This is one of Model Art Modeling Magazine’s special editions. The text is mainly in Japanese with some English subtitles throughout. One attraction of these magazines is the high quality of the photographs and the models that are used.

This issue starts off with sixty nine pages of models. These pages are chock-full of color photographs, line drawings, and tips and tricks to building the models. The models used are the Academy 1/48th F-4B Phantom II, Hasegawa 1/72nd F-4J Phantom II and F-8E Crusader, Academy 1/72 F-8E Crusader, Zoukei-Mura 1/32nd A-1H Skyraider, Tamiya 1/48th A-1H Skyraider, Hasegawa 1/48th A-4E Skyhawk, and A-4F Skyhawk, Airfix 1/72 A-4B Skyhawk, Fujimi 1/72nd A-4C Skyhawk, Kinectic 1/48th A-6A Intruder, Revell 1/48th A-6E Intruder, Hasegawa 1/48th A-7E Corsair II. and Hobby Boss 1/72 A-7B Corsair II.

For this review, I built the Hasegawa Police version of the VW Beetle. This says Limited Edition on the box and, if that is true, I would pick one up ASAP. You get a really nice car kit here, and it includes three versions of the bug to build – a green and white German Polizei auto, a black and white Canadian bug, and the version I built: the white and blue Belgium Politie. The good news about that is if I am ever in Belgium and see a white bug with a blue stripe behind me, I won’t do anything stupid.

History

The Brewster F2A Buffalo series of single-engine fighters has long been maligned by aviation writers and historians, although its combat career varied widely because of the meager performance, training levels of its pilots, and the quality of the opposition. In the hands of the Finns, the airplane was highly successful, managing to score against Spitfires, Hurricanes, and other types operated by the Russians. In British and Dutch service, it fared poorly against the nimble Japanese fighters, although the war in Southeast Asia was by no means one-sided. At the Battle of Midway, a few USMC F2A-3’s suffered heavy losses against Japanese A6M2 Zero fighters, mainly because of the inexperience of the Americans facing Japanese pilots with much more combat skill.

Scale Aircraft Conversions specializes in white metal replacement parts. Its line of replacement landing gear has been expanded to include a set for the Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire Mk.I/Vb.

The set includes 3 parts, two landing gear struts and tail wheel, finely molded in white metal. These parts are drop-in replacements for the plastic parts.

You can see from the pictures the parts are very cleanly molded and formed. They include the “double slot” in the struts where the plastic landing gear cover is attached, so replacement should be quick and painless.

Typically I tend to think of replacing a plastic landing gear by a white metal one when the model is large and heavy. For most single engine 1/48 scale models, weight is not an issue.

Scale Aircraft Conversions has produced replacement gear for the Hawk/Testors OV-10 Bronco kit. I have reviewed several of these sets, and have purchased a few more on my own, because in all cases they have been superior to the kit items.

The white metal replacements are a clean drop-in for the kits plastic parts. The supplied items include two main gear struts and braces and one nose gear strut. Also included are weighted tires mastered by Doug Smith of Royal Resin. The weighted wheels are a significant improvement in detail over the balloonish kit tires. The SAC tires also have tread and improved rim/lug detailing.

A side-by-side evaluation (see photos) indicates an identical strut replacement that should provide greater strength with a significantly improved weight capacity and abuse tolerance. In some cases, painting may not be necessary.

Highly recommended.

The MJ1-B is a United States Air Force bomb loader built by Hydraulics International. It has served in various forms since the 1950's and sports a 3000 lb. lifting capacity and a 25-horsepower engine. It is able to lift up to a height of 78 inches and was widely used in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War.

The kit consists of enough parts to build either the MJ1-B (the late version), or the earlier MJ1-A version. The solid resin parts are finely cast and the kit includes a figure for each version – a male for the early one and a female for the late one.

All parts had to be cleaned and cut from their casting blocks, and are on the soft side. There was minimal flash on some parts which was easy to clean up. Care needs to be taken on the steering wheel and the side arms, as they’re very thin and delicate.

“How the heck did he do that?” A polite version of one of the most often-asked questions in the scale modeling culture. With the proliferation of modeling blogs and videos available on the internet, as well as generations of printed reference material, it seems a rare occurrence when a scale modeling reference in print form hits the market with such great impact and acclaim.

Michael Rinaldi’s TANKART Vol. 1 WWII German Armor is just such a work. For that matter, the book seems to be a work of art in and of itself. Yeah, that sounds a bit extreme, but seeing, reading, and re-reading is truly believing. So much for cliché, let’s get into the facts.

Much has been written in regard to the tank battles that happened on the eastern front with heavy emphasis on either the Germans or the Russians. This book looks into the smaller countries and the vehicles that were used during this campaign. By reading the book, you find out that some of these countries were not true allies to Germany. Many were forced to side with Germany and some tried to get out of this "alliance" but were drawn back in through kidnappings of their family members and other strong-arm tactics.

This book is clearly written and easy to follow. There are many black and white period photographs, color artwork, line drawings, cut-away drawings, and charts of the vehicles.

The mind of Leonardo DaVinci must have been an interesting place. There's an entire museum in Milan full of his art work, architectural and biological drawings, and working models made from his original plans for a wide variety of machines, and Academy has released a series of spring-driven working models based on these. The subject of this review, his Flying Machine, contains a series of gears that drive two bird-like wings up and down. Of course, it doesn't actually fly, but it was an attempt to understand how birds do.

Motivation for Review

After taking a 1-year hiatus from modeling, I wanted to start back with a build that would be of strong interest for me. That is the Spitfire, and I decided to do 1/144, 1/72, and 1/48 builds in the Mk.IX series. At this time, the excellently reviewed: 1/48 Eduard Spitfire Mk.IXc late version was released. For me, one benefit of being in the IPMS Reviewer Corp is to request items in which I have a personal interest, and since I had acquired all of the prior-mentioned scaled Mk.IXc model kits I thought that the Reviewer List might be able to provide me with replacement detailed parts for my builds. I was right, and this review is the first of the few parts that I have been able to obtain. I remain on the lookout for other parts. (Note: the 1/32 Spitfire scares me right now, but I am hoping that once I finish the 3 scales I have now that I will be ready for it.)

“How the heck did he do that?” A polite version of one of the most often-asked questions in the scale modeling culture. With the proliferation of modeling blogs and videos available on the internet, as well as generations of printed reference material, it seems a rare occurrence when a scale modeling reference in print form hits the market with such great impact and acclaim.

It’s déjà vu all over again – Michael Rinaldi’s TANKART Vol. 2 WWII Allied Armor is just such a work, following close on the heels of the amazing TANKART Vol. 1 WWII German Armor. Batting 2-for-2, the author seems to be on quite a roll, with TANKART Vol. 3 Modern Armor’s forthcoming release eagerly anticipated.

I won't go into the background of the F9F Panther, mainly because I don't know a lot about it and I know there are those out there who, knowing every nut, bolt and hydraulic coupling, would let me know in no uncertain terms if I were to err. Instead, I'll confine myself to the kit itself. Round 2 Models is a collectibles company located in South Bend, Indiana, that has acquired, among other lines, plastic kits from AMT, MPC, and Polar Lights, and they re-release selected out-of-production subjects from these companies' lines. Interestingly, they put out their releases in the old companies' packaging with no indication that it's from Round 2. If you didn't know any better, you'd think it was 20-30 years ago. The only clue you get is a Round 2 flyer/catalogue that is included in the box. Currently, their offerings are weighted toward automotive and Star Trek subjects, but they do have a couple of aircraft, one of which is the old AMT F9F-2 Panther.