Box Art / Packaging

The ICM Paint set for Ancient Warriors (ITEM 3068) is presented in a stiff glossy cardboard sleeve and contains 6 12ml paint pots. Box art depicts a Roman Centurion on the front with depictions on the rear of a Roman Centurion and a Roman Gladiator with recommendations for use of the colors provided for each.

The Kit / Paints

The provided paints are presented in small 12ml plastic pots with screw tops and each lid also clearly depicting the color and color ID which is useful for storage. In this case we are provided with Paint# 1019 (Rusty Brass), 1020 (Bronze), 1024 (Silver), 1026 (Oily Steel), 1047 (Matt Red) and 1053 (Leather Brown). No ball bearings are added to the paint for easier shaking/mixing, however the paint pots are small and vigorous shaking is sufficient to prepare appropriately.

The Build / Paint Use

To test out these paints, I 3D printed a crude representation of a Roman Soldier as my test subject.

Arma Hobby continues to expand its Hawker Hurricane line, this time releasing the MkIIb (Hurribomber) with Tropical filter. In the box you get 4 plastic sprues (one clear), canopy masks and a decal sheet with 3 possible camouflages: two on Temperate Land Scheme and one Desert Scheme. The Temperate Land Scheme aircraft were deployed in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and the Soviet Union. The aircraft deployed in the Soviet Union, at some point served with a white distemper on the wings (I’ve found a YouTube video showing period footage of that aircraft in the Mursmank area with the camouflage as shown in the instructions).

Construction starts with the wheel well and continues with the cockpit seat. Then you are guided to “sandwich” the wheel well between the upper and lower wing parts and to assemble the rest of the cockpit (sidewalls, armor plate, etc) sitting on top of the wing.

Volume 1 of Operativo Independencia (Operation Independence) covers the period from 1955 to 1974 in Argentina which was a period of political upheaval and change. This volume considers both the insurgencies and government responses. This is the precursor to the “Dirty War” which will hopefully be covered in Volume 2 or more.

The Table of Contents is small:

• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction

1. Subversive Groups in Argentina, 1955-1974
2. Campora, Lastiri, Peron & Peron, 1955-1974
3. The Argentine Armed Forces in the mid-1970’s
4. The ERP and the Montoneros organizations

• Epilogue
• Appendices

The book is a history of the rise of Marxist groups from their beginnings in the 1950’s, the influence by Cuba, and their reign of chaos. Also detailed is the response of the well equipped and trained Argentine Armed Forces.

I continue to be amazed at the capacity of this Ukrainian stalwart company to release new and interesting kits monthly it seems without skipping a beat despite the involvement in a long tedious war. The field kitchen in the kit is identical to the one released in ICM’s recent AHN ‘Gulaschkanone’ kit. Unlike that kit though we get a crew of 4 cooks that would rival anything Gordon Ramsey could cook up.

I wish to express extreme gratitude to Yahu models for providing IPMS/USA with this release. Yahu has a history (since 2013!) of providing exceptional aftermarket Instrument panels at a reasonable price, and we appreciate their support!

Designed for ICM’s 1/48 DO-217N-1 model, Yahu’s instrument panel and associated radio tuning faces make an excellent upgrade for a world-class model. I had not built any of ICM’s Dorniers until this set showed up, and the fact everything was a perfect fit into the existing kit parts made the experience even more pleasurable.

Yahu’s set adds the additional bits required for an excellent upgrade out of the package. Yahu, unlike other companies, assembles their instrument panels for the modeler. Not that I don’t mind modeling using PE, but Yahu’s products are ALL this way (I’ve used others) and have been singularly impressed with the final product.