This is my first experience with Model Art publications. This issue is dated August 2011 and titled Model Art “Auto Modeling” No. 827, Vol. 24. Its main focus is on the spectacular race cars of the ’70’s Formula 1 series. The first few pages are an index of topics and noted cars of 1973-78 in succession. The first noted car is the ’73 Tyrrell Ford from that year’s championship, driven by Jackie Stewart. The kit supplied and meticulously reviewed is a Tameo Kits 1/43 white metal kit. It’s not a common scale for autos, as most are 1/24, 1/25, 1/20, or 1/12. This is the first offering I’ve ever seen in this scale for autos that is a complete white metal cast kit. The next 40 pages cover the same format of various kit offerings from Tamiya, Studio 27, Hasegawa, and E.Jan conversion kits. Each includes detailed pictures of kit components and steps in assembly. Pages 43-50 cover specs on the vehicles, including blueprint-type drawings.

Moving on through the publication, pages 50-120 focus specifically on the 1976 and 77 model years. Included for review in this section are several nice offerings from various kit manufactures, including Tamiya’s 6-wheel Tyrell Ford, Model Factory Hiro’s John Player Special multi-material kit, along with offerings from Studio 27 and AMC Models. All of these items are reviewed thoroughly and include several pictures of painting, assembly, and parts detail. The last section of this year is a detailed scratchbuild of a 1/12 1978 John Player Special Lotus 79 which is quite captivating and shows CAD drawings the builder used to assist the process.

Pages 120-130 appear to cover the Martini Racing livery through various years, including the shapes of the rear engine cowls, wings, steering wheels, etc. Pages 130-end pay close attention to new offerings from Model Factory Hiro’s 1/20 multimedia 1981 Essex Lotus 88b Ford and Tamiya’s big 1/12 offerings of the Porsche 910 and Lola T70 Mk III kits. The last seven pages of the publication are dedicated to ad space.

On a whole, the Auto Art Auto Modeling is a well-done publication printed on heavy paper and anytime you are offered 150 full-color pages of modeling, you have to tip your hat. The only regret is that the publication is not available in an English translation, which is unfortunate as I believe they could gain more market base in the U.S. by offering an English version of this publication. $29.00 seems a bit high for a modeling publication as well, after doing the currency conversion. However, when you compare the price of the publication to the quality of the pictures and information given, it balances out nicely.

I would like to thank Model Art for supplying a copy of their magazine for review.