Italeri has been releasing more Italian WWII subjects in both 1/72 and 1/48 scales over the past several years, with mixed success. Several were excellent kits such as the CR.42 and the SM.82 while others, like the most recent Re.2002, were poorly received by some modelers. The recent release of the MC.200 has drawn some negative pre-release publicity as well as comparisons to the well done PCM kit released earlier. Being a sucker for anything in splotchy camouflage, I jumped at the opportunity to try the kit for myself, and found a solid effort with good points and some bad points as well.

The Aircraft

The Vampire certainly qualifies as an “early jet”, being second oldest to the Meteor in RAF service. The Vampire’s twin-boom layout was a result of the low power of the early jet engines. The shorter the tail pipe, the more power the engine could deliver. The Vampire’s original mission was strictly as an interceptor, with only the 4x 20 mm Hispano cannon as armament.

Recently released by Quickboost, Intake covers in 1/32^nd scale for the Tamiya kit are now available. Beautifully cast, just cut off the moldings, paint red and apply the supplied “remove before flight decals”.

This product is recommended.

Thanks to Quickboost for the review item.

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.

This is a fairly new company coming to us from a familiar name, Roll Models, offering a very nice set of complete “twin row” engines and cowlings for the almost antique (although still a nice kit) Revell/Monogram B-26 Marauder. The set is nicely cast in cream colored resin, with a very slight amount of flash, easily removed by 1 or 2 passes with the sanding stick.

In the box you'll find the following:

• Cowlings
• Separate cowl flaps
• Back plates
• Twin row engines
• Hose cases
• Magentos
• Prop shafts

They are direct replacements with no cutting required, hence the “no cut” conversion. Hopefully this will be the start of many more welcome additions to their product line. Visit the website https://www.kitlinx.com for this and many other fine products. Many thanks to Loon and Roll Models for the review sample.

This product is most highly recommended.