Publisher: Model Art Co., Ltd, 1-12-30, 1Chome, Kudankita Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0073 Japan

Thanks to Model Art and Dragon Models - USA for the review copy.

Model Art No. 804, September 2010 issue features new armor model kits, which take up the first 52 pages of this issue. The focus is on WW2 German armor on the Eastern front, and includes some Russian armor as well. Oddly, the Table of Contents is on page 10 after the feature on a Russian BT-7 tank build. After that, you get kit and diorama features on German Figures, Cyber-Hobby’s Tiger I in snow camouflage, Cyber Hobby’s Sd.Kfz.165 Hummel diorama, a Dragon Elefant with Zimmerit, Trumpeter’s German 21cm Morser 18 artillery piece, and lastly, Tamiya’s 3 ton 4X2 Cargo truck diorama.

After about 10 pages of ads, the usual sections follow: 1) Modeling JASDF 182 showing close-ups of a T-6G trainer; 2) a few pages of ads; 3) the two-pager IJA/N Airplane Illustrated feature on cockpit dials and new kit reviews. This issue you get reviews on: 1) HobbyBoss 1/48 USAF F-105G Thunderchief Wild Weasel; 2) Hasegawa 1/72 Ju188A/E in night bomber camouflage; 3) Fujimi 1/24 Toyota Prius (with steering wheel on the right, er, wrong side of the car); 4) a Japanese company 1/144 Kumamoto Castle built by feudal warlord Kiyomasa Kato; 5) Pitroad 1/700 JMSDF DDH-181 Hyuga – the new modern Japanese navy helicopter carrier followed by two pages of photos of the real thing and the Waterline No. 385 section on the DDH-181 also. Next up is the Garage feature, this time a 1/24 Hasegawa 1980’s Mitsubishi Galant – again, the steering wheel is on the right side. The rest of the magazine is the usual ads for new kits and the local event section.

As always, the format is close to 7x10 inches in size, and the printing and reproduction quality are excellent. Model Art text is entirely Japanese, and most feature photos are in color. This issue is recommended if you build WW2 Eastern Front armor, and want to keep up on new modeling releases from Japan.

Figures

• Figure 1: Front Cover of Model Art No. 804, September 2010 showing the CyberHobby Tiger I Leningrad front model.
• Figure 2: Kumamoto Castle model.
• Figure 3: Fujimi 1/24 Toyota Prius.
• Figure 4: HobbyBoss F-105G Thunderchief Wild Weasel.
• Figure 5: Hasegawa 1/72 Ju188A/G.