Mike Lamm
Reviews By Author
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Panda Bumerang IFV (Object K-17)Published:
At the 2015 Russian Army May Day Victory parade, the world got its first official view of Russia’s latest family of armored fighting vehicles. This new series of vehicles presented a new doctrine for Russian armament, design and ultimately survivability by creating a modular system to work across multiple platforms similar to what the U.S. Army attempted with their Future Combat Systems. The “Bumerang” is the design of Russia’s newest addition to the BTR family, intended to replace the BTR-80 and BTR-82 designs. The Bumerang more closely resembles Western LAVs, rather than the BTR systems. The engine has been moved to the front, it has a v-shaped hull to make it more mine-resistant, instead of exiting the vehicle through the sides of the vehicle, as was the case with the BTR,… more |
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Soviet Lend-Lease Tanks of World War IIPublished:
Osprey’s latest publication is this study of the types of tanks shipped to the Soviet Union starting in late 1941 and continuing through the end of the war under the Lend-Lease Program. Due to their armor losses following the success of Germany’s Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army desperately needed replacements and turned to their allies for help. This book details the number and types of tanks provided to the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1945 by Britain and the United States. The author goes into detail about the number of vehicles sent during the various phases of the contract periods and the Russian reactions to the vehicles. There’s not a lot of detail about the strategic use of the lend-lease tanks since the book focuses more on how many vehicles were being sent and when… more |
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Churchill Mk.IV AVREPublished:
The Churchill Mk. IV infantry tank was the most produced version of the Churchill. It was used as a basis for a number of special models including the Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE), a combat engineer vehicle designed for destroying enemy fortifications. After the failure of the Dieppe landings, it was realized that there needed to be a way to effectively handle enemy defensive fortifications during an amphibious landing. The AVRE was developed by the Canadians and saw its first action supporting the landings on D-Day. The normal gun on the Mk. IV was replaced with a Petard 290mm spigot mortar that fired a 40lb round. A team of five combat engineers crewed the vehicle with a driver selected from the Armoured corps. The vehicle was very successful and was used until the end of… more |
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Type 92 Jyo-Sokosha TankPublished:
Croco Models is a small model manufacturer from the Republic of Latvia. They’ve recently begun developing small kits of rare vehicles, and various model building accessories. Their first model kit is of an early Japanese cavalry tank, the Type 92 Jyu-Sokosha. As far as I can tell from a quick internet search, this is the only 1/72 kit of this tank available. The Type 92 was the first Japanese-built tracked armored vehicle and it was loosely based on early British tankette designs. Since the final vehicle was intended for the Japanese cavalry and only the Army could have “tanks”, it was called a “heavy armored car”. Only 167 Type 92 tanks were built during its 8-year production run. This kit is intended to represent a later model of the early version with three return rollers,… more |
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World War II German Motorized Infantry & PanzergrenadiersPublished:
At the start of World War II, Germany’s advancements in mobile warfare shocked the world with their speed, ferocity, and success on the battlefield as they swept across Europe. Although, not always successful at the start, Germany was the first army to combine tanks, artillery, air power, and mobile infantry into a dominating force on the battlefield. Over the course of the war, the Allied powers tried to figure out a way to replicate Germany’s successes, with varying results. As reserves and resources became more scarce, Germany’s capabilities became more and more degraded and they were never able to get the same results they experienced during the early part of the war. This latest offering from Osprey Publishing “Elite” series provides some insight into the development of… more |
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Venturi TubesPublished:
Croco Models is a small model manufacturer from the Republic of Latvia. They’ve recently begun developing small kits of rare vehicles, and various model building accessories. One of their more recent products is a set of 1/72 scale Venturi tubes. The Venturi tube is used to measure a plane's airspeed, and although most planes now use a Pitot tube for measuring this, Venturi tubes were common on early planes, and are still common on smaller planes in use today. This accessory kit comes in a small plastic bag with a photo of a close-up shot of the nose of an early Tupolev ANT-40, also known by its service name Tupolev SB, with the Venturi tube prominently featured on the port side. Inside, Croco Models provides a single strip of resin with 15 Venturi tubes in varying sizes. This… more |
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Model Art Modeling Magazine No. 962Published:
Model Art Modeling Magazine is a monthly periodical from Japan providing an abundance of modeling subjects in each issue. It doesn’t matter what your modeling focus is, each issue will provide something of interest for you, and more than likely, you’ll find something interesting that you didn’t know you would. The magazine is published in Japanese, but even if you can’t read Japanese, the photography is fantastic and the old saying “a picture says 1,000 words” is very true. Each issue includes enough “work in progress” photos for even a layman to be able to follow along. The photos of the builds highlight many of the tools, materials, and techniques used by the master builders for each model built. Although I’m sure something is lost in translation, the photos go a long way in… more |
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Kursk 1943: The Southern FrontPublished:
Following the catastrophic loss at Stalingrad, Hitler was desperate to regain the initiative in Russia. The Russian army capitalized on their success at Stalingrad, with victories over the Hungarians and Italians, and pushed on to Kursk and Kharkov with relative ease. The Russians fully expected the German army, which was in disarray, to pull back beyond the Dniepr River. However, a timely arrival of German reinforcements allowed von Manstein to conduct a “Backhand Blow” counter offensive retaking Kharkov and Belgorod and driving the Russians back on their heels. As the Germans continued their advance the weather played out in the Russian’s favor once again, as the start of the ‘mud season’ forced both sides to put a temporary halt to operations. This halt gave the Germans time to… more |
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Haunebu IIPublished:
When Squadron decided to produce an original plastic model kit, they really went all in with the top secret German Haunebu II project. For those of you not familiar with the Haunebu II, it was either a functioning flying machine that took members of the Third Reich to a hidden base on the dark side of the moon, a fabled “wunderwaffe” that never made it off the drawing board, or something in between. It all depends on who you believe. What I do know is that this new kit from Squadron is big and impressive. The kit comes packaged in a deluxe box, which includes a protective sleeve with a full-color original artwork of the Haunebu II sitting hidden in a Nazi hangar ready for action. The back of the box provides a brief history of the Haunebu projects. Inside the box, you’ll find… more |
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Tales from the Apocalypse: The Truck DriverPublished:
The Truck Driver is the second in a series of kits called Tales of the Apocalypse. The title for this kit is “Day 1, 11:50am on freeway”, and the figure represents an unfortunate truck driver who died in a horrific crash after his body was propelled through the windshield head first! Although his body is smashed and torn from the impact of the crash, his reanimated corpse is now stalking his prey. Let this be a lesson to make sure you always wear your seat belt. This series of 1/16 scale plastic figures from Gecco represent the victims and survivors of the first day of the Apocalypse. Gecco is probably better known for their lines of vinyl action figures depicting various characters from video games, or the resin science fiction busts and figures. However, these new offerings… more |