Gino Dykstra
Reviews By Author
American Civil War Union InfantryPublished: January 4, 2021 It never rains but it pours. The first company to release styrene figures from the Civil War was Dragon, which released a terrific set of Union soldiers in 1/32nd scale some decades back. Unfortunately, they never followed up with the promised Confederate infantry, as they apparently didn’t feel the sales merited it (hard to understand, as I literally bought a case of them for myself). … more |
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Star Trek Galileo ShuttlecraftPublished: December 13, 2020 As a hard-core Star Trek aficionado as well as modeler, this is a model I’ve been waiting literally decades to see. The classic Enterprise’s Galileo shuttle appeared in a number of episodes, and was always a fan favorite simply because it brought starship technology down to a human level. Round 2 has seen fit to finally release their long awaited Star Trek shuttle, and it’s been more than a… more |
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American Civil War Confederate InfantryPublished: January 4, 2021 Wow. Just when you’ve given up on seeing something, it suddenly becomes a big hit in the modeling industry. Long, long ago, Dragon released a set of Union Civil War figures in 1/32nd scale, which I was totally thrilled to see. I bought an entire case of them, and then waited for baited breath for the follow-up Confederate Infantry to come out. And waited . . . and waited . . .… more |
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Roman ShieldsPublished: November 4, 2020 Silly me. When I saw the title of this book, I thought it was simply going to be a compilation of various shield motifs I could use in my figure modeling. Instead, this publication opened a world of fascinating information on the development, manufacture and use of this most Roman of military items – the scutum or shield. Use of the large, rectangular shield had a large part in dictating Roman… more |
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Standard B "Liberty" with WW1 US DrPublished: January 4, 2021 ICM continues to crank out some lovely combo kits these days, especially around World War 1 subjects. This kit, which includes both their previously released Type B Cargo Truck, as well as US drivers, is an example of this. The Standard Type B Liberty Truck was the first standardized vehicle ever produced by the U.S. armed forces and was essentially an attempt to reduce the enormous… more |
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Model T RNAS Armoured CarPublished: December 25, 2020 ICM has certainly put its Ford Model T molds to good use, making no less than four different variants of this ubiquitous little vehicle previously, all variants which served with distinction in World War One. Now a fifth variant has been added – a little-known armored version used by the Royal Naval Air Service along the Russian Front. Really more of a weapons carrier than an armored car, only… more |
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Russian Flora Uniforms, Figure SetPublished: October 14, 2020 As an avid figure modeler, I was given the opportunity to examine this new paint set by Ammo, which replicates the rather fiddly camouflage pattern often seen on modern Russian infantry. As an avowed enamel/oil paint aficionado, I thought it would be interesting to examine this acrylic set from my own jaundiced perspective. To try out these paints, I elected to use a rather crude… more |
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Roman Soldier versus Parthian WarriorPublished: October 3, 2020 Roman imperial expansion over the entire Mediterranean basin was going full tilt in the first century BC. Nobody had been able to stop them and their inexorable legions, which were bound together by a discipline and unit cohesion seldom found anywhere else in the ancient world. They had rolled over the Punics, the Celts, the Macedonians and everyone else standing in their quest for global (as… more |
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Chernobyl #2Published: January 4, 2021 Once again ICM is modeling one of the worst man-made disasters of the 20th century – the catastrophic explosion and meltdown of the Number 4 nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in 1986 – an event that would impact most of the world in one fashion or another. That ICM has the boldness to create such a fascinating look at recent history in model form says a lot about this company’s choices… more |
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WWII British Ground Personnel (1939-1945)Published: January 4, 2021 It wasn’t so long ago that 1/32nd aircraft modelers were pretty hard pressed to find pilot or ground crew figures for dioramas they wished to make. ICM has rather single-handedly addressed this issue, and has been busy churning out wonderful sets to complement your 1/32nd scale aircraft collection. One of the latest of these is their WWII British Ground Personnel set. This simple set… more |