The HMEE-1 is an armored backhoe loader designed for high speeds in order to self-deploy with military convoys, and capable of towing heavy loads with good off-road mobility. It is based on technology from the JCB Fastrac tractors. The maximum speed of the HMEE is 60 mph on improved roads and 25 mph on secondary roads. Wikipedia
Master Piece Models has an impressive collection of tools for scratch building all kind of projects. Among those tools they have rulers and scale rulers (a ruler that reads you the dimension of the model, ‘scaled’ to the real object).
In this review I’ll cover two of such rules: The 48th scale ruler and the EZ-Read ruler.
Both rulers are clear (that is great for whenever you are looking at drawings) and about 1/16th inch thick. They are slightly flexible, but I wouldn’t try to bend them much. They are laser engraved and very easy to read, given the contrast of the engraved number and the clarity of the material.
The MMR-48 scale ruler is 6 inches long and has scaled readings in both meters and feet. The EZ-Read ruler is 12 inches long (only imperial units) and has all the intermediate measurements in 1/8 of an inch increments in one side and 1/16 on the other side (no more guessing if 11/16 is smaller than ¾!)
Morland Studios produces an excellent line of 32mm and 54mm figures, 200mm busts as well as bases and scenics with the focus on quality display miniatures. This review is the 32mm Poor Cinderella sculpted by Kevin Contos and based on the artwork of Howard David Johnson. This item is 32mm and comes with four parts. There is a base with the main figure and then the two baskets. The base is plastic and the rest of the parts are white metal. All the parts are very well cast and required only some minor scraping to remove the seams. I primed all the metal parts with Alclad gray. When dry, I glued the figure to the base for ease of painting.
In February 2014 the “Maidan Revolution” in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv toppled the pro-Moscow government of President Yanukovych. This started a process which led to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, and an undeclared bloody war in southeastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Armies of Russia’s War in Ukraine describes the forces on both sides and how they have evolved since 2014. The book includes Orders of Battle for both regular and militia forces, descriptions of the motley range of wartime units and their weapons and equipment. Color photographs and color illustrations of the uniforms and equipment for the various combatants are also included.
The book does not discuss the political issues that precipitated the conflict or any of the current political issues but focuses on the combatants in the Ukrainian conflict.
The first 3 chapters give a brief description of the Ukrainian conflict:
From the Airfix kit: The British named the M3 "General Stuart" upon receipt of the tank under the Lend-Lease program in June of 1941. The tank's ability to "shoot and scoot" as well as keeping the crew safe from small fire arms fire, earned an affectionate nickname of "Honey" by its operators. The British cavalry men liked this tank as it could travel 10 to 20 mph faster than their own or enemy tanks, and for its ease of maintenance. The M3s were designed to replace the outdated M2s. The M3 incorporated a thicker armor, lengthened hull, and a trailer idler wheel to act as another road wheel to decrease ground pressure and improve weight distribution.
Daimler-Benz designed several large aircraft, Projects A through C, which were designed to carry air-to-ground missiles. These were huge planes, with 6 engines, and they were supposed to carry 5 or 6 of the “Project F” missiles. The targets were supposed to be Allied airfields and other strategic targets.
The Project F missiles were powered by a single BMW 018 jet engine. The F would be carried to near the target by the C, then released. The pilot would aim the missile at the target, then bail out through the bottom of the aircraft. The warhead was in the nose, weighed 3000 KG (6600 lb.) and was detonated upon contact.
The Project C aircraft apparently never flew, and the F never reached the prototype stage. Therefore, this model qualifies for “Luftwaffe 46”. The four sets of aircraft markings in this kit are supposed to be from the Luftwaffe from September of 1945 to June of 1946.
Bottom Line Up Front: Tamiya knocks it out of the park once more with a well detailed, brilliantly engineered ‘new tool’ kit of an interesting subject. The construction portion of this kit took me about three and a half hours to complete and I did not feel rushed.
The Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) was a pre-WW2 Czech design which compared favorably to early German armor. The German Panzerwaffe adopted the tank shortly before the outbreak of hostilities in 1939. The (t) stands for tschechisch, the German word for Czech. Pz. 38(t)s saw limited service in the invasion of Poland and France. The vast majority of the roughly 1,400 Pz. 38(t)s produced served on the Eastern Front.
This latest set from Videoaviation.com includes two Navy crewmen and an Aero 12 ordnance cart with two boxes of fuses suitable for Vietnam era planes like the F-4 and A-4. The figures are one “red shirt” ordnance man and one ‘green shirt” aircraft mechanic circa 1965-1968.
Inside the pack, you will find 16 parts in cream colored resin- one figure is three parts and the other is four parts. The remainders of the parts make up the cart and fuses. There are also painting/assembly instructions and even more photographs on the web site. There are slight seam lines as with all resin cast parts and these are easily scraped away. Fit of the parts is great and no filler was used. I left the heads off for easier painting. All parts were washed thoroughly with dish soap and dried. The cart was assembled without wheels. The arms were attached to the figures and all the parts primed with Alclad grey primer.
Videoaviation.com continues its excellent streak of 1/32nd scale diorama accessories with Set 1872323, a Navy Deck Crew for aircraft maintenance. This set includes two Navy Deck Crew Aircraft maintenance figures- one kneeling with a tool to remove screws and the other assisting. Also included is an Aero 12C cart with a selection of toolboxes included.
The Curtiss P-40 E was one of the few US aircraft available in any numbers at the start of World War II. In addition to US usage, a large number were supplied to the British under Lend-Lease provisions. These were called the Kittyhawk 1A. These were used in various Commonwealth nations and a number were even reacquired by the US. While adequate in performance for it’s time, the performance of the P-40 E was somewhat inferior to the Zero, Messerschmidt and Spitfire.
Early versions of the P-40 were made famous by the AVG (Flying Tigers) and the image of the tiger mouth on the front fuselage intake became well known.
