German Railway Gun K5(E) "Leopold" w/ Figures

Published: November 28, 2015
Company: Hasegawa

Background from Hasegawa’s Website

Hitler's fascination with massive armaments is epitomized by Germany's heavy investment in railway guns. "Leopold", one of 25 K5 railway guns made by Krupp for World War II, was a behemoth of a gun. It weighed 240 short tons, fired 560 lb/eleven inch shells, and had to be moved and aimed on specially designed railroad tracks. Once emplaced, the Leopold could fire shells up to forty miles. This limited edition kit features three sets of decals and figures.

Kit

This is a rebox of a kit originally issued in the 1970’s, issued again with figures added. Despite being that old, it’s in relatively good shape and makes an impressive model. The kit comes on five light gray sprues plus 2 sprues for the figures. The sprues have very… more

David Kimble's Cutaways

Published: November 19, 2015
Book Author(s): David Kimble
Company: CarTech

This is a beautiful book with very nice illustrations of David Kimble’s cutaways, step-by-step descriptions on how the cutaways are made, and descriptions of the engineering of the vehicles.

David Kimble is in engineer turned illustrator who grew up in Southern California racing, and eventually became known for his cutaway automotive illustrations. In the introduction Kimble states that the purpose of this book is to answer the question “how do you do it”, to which he usually responds “a little at a time”. This book for the first time describes his approach to illustration and the techniques on how his work is done, plus some of the stories behind the illustrations.

Chapter 1, It All Starts With A Drawing, shows how Kimble uses a pencil and pen drawing as the base for… more

Maschinen Krieger 44 Type Mk44 Ammoknights (Smartgun Equipment Type)

Published: February 3, 2020
Company: Hasegawa

This is another excellent kit in the Hasegawa Machinen Krieger series. The kit is not too difficult to assemble, so beginners can enjoy the modeling experience. More advanced modelers will enjoy building another unique machine in this series, and the creativity allowed in finishing and weathering the machine.

Background

The Maschinen Krieger Story (excerpted from Wikipedia)

A nuclear World War IV in 2807 kills most of Earth's population and renders the planet uninhabitable. Fifty-two years after the war, an interstellar union called the Galactic Federation repopulates the planet and sends colonists to the surface.

Fearing civil unrest and the colonists forming their own government, the Federation gives the Strahl Democratic Republic (SDR) the right to… more

Victory 1945: Western Allied Troops in Northwest Europe

Published: October 14, 2015
Book Author(s): Gordon L. Rottman
Company: Osprey Publishing

This book is a description of the changes in equipment, uniforms, and tactics of the allied troops from the landing at Normandy to VE day on May 8, 1945. Experience, technological improvements, and the seasoning of troops in battle brought about these changes. The book is mostly in text with supporting photos and color plates of soldiers’ uniforms and equipment. The book primarily focuses on infantry, but there are also sections on armor and field artillery. The book emphasizes tactics and use of equipment.

The book has sections on the US infantry, Free French Forces, the British/Canadian Army Group and the British 79th Armored Division.

Contents

• Overview
• The Americans at War
• US Infantry
• Armor/Infantry Operations
• … more

Horch Photoetch Set

Published: October 13, 2015
Company: Eduard

Eduard has produced this nice photoetch set to add considerable detail to ICM’s Horch 108 Typ 40 WWII German Personnel Car. The set adds much better detail to the light and equipment mounting brackets on the front fenders, the brackets and plaques on the rear doors, the rifle clamps, and many other miscellaneous details.

The package includes one photoetch fret, one small printed acetate sheet with instrument gauges, and instructions. The photoetch is quite thin and has been reduced further in thickness for parts like the dashboard and mud flaps. The photoetch has a slightly brushed texture to the surface. The parts contain Eduard’s typical ultra-fine detail and many of the pieces have further detail etched on the surface of the part. The gateways or connections between the part… more

Horch 108 Typ 40

Published: October 10, 2015
Company: ICM

This is a new, very nice kit from ICM. The parts have very good detail, go together will, and end up with a highly detailed model. Care must be used due to small parts, so the kit may be difficult for beginners.

The kit comes with all the parts in one plastic bag. The five vinyl tires are separately bagged, as are the clear plastic sprue parts. The bulk of the kit is on six dark yellow sprues. The parts have extremely good detail and there are many finely cast pieces. There are lots of small pieces and the kit includes 211 parts overall. The front grill is particularly well cast with openings between the individual grill slats. There is no flash apparent on the parts and mold seams are minimal. The detail on the parts is incredible and this should make for a highly detailed… more

US Army LeTourneau CarryAll LS Scraper

Published: September 21, 2015
Company: L.Z. Models

L.Z. Models has added another great vehicle to their line of wartime construction equipment with a resin kit of the US Army LeTourneau CarryAll LS Scraper. The CarryAll is a smaller LS variant of the famous Le Torneau scraper, and was used widely by US and other armies during and long after WWII. The Scraper was usually seen towed by a CAT D7 and later a D8 tractor, and is a perfect companion to L.Z. Models’ tractor and bulldozer kits.

The L.Z. Models kit is a challenging build due to the intricate cabling system, but was enjoyable to work through the assembly. Resin and photoetch experience is required for this kit.

Opening the box reveals a plethora of resin parts, some very big, and some very small. The detail is fairly good. Most of the parts are attached to casting… more

German Heavy Armored Car - Sd.Kfz.234/1 (w/2cm Gun)

Published: September 3, 2015
Company: Tamiya

This is a nice kit that is fairly simple to build, yet ends up with a model with good detail. The 3 additional figures have the added benefit of creating a vignette right out of the box.

The kit is a rebox of the Italeri kit to which Tamiya has added three figures, motorcycle, weapons set, and an updated decal sheet. The main kit is the original Italeri issue on four light brown sprues. Tamiya has added three separate sprues for the German Infantry Equipment Set B, the three figures, and the motorcycle. There is also a small fret of parts B37 & B38 that apparently replace the original parts.

The Italeri sprues have good detail with minimal flash, but there are some mold seams. The dark yellow Tamiya sprues have a little better detail, also with minimal flash and a… more

U.S. Cougar 6x6 MRAP Vehicle

Published: August 20, 2015
Company: Meng Model

This is a very nice kit with lots of parts - the engineering and fit is excellent. It’s a tedious build, but the instructions are very clear and the parts fit great.

From Meng’s Website

The U.S. Cougar 6×6 MRAP vehicle, developed by the U.S. company Force Protection Inc., is an armored vehicle which can withstand roadside bombs, attacks, and ambushes. It is powered by a 330hp Caterpillar C-7 diesel engine on a 6x6 chassis. It can carry 10 people at a maximum speed up to 105km/h. The vehicle can withstand the detonation of 13.6kg TNT charge under front and rear axles, and 6.8kg TNT charge under the middle of the vehicle. Both the hull and bulletproof windows can withstand 7.62mm bullets. An M2 MG, M240 GPMG or MK19 grenade launcher can be mounted on the roof. In 2004,… more

Da Vinci Arch Bridge

Published: August 15, 2015
Company: Academy Models

This bridge kit is part of Academy’s nine kit series of models of Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions. These kits are simple assembly with a limited number of parts, but are good instructional models exploring Da Vinci’s inventions.

The kit does not require any painting or cements for construction.

The arch bridge designed by Leonardo Da Vinci uses a self-supporting arch concept to distribute weight through the full curve of the arch.

The plastic parts are molded in brown plastic and include three plastic sprues plus 2 base pieces. The kit includes 24 plastic parts, instructions, and a lightweight cardboard box to store the parts. The kit has two levels of assembly, Elementary and Advanced depending upon the span length of the bridge. The instructions include some… more