Mr. Neil Yan and the wonderful folks at HK Models deserve tremendous thanks for providing this review kit. I appreciate their work to bring new and unusual subjects to the scale modeling community. The IPMS/USA Reviewer Corps also deserves thanks for giving me the kit to review. I am only one member of a large staff in the Reviewer Corps, and I appreciate all the tireless team and individual work that goes into getting the material out to be reviewed and the finished write-ups published.

The Meteor appeared late in WW2 as a counter to the V-1 threat to England. It was the first operational Allied jet fighter, operated primarily by the RAF throughout its history. The design of the Meteor might seem primitive by today’s standards, but it truly was groundbreaking at the time. Many versions of the Meteor were developed, including stints as turboprop and ejection-seat test beds. HK Models chose the MK 4 version for their new kit.

Following on from their superb yet diminutive FT-17 WW1 French tank, Meng Models of China provides the modeling public with a colossus of a tank model, the French Char 2C. Like the FT-17, the Char 2C was born during the years of battle in World War One, but came too late in the piece to see combat. Before the prototype was even completed, an order was placed for 300 of these gargantuan beasts, but due to the war coming to an end, this order was subsequently cancelled, and only 10 Char 2C’s were eventually delivered in 1921, becoming the largest tank ever to enter service in any of the world’s armies. The 10 vehicles went on to become mainly propaganda vehicles, “staring” in various cinematic productions to show the strength of the French military machine. Each of the ten tanks was named after the ancient regions of France: Poitou, Provence, Picardie, Alsace, Bretagne, Touraine, Anjou, Normandie, Berry and Champagne. Normandie was renamed Lorraine in 1939.

With the recent releases (and re-releases) of a few Me 410 kits, MMP’s book on the aircraft is quite timely.

The first 10 (out of 120) pages of this book describe the rather convoluted developmental history of the Messerschmitt Me 410, actually starting with the Me 210. The blurred lines between what constitutes a late Me 210 and an early Me 410 are well described. In fact, as the lineage is so confusing, MMP provides a good flowchart to clear it all up. At the end of this section are a brief few paragraphs describing the remaining two surviving examples of the aircraft (photos of these appear later).

Introduction

By 1999, a human colony had been built on the Moon (you remember, right?). Moonbase Alpha safeguarded all the nuclear waste shipped from Earth, and carried out research. Then, on September 13, 1999, disaster struck when the nuclear waste exploded in a chain reaction, and the Moon was blasted out of Earth's orbit, into deep space. Thus began the adventures of Space:1999. Space:1999 was a British produced science fiction television series that aired from late 1975 to early 1977, and for us science fiction fans, there was nothing else like it on TV at the time. The workhorse of Moonbase Alpha was the Eagle spacecraft. Eagle spacecraft were cleverly designed, modular utility ships (like the Huey helicopters of the day), and were used for work tasks and in various configurations to transport personnel and cargo around the Moon and the planets the Moonbase Alpha crew came across in their travels.

Retired from active service in 2006, The F-1 was the JASDF’s first Japanese-designed and -manufactured supersonic fighter, and was essentially the same airframe as the two-seat Mitsubishi T-2 trainer, but had a solid “hood” in place of the second canopy, along with assorted weapons capabilities and internal differences. The similarity in appearance to the SEPECAT Jaguar has some merit, though Mitsubishi’s official position states that the only items it has in common with the Jag are its engines.

Platz continues its line of JASDF and JMSDF subjects with this new release. I’ve never built a Platz kit which hasn’t been excellent with beautiful engraved detail and great fit, and this one’s recessed panel lines and thorough detailing throughout was no exception.