Not only did they give the seventh version of the Corvette stunning looks, it has a matching performance clocking in at 0 to 60 mph in only 3.8 seconds. The new Stingray has everyone turning heads, and it’s still a great bargain for a personal luxury roadster.
December 2015
Here’s another addition to that 1/144 carrier deck diorama/vignette you’ve wanted to do. This is the fire fighter version of the MD-3 Carrier Tow Tractor.
The Kit
You get two of everything except decals. And since you’re probably not going to do the same vehicle twice, that’s OK.
Scale Aircraft Modelling's November 2015 issue comes to us with a cover featuring a nicely framed picture of a Beaufighter and promises scale plans and profiles as well as other articles. Inside, it delivers as promised or even more.
Tony Grand leads off the builds with Magna Models 1/72 Seamew kit. A resin model of an unusual plane and Mr. Grand shows how to polish it up by reinforcing parts, fixing flaws and showing how nice the kit can look with some attention and effort.
A real highlight for me was Francesco Pigoli’s build of Revell’s 1/72 F-22 Raptor. Mr. Pigoli used Eduard’s Raptor interior and a lot of scratchbuilding skills to detail wheel and armament wells, intake FOD guards and more. There are many more fixes and the end result with a great paint scheme is phenomenal.
Warpaint’s latest is their standard A4 format, softbound publication that is 88 pages (excluding covers) on the General Dynamics F-111 series. Featuring more than 180 photographs (most in color) along with 34 of Richard J. Caruana’s color profiles, and including the B-Centennial scheme on 68-0028/UH, an F-111E based at Upper Heyford, in June 1976. The color profiles are further enhanced with color scrap illustration of opposite sides of the fuselage as necessary to depict special markings. Nose art and other special markings are also presented enlarged to show off details. For the small scale fans, Richard J. Caruana also includes fold-out 1/72 scale plans.
Mr. Wilder provides a series of YouTube video’s displaying some of the same techniques that are in Adam’s Armour 1 and 2. Both books, however, contain far more information than the videos. YouTube Link
These two publications are now available through Casemate and AFV Modeller Publications. Adam Wilder, a talented and gifted modeler, as well as an excellent writer, has authored “Adam’s Armour 1” and “Adam’s Armour 2”. This review focuses on “Adam’s Armour 2”.
“1” focuses on the construction of the model while “2” covers painting and finishing.
Reviewing the Table of Contents is an appropriate and enlightening place to start. While ten chapters were sufficient for Vol 1 “Construction”, Vol 2 contains 18 chapters.
Background
The 2.8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41 (sPzB 41) or "Panzerbüchse 41" was a German anti-tank weapon working on the squeeze bore principle. Officially classified as a heavy anti-tank rifle (German: schwere Panzerbüchse), it would be better described, and is widely referred to, as a light anti-tank gun as its construction was much more typical of an anti-tank gun. It was produced between 1940 and 1943 with a total of 2,797 seeing service.
History
Sir Harry Morgan was a British privateer, buccaneer, and admiral of the Royal Navy. He made himself famous during activities in the Caribbean, primarily raiding Spanish settlements, and was considered a pirate only to the Spanish, whom he was lawfully attacking. He earned a reputation as one of the most notorious and successful privateers in history, and one of the most ruthless among those active along the Spanish Main.
The German war machine produced some of the world’s most advanced aircraft designs from World War 2. The Luftwaffe's wonder weapons, when compared to their contemporaries, were clearly years ahead of their time. The Horten Ho 229 is the poster child of these machines and has always fascinated me. I’m always looking for modeling reference material on cutting edge German weaponry of the era and this publication fills in a lot of empty blanks. The book covers the story of the young Horton Brothers and the people who influenced them in their early years and during the war. The authors have compiled in great detail the most thorough technical study, complete development summary and operational record of the Horten Ho 229. Even though it was a promising design, throughout it’s operational life it continued to be a work in progress for the Horton Brothers.
Academy, the prolific Korean kit maker, continues to appeal to a broad spectrum of model makers. Kits that are easy to assemble have always been an entry point for modeling. Academy continues this trend with this very easy to assemble kit of the Titanic. There’s no need to retell that story here. The Titanic has been the subject of many kits, so here’s another one to add to your Titanic collection.
The Kit
The seven sprues have specific ‘Titanic’ colors, so they don’t require paint. The pieces are well molded, with a just a small amount of flash, something that a new modeler would more than likely not be too concerned about. The hull pieces are packaged separately with seven additional sprues of parts, including a small sprue of gold plated parts (the anchors and three props). Rather than water slide decals, the kit includes a small sheet of stickers.
This small brass PE kit is packed in a zip-lock bag attached to a peg hangar which protects the item. It consists of one fret with two identical fence sections. The fence is 0.2 mm (just under 1 scale inch) thick with slight raised detail on the out facing side to give some dimension. Removed from the fret they are 35.6 mm tall (4.08 scale feet) and 43 mm wide (4.9 scale feet) You need to fold over a small section at each end to attach to a fence post (not included). Plastruct square posts will work for this. There are bolt heads etched into the edge to add realism.
Removing the parts from the fret was very easy. The website recommends a PE folding tool to fold over the bends and this is probably a good idea. I used a straight edge with a flat edged X-Acto blade and had some difficulty. In working with these, the finials at the top of each rail are easily bent, but the brass is resilient enough to bend them back without permanent damage.