After a massive scratch building job on my 1/35th scale Werner’s Wings MH-47E I needed something simple. Quick. Easy. I needed a Tamiya kit.

Many of you may remember the old Bandai 1/48th scale series of military vehicles. Until Tamiya revived the scale with modern renditions in this scale Bandai was the only game in town for 1/48th scale armor. One of the unique vehicles that Bandai put out was the BMW R-75 motorcycle with sidecar. Finding these was always a pain. I built one of them a long while ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Could Tamiya do better? That is a rhetorical question.

Packaged in a sturdy 6 x 9 cardboard box with typical quality box art the modeler is treated to a single sprue of light tan plastic wrapped in plastic along with a small decal sheet. The instructions are printed on a long scroll of high quality paper in typical high quality fashion. There is a small decal sheet of license plates and some unit emblems.

Riich.Models continues expanding its line of British Universal Carriers. This recent addition is the Mk.II series. I expect we will continue to see more versions of this vehicle, which saw widespread service during World War II.

Upon opening the box, you will find 13 sprues (one clear), two photoetch frets, a piece of thread, a piece of chain, brass tubing, and 32 springs (for the road wheels). In total, there are over 400 plastic parts and over 120 photoetch pieces. Add in the thread, chain, and springs and you have a truly multi-media kit in your hands.

Over the years of my modeling enjoyment one of the questions I am often asked by fellow modelers is, why did you buy that”? Usually these questions are in reference to a specialty tool (pinvise, punch and die, or hex punch) or specialty item (metal barrel, decals, or resin sets). My standard response has always been the same. This is a hobby and by its nature is supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable. Any item that I see as a way to make it more so is usually worth the price.

This new release from True Details definitely fits that bill perfectly. You get four sets of 16 different styled connectors. For the Ultra detailer, this is the cat’s meow in saving time. Depending on your use and ability, you can drill these out to handle one or several cables. Some of the larger connectors on my sample contained air bubbles but this could work to the builder’s advantage as you don’t have to drill out the connector to accept the cable.

Bronco models have repacked its Jeep and airborne anti-tank 6 pdr gun, together with 6 figures into this “full meal” boxing. Actually the vehicle has the necessary part to be the airborne variation used to tow the gun, including all the fittings for the ammo boxes.

When you open the box you find 26 (!) sprues –including one clear-, 3 photo-etch frets, and 3 decal sheets, including one for the soldiers rank. You get all the parts needed to model the airborne variation of the Jeep used to tow the gun, including all the fittings for the ammo boxes. You actually get several extra parts in this boxing and maybe you can model other versions of the Jeep, but I am not sure.

The surface detail is impressive, petite yet well defined. The tires even have the maker letterings in raised detail and would look very good under some dry-brushing.

Airifx continued their string of new releases related to British forces in Afghanistan with the Quad Bikes and crew. Basically, these are all-terrain vehicles adapted for military use. There are two complete vehicles and their accompanying trailers with four crew members. These are new kits, so the molding is superb. Given the diminutive size of these vehicles, however, the parts are rather fragile so please remove them from the sprues with care. The kits are molded in that familiar Airfix blue-grey plastic. There’s one sprue for the figures, two sprues each for the vehicles and trailers for a total of thirty seven parts. There is a modest decal sheet and colored instructions with 3-D drawings for instructions. As is typical with Airfix kits, the spues are packed together loosely in a plastic bag which means some loose, and this case, broken parts.