Tamiya has really stepped up it’s game in the figure department in the last few years. Starting with single figures and sets in the re-boxing of the Marder III M, Hummel, and 38 (t), the new designs have really made assembly and posing easier than ever. There are notches and tabs that help align the shoulders, legs, and torsos (molded in front and back halves) to avoid any gaps. There are also molded indentations on the back of the torso and in the pouches to attach the extra equipment to so they appear to avoid them looking as if they’re simply resting on the torso and belt. The included facial details are also much more expressive and individualized than in the past. In one figure, there is a separate boot and another has a hand separate from the arm which is a bit odd. The drawback to the parts being so specifically keyed to each other is that they really aren’t interchangeable.

The Sd. Kfz. 251/8 was the ambulance version of the personnel carrier halftrack built by Hanomag. The vehicle was known in the Wehrmacht as the Krankenpanzerwagen, (armored ambulance). It could carry 8 “walking wounded” or 2 stretcher patients and 4 seated casualties.

The Kit

There are 4 sprues in the box, along with the decals and instructions. No clear parts. I pretty much followed the instructions as far as assembly, starting with the interior and then putting the top and bottom of the main compartment together. I did take a picture of the interior before I did the final assembly, because that’s the last time anyone’s going to see the driver’s compartment, since there are no windows or openings.

I painted the entire vehicle panzer dark gray, including the wheels and the suspension parts. I then painted it with panzer schokobraun in stripes for the camouflage. I then painted the black tires on the track suspension and assembled the suspension parts.

NOTE: The link to the Nu Nu Upgrade set is http://www.platz-hobby.com/products/8131.html . The price is $30.00

Platz Models has a large and extensive line of plastic model kits: everything from small scale (1/144) aircraft to military ships. They do partner with smaller, niche manufacturers of plastic model kits. That symbiosis provides both Platz and those other kit manufacturers with market access and diversity of product. One of those relationships is with another Japanese manufacturer: Nu Nu Model kits.

Nu Nu Model kits is principally involved with manufacturing modern 1/24^th scale racing cars, notably Grand Prix GT3 cars. For those that may be unfamiliar with sports car racing, Wikipedia's Sports Car Racing page has more than enough information to join in any conversation about the sport.

Platz Hobby currently produces 334 kits in 1/144 scale, and in addition to their F6F-3 release, I was fortunate enough to receive this two-plane kit for review. In addition to the parts for two aircraft there are markings for three different planes included. Construction was quick, and the detail is very good for this scale. Modelers familiar with working with small parts should not have issues building this release, and I would highly recommend it.

Intro

The M60A2 early type by AFV Club is another one of their M60 series of vehicles including the M60A1, M60A3, M60A2Early and later and the M728 CEV as well as several Foreign subjects based on the M60 series of tanks. The M60A2 early includes sprues from the common components of the hull and turret and running gear. M60A2 specific components are included to model the right vehicle. In this case the Gun barrel with the bore evacuator and the M60A2 turret and assemblies.

OKB Grigorov has provided yet another very submarine in this case it’s the Italian Navy’s in the Enrico Toti Class Submarine. These were built in the 1960’s and were the first submarines designed and built in Italy since the second world war. They were designed as hunter killers and powered by a diesel-electric engine. They were very similar to the famous German type 205’s. They saw service from 1965 to 1993.

Inside the box are two resin parts and one Photo Etch Sheet

The detail quality is great; The parts are very delicate and need careful removal from the resin bases. There was no instruction sheet provided, this was not a problem as it was a simple build. The Assembly is quick and easy. The photoetch stand is an awesome addition to the kit.

The final part is painting. This is has joined my some navy of these great kits and I really enjoy building these and they make a wonderful display all lined up.

Q-Men (part of Kitty Hawk) has released an Egg plane type kit with a Lego Style figure Pilot. This of the latest Chinese 5th Gen fighter the JF-20 Mighty Dragon. The kit can be built in one of two schemes.

In the box is

• 2 x bright red and grey sprues
• 1 clear sprue
• 1 green sprue
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 3D printed pilot head
• 1 instruction booklet

The sprues are well molded with no flash and great surface detail. The 3D printed pilot head is a great addition to the Lego style figure included.

Construction

This is a very simple and straightforward build.

Brief History from Wikipedia

The Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack was a World War I German armored fighting vehicle designed by the Hanamag company, based on its earlier unarmored Sd. Kfz 11 vehicle. The Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed to transport the Panzergrenadier (German mechanized infantry) into battle. Sd.Kfz. 251s were the most widely produced German halftracks of the war, with at least 15,252 vehicles and variants produced by seven manufacturers. Some sources state that the Sd.Kfz. 251 was commonly referred to simply as "Hanomags" by both German and Allied soldiers after the manufacturer of the vehicle; this has been questioned, and may have been only a postwar label. German officers referred to them as SPW (Schützenpanzerwagen, or armored infantry vehicle) in their daily orders and memoirs.

Platz Hobby produces a number of kits in 1/144 scale (currently 334 to be exact), and I was fortunate enough to receive this two-plane kit for review. In addition to the parts for two aircraft there are markings for three different planes included. Construction was quick, and the detail is very good for this scale. Modelers familiar with working with small parts should not have issues building this release, and I would highly recommend it.

There have been many releases of the F6F in its variants over the years, so I probably do not need to mention much more on the history of a plane that had over 10,000 copies released during WWII. The three goals of the Hellcat were that it had to be better than the planes it would face, that it could be built quickly in large numbers, and that it could be easily mastered by the pilots. Grumman answered the call with what was likely the definitive U.S. Navy carrier-borne fighter of the war.

A recent arrival for the Review Corps were Shaders from Ammo by Mig Jimenez, which are a unique addition for modelers of just about anything. For this review in particular, I was provided with five of the colors including Light Gray (0856), Navy Gray (0857), Light Blue (0860), Marine Blue (0861), and Night Blue (0862). The full line consists of 20 different colors. The Shaders are unique to begin with as they are packaged in 10ml bottles, so they are about half the size of a typical bottle of acrylic paint. Shaders do not require shaking prior to use (they are about the consistency of ink), and they can be mixed to create different shades, and may be thinned with water if desired.

Background and History

Thanks to Wikipedia

The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin engine, variable-sweep multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom, and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (interdiction/strike) fighter-bomber, the suppression of enemy defenses, Tornado ECR (electronic/combat/reconnaissance) and the Tornado ADV (air defense variant) interceptor aircraft.

The McDonnell/Douglas F-4 Phantom is arguably one of the best all time fighter aircraft ever made. Developed for the US Navy as a long-range all-weather fighter aircraft the Phantom saw a large number of variants for the Navy, Air Force and a host of foreign users. This book tells that story in a concise, well written and interesting manner.

Written by British author Martin B. Bowman the book The Phantom F-4 is a soft bound volume that contains 144 pages in four chapters in addition to acknowledgement and introduction sections. There are 120 black and white photos throughout. Brought to us here on this side of the Atlantic by Casemate Publishers the color cover, by Dominic Allen features two German Phantoms, two Marine birds and two in flight photos.

Tiger Werke

Tiger Werke is a small company under new ownership that manufactures and distributes scale resin items. Their product line includes paved and cobblestone street sections, figure bases, building fronts, roadside shrines, fountains, and armor and aircraft bases. They also have storage and accessory sets for Allied, German, and British vehicles.

The Publication

This publication is a follow up from the author’s Guide #6, Building the Williams Bros. Curtiss C-46A Commando in 1/72 Scale. To get the complete information, it will be necessary to obtain a copy of both publications.

This publication gives a brief statement on the development of the C-46A, and the fact that the Williams Bros. kit is the only one available in 1/72 scale, that is, if you can find one. The author has collected a large selection of period photos of the C-46A in production and in service with the U.S.A.A.A.F. Although the photos are all in black and white, and there is no color information presented, the photos provide enough information for you to build any number of models of the C-46A. These are only in USAAF markings. There is no information on the C-46A in foreign or civilian service. There is no coverage of later models.

History

The book deals with the Japanese attacks on various bases and towns in Northern Australia during World War II. After the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese had apparently decided not to try to invade Northern Australia, as they were having too hard a time in the islands to the north. They did carry out a series of air attacks against Australian targets through 1944, using Navy and Army aircraft in substantial numbers. The book details every attack, telling what aircraft and people were involved, the effect of the raids, and the losses and casualties. The Allied side is also discussed in detail, showing the effect radar had on interception, and the limited success of the Allied Spitfires and P-40’s against the Japanese Nell, Betty, and Helen bombers, and also against their Mavis and Emily flying boats.

Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMS/USA for the review copy!

Waldemar Tubus Goralski is a prolific author of illustrated warship books for Kagero Publishing. He also makes exhibitions of his illustrations in Poland where visitors can virtually walk on ships. The late Piotr Forkasiewicz designed the ocean and battle settings (this virtual tour is not in this book). Waldemar is lucky to turn his passion into a career, igniting passions of many modelers around the world.

History

The author of this book, James P. Gallagher, was Communications Officer with the 49^th Fighter Group, U.S. Army Air Forces, which operated in the Philippines towards the end of the war, and later relocated to mainland Japan with the occupation forces. Gallagher had been a prize winning photographer when he was in college, and managed to carry a camera with him throughout his military career. One problem was that he was aboard an Australian bomber flying in the Philippines when the plane went down, and he lost his camera. Fortunately, he was able to write home, and his brother located another camera and sent it to him, so he could continue his work. All of his work was done with a 120 camera.

Aviation Collectables Company is an Italian publishers specializing in Italian aviation titles. Titles include Il Thunderjet in Italia, G/80/G/82, Tornado IDS/ECR, SB2C-5 Helldiver, C-130J Super Hercules, T-33A/RT-33A Shooting Star, G.222, F-86K Sabre Jet, and AMX Ghibli. This volume, Cent'anni di Aviazione Navale, was produced for the Centenary Celebration of the Italian Navy in cooperation with the Command of the Air Forces of the Navy.

Unlike Aviation Collectables other monograph titles, this volume celebrates the 100^th Anniversary of Italian Naval Aviation. This is a square back soft cover that includes 128 gloss paper pages. The text is in two columns, one in Italian and one in English. All picture captions are also bi-lingual. I counted 165 color pictures and 23 black and white photographs. You will also find 169 color patches and insignia. There are also ten aviation color side profiles by Mauro Cini.

In this second installment of John Claringbould’s accounts of aerial combat between Japanese and Allied air forces, here he presents Japanese Naval Air Force operations in the Solomons and New Guinea from 1942 to 1944 (Vol. 1 covers Imperial Japanese Army Air Force engagements in New Guinea during the same period). The author takes a unique approach in presenting these accounts, providing insight for individual encounters through the eyes of each protagonist based on thorough research of each side’s official records, eyewitness testimony, personal narratives and diaries, and on some occasions evidence obtained from wreckage discovered years after the events depicted.

When I heard of this book, I really wanted to get it as so little is available on this post war period of British tank development. The title is a little misleading as it really refers to the fact that there is very little remaining documentation or prototypes remaining from this period. As the author points out much of the development during this period has been lost as documents and other records have been lost, destroyed or stowed away out of sight.

I have always been intrigued by the time in British tank development as so little can be found . This book opens up a lot of this hidden history for us to read and enjoy. This is a fascinating read and I learnt a lot of from it.

This set provides a set of resin replacement main wheels for Special Hobby’s recent Me 209 kit. As expected from CMK, the wheels are very nicely cast with good detail including the bolts on the wheel hubs. The tread pattern on the tires is also very sharp and distinct.

The tires are easily separated from the pour stubs and the pour stub and any flash are easily removed and cleaned up as show in the attached photos.

I painted the wheels Tamiya NATO Black and the hubs Tamiya Black as I do other Luftwaffe aircraft wheels, but I will need to do some drybrushing to bring out the hub details as they sort of disappear under the black paint.

This is a nice set and presumably the wheels are drop on replacements for the kit wheels (I still need to pick up a Me 209 kit to use them on!).

Recommended.