Designed for the Aerobonus DMC Logan T-40 USAF Tow Tractor, this latest figure from Aerobonus is a single block of light grey resin that features a complete seated figure. There are no blemishes or bubbles anywhere.

The figure features a driver with a boonie cap, typical of a Vietnam era USAF enlisted personel. The resin is contained in a typical self sealing bag with a card stock backing. There are painting instructions on three pages.

Removal of the figure from the pour blocks will be easy enough. How they molded and cast these parts is simply amazing. There are lots of undercuts and plenty of room behind the driver on the seat. The parts include the seated body of the driver, two arms, and a separate head.

This figure is essential if you have the Tow Tractor and want to have it in a diorama. This would look great when attached to the tractor and then to an F-4 or F-105. Aerobonus offers quite a lot of figures to represent the Vietnam era flightline.

Items

• Stock - Item - Price
• 35453 - Sheepfoot Roller Single - $24.95
• 35454 - Sheepfoot Roller Double - $44.95

L.Z. Models from Ireland provide high quality resin models and accessories. These kits represent sheepfoot rollers manufactured by R.G. LeTourneau, whose machines represented nearly 70 percent of the earthmoving equipment and engineering vehicles used during World War II. The sheepsfoot roller is a flat head tamping roller, which employs tapered box heads, or ‘feet’ to compact dirt when towed behind a tractor or dozer.

L.Z. has produced both single and double width units as separate kits. These appeared to be simple little kits, until I noticed that there are 100+ resin parts, and over 200 in the double roller kit. Each of the feet are individual pieces that need to be adhered to the large roller drum. All but nine of the hundred plus parts are the individual feet.

When I opened the box I was amazed at how many parts there were. It reminded me of the days when Dragon would include an entire sprue to provide 1 or 2 parts there are 11 yes 11 parts sprues in this kit. HEre is the breakdown of the entire kits contents.

• 11-Grey Sprues
• 2-DS Sprues
• 1-Set of DS Tracks
• 1-Small Sprue with two DS Polycaps
• 2 Clear Parts Sprues
• 1-Sheet of Photo Etch Parts
• 1-Metal Tow Cable
• Decals
• Instructions

Background

The term Magach is short for Merkevet Giborei Hayil whish is literally Chariot of War Heroes. The Magach 1 is based on the M-48A1 and the MAgach2 is based is the M48A2C. a portion of the Israeli Magach 1 tanks were captured from Jordanian forces during the six day war. I have chosen to model a Jordanian M48A1 in Jordanian national markings

Ampersand’s latest book continues to expand on their Visual History format as this edition follows up on David Doyle’s “Dragon Wagon Part 1: A Visual History of the U.S. Army’s Heavy Tank Transporter 1941-1955”. Ampersand got their start in 1993 when Pat Stansell distributed a free issue of Military Miniatures in Review at the IPMS Nationals in Atlanta. Ampersand joined forces with HobbyLink Japan in 2008 and have continued to expand their military AFV publications ever since.

Model Art is a Japanese publication that specializes in different aspects of plastic modelling. They have a monthly publication that covers all different genres, but also they publish special issues focusing on a specific topic. In this case the issue is part of a series known as “German AFV Database”.

This issue in particular covers many (if not all) the different AFV that were based on the Panzer IV and the Panzer 38(t) chassis -that have ever been kitted in 1/35 scale.

Be aware that all the text in this special issue is in Japanese. Still the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, including pictures of the model box art plus the sprues of the kit. If you install Google Translate in your smartphone, you can get a machine-based translation for the images captions by simply taking a picture of them.