Introduction

Wingnut Wings’ latest release represents the Roland D.VIb, and follows their earlier release of the D.VIa. The D.VI was designed by LFG (Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft). The company’s name was changed to Roland in 1914 to avoid confusion with another aircraft company, LVG (Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft). The D.VI first flew in November 1917. The D.VI was a single bay biplane which discarded the LFG/Roland patented semi-monocoque fuselage construction technique for a new method, Klinkerrumpf construction, where the fuselage was built by overlapping thin strips of spruce over a light wooden framework. This construction method resulted in a fuselage that resembles a small boat or a clapboard sided house. This detail was captured nicely by the Wingnut Wings designers. There were two variations of the D.VI. The D.VIa was powered by the 160hp Daimler-Mercedes D.III, and the D.VIb was powered by the 185ps Benz Bz.IIIa.

Model Art Magazine is a monthly publication covering aircraft, armor, ships and car modeling. Model Art began releasing magazines in 1966, and has evolved over the past forty-six years. They also release many special issues during the year, as is the case of this sample.

This issue covers IJN destroyers that were produced from 1918 - 1941. The classes include: Minekaze, Kamikaze, Momi, Wakatake, Mutsuki, Fufuki (Tokugata), Hatsuharu, Shiratsuyu, Asashio, Kagero, Yugumo, Akizuki, Shimakasze and Matsu. The magazine is broken down into ten sections.

Hasegawa offers this 1/12^th Toy Machine to its expanding collection of 1/12^th furniture for offices and schools.

The kit provides parts for two Toy Machines that can be used as “stand alone” devices, mounted one on top of the other, or mounted side-by-side. There are some “toy capsules” that are included. A small plastic bag contains some yellow, red, blue and green spheres, and there are a dozen blue/clear spheres that must be snapped together.

As advertised, the Toy Machines do not require painting, and with the exception of one part they snap together with precision. The only issue I found was that Part A3, the turntable within the machine, did not fit as well as the other parts. A few swipes with a sanding stick took care of the problem.

A number of “signs” are provided on a piece of high gloss paper, and after cutting the favored sign from the sheet, it slips nicely into the machine.

Windsock Worldwide, which has taken on the name of Windsock World War Centenary, continues to produce one of the finest resources for all who are interested in modeling WWI aircraft. With the centennial of World War One upon us, there has been an uptick in scale modeling of Great War subjects, both in armor and especially in aircraft. As someone who has focused the majority of my modeling career on World War One biplanes, it is heartening to see the revival that is going on in this field of model building. A lot of this has to do with the emergence and success of Wingnut Wings. This has not been lost on the Windsock publications, as they give ample coverage to all news related to Wingnut Wings, and reviews of their latest kitsets.

One in a series of kits featuring “office furniture” and “school furniture”, this kit is rather easy to assemble, goes together very well, and provides a bit of fun. The kit provides pieces for three school desks and chairs. There is nothing difficult about this kit and I found myself chuckling out loud, as I did building Hase’s 62002 Office Furniture Tables and Chairs. Total build time was about 7 minutes.

Hasegawa advertises that this kit does not require glue, and I found that to be true. I took the time remove the nubs after removing the parts from the sprues, but that was more out of habit than necessity.

One gets parts sufficient for three chairs and three desks. The fit is excellent and assembly is very quick and easy. The table surfaces are “brown” as are the seats and chair backs. The tubing for the chairs and tables is gray.