Gino Dykstra
Reviews By Author
|
Model 39M Csaba Armored Car Cordatic Replacement TiresPublished:
A short while ago Hobby Boss released a charming model of a rarity – the Hungarian 39M Csaba armored car, which clearly shares an ancestry similar to the French Panhard armored car of roughly the same vintage. Although Hobby Boss seems to have done well in the overall design of this kit, it is somewhat let down by the soft rubber tires, which fall below the quality of the rest of the model. Ironically, what detail is evident on the tires is soft and inaccurate, and even includes a misspelling! Appropriately enough, S.B.S. Model, which is a Hungarian company, has come to the rescue with some truly lovely replacement wheels and tires, available in two patterns. This package features the Cordatic tires and includes four complete wheels and separate brake drums. The minute detail,… more |
|
508 CM Coloniale Replacement Wheel SetPublished:
Recently Italeri released a model of the Italian Coloniale – a military version of a popular pre-war civilian vehicle, which proved to be quite versatile and was used extensively not only by the Italian army but by the German army as well, mostly hauling officers around in rear-echelon areas. The kit itself is comparatively simple, which reflects the relative simplicity of the vehicle itself. However, one area where this reductionism has caused a loss of detail is in the wheels, which are simple two-piece castings with very little detail beyond the hubs. S.B.S. Model, a Hungarian company, has come to the rescue with excellent replacements cast in resin. The package features five wheel/tire units, and these all feature an exceptionally fine tread pattern which beautifully… more |
|
39M Csaba Armored Car Firestone Replacement TiresPublished:
A short while ago Hobby Boss released a charming model of a rarity – the Hungarian 39M Csaba armored car, which clearly shares an ancestry similar to the French Panhard armored car of roughly the same vintage. Although Hobby Boss seems to have done well in the overall design of this kit, it is somewhat let down by the soft rubber tires, which fall below the quality of the rest of the model. Ironically, what detail is evident on the tires is soft and inaccurate, and even includes a misspelling! Appropriately enough, S.B.S. Model, which is a Hungarian company, has come to the rescue with some truly lovely replacement wheels and tires, available in two patterns. This package features the Firestone pattern tires and includes four complete wheels and separate brake drums. The minute… more |
|
"Shidenkai no Maki" Kawanishi N1K2-J Shidenkai (George)Published:
“Hagoromo Maki is going to an all-girls high school, a special one that allows its students to commute by plane! She and her first friend at school, Hasegawa Motiko, have found a plane and fixed it up for themselves to fly! However, it turns out that it was a plane used by a legendary pilot who protected the airspace for their school, and their school’s ace pilot does not approve of them having it. Will Maki be able to fly and protect the air for their school?” (tethydust) But of course. To Western sensibilities, Japanese pop culture sometimes offers seemingly bizarre juxtapositions, such as giant warrior robots shaped like teddy bears. Or a girl’s school involved in deadly aerial warfare with other schools using antique aircraft. Go figure. In 2013 Hasegawa… more |
|
Zis-6 Family Wheels SetPublished:
If you are building any of the host of Russian military trucks from the Great War, you may find yourself mumbling at the rather iffy rubber tires frequently included with the kits. Although a number of manufacturers have come out with really excellent kits of these workhorses of the Soviet Army, the tires included seem to be a regular stumbling block. MiniArt has addressed this problem with a series of new detail sets that create beautifully detailed renditions to replace the soft tires included with most of these kits. This set, for instance, not only provides 12 complete tires, but the various hubs, bolts and brake drums needed as well. Each tire itself is composed of five individual “wafers” that when assembled create a realistic and detailed tread pattern. Finely molded… more |
|
British Heavy Tank Mk.V FemalePublished:
I’ve always had a thing for World War 1 armor. Or perhaps I should say I was into World War One before it was cool. What this means is that for the longest time, if I wanted something in this scale, I had to make it myself. Later, Emhar released a series of lozenge tanks which, although extremely crude, gave you the basic shapes to do something with if you had the skills and inclination. Over time I’ve happily made every kit they issued, and spent hours improving them to reasonable standards. In the last couple of years, of course, this situation has dramatically changed. Several companies have leapt onto the bandwagon and released true state-of-the-art models from this time period. This Mk. V Female by Meng turned out to be my first dive into the new pantheon of models and it… more |
|
Scale Aircraft Conversions Horsa Glider Landing GearPublished:
Bronco’s 1/35th scale model of the Horsa Glider Mk. 1 is quite an impressive model, as anyone who has built it will tell you. They may also mention that the landing gear of this kit is fairly fragile, as it’s obliged to hold up a fair amount of weight on this over two-foot long kit. Scale Aircraft Conversions have come to the rescue with a very nice set of white metal parts which are direct replacements for all of the landing gear components including the front fork. The only thing not reproduced is the skid itself. As you might expect, these are stronger for the most part than the styrene items included in the kit, and should assist in keeping your model from “drooping” over time – something I’ve been a bit concerned about with my own copy. In an… more |
|
Roman Army Units in the Western Provinces (1) 31 BC-AD 195Published:
During its heyday the Roman Empire sprawled across the better part of three continents, making it one of the greatest political bodies of its day. To maintain such an empire required an enormous military budget and huge numbers of men at arms (an approach to militarism we can, alas, observe to this day). One of the chief duties of this sprawling military was to hold the edges of this empire from incursion from without. Osprey Publishing and author Raffaele D-Amato have put together a surprisingly exhausting study of the military units comprising Rome’s Western borders – more specifically, what would someday become England, Germany and France. Like other modelers, I’ve come to accept a rather rigid mental image of Roman military gear and weapons from this period; helmet… more |
|
LaCrosse MissilePublished:
The LaCrosse missile was one of the first tactical missiles designed and operated by the U.S. Army during the early years of the cold war. Put into production in 1959, the missile was capable of carrying a variety of warheads, including nuclear, and was fired from the back of a modified cargo truck. Apparently there were numerous problems with maintenance and the system was dropped from the inventory by 1964. Looking back over fifty years, it gives me pause to reflect how casually we regarded the possibility of nuclear conflict back then. That Armageddon could be initiated by a couple of guys in a truck seems lunacy now, but that was the world in those days. Revell is doing the modeling world quite a favor by releasing so many of these long-lost kits of yesteryear. This model… more |
|
Batmobile: 1989 MoviePublished:
I first made this model shortly after the 1989 release of the new Batman movie, having been fascinated by the transfiguration of this iconic machine from the old 1964 Adam West series, even going so far as to mail order the optional “cocoon” shroud for it. As the movies have proceeded, I’ve liked the Batmobiles featured less and less, as they have evolved from a snazzy convertible into heavily armed paramilitary vehicles much the way Batman himself has evolved from the noble “caped crusader” into a sociopathic vigilante. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I rather liked the idea of a crime fighter exclusively using his fists to deal with villains. In any case, I never had a opportunity to model the re-release of this interesting machine after the second movie, where AMT added an… more |