For those wanting to do dioramas and figures, there is a lot of guns involved and Master Model has come to the aid of modelers everywhere with two sets. They both represent .50 caliber machine gun rounds with an options of spent shell casings or full cartridges. Each set contains 25 pieces of magnificent metal work.
Master Box Ltd, out of the Ukraine, has been a leader in 1/35 figures for a while. They expanded into 1/24 female and fantasy figures in 2016, starting with their first series of six female figures representing the World War II era. This current series, Truckers, is ideal for modern Class-8 truck vignettes and dioramas. Mike (Beach Boy) Barrington is part of the first six kits in this series with more on their way.
The kit comes in a standard end opening box. Pulling out the parts, you will first see that the box is probably three times too large, but in return you get a nice painting on the cover by V. Petelin, and instructions on the back with color callouts in Vallejo, Lifecolor, Tamiya, and Mr. Color. I will note that the plastic figure sculpted by A. Gagarin is not identical to the cover paining, but it is very close. Figure represents a truck driver with his hands on the wheel. Packaging of the eleven parts are protected within a re-sealable bag.
The kit instructions are printed on 8 half-sized sheets, including the aircraft’s history, a sprue diagram and color guide, 3 sheets of exploded assembly drawings, 3 sets of color four views showing two Mk. III’s and one Mk. I.
Decals are provided for the three aircraft represented in the drawings. When I obtained the review kit at the Phoenix IPMS Convention, there were no decals with the kit. I contacted Special Hobby and they promised to send a set of decals. I waited a couple of months and finally just used decals from my spares box, printing the numbers on my computer. Naturally, I had just installed the decals when an envelope came, from all places Malta, containing the kit decals. I used a few of them and the results were most satisfying.
The Spitfire, never has there been such an iconic fighter for a country than the British thoroughbred. Not to be overlooked Fündekals has done up a new sheet on this fighter that covers no less than TWELVE Spitfires from the Mk.I to the Mk.XVIe.
The decals come in a large ziplock type bag. They are on two decal sheets. One is the individual aircraft and fuselage markings and the other has the wing roundels. They are printed by Cartograf. The decals are world class with perfect register, good color saturation, thin and a joy to work with.
The latest journal of Cross & Cockade International - Autumn 2018, features a front cover photograph of Jean Chaput in front of his Nieuport 11, N940. This color 1916 photograph was based on the Autochrome technology developed by the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière. The inside rear cover features color illustrations by Juanita Franzl of Lt. Dawson’s and Lt N. E. Williams’ Ship’s Camels. The outside rear cover features color illustrations by David Méchin of Jean Chaput’s aircraft. If you check out the web site link above, you can get additional sample pics of the current issue.
Bottom Line: Brass barrels in 1/700 scale for all WW2 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) warships mounting 14cm (5.5in)/50cal guns, for mountings without (-058) or with (-059) blast bags.
What You Get
A 2 ¾ by 5 1/8 inch 2-piece cardboard card wrapped in clear plastic containing a small Ziploc bag with Instructions and another card with a small plastic bag holding 20 barrels taped to the card (Figure 1). For no blast bag mounts (-058), each barrel is 7mm long with a 1mm tab at the end. For mounts with blast bags, each barrel is 4.5mm long with a 1mm tab at the end (Figure 2). The tip has a fine hole that is difficult to see, but it’s there.
The Tamiya 1/48th scale model of the F-14D recently introduced is a fantastic kit following the earlier release of the -A version. The parts are crisply molded and loaded with detail typical of Tamiya kits. However. some of us are never quite satisfied and wish to raise the detail bar a little higher, while some of us have difficulty staying within the lines when painting fine kit detail such as found in cockpits and instrument panels.
For some time Master Box has been exploring an up-to-now largely ignored area in the mainstream modeling fraternity - science fiction figures - through their "Spaceport - At the Edge of the Universe - Strange Company’s Adventures" series. Up until now, the action centered mainly around a rogue’s gallery of characters in a sleazy cantina somewhere on the fringes of the law and known space. Laurie adds an interesting potential element of additional trouble as she is one of two new figures who are clearly intent on raiding the cantina, although I do find myself wondering who her target might be.
As with most of the figures in this range, she comes on a single gray sprue with a limited number of parts. Assembly is quite straight-forward with only a little filling needed around the shoulders. I chose to lower her arms slightly to offer a better view of her face. That really is an AWFULLY big gun!
The Soviet Foxtrot class submarine, known as Project 641, was a diesel-electric powered attack submarine. First commissioned in 1971, they served until 1994 with Soviet and satellite operators. This particular boat first saw service with the Soviet Navy. When the Soviet Union broke up, this boat was in port in Ukraine. The fledgling Ukrainian Navy seized it, becoming the first, and only submarine in Ukraine service. Upon the Russian takeover of the Ukrainian State, the boat reverted to Soviet control. Interesting stuff indeed, and I still can’t pronounce the name!!
The Magach tank was produced and based on both the M48, and with the Magach 6B on M60 tank hulls. I took this review assignment because of my interest in the M60 Patton tanks. Having built several over the last few years and AFV’s M60A1 kit #35060 and Takom’s M60A1 with the Explosive Reactive Armor, I was equally up for the challenge of the Magach 6B. This latest version of the Magach 6B has mostly aspects that we modelers can’t see: the British 105mm gun and 750hp diesel engine. As the M60 tanks were modified into the Magach 6 series the most noticeable difference is the explosive reactive armor panels surrounding the turret and the frontal hull area, and the addition of a M2 50 cal. and two 30 cal. machine guns on the turret.
