Mike Van Schoonhoven
Reviews By Author
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US ARMY GMC M36B1Published:
HistoryDue to a urgent need for tank destroyers towards the end of WWII the United States took the turret from the M36 and mounted it on a M4A3 hull and chassis. The reason for the use of the M36 turret was that it packed a 90mm gun that could destroy German armor from a distance. KitWhen you open the box, you will find it packed with ten sprues of green plastic, one photo etch sprue, several loose parts in green plastic and one section of rope. For you spare parts lovers, there is a plethora of leftover parts. Sherman fans may find these most useful. Building the kit is pretty much straight forward. As most modelers I used the instructions as a guide and didn't follow step by step but more of a bunch sub assemblies. The parts have light mold lines… more |
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Model Art Modeling Magazine No. 55, 2015 Spring Battle of Leyte Gulf Series - Vessel Model SpecialPublished:
This is Model Art Magazine’s special quarterly issue that focuses on naval subjects. As with the regular Model Art Magazine this is printed in Japanese with some English subtitles. The feature article in the Spring 2015 Vessel Model Special covers the battle of Leyte Gulf / battle of Surigao Strait / Nishimura's fleet. The article is comprised of models of the vessels that were involved. Some the models are shown as full build features and others are static color photos. Included are line drawings of some of these vessels.There are several period black and white photos included along with maps of the battle area. The rest of the magazine is several short articles. First one is "New kit selection". The models this month are the 1/450 JMSDF DDG Atago, 1/700 USS Ward(DD-… more |
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Paint Sets and Paint ThinnerPublished:
If you have been involved in modeling for the past ten years there is a good chance that you are familiar with the name Mig Jimenez. If you are not familiar with Mig, he is a Spanish modeler that has really came to the forefront of modeling techniques. Along with the techniques MIg has created a system of washes, filters, pigments and now paints. He also has several great modeling books out as well. UK Aircraft colors from the 50's to present: This set is comprised of four 17ml bottles with dropper top. The four colors included in this set are as follows FS 36118 Medium Gunship Gray, FS 26173 (BS 638), FS 34079 (BS 641) and FS 36314 (BS 626). I used a single action siphon feed airbrush to apply them to an unprimed plastic card stock. I thinned the paint using the MIG Acrylic… more |
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U.S.S. Florida SSGN-728Published:
HistoryThe USS Florida is an Ohio class Submarine. The keel was laid down on July 4, 1976 and was launched on November 14, 1981. Originally the Florida was designated as SSBN-728 and was converted to SSGN-728. This conversion started in July 2003 and the Florida was re-commissioned in July 2006 as SSGN-728. The USS Florida is still serving proudly today. The KitThe kit is molded in light gray plastic. Construction on this model is pretty straightforward with only seven steps. Now this doesn't mean that this is a shake and bake kit. This kit was originally released in 2003 as a SSBN. To convert to a SSGN requires some minor surgery. This is all called out in the instructions and the parts are provided. The biggest issue that I found was where the… more |
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Model Art "How to build the 1/700 scale kits of the IJN ships for beginners"Published:
Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved from there over the past forty-nine years. This magazine was published as guide for modelers who want to start building 1/700 scale ships. It is broken down into twelve sections. These sections contain full build articles, tools, tips, adhesives, paints and working with decals. I found the tip section to be one of the most valuable as I am fairly new myself to building 1/700 scale naval subjects. The paint section is also a great asset. They compare Mr. Color and Tamiya for specific IJN color callouts. Each color is also shown next to a sample. Overall a great benefit. If you have ever thought about building… more |
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Model Art February 2015 No. 910Published:
Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved from there over the past forty nine years. The February issue starts off with a build article of the Zoukei - Mura 1/32 Horten Ho229, IJA/N Airplane Illustrated and a special report from the 2014 Reno National Championship Air Race and Air Show. The main article this month is a feature of many of the new ship models that have been released in 2014 and 2015. Some of these releases are the Fujimi 1/700 Kaga with 3 stage flight deck, Aoshima 1/700 Kanmusu Light Aircraft Carrier Chitose, Hasegawa 1/450 JMSDF Atago and the Pit Road 1/700 IJN Special Cargo Ship Kashino. Following the main article are several small… more |
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Model Art December 2014 No. 906Published:
Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved from there over the past forty eight years. The December issue starts off with seven pages of models and modeling tools that were shown at the 2014 All Japan Plamodel Hobby Show The main article this month is a feature using several model ship kits that were released in 2014. The article is composed of in progress shots of the kits, a diorama, line drawings and archive photos. Some of the kits used are the Fujimi 1/700 IJN Light Cruiser Kitakami 1945, Aoshima 1/700 IJN Seaplane tender Kimikawa-Maru and the Gallery 1/350 USS Intrepid. Following the main article are several small monthly reoccurring articles.… more |
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Model Art November 2014 No. 904Published:
Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved from there over the past forty eight years. The November issue starts off with two quick articles. The first is a build article of the Zoukei-Mura SWS 1/48 Ta152H-1 and the second is on the Daco Products 1/48 F-104 Starfighter Improvement & Correction set. The main article this month covers the design and development of the JGSDF Type 61 Tank. This article features five different 1/35 scale model kits including two different versions of the Type 61. The other three are a M4A3E8, M-46 and a T-34/85. These are used in the article to show the lineage to the Type 61. There is a multitude of color photos of these… more |
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Model Art - All About IJN Light Cruisers 1919 - 1945Published:
Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved over the past forty-six years. They also release many special releases during the year, as is the case of this issue. This issue covers IJN Light Cruisers that were produced from 1919 - 1945. During this time period there were twenty-four (This is the number that I came up with from Wikipedia. If it is incorrect, please forgive me as I am still new into IJN subjects, but learning. Light cruisers built and these fell into seven different classes. The classes being the Nagaro, Agano, Tenryu, Kuma, Sendai, Oyodo and Katori. The magazine is broken down into ten sections. Section one thru five covers the guns, torpedo… more |
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M2 Browning MGPublished:
The M2 Browning Machine Gun or "Ma Deuce" as known by some is probably one of the most highly recognized machine guns in the world and is rapidly approaching one hundred years in service. Eduard Brassin is designed as resin and photo etch accessories for scale plastic kits at a reasonable price. The kit comes with two grey resin parts and a small brass photo etch fret. The resin pieces are of the M2 machine gun and the charging handle. The photo etch pieces consist of the trigger and barrel carrying handle. Moving on to the build. My example came with a warped barrel and no matter how I have tried, I can not get it straight. The pour stub on the gun is in a horrible position. It is on the handle end of the receiver which is already attached to gun. This makes… more |