Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m a bit of a fan for speculative or hypothetical armor. In this field, Dragon Models has done me well over the decades, and I’ve had the pleasure of assembling everything from their E-100 and Kugelblitz AA tank to a couple of variants on the Panther F. This latest incarnation sits well with my other renditions and then some.

As is typical of Dragon, the box comes packed with parts; 17 sprues in all plus clear parts for the periscopes, three separate sheets of photoetch, two types of metal cable for the tow ropes, a metal shroud for the mantlet and rubberized tracks. There’s also a tiny decal sheet that seems to have been tossed in more as an afterthought. Predictably for Dragon, you’ll inevitably find yourself with a host of spare parts which should be useful for other projects.

GM's Motorama was a 12-year (1949-1961) marketing extravaganza designed to showcase the current line of GM products while dazzling the target audience with some amazing prototype and dream car exercises. Ultimately curtailed due to rising costs, Motorama was nonetheless a major “hit” for The General,

29 domestic and 23 GM-Canada Motoramas took place, at venues ranging from NY, Los Angeles. San Francisco, Boston and Miami domestically and Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Calgary and London, Ontario in the North. GM used the Motorama show not only to woo customers for the latest model year in each participating division, but also to gauge consumer reaction to a wide range of concept cars incorporating mild to wild styling and design features (rain-sensing automatic convertible tops, hydraulically operated doors, jet-fighter styling cues, and an odd little fiberglass car called a Corvette, which you may have heard of).

Bartlomiej Belcarz authors the latest in the series of aircraft used in the Polish Air Force. This volume’s primary focus is the Breguet 19 (p3-53), but also provides 13 pages on the Farman F.68 Goliath and 6 pages on the Amiot 123. The Breguet section features 28 full page length color profiles along with 8 top and bottom color profiles where appropriate. The color profiles are accompanied by photos of the actual aircraft in the profiles. The Farman F.68 Goliath section features 6 full page length color profiles along with a top and bottom color profile and a scrap color detail of typical rudder markings. The Amiot 123 section on the only two aircraft procured, features 2 full page length color profiles along with a top and bottom color profile.

The Table of Contents focuses on three major chapters:

The PAC-3 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile system, whose primary purpose is to intercept ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of flight. This new offering from Aoshima is the first injection molded kit of the Patriot Missile system in 1/72 scale. The kit includes the Transporter Erector Launcher trailer, 4 missile containers, and an Isuzu Type 73 Heavy Truck. There are several options for displaying the model: you can display the TEL with outriggers up or down; the missile canisters can be stowed or ready to fire; the antenna can be in the raised or lowered position; or you can also show it firing a PAC-3 missile. One of the neat features of the kit is that it provides two full sets of outrigger legs and you do not glue the legs on, they are attached by poly caps. This means that if you are careful you should be able to swap out how you display the trailer.

History

The Cape-class patrol boats were 95-foot (29 m) steel hull patrol boats of the United States Coast Guard with aluminum superstructures. They were unnamed until 1964, when they acquired names of US capes of land. Originally designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW), all 36 boats in this class were built at the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland.

Kit

The kit is produced by Round 2 Models, a well-known company who bought the Lindberg Line and is re-issuing the kits in very colorful packaging. The box art work in outstanding! The scene depicts the cutter at high speed engaging an enemy submarine on the surface at dusk.