And now for something different – for this reviewer at least. I’ve always been intrigued with the bright brasswork of early automobiles and the combination of dark green paint and brass trim caught my eye when perusing the list of review items.

The kit arrives in a very sturdy cardboard box with separate cover in full color. Each tree is carefully wrapped, clear parts and rubber tires are packaged separately, and a very nice gloss printed instruction manual is included.

Construction is relatively straightforward, I deviated from some of the sequences to facilitate painting and avoid knocking off some of the smaller bits. The 10hp Renault engine is nicely detailed but I ran into problems attaching the exhaust pipe. Part of this is due to somewhat obscure illustration and compounding this was the fact that the pipe itself was broken during assembly. Let’s chalk that one up to builder error.

The Kit

Remember these? This kit is from the dawn of armor modeling in the 50's. Aurora had a series

of 1/48 tank kits that included the Stalin III, Chi Ha, M-109, Swedish “S” tank, Centurion, M-70, and Churchill, none of which would be modeled in any scale for literally decades. This is the Atlantis re-release of the M-46 Patton.

There are 127 parts, including four crewmen. The tracks are of the rubber band type, but have decent detail, especially given the age of the kit, join together and fit well. The overall kit detail is on the sparse/simplified side and the turret MG is cartoonish, but over all it does look like a Patton. The lifting eyes are given as rings that you fit into slots in the turret and hull whereas in real life they are more inverted “U” shaped, but this is easily fixed by just nipping off one end. The main gun muzzle brake is decently done, but the barrel end needs to be drilled out. There are no brush guards for the lights.

Kagero, the prolific Polish publishing company, has released the newest addition to their series, Top Drawings. This is number 86, the German heavy cruiser, Prinz Eugen. Distributed by Casemate Publications, this 28 page paper book provides drawings and a color profile of the famous German cruiser. I imagine most of you know the ship’s history. It accompanied the Bismarck on its first and only voyage, accompanied the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in their famous channel dash, and ended her career in the Baltic.

This is the 72^nd scale build from this box. John did the 1/144^th scale one a bit earlier.

Zoukei-Maru are known for very detailed kits with interior parts in 1/32^nd and 1/48^th but this is the first time they have delved into the smaller scales, and on this 72^nd scale kit they have decided to go for the full interior structure as well.

While I haven’t seen any of their larger kits in detail, I was a bit disappointed in the molding of this kit. There are lots of molding seams and bits of flash throughout this kit. While that isn’t a real problem, as it cleans up easily, it was just something I was not expecting.

The Aircraft

The Ki-43 has been described as the “Army Zero”. The Hayabusa and Zero were contemporaries, and the Ki-43 was quite successful in the first part of WW2. The Allies code named the aircraft “Oscar”. But like the Zero, the Oscar had some design problems, mostly the lack of self-sealing fuel tanks, armor protection, and light armament. Nevertheless, it did well against the early Allied fighters like the Buffalo, the P-36, the P-39, and Spitfire I. Almost all of the Japanese Army aces got victories in Oscars early in their careers.

The Model

This is a Platz/Bego kit. The molding is delicate and outstanding. You get 2 kits in the box, nice extra parts, and decals for 4 Ki-43-1s. There is a nice fuel tank for beneath the fuselage, and bombs with the necessary attachments.