Model Art Issue 60 is typical of other Model Art magazines in that it is written entirely in Japanese, with occasional English words, usually in article titles or in captions. The Vessel Model Special is a quarterly issue that focuses on naval subjects. Advertising comprises the inside covers (and back cover) along with another four pages showing what is available and new, always useful for building up that wish list. I counted nearly 600 photos (mostly in color) along over forty 1/700 scale drawings. Additionally there are a lot of color scrap drawings highlighting details in the Ship Construction series.

There is a lot of incredible models in this Summer edition as I was just amazed at what could be done in 1/700 scale. This issue’s feature is the Battle of Leyte Gulf. As you can see in the following Contents, the focus is primarily on Ozawa’s Task Force with the USS Lexington thrown in to represent the US side.

One feature of the Bf-109 is the easy access of the radio compartment in the rear fuselage. This feature is easily replicated on Eduard’s new Bf-109G-6 thanks to this Brassin set.

The Brassin set consists of six pieces of light grey resin perfectly molded. The bigger pieces are the two sidewalls. Removal from the resin pour stubs is easy enough, except for the radio mount which is very fragile. Care will be required on this piece.

As an Eduard set it would be incomplete without a fret of photo etch. This one on nickel plated metal has five pieces of pre-painted parts. Removal is easy enough from the fret. Interestingly, Eduard seems to have forgotten to add the latches on the outside of the access hatch. I used a beading tool to impart the latches. Not a big deal but just a little oversight on Eduard’s part. The panel can easily be placed with the outside down as the inside has some beautiful detail.

A feature that you can quickly notice on the Sukhoi Su-9 Fishpot-B or Sukhoi Su-11 Fishpot-C is the complicated nose pitot tube. Although Trumpeter made a valiant effort in molding the Su-9 and Su-11 pitot tubes with its four separate vanes, the limits of the injection molding process come into play. I have used another set that used a combination of resin and photo-etch that was an improvement, but assembly was very difficult and the photo-etched vanes don’t really convey their 3-D nature. This Master Model set provides a quantum leap over any previous attempt to portray the Fishpot nose pitot tube. As a bonus, Master Model also provides the ability to build the less complex Fitter nose pitot tube seen on some models without the four vanes. Also included in this set are four brass missile head rails. You will find plenty of photos with red covers over the sharp pointy ends of these rails and there is a reason for that; they were sharp.

Whether you have the Academy or the Eduard F-4C (same kit actually) there are little things that can be added to make it an even better kit. Eduard is known for its quality photoetch.

There are two brass frets are included in this set. One fret of photoetch is primarily the cockpit sill and canopy framing.

The second, larger one is an extensive upgrade for the landing gear wheel wells and doors. This is something that Academy probably should have done better, but the photoetch parts are easy to add and upgrade the area. The wheel wells are busied up to a more realistic look. Every door on the landing gear is treated to realistic pattern thanks to the PE. There are some parts for the drop tanks, missiles and bombs as well.

The fit of all the parts that I used were perfect for their application. The canopy frame required some minor bending but it added the missing detail to the canopy when posed open. The wheel wells reproduce the pattern in the wheel well.

This is the first in a series of diorama modelling handbooks to be published by Mr. Black Publications (the second has also been released). Mr. Black is a relatively new, European-based company specializing in modeling ‘how-to’ books and modeling-related history books. On their website they also offer a small selection of vignette bases and some pro-built models.

This handbook is in the standard European A4 (roughly 8 ½” x 11”) format, and is printed on very high quality, thick matte paper. There are over 400 photos between the covers.

The contents comprise of 9 articles, each written by a different author, explaining the construction and detailing of vignette-style dioramas. The emphasis is on figure-related dioramas, and the contents are as follows: