What's New

Review Author
Andrew Birkbeck
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$49.95

Overview

This is the second model in Dragon’s range of 1/35th military vehicles covering the Type 95 Light Tank “Ha-Go”, the first one being an “Early Production” vehicle, released in 2012. Unlike the battles in Europe or the Middle East in World War Two, tanks in the Pacific Theater were not used in the massive numbers seen in Europe, nor in any major tank vs tank battles. Tanks were mainly infantry support vehicles, both on the Japanese side as well as the Allied side. The Type 95 tank saw combat against Chinese and Russia forces in Manchuria on the mainland, as well as taking part in all the Imperial Japanese Army island campaigns in WW2. The tank was fairly light, weighing just 7.4 tonnes and it was designed primarily as an infantry support tank. It was the most produced tank in the Japanese arsenal with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries constructing about 2,300 vehicles. Being relatively small, it only had a crew of three.

Review Author
Bryan Krueger
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$54.99

This kit allows you to build one of two versions of a prototype WWII Russian tank destroyer based on the ISU-152 assault gun. The goal was to field an anti-tank gun heavy enough to deal with the heavier German tanks like the Tiger II, JagdTiger and any potentially larger tanks the Russian thought might be in the works with the Germans. The first prototype ISU-152-1 (Object 246) was developed in April 1944 and mounted the BL-8 long barrel gun. Performance did not meet expectations so the gun was reworked. In August 1944 a second prototype ISU-152-2 (Object 247) replaced the BL-8 with the improved and slightly shortened BL-10. The penetrating power and accuracy still did not meet expectations so the gun was again sent back for improvements but the war ended before this was ever completed. The 155mm designation in the kit name is incorrect and should not be used in the description of this vehicle.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$52.00

Dragon has recently released a 1/35th model of the much used IDF UH-1N “Anafa” Troop transport helicopter. As a bonus, they have included a set of their Israeli Paratroopers – a figure set which was, I believe, the second set of figures released some decades back by the then-new Dragon Models, right behind their Soviet “Spetznatz” figures. As these figures have been on the market for almost 30 years, I will pass on reviewing them yet again and instead focus on the helicopter itself.

Review Author
Tracy Palmer
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$69.11

Tiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, often shortened to Tiger B. The ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 182. It is also known under the informal name Königstiger (German for "Bengal tiger"), often mistranslated as King Tiger or Royal Tiger by Allied soldiers.

The Tiger II was the successor of the Tiger I, combining the latter's thick armor with the armor sloping used on the Panther medium tank. The tank weighed almost seventy metric tons, was protected by 100 to 180 mm (3.9 to 7.1 in) of armor to the front, and was armed with the long barreled 8.8 cm Kampfwagenkanone 43 L/71 gun. The chassis was also the basis for the Jagdtiger turretless tank destroyer.

Book Author(s)
Dariusz Karnas
Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$29.75

MMP Books has released Vol 1 (more to come!) in their “Inside” series, entitled, “German Aircraft Instrument Panels”

Volume 1 features instrument faces and instrument panel illustrations for six Luftwaffe aircraft, those being the Bf-109F-4, Bf-110E, Fi-156 Storch, Fw-190A-3, Hs-123, and the Ju-88A-4. In North America, Casemate is the distributor for MMP.

Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$20.40

Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved from there over the past forty six years.

This is a special issue released by Model Art covering plastic model aircraft of the IJN in scales 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32. The book is broken down into six sections. Interceptors, Night Fighters, Land - based Attackers and Bombers, Trainers, Experimental and Reconnaisance Land - Based Aircraft and Foreign - Made Aircafts and others.

Each section includes photos of finished models, period photos, available kits, year released and a rating system for a lot of them. The ratings are from one to five stars and you find most of the older kits tend to have a lower rating, but this not always the case as some of the recent releases have some lower ratings.

The very last part of the article consists of minor scale plastic kits (1/100, 1/144 and 1/700).

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Twobobs Aviation Graphics
Scale
1/72 & 1/32
MSRP
$14.00

“To commemorate the 70th Anniversary of World War II’s D-Day landings, the Royal Air Force (RAF) unveiled a specially-painted Typhoon jet with D-Day invasion stripes at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire. The Typhoon has been adorned with the iconic black and white invasion markings in a tribute to the significant role of the crews of the Hawker Typhoon, its WWII namesake – particularly during D-Day operations. Technicians painted the jet, tail number ZK308, in April 2014, so that it could be ready to take part in UK-wide air shows this summer. The aircraft also completed a dual flypast with a similarly adorned Spitfire, part of the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.”

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$20.50

Tamiya has released a brand new model (new tool) of the Dingo Mk.II, which is a great addition to their growing line of 48th scale military miniatures.

Upon opening of the box you find two sprues for the British Armored Vehicle. Tires are molded in plastic (no rubber, which is good), but they are molded together with the wheel hubs. It would have been nice to have them molded independently to make painting easier. The model has a simple interior and two figures.

You can build the model with the top either open or closed. There is no engine provided, however the engine compartment is provided, so I would imagine some aftermarket company will come to the rescue.

While the interior is simple, I would say it is adequate for the scale and once you have the figures inside is likely to be just fine. There are a handful of ejector pin marks in the interior, but I doubt those will be visible, even if the top were to be left open.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Aviaeology
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$4.17

Please note that Aviaeology has a website that is currently under revision. Aviaeology requests that purchases be made thru their eBay store.

For those who have purchased decals from Aviaeology before, you are already aware of the high quality of their products, and you are also aware of the excellent documentation that Aviaeology provides to its customers.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
HAD Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$7.38

As a Cobra pilot on the border in Germany during the cold war, the Mi-24 Hind was the boogieman. It is one big ugly and deadly helicopter. I’ve always wanted to fly one.

The Hind has sported some very colorful paint schemes, especially since the end of the cold war. Big and ugly can become somewhat beautiful when you put a nice paint scheme on them they become less ugly, kind of like putting lipstick on a pig.

The latest offering from the Hungarian company, HungAeroDecals, covers four Mi-24V Hinds in Hungarian service. The decals are printed on a 2 ½ x 4 7/8 (6.5 x 12.5cm) printed by BOA Agency so you know they are very thin, opaque and react well with setting solutions. Just make sure that you use plenty of water to slide them on. The instructions are on a single sheet of A4 paper with full color side view drawings of both sides of the four aircraft. Other than notes on the countries of the aircraft there is no other information on these aircraft or units.