Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
November 1, 2010
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$29.95

Moebius continues to deliver some very interesting products, and the Viper Mk. II is another in the growing list of Moebius kits. This model is in 1/32 scale and includes several features. The Viper can be displayed with gear down or mounted on a base with gear up. A resin pilot figure is included. The decals are of the traditional waterslide variety. The instructions are rather unique in that they are presented to the builder as a “briefing paper”, complete with the Colonial Headquarters Seal at the top of each page. The “briefing paper” approach is fun and it encourages the builder to “get into character” during the assembly process. The instructions contain some excellent color images as well as some accurate and well done line drawings. These images and drawings will help the “crew” to avoid some mistakes that can be made during the assembly process.

Review Author
Clarence Wentzel
Published on
November 1, 2010
Company
ICM
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$29.99

Background

The Sukhoi Su-27, known to many in the west as the Flanker, is one of the Soviet forth generation fighters. It was designed to equal or surpass western fighters such as the F-14, F-15, F-16 and F-18. The Su-27 is larger and heavier then the similar appearing MiG-27 and provides excellent performance, easy handling and easy maintenance. It is a favorite at air shows due to its size and the stunning maneuvers that it can perform, including the “Cobra”.

The Kit

This kit of the Su-27 features the markings of the “Russian Knights” aerobatic team and is produced by ICM Models. ICM Models is located in the Ukraine and produce aircraft, armor, vehicle and figure models in various scales. I am familiar with some of their WW II subjects and I feel that they make one of the best models of the Polikarpov I-16. Their Zvena kit is also pretty good.

Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
November 2, 2010
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$39.95

Hello fellow IPMS Brothers and Sisters, Today we have the beautiful new Eduard 1/32 109 in the affordable “Weekend Edition” box…I hear choir music. OK, let’s see what we have inside the box, drum roll please. We have 152 khaki colored and clear plastic parts packaged in the typical standard Eduard resealable bags, a single option decal sheet and good ol' black and white instructions. Overwhelmed by the seven large parts sprue, I found inspiration in the decal option Red 1 flown by Knight’s Cross recipient, Hptm. Trautloft

The Bf-109 is an interesting subject, with a rich and fascinating history. Several incarnations and variants make it a very popular aircraft and the darling of a lot of fellow modelers. The first prototype flew in late 1936 Bf 109 V4 (D-IOQY, Werk Nr 878) followed by V5, V6 and V7 in early 1937. The latter prototype was pretty much the production version of the Bf 109B.

Review Author
Andrew Birkbeck
Published on
November 3, 2010
Company
AFV Modeller
MSRP
$14.95

To me, AFV Modeller is one of THE finest armor model magazines on the planet. Issue 54 continues their great tradition of providing the reader with well written articles of superbly built models and dioramas, beautifully photographed and printed on high quality paper, along with a nice sprinkling of informative reviews covering the latest books, kits and model accessories.

This month’s cover article is by Bruno Carsuzaa, detailing the construction and weathering of a Trumpeter 1/16th scale T-34/76 Soviet tank. The kit is built as a knocked out example, one side having burned so that the rubber is missing from the road wheels. The back of the turret has been blown out, and the entire vehicle is beautifully weathered in rust, as part of a diorama depicting a German slit trench. Completing the scene are two German soldiers, by Verlinden and Stormtroopers.

Review Author
Stephen Bierce
Published on
November 3, 2010
Company
AModel
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$18.50

The fit on this model had me working very hard from every direction. For example, on the tailplane, there was a locator tab that didn’t seem to have a matching hole. The result was that I accidentally mounted the horizontal stabilizer inverted. I had to carefully prize it off and clean the parts before remounting it and adding the vertical stabilizer and tail struts.

I applied most of the paint scheme before final assembly. A second-line R.A.F. type, (post-1941) called for a medium gray/olive green upper surfaces (Testors 1163 Flat Gray for the gray and my suicide stew bottle of mostly Pactra olive greens for the green) and “Sky” undersides (a mix of Testors 1162 Flat Blue and Model Master FS36375 Light Ghost Gray).

Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
February 21, 2020
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$22.50

Airfix’s 1/24 Mosquito is a large model, but is a little lacking in detail in places. One of these is the rather Spartan 0.303-inch Browning machine gun installation in the nose. Master Models has released a fine set of replacement parts for this area.

Each gun barrel is represented by 5 pre-formed brass pieces; the parts simply slot together and are secured with spots of superglue. Surgery is performed on the Airfix machine guns, with the whole of the plastic barrels being removed. The completed brass assembly is then glued to the plastic body of the gun. Simple!

The new barrels stand out head and shoulders above the plastic parts and when glued in place, they form a striking introduction to the aircraft. Highly recommended.

Master Models’ website is located at https://master-model.pl/ and they can be obtained from leading retailers. My thanks to Master Models for the review sample.

Review Author
Jim Stratton
Published on
September 25, 2021
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/12
MSRP
$29.99

Introduction

This newest release from Moebius Models the 1/12th scale Creature from the Black Lagoon is a continuation of their popular Universal Studios “Monsters of the Movies” series of famous movie monsters. This kit is smaller than the previous releases of Frankenstein and the Mummy, which were 1/8th scale. This kit is also a Snap-Together kit with only 14 parts. The entire kit only took 15 minutes to clean up and “Snap-Together” the parts. In the past I have never been fond of Snap-Together kits. Usually they are designed for the younger modeler and ease of construction is the underlying factor in these kits.

Review Author
Jim Stratton
Published on
May 24, 2022
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$29.95

Introduction

Cyber-Hobby.com has released another kit in their armored train series. This is a re-release of the heavy railcar which mounted a Panzer III Ausf. N. turret with the 7.5cm KwK L/24 gun. These heavy armored rail cars were introduced in 1944 and saw extensive service in Russia and Yugoslavia. After the war Czechoslovakia used them until the mid 1950’s. These rail cars were self propelled and could run independently; however, they were designed to be operated in trains of 20 cars or more. In actuality, due to fuel shortages, they often ran alone or in small numbers. The armored rail cars were built for the Deutsche Reichbahn by Steyer starting in May 1944 and were operational from November 1944 to April 1945. They weighed around 18 tons and had 20mm armor plate. They were powered by an air cooled 76 hp Steyer motor which was sorely underpowered and resulted in terrible gas mileage.

Review Author
Don Barry
Published on
November 4, 2010
Company
Great Wall Hobby
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$49.95

Brief History

The 12.8 cm PaK (Panzerabwehrkanone) 44 was the largest caliber German anti-tank gun fielded by her armies during World War II. It was designed as a final response to the escalating armor/anti-armor spiral which continued right through the end of the war, and afterward. Experiences with Russian 122-mm guns and the heavy armor of the KV and IS tanks had shown that even the vaunted 88-mm gun had its limitations.

The choice of 128-mm was made due to existing tooling being available for this caliber as naval and anti- aircraft weapons.

Contracts for design and prototypes were awarded to both Krupp and Rheinmetall-Borsig, with testing commencing in late 1944. The Krupp design was chosen for series production, and although performance was impressive, a towed weapon weighing nearly 11-tons was simply not practical. Various carriages, both foreign and domestic were tried, with varying degrees of success.