This is Model Art Magazine’s special quarterly issue that focuses on naval subjects. As with the regular Model Art Magazine, this is printed in Japanese with some English subtitles.

In this issue, the main focus is on the IJN Unryu-class aircraft carrier. There is a multitude of color and black and white photographs that show both models and period photos of the ships in this class.

The rest of the issue is a series of smaller articles mainly dealing with IJN subjects. One of the other articles covers models of three Japanese Coast Guard vessels by Pit Road Models. The last non-IJN article covers Revell’s USS Flasher, Growler, and Lionfish submarine model kits. This is not three different kits — it’s the same one marked differently over the lifespan of its molds.

Overall if you have an interest in naval vessels, especially IJN subjects you would find this issue interesting.

The book Ferdinand/Elefant: Detail In Action by David Doyle is a nice addition to the library of any German armor modeler. It is packed with 80 pages of drawings, photos, and information on the Ferdinand and Elefant tank destroyers. This book also contains a small part in the front covering the Porsche Tiger, which was the predecessor of the Ferdinand/Elefant. In fact, Ferdinand Porsche designed the suspension of these three behemoths.

My favorite part of these In Action books is always looking at the pictures of the actual vehicles during the war. From these photos you can get a sense of how used these tanks were, and how the paint schemes look as compared to the museum specimens. I enjoyed looking at the photos of these giant monsters. An interesting comparison is the photos of the damaged Ferdinand #501 as seen during its capture and, later, in modern times at the museum.

This is a five-figure set of a World War II Soviet tank crew. The first figure is an officer who is sitting and smoking a cigarette He is wearing a blue jacket and khaki pants, but does not have any headgear. The second figure looks like a commander, since he fits into the commander’s hatch of the Trumpeter KV-85 that I am also reviewing. There are two options for his left arm. One is extended with his hand resting on the turret top, while the second one is crossed in front of him and is resting on the split hatch.

The third figure appears to be a loader or gunner, since he sits perfectly on this open hatch. The box art show him with a pistol and a cross-chest belt, but that is not on the actual figure. The next figure is the driver, who is posed as actively driving the tank with both hands on the control sticks. The fifth figure is a crewman who is holding his helmet and has a foot propped up on something in a casual pose.

Quick and easy. This kit can be described in those two words. This kit was assembled over a period of 3 days, spending no more than 30 minutes during each of the 3 modeling sessions. And when one considers that most of the time was consumed in painting the parts, that tells you that the actual construction process was….quick and easy.

The Parts

The kit consists of 33 parts, 6 of which make up the display base. There are two versions of the Himawari that can be built. An earlier version will use the 8 antennas (parts 15) while the more recent Himawari does not need those parts.

The Seafire Mk.Ib was basically converted from the Spitfire Mk.Vb. The kit follows the heritage of the actual subject, being a “regular” Hasegawa Mk.Vb with a resin plug for conversion into a Seafire Mk.Ib. Be aware this model is a conversion; that means you will have to cut and replace some parts of the plastic fuselage with the resin replacement parts. But as conversion goes, this is an easy one to get your feet wet in the world of conversions.

The boxing includes decals for 4 different finishes on 3 different airframes. The instructions only list 3 camouflage styles, but actually there are markings provided for two different finishes (blue gray/green/sky) of the same airframe (MB 345), before and after being assigned to the HMS Formidable. The other two finishes are for a training unit (blue gray/green/sky) and another one in an overall glossy sea blue, for operations in the Pacific with SEAC roundels.