The July publication of Model Art Modeling Magazine celebrates the eight hundredth issue of this periodical, and commemorates this landmark with a special focus on the Formula one cars of Ayrton Senna from 1984 to 1994. The magazine also includes new kit reviews, modeling tips, and new kit and item releases. As is typical for Model Art, the magazine measures 182mm by 258mm (about 71/8 by 101/8 inches), and is printed on thick, glossy paper. The production quality is high with these magazines, and just over half of it is printed in color with black and white pages interspersed throughout of the issue. Just in case this is the first review of a Model Art magazine that you are reading, understand that the entire magazine is printed in Japanese with only an occasional English subtitle for those of us who are monolingual.

This issue begins with a two-page spread across pages 4 and 5 entitled “IJA/N Airplane Illustrated” and shows some great detail focusing on the rudder controls. Next follows a four-page article on the Tamiya 1/20 scale kit of the 1978 Lotus type 79 in Olympus Cameras markings. Page 10 is where the magazine contents are found, and then on page eleven is a photo of Ayrton Senna in 1994, which begins the fifty-six pages that cover a decade of his racecars. In case you do not follow Formula 1 racing, Ayrton Senna passed away during an accident while leading the San Marino Grand Prix in May of 1994, and is regarded as one of the greatest drivers of all time. The F1 cars included in this section include a Honda MP4/5, Lotus 99T Honda, Williams FW16 Renault, McLaren MP4/5 Honda, McLaren MP4/6 Honda, Toleman TG184 Hart, Lotus 97T Renault, McLaren MP4/4 Honda, McLaren MP4/5B Honda, McLaren MP4/7 Honda, and McLaren MP4/8 Ford. All of the articles contain some great photographs of the kits representing the real cars, including some nice close-up pictures of the engines, and some of the articles include photos of the real cars. In the midst of this article is a foldout that includes color drawings of all of the vehicles, four pages of memorial photographs of Ayrton Senna in his various F1’s, and a two-page comic on the driver. The final pages are dedicated to detail line drawings of the brakes, windscreens, air intakes, suspension, and airfoils with the final page showing six kits of these cars, all in 1/20 scale.

On page seventy, we leave the world of Formula one, and find a review on the Dragon Premium Edition HMS York, built in a water-line configuration. This four-page article is all in black and white, and includes photographs of the completed ship as well as a shot of the box top and kit contents, a line drawing of the starboard side and top of the ship, and one page of “walk around” photos of the real ship. After some advertisements there is an article on building a 1/48 scale T-6G with a couple of pages of detail photographs of the real plane, focusing on wing details such as lights and actuators. On page eighty-eight is a new kit review of the Trumpeter E-75 (75 – 100 ton)/Standardpanzer. This was the prototype tank of the German Tiger II C, and it appears that Trumpeter has done a nice job with this release. The article includes six photographs of the built model prior to painting to show some points of interest, and then contains nine photos of the painted tank. The new kit featured on pages ninety-two through ninety-five is the 1/350 scale Aoshima IJN Submarine I-37 (Type Otu I-36 with suicide torpedo Kaiten). In addition to the in-progress and completed photos in this article are a couple of photographs comparing the bow and hull differences of the Type I-36/37 and the Type I-19/27.

The next article is a review of the Hobby Boss 1/48 scale Panavia Tornado ECR in modern Luftwaffe markings. The colorful marking of this plane represent the tigers of 321 squadron, and in addition to the two colorful murals on the black tail includes two-tone gray tiger stripes on the fuselage top, sides, and upper wings. Italeri with their 1/48 Arado Ar-196A assigned to the battleship Bismarck in 1940 is the next review. This kit looks to have some great detail with engine covers that can be posed open, a nicely detailed cockpit, and realistically thin bracing for supports for the floats. Hasegawa owns the final review with a 1/72 scale entry in the form of a Heinkel He-111Z Zwilling. Although the photographs do not show any interior detail, the kit looks very nice overall with its five engines ready to roar.

On page 110, there is an article all about the Shizuoka Hobby Show from earlier this year. The article contains a little bit of everything beginning with automotive kits, then moving into military aircraft, tools and paints, ships, and finishing with armor. After a single-page article on a satellite kit in 1/32 scale (aside from “2003” there is nothing that I can read on the page), there are several pages of new kits, tools, and books in the form of individual black and white photographs with short write-ups. The final article is on pages 152 and 153, and is the second part of a paint-finishing piece.

If you are an Ayrton Senna fan, this is probably a must-have magazine for you with coverage of all of his rides during his all too short career. Although the magazine is written entirely in Japanese, the great photography and drawings will benefit any model enthusiast, especially those of Formula one racing. It can also be fun just to see what model enthusiasts in other countries are doing, and how their interests vary from ours in the states.

My thanks to the folks at Model Art and Dragon Models USA for making this issue available for review by the IPMS-USA review corps, and thanks to you for taking the time to read it.