sculpture & painting, etc. They book covers several popular modeling scales such as 1/35, 1/32, and 1/24. The dioramas cover many historical periods including Roman Empire, the 17th Century, and World War II. The book is 8-1/2 x 11 inches and printed on matte paper. There are over 450 photographs. Many are low contrast and printed against a dark background, making it hard to discern details. The color intensity is also fairly low so the colors do not pop out. Contents1. Elephant Down! Zama, 202 BC - 54mm (1/32)
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U.S. Armoured BulldozerPublished:
This is an extremely detailed, highly accurate, and well-engineered kit. It will take a lot of patience and only very experienced modelers should undertake this little beauty due to the large number of minute, sometimes microscopic parts. With 759 parts in a model that’s less than 6” long, the kit packs a lot of tiny parts in a dense model of the Cat D7. The fit of the parts is phenomenal. The many pipes and levers, layers of body parts, and even the articulated treads all came together nicely. The kit is part of MiniArt's WW2 Military Miniature series. Previous versions of the kit include:
Kit comes in a 15 x 9.5 x 3… more |
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German AFV DatabasePublished:
This magazine is a listing of 1/35 scale plastic model kits for German armored fighting vehicles (AFV). Most kits are shown on one page with the manufacturer and name of the kit, plus the name of the modeler that built the sample model. The text is mostly in Japanese, but the manufacturer, model name, and model are all listed in English also. This makes it easy to thumb through the photographs and identify the kit manufacturer. The models are all beautifully done and the color photographs illustrate the models very nicely. Some of the kits are not shown as built examples but rather photographs of the box art and sprues. There are also a few reference photos of the original vehicles. An introductory section shows detail photos of assembly and painting of an AFV Club… more |
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Fiat 806 Grand Prix, Part 2Published:
This is a difficult kit to assemble with some significant fit issues with many of the parts. An old diecast version of this car was previously issued by Protar, and it looks like Italeri worked directly from the diecast kit. The Italeri plastic parts are identical to the Protar diecast parts, including ejection pins and sink marks. It looks like Italeri used the Protar parts to make their molds. This helps to explain some of the rough spots, lack of crisp decal on the parts, and all the nut & bolt fasteners. BackgroundFrom Italeri’s website: The Fiat 806 Grand Prix adopted significant innovations for its time. The Fiat 806 was, in fact, the “progenitor” of the modern Formula One racing cars. Developed and produced by FIAT, the Italian automobile… more |
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251 Half-Track: A Visual History of the German Army’s Sd.Kfz. 251 Armored Half-tracksPublished:
This is another great book in Ampersand’s Visual History Series by prolific author David Doyle. The hard cover book is almost entirely photographs, with a brief introduction and text captions on the photos. The book’s introduction describes the development history of the Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track starting with the Sd. Kfz 11, which would form the basis for the later half-tracks. Production of the Sd.Kfz. 251 started in 1939 as the Ausf. A, followed by the Ausf. B in September 1939, and the Ausf. C in January 1940. A new body style was developed December 1942, designated the Ausf. D, that would become the most numerous of the variants. Manny variations of the Sd. Kfz 251 were developed as modifications of the basic Sd. Kfz 251 vehicle. These variations are included in the… more |
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Gun Trucks - A Visual History of the U.S. Army’s Vietnam-Era Wheeled Escort PlatformsPublished:
Ampersand’s website:
The first section describes military transport vehicles from the 1/4 ton M151, 2 1/2 ton 6 x 6, the 5 ton 6 x 6, and the M37. Each of the vehicle types is described in two or three pages with overall views… more |
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Fiat 806 Grand Prix, Part 1Published:
BackgroundFrom Italeri’s website: The Fiat 806 Grand Prix adopted significant innovations for its time. The Fiat 806 was, in fact, the “progenitor” of the modern Formula One racing cars. Developed and produced by FIAT, the Italian automobile manufacturer in 1927, it could be considered the first Grand Prix car ever built. Thanks to its 180 HP 12 cylinder engine, the Fiat 806 was able to reach and even exceed the speed of 240 Km/h. However, the most important innovations were made in the development of the chassis, mechanics and bodywork. The engine and gearbox unit was, in fact, located between the two chassis bars in order to optimize the performance and the drivability. The KitWhile researching the car, I came across a diecast kit made by Protar… more |