• Hardbound
  • Price: $34.95
  • ISBN: 978-0-89747-641-6

• Softcover
  • Price: $24.95
  • ISBN: 978-0-89747-640-9

For 70 years following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona has been the icon of the devastation and loss of American life on December 7, 1941, having lost 1,177 American servicemen herself that infamous day. For many modelers, building Arizona has been a memorable part of their modeling heritage and continues to be a popular subject among kit manufacturers. Many of us have cut our teeth on the classic Revell and Lindberg kits of old, of which the Revell kit is still in production. Over the past decade, numerous Asian kit manufacturers have offered additional kits spanning the range of scales from 1/700 up to the monstrous 1/200.

Background

I'm sure, no matter what you model in WW2, you've heard of the British 17-pounder, most notably in the Sherman “Firefly’'. Well, there was also a towed version – however, it wasn't the most mobile piece, so the British looked for a way to create an SP gun. Fortunately, they avoided cloning the Bishop and instead came up with a new design based on the existing Valentine tank. To keep it compact, the gun faced over the rear deck in a rather low and sleek fighting compartment. The disadvantage of this layout is, of course, that one can't fire on the move, but it is great for ambush scenarios where you back into a firing position, crank off a few, and scoot away, and that ultimately became the fighting doctrine for this weapon.

This model is from an Anime series originally called “Sentō Yōsei Yukikaze” which appeared in Japan as a direct-to-video production. It was produced by Gonzo and Bandai Visual (A familiar name to modelers). The videos won awards in Japan for best animation in 2003 and 2006. An English version of the video is available.

The premise of the story is that Earth will be invaded in the mid 21st Century by an alien force called JAM, through an interdimensional portal which comes out near Antarctica. The UN puts together a secret force which pushes the invasion back through the portal. The UN force then follows JAM through the portal to its home world, which is called Fairy. The battle continues on Fairy using several aircraft with some real upgrades from what we see in the early 21st Century. More information can be found at its Wikipedia page .

ModelArt No. 832 monthly update has the usual features of new product kits, as well as a feature topic. This month, the topic is aluminum metallizing finishes. Pages 5-49 show a list of four entire pages of different paints with a picture of its bottle and a painted plastic spoon so you can see how it looks – a thorough encyclopedia of available aluminum metallic paints. Examples of how to use the paints to build real kits are detailed for 1/32 scale P51D, Tojo, and Tony fighter aircraft. Other examples include more fighter aircraft, a B26an airliner, a Formula One racing car, several luxury sedans, and even tank treads. The text is in Japanese, but the numerous photographs help decipher what is being done. At least this section gives some advanced modeling tips for aluminum finishes.

For those who wish to build a first class model of the Tornado, Eduard has some items that will make the interior of the Tornado come alive with detail and color. Eduard is offering an excellent set of photo etched parts to replace some of the molded cockpit detail found in the Hobby Boss Tornado kit, and the Eduard parts are “self-adhesive”. It is necessary to remove the molded detail on the instrument panel and side consoles of the Hobby Boss parts. While doing so goes against the grain for most modelers, rest assured that the appearance of the cockpit will be improved once the Eduard parts are installed.