SF3D, now called Maschinen Krieger, was conceptualized in Japan by Kow Yokoyama in 1984. Yokoyama created a graphically realistic setting in his writing, art and the scratch-built plastic model kits he made of the aftermath of World War IV. Yokoyama drew upon his love of WWII aircraft and armor and American sci-fi to create this celebrated cult favorite. Among his most interesting designs are his Powered Armor Suits, of which this limited edition kit features the most advance suit made for the Strahl Defense Force.

Hasegawa’s Voyager is the 2nd in a series of “Science World” kits. The 1st offering in this series is the 1/72 Manned Research Submersible Shinkai 6500, an intriguing kit in its own right. For those who enjoy “real space” subjects, the release of the Voyager is a stroke of luck.

NASA launched two spacecraft during the Voyager program, known as Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The actual Voyagers were almost identical, and that being the case this model can be said to represent either vehicle.

At the time of this writing, Voyager is 18,169,754,598 KM from the Earth. In the time it took to type these two sentences Voyager extended that distance to 18,169,757,539 KM. I find that stunning!

Tamiya has re-released its Space Shuttle Orbiter kit. It has included a few new sprues to depict more modern payloads, like the “Raffaello” multipurpose module, the Orbiter Docking Systems, and a few others.

Even when the kit boxing is called “Atlantis,” the boxing actually provides markings for the whole Shuttle Fleet and for all the program stages (early, mid, and late). The markings plus the extra parts makes this boxing the best value of all the Tamiya Space Shuttle boxings.

Given that this is a re-release, you get a 20+ year-old molds and kit engineering with a combination of recessed and raised detail. There is almost no flash, but some significant sink marks, mainly on the bottom of the model and around the nose. This kit has been criticized for not having tile detail; however, considering all the filling and sanding required on the bottom, it is actually better not to have tile detail. A modeler could scribe the detail, if so desired.

Dragon has provided an excellent rendition of the famous Apollo 11 Command/Service Module (CSM) in 1/48th scale. This kit can be viewed as a companion kit to Dragon’s #11008 LEM kit. Together, they make an awesome pair!

Dragon advertises that this kit is a “Delicate Apollo 11 CSM w/display stand.” While the appearance of the model gives one the impression that it is, indeed, “delicate,” in truth the model is rather robust. The manner in which the parts fit together lends considerable strength to the model and one need not be concerned for any “delicacy” issues during assembly.

This is the first issue of SciFi and Fantasy Modeller I have had the privilege to review. Since first seeing the review in the IPMS/USA Journal on Happy Medium's “The Steampunk Modeller” and getting my hands on this issue, I have subscribed to the publication and purchased “The Steampunk Modeller” vols. 1 and the upcoming vol. 2, as well as the special issue “Exercises in Iimagination and Scratchbuilding” . You could say I have become a fan.

This issue is 98 pages in full color, and includes 13 articles within those pages. The largest and most important article is, of course, the cover story about Moebius' new 29" long movie version of the Seaview submarine from the 1961 film “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.” There are actually 2 articles in this issue about the Seaview sub, the second being about the making of the Moebius kit based on the filming miniature from the television series of the same name, but more on those articles when we get to them.