Mike Lamm
Reviews By Author
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Bundeswehr Tank CrewPublished:
MiniArt is a Ukrainian company specializing in 1/35 figures and some vehicle kits. The figures tend to be packaged in groups with unique poses or unusual subjects. Over the years, they have become one of the leaders in injection molded figures, and more recently, they have started issuing sets of modern military figures. This kit is one of their newer releases and features figures to be posed with modern German AFVs. The kit includes five figures in various poses, and includes a female crew member representing many modern armies that have women serving in combat roles. The four male figures are posed in a standing position that is meant to be posed in the turret hatch of the vehicle. The female figure is posed sitting. A close look at the sprues shows that the parts all… more |
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Defenses of Bermuda 1612–1995Published:
Osprey’s Fortress series is a well-established line of books covering a variety of fortresses around the world. The Fortress series of books started 15 years ago with the Japanese island defenses in World War II, and with this installment, Defense of Bermuda, the series is up to over 100 titles. The books begins with a history of the geologic formation of Bermuda. When people think of Bermuda, they often thing of it as an island, but “Bermuda” actually consists of 181 islands that formed when a volcano rose 14,000 feet off of the sea bed of what would eventually become the Atlantic Ocean. Bermuda was first discovered by the Spaniard Juan de Bermúdez in 1505, but the first European settlers on the island were actually part of the English Virginia Company, who settled the colony… more |
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A-36 Apache/P-51 Mustang Canopy MasksPublished:
Brengun, based in the Czech Republic, is known for producing a range of photo-etched and resin accessories for airplane models. They also produce a small number of 1/72nd and 1/144th aircraft model sets. One of their latest airplane kits is the North American A-36 Apache. With the release of this new kit, they have added a number of accessories for it including additional photo-etch details, a vacuform canopy, and these painting masks for the canopy. The A-36 Apache was a dive bomber version of the P-51 Mustang. It was based on the fuselage of the P-51A, but with completely redesigned wings strengthened to support the added stress of dive bombing. Since the main difference between the P-51A and the A-36 is the wind design, this mask set would work with both the P-51A and the A-… more |
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A-36 Apache USAFPublished:
Brengun, based in the Czech Republic, is known for producing a range of photo-etched and resin accessories for airplane models. They also produce a small number of 1/72nd and 1/144th aircraft model sets. One of their latest airplane kits is the North American A-36 Apache. The A-36 Apache was a dive bomber version of the P-51 Mustang. It was based on the fuselage of the P-51A, but with completely redesigned wings strengthened to support the added stress of dive bombing. Also, to aid in dive-bombing, rectangular slats were added to the upper and lower parts of the wings. Approximately 500 bombers served in units in the Mediterranean Theater and the China Burma Theater. The kit comes in a side opening box, with full color cover art of an A-36 in action on the front and… more |
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U.S. Army AH-64D Block II "Late Version"Published:
The AH-64 Apache helicopter has served the U.S. Army since 1986 as its primary attach helicopter. During it’s time in service, the Apache has gone through a series of upgrades, and improvements to increase its combat effectiveness, as well as survivability. The Block II aircraft integrates the advanced radar targeting system, Longbow, allowing the helicopter to engage multiple targets while remaining behind cover. The APG-78 Longbow radar system is the large dome radar located above the aircraft’s rotors. In addition to this improvement, the latest version of the Block II upgrades includes new exhaust ducts, which direct the engine exhausts vertically to improve protection from infra-red targeting. Academy has released various Apache kits over the years, including a Block II “… more |
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World of Tanks KV-1/2Published:
Italeri recently started producing a line of 1/56 scale AFVs and figures. This might be an unusual scale for most model builders, but is a fairly common wargaming scale equivalent to the 28mm scale. The Soviet KV-1 tank kit is one of their newest kits that also promotes the on-line video game, World of Tanks®. The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) series of heavy tanks came as a surprise to the German army at the start of Operation Barbarosa. The tanks proved to be nearly impenetrable to all the German anti-tank weapons, other than the 8.8cm gun. The KV series featured heavy armor, and strong weaponry, with the KV-1 fielding a 76mm gun, and the KV-2 fielding the 152mm howitzer. The Soviet tanks so outclassed their German counterparts, that there were instances where a single KV tank,… more |
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Soviet Tank Crew at Rest - Special EditionPublished:
MiniArt is a Ukrainian company specializing in 1/35 figures and some vehicle kits. The figures tend to be packaged in groups with unique poses or unusual subjects. Over the years, they have become one of the leaders in injection molded figures. This kit is a re-release of their earlier kit number 35009. This kit had been discontinued for a while but was showing up as a special addition to some of Miniart’s armor kits. Fortunately, Miniart is now offering this kit again as a “Special Edition”, which includes some bonus sprues. The kit includes five figures in various relaxed poses, as well as a sprue of side arms, and three sprues of ammo boxes, and 152mm tank shells. The figures have some minor flash, but it’s really not bad in most places. Make sure to take care when… more |
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Spotlight On Yakovlev Yak-3Published:
The latest title in the “Spot On” series published by Mushroom Model Publications focuses on Russia’s Yak-3 during World War II. The Yak-3 began development in the summer of 1942, with its first test flight conducted in early 1942. The plane was based on the Yak-1, with the Yak-1M eventually being replaced in production by the Yak-3 in March 1944. By 1946, approximately 4,800 of the aircraft had been built and the fighter distinguished itself as a fast and easy plane to fly, that was well suited for Russian operations in the late war. The book features 40 full color profiles of planes flown by some of Russia’s top aces. Each profile includes details about the colors used on the plane, up close color images of any special emblems are also included with each plane. Slogans are… more |
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StuG. III, Ausf. FPublished:
The Sturmgeschütz III (StuG. III) was Germany’s most widely produced armored fighting vehicle of WWII. By the end of the war, over 10,500 vehicles, in a number of different versions, had been produced. Built on the chassis of the Panzer III, and originally designed as an infantry support vehicle intended to knock out strong points and hardened defenses, it really proved itself as a tank destroyer first on the Eastern front in Russia. First in Russia, the StuG III Ausf. F was armed with the longer 7.5cm StuK 40 L/43 gun and became a formidable opponent on the battlefield. Dragon latest offering of the StuG III features many newly tooled parts, including the upper hull, fighting compartment superstructure, engine deck, and sprocket/idler wheels. However, the really different… more |
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Grumman F6F-3Published:
The Grumman F6F Hellcat was designed to replace the F4F Wildcat with a better competitor to the Japanese fighters. In typical Grumman fashion, they developed a rugged plane designed to keep the pilot alive, with good armament, while being easy to fly. The Hellcat made its combat debut in August 1943 and became the Navy’s standard combat aircraft. By the end of the war, it had racked up over 5200 victories, accounting for 75% of the Navy’s air-to-air victories. Eduard’s Weekend Edition kits normally follow the release of their Royal Edition, and Profipack kits and consist of a scaled back version of the loaded Royal Edition and Profipack boxings. The Weekend Editions kit includes plastic sprues, and usually one or two decal options for the finished model, whereas the Royal and… more |