Bill O'Malley

	AEC Mk.II Armoured Car, Part 3 – Turret & Final Completion Published: May 16, 2014 Company: MiniArt Part 3 Review – Turret & Final Completion This is the third, and final, section in a series of reviews covering the MiniArt AEC Mk. II Armoured Car kit. Previously, Part 1 reviewed the kit contents and assembly of the driver’s compartment and Part 2 reviewed the chassis, engine, and exterior. This review covers construction of the turret and final completion of the model. Thanks to Model Rectifier Corporation (MRC) for their generosity in providing the review sample of this kit and for their continued support of the IPMS review program. Introduction This is an excellent, highly detailed kit. The molding is very crisp with great detail, and the fit is excellent. There are a few difficult areas that will make the kit challenging for less experienced… more
	Diorama with Brick Wall Published: April 30, 2014 Company: MiniArt This kit is one of MiniArt’s Diorama Series and includes a damaged brick wall section cobblestone street, and streetlight. The kit comes boxed with parts in a plastic bag. Kit contains three vacuum formed pieces for the wall sections, wall cap and base. The kit also includes one molded plastic sprue for the streetlight fixture. The base section has cobblestone pavers, piles of rubble, and rubble behind the wall. The cobblestone base has a worn vehicle track at an angle across the front. The wall is set at a slight angle and the base appears to have enough space for one 1/35 scale vehicle plus a few accessories. All of the vacuformed pieces have small dimples from the forming process that will need to be scraped off. A MicroMark chisel or a chisel-pointed X-Acto blade works well… more
	IL-2 Shturmovik Gun Barrels & Pitot Tube Published: April 30, 2014 Company: Quickboost This is another fine set of replacement details form Quickboost, this set for the Tamiya 1/72 Ilyshin IL-2 Shturmovik. The details include replacement gun barrels and pitot tube. The Tamiya kit details are nice, but the Quickboost details are more refined and have no flash. The gun barrels and pitot tube are thinner than the Tamiya parts and don’t require any cleanup other than removal from the casting block. The Quickboost details will add nicely refined detail to the Tamiya kit and are a great value for a low price. Thanks to Quickboost for their continued support of the IPMS review program and for providing the review sample. Thanks also to the great IPMS review staff for letting me review the details.
	BMW R69 Motorcycle year 1956 Published: April 29, 2014 Company: Hauler This is a resin kit of a 1956 vintage BMW motorcycle in 1/87 scale (HO train scale). Kit comes in 22 gray resin pieces and two photoetch pieces. The frame pieces E & F are cast within a casting ring completely surrounded by flash. Hauler suggests an interesting method to remove the flash by placing the parts on a piece of sandpaper and sanding off the flash. It worked pretty well and left the very delicate parts fairly clean without breakage. Some of the flashing around the parts is fairly thick considering how small the parts are. The front and rear tires use imaginary spokes as the hubs hang in the middle of the wheel. There are two photoetch handlebar pieces supplied so I assume they needed to be glued together and that’s what I did. The kit goes together… more
	’37 Ford Coupe Street Rod Published: February 3, 2020 Company: Revell Introduction This is one of the all time great car designs with smooth lines and the free-flowing curves of the fenders. This classic has always been popular with hot rodders. The Revell kit of the ’37 coupe has been issued and re-issued many times, and this is the latest version. This version seems to be mostly a repackaging, as most of the parts and options were available in previous releases. The kit is showing it’s age with soft detailing, some fit issues, and a completely confusing front suspension. In spite of the shortcomings the kit still builds into a nice hot rod model. The kit would be frustrating for an inexperienced modeler and would be better suited to an avid car modeler. Kit Contents Revell’s description: The kit… more
	’62 Corvette Gasser Published: February 3, 2020 Company: Revell This is a nice kit and a fun build. This kit is the second version of the ’62 Corvette released by Revell, following the 2012 release of the ’62 Corvette Roadster 2’n1 kit. The ’62 Gasser kit is for skill level III and ages 12+. The kit did not seem that difficult, and I think it would be fun for even advanced beginners. Background The Gasser kit recreates the ’62 Corvette converted by D&M Corvette Specialists into a street gasser with a blown small block Chevy engine. The original car’s body is nearly stock, and is replicated in the kit by the same stock body used in the Revell ’62 Roadster. The instructions and decals have a 2013 copyright. The underside of the floor pan/interior has a 2012 copyright and is likely the same as the earlier ’62 Roadster kit… more
	42 CM "Big Bertha" and German Siege Artillery of World War I Published: April 4, 2014 Book Author(s): Marc Romanych & Martin Rupp Company: Osprey Publishing Introduction From Osprey’s website: In the early days of World War I, Germany unveiled a new weapon – the mobile 42cm (16.5 inch) M-Gerät howitzer. At the time, it was the largest artillery piece of its kind in the world and a closely guarded secret. When war broke out, two of the howitzers were rushed directly from the factory to Liege where they quickly destroyed two forts and compelled the fortress to surrender. After repeat performances at Namur, Maubeuge and Antwerp, German soldiers christened the howitzers ‘Grosse’ or ‘Dicke Berta’ (Fat or Big Bertha) after Bertha von Krupp, owner of the Krupp armament works that built the howitzers. The nickname was soon picked up by German press, which triumphed the 42cm howitzers as Wunderwaffe (wonder weapons… more
	Auto Modeling Magazine, Volume 30, March 2014 Published: April 4, 2014 Company: Model Art Background Auto Modeling is a high quality Japanese language magazine from publisher ModelArt. Each edition features models of cars, mostly racecars, from various race series and eras. Many of the previous editions focused on Formula One cars in different time periods. The magazine has Japanese text, but some of the titles and headings are in English. The photographs are numerous and very high quality. Contents This issue, Volume 30, March 2014, has the following sections: Feature section on GT race cars from the late 70’s to early 80’s Special Modeling – 1/12 model elf 5 motorcycle from Model Factory Hiro Book Reviews – Reviews in Japanese of German & English language books about race cars Ads &… more
	AEC Mk.II Armoured Car, Part 2 - Chassis, Engine, & Exterior Published: March 30, 2014 Company: MiniArt Part 2 Review – Chassis, Engine, & Exterior This is the second of a series of reviews of the MiniArt AEC Mk. II Armoured Car kit. Part 1 previously reviewed the kit contents and assembly of the driver’s compartment. This review includes the chassis, engine, and exterior. A subsequent review will include the turret and gun. Model Rectifier Corporation (MRC) has generously provided the review sample to IPMS. Introduction This is an excellent, highly detailed kit. The molding is very crisp with great detail, and the fit is excellent. There are a few difficult areas that will make the kit challenging for less experienced modelers, but it results in a nice, fun to build kit for more advanced & expert modelers. Chassis Steps 16, 17 and 18… more
	AEC Mk.II Armoured Car – Contents & Interior - Part 1 Published: February 10, 2020 Company: MiniArt Part 1 Review – Kit Contents & Interior Assembly This is the first of a series of reviews of the MiniArt AEC Mk. II Armoured Car kit. Model Rectifier Corporation (MRC) has generously provided the review sample to IPMS. This part reviews the kit contents and assembly of the driver’s compartment. Subsequent parts will include the engine, chassis, exterior, and turret. Background The AEC Armoured Cars are a series of heavy armored cars built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) during the Second World War. The first example, Mk. I, was demonstrated in early 1941 and an order was placed in June of that year. The Mk. I version carried a Valentine Mk II turret with 2-pounder gun. Vehicles of later variant designs carried heavier armament. The Mk… more