ICM continues to please with their latest figure offering – three French tank crewmen showing off their pride and joy to a couple of typically bedazzled kids. Not surprisingly, the sculpting is first-rate, with distinctive character to every face. As the figures don’t come with a lot of equipment, assembly is very straight-forward with no real glitches. A wee bit of putty here and there is definitely called for, especially around the officer’s coat tails.

Although the box art shows them gathering around ICM’s new FCM-36 French tank, the seated tanker can fit into almost any French tank. The standing figures, of course, are appropriate for just about any vignette you can think of.

Quote from “Gladiator”, the movie, “Are you not entertained?”

ICM has released this Gladiator kit in 1/16^th scale, and just a note that may be interest, ICM also offers a kit of “Roman Centurion, 1st Century, Kit # 16302 and also in 1/16th scale.

The kit includes 44 parts. There is no information to accompany this kit that indicates that this model is modeled after a particular historic figure. There is no mention of such a person and no historical or biographical information is provided. That being the case, you are free to paint the figure as you wish without a concern for precise accuracy.

If, on the other hand, you wish to model a more accurate figure then there are some references that could be useful.

Named after an 18^th century winning racehorse, the Mitsubishi Eclipse was a compact two door car with a design meant to appeal to younger buyers. When coupled with a four-cylinder engine capable of up to 210 hp, the car found success and its production ran from 1990 to 2014. During that time, over 900,000 units were produced and the power maxed out at 265hp. This history alone would justify the car’s success, but in 2001 the first Fast and Furious movie was released. In it, Brian O'Conner (played by Paul Walker) drove a lime green modified 1995 Eclipse. That car and a few others in the subsequent movies because icons of the street car world. AMT first released this kit to capitalize on the success of the movies and now Round 2 Models has reissued the kit with a new decal sheet that allows the modeler to create variations on the original theme. Note that you will have to find some instrument decals for the dash as there are none in the kit.

History

The Lockheed P-38J was one of the finest twin engine fighters to be developed during World War II, and although it wasn’t as effective in the European Theater, it excelled in the Pacific, where some of the highest scoring aces scored the majority of their victories on the type. Although faced with developmental problems, it became a highly effective, well armed, and long ranged fighter with excellent overall performance. It was especially effective against the Japanese, and one little known achievement was that Charles Lindbergh, who had been rejected by President Roosevelt for political reasons, went to the South Pacific to work with pilots extending the range through improved piloting techniques, actually scored a victory against a Japanese plane in a 475^th FG P-38 . He was the only American civilian to do so during World War II.

The R35 was a small, light infantry tank that was originally designed by Renault for the French Army. After the fall of Paris, many of these tanks were captured and pressed into service by the German forces. These were used as either second line tanks or they were modified for other rolls. The particular vehicle covered by this new kit from Hobby Boss covers a vehicle that has been modified to carry the 3.7cm Pak 35/36.