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Book Author(s)
Pavel Vancata; Illustrator: Marek Radomski
Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$21.64

This is the first publication from MMP that I have had the opportunity to read. I found the book very informative and look forward to reading other offerings from this publisher.

The RAF 311 bomber squadron was the second Czechoslovak combat squadron within the RAF and it was the only one composed completely of Czechoslovakian members. It was formed in 1940 and served until the end of the war in 1945.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Plusmodel
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$38.20

PlusModel, out of the Czech Republic, has released a 1/48th version of their German Heavy Generator, previously released in 1/35th. The all-resin kit contains some extra goodies to detail this unique and welcome addition to their product line.

Opening the Box

The first thing apparent when opening the box is the high quality of the resin parts. The parts are clearly labeled with part numbers and contain very little flash. What’s more, the connections to the pour stubs and resin blocks are kept to an absolute minimum, simplifying removal and making clean-up a breeze. Most of the parts can be (carefully) snapped off using just your fingers. A couple of swipes with a sanding stick and you’re ready to go.

The contents of this box include:

Review Author
William Carrell
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$60.00

The Hasegawa F-4 Series Phantom II models have been a standard for the modeling community for a number of years. They have offered virtually every variant ever produced and flown in all services around the world. This specific release is Celebrating the dawn of carrier landings. On January 18, 1911, the first successful aircraft landing on a ship occurred when pilot Eugene Ely landed his plane onto the USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4). In 1986, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4) celebrated the 75th anniversary of this historic occasion by adding special "Vandy 75" insignia to select F-4S Phantom IIs.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Kitty Hawk
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$70.00

Sincere appreciation goes to Kittyhawk for providing IPMS USA another of their kits for review… although the company is relatively new, the kits so far have been great efforts and I look forward to what is next...

This kit is a re-release of Kittyhawk’s F-1 kit released a couple of years ago. I remember reading of “fit issues” noted by a reviewer (from another site).... I experienced no major fit issues on this build. The kit did require a bit of filler to be used, where the forward fuselage mated with the aft section, and the intakes. That is pretty well a given on most jets, so I consider them non-issues.

Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$16.00

MiniArt is a Ukraine company that was established in 2001 and released their first kit in 2003. They are well known for their Diorama series, but the have released many armored vehicles, figure sets and accessory sets over the past several years.

This set comes in a end opening cardboard box and it contains six sprues of parts molded in a light gray plastic. The molding is clean with no flash, but there are a few minor mold lines that will need to be removed on some of the parts. The attachment points on the parts to the sprue have been well thought out even though some are on the large side. This should make clean up easy. These pieces have a high degree of detail even though some are relatively small.

What comes in the kit is as follows:

Book Author(s)
Marc Romanych & Martin Rupp
Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$17.95

Introduction

From Osprey’s website:

In the early days of World War I, Germany unveiled a new weapon – the mobile 42cm (16.5 inch) M-Gerät howitzer. At the time, it was the largest artillery piece of its kind in the world and a closely guarded secret. When war broke out, two of the howitzers were rushed directly from the factory to Liege where they quickly destroyed two forts and compelled the fortress to surrender. After repeat performances at Namur, Maubeuge and Antwerp, German soldiers christened the howitzers ‘Grosse’ or ‘Dicke Berta’ (Fat or Big Bertha) after Bertha von Krupp, owner of the Krupp armament works that built the howitzers. The nickname was soon picked up by German press, which triumphed the 42cm howitzers as Wunderwaffe (wonder weapons), and the legend of Big Bertha was born.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$21.32

Background

Auto Modeling is a high quality Japanese language magazine from publisher ModelArt. Each edition features models of cars, mostly racecars, from various race series and eras. Many of the previous editions focused on Formula One cars in different time periods.

The magazine has Japanese text, but some of the titles and headings are in English. The photographs are numerous and very high quality.

Contents

This issue, Volume 30, March 2014, has the following sections:

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.50

Since Tamiya now has three 1/72 Corsair releases on the market, Aires has added a highly detailed set of F4U-1 Corsair dropped flaps to their line of aftermarket parts. This set enables modelers to build a 1/72 Corsair with flaps dropped without the need to carefully remove and modify the non-dropped flaps molded into the Tamiya kits’ wings.

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
Cyber-Hobby
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$34.95

This is the third Cyber-Hobby ship model that I have been privileged to build for a review (the others being the USS Chicago and the USS Virginia), and I will say that this was the most challenging of the three. There were a couple of complications due to my choice of building the full hull version, and there were some challenges obtaining a few of the necessary small parts. Still, the kit builds up into a very nice representation of the USS Long Beach (CGN-9), and I would recommend it to those wanting to add this fine ship to their collection.

Review Author
Mark Aldrich
Published on
Company
Meng Model
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$39.95

This TreadHead was recently persuaded to volunteer to review a Sci-Fi project and an Airplane! Not just any airplane mind you, but a 1/72 airplane… way outside my comfort zone! However, in every cloud there is always a silver lining, and that statement could not be truer than with this Meng F-102A.