Mike

£15 in HK, with a few in the UK for over £40!

I would ask the members that were thinking of making a political comment, however deserved or hilarious, not to bother. Make your comments about the build if you please Sorry that I've had to do that, but this person's name is about as divisive as it comes these days.

Yes. As I said earlier. There's also a few pinned topics that are entirely relevant to anyone having problems. You just seem to have seen a page of threads and decided you'd ask people rather than searching because it looks like too much bother. That's how it comes across at least.

aboard Brad

Just because they're ancient doesn't make them irrelevant. The top one is very relevant. The How to Post Photos FAQ has just grown to the size of a ridiculous thing because of people testing the method.

It's difficult to be too helpful without knowing how you're trying to post the links and what devices/apps you're using. We wouldn't be able to help if it's a Flikr problem anyway, as we just don't know anything about external apps/sites. You'll probably be able to get help from fellow members that use Flikr though, so don't worry too much. Meantime, I'd clear any and all caches related to your device, just in case some corrupt data is giving you the issue. If that doesn't fix it, I was going to suggest you take some screen shots, but it's a bit of a catch-22 situation if you don't have another option for posting pics. "How do I post screen shots of the problem with posting pictures?"

Fw.190A-6 Cockpit (6481101 for Eduard) 1:48 Eduard Brassin We’ve just reviewed the new Fw.190A-6 kit in 1:48 from Eduard here, and it’s a great kit that will satisfy many builders straight from the box. If you’re hungry for more detail however, this new cockpit set will upgrade the kit cockpit to a higher level that justifies spending extra time painting and weathering the area, which is a typical focal point of most aviation models, with the exception of drones and UAVs. As is usual with Eduard's larger resin sets, they arrive in a Brassin-themed black-and-yellow cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags between two layers of grey foam, and the instructions folded around acting as additional padding. Inside are a mixture of traditional cast and 3D printed resin, PE, decals and a small sheet of clear acetate film, the largest part of which is the cockpit tub with the aft decking and side consoles already moulded in. The separate seat has a button-quilted cushion moulded-in and has a pair of pre-painted PE lap-belts added, fitting into the tub along with the control column after the removal of the tendril-like supports from the printing process, applying stencil and dial decals on the side consoles after detail-painting. The instrument panel lower section is made first, using either a lamination of two layers of PE and a blank resin panel backing, mounting a choice of resin centre sections that are used with the alternative resin panel with dials moulded-in and decals instead of using PE. In this latest set, there are levers and handles supplied as delicate 3D printed parts to be glued into recesses in the panel sides instead of shallow PE parts. The rudder pedals are also 3D printed, which gives them a more realistic look for less effort, beyond the capabilities of PE parts alone, which would have to be folded to shape. They are glued into the floor of the cockpit on their mounting posts along with the lower instrument panel that fits in place on the ends of the side consoles. A resin lever is fixed to the port side console, and the shoulder belts are laid over the top of the seat now in place, followed by building the resin gunsight with acetate glazing parts sliding into grooves in the mechanism. The completed gunsight is slotted into the upper panel, which you can build from PE and resin, or resin and decals in the same manner as the lower panel. The coaming fits over the top, and it has a cut-out on top to accommodate the gunsight that protrudes through. The starboard fuselage half has two lugs marked in red that are removed to be replaced by a resin winder handle, and once everything has been painted and decaled, the fuselage can be closed around the new cockpit, the kit forward bulkhead, and the resin coaming. The final resin part combines the pilot’s head armour and the support structure behind it in one highly detailed part, which should be detail painted according to the usual Gunze Sangyo call-outs, and has a red warning decal to be applied to the front of the head armour below the cushion, as shown in a separate diagram. That is then glued in place inside the clear styrene canopy appropriate to your decal choice from the kit. To fit the new cockpit inside the fuselage a pair of plastic wedges are removed from the inside, to be replaced with a detailed PE and resin trim wheel. The assemblies should then fit neatly within, alongside the kit bulkhead, assuming you aren't taking advantage of any of the other sets I'll be mentioning in this review. The set includes the opening mechanism and the pilot's head armour, which has a warning decal added to it after painting. The interior roll-over frame is resin, and has delicate PE bracing wires linking to the rear, all of which fits inside the canopy after painting. The canopy then installs as normal. Conclusion As the cockpit is one of the main focal-points of any single-seat fighter, the extra effort is well-worth expending, as the detail is finer and accurate, thanks to the capability of 3D printed parts, traditional resin, PE and decals, each with their own specialities. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I've not had anything like that for a long, long time. I did see a brief moment where the page was lagging whilst refreshing, but that went away in a few seconds.

Shouldn't be an issue really, as the server box is in the US, so the difference in cable-length between the Netherlands or Germany and me in the North West England is negligible. Australia might have a bit longer cable, I suspect I think it's been introduced over the years of people trying to take down the site with DDoS attacks, and we'll get rid of it when we move. Try not to let it bother you in the interim, and keep your fingers crossed that we lose it in the move

9K posts and he's still not got it! Poor Frank, he doesn't half get some stick

That's where a little intelligence comes in on the part of the person considering trading with them. A litany of "good job" might start alarm bells ringing or not, but either way it's still a better grasp on the person's motivation for posting than silence. Plus, they run the risk of us spotting their tirade of congratulations, at which point we'll speak to them and set their count back somewhat. Absolutely. It's not a perfect system, but it's worked for a long while. If a new idea comes along that's demonstrably better while not increasing the workload or responsibilities of the Mods, we're all ears. We've not had any such suggestions in over a decade though, so I can't imagine one coming along soon. I'm perfectly happy to be proved wrong though, as it does happen

Having been around for years doesn't really mean a thing to the rest of the membership, or us Mods, sadly for you. When you see someone taking part in the forum, you get a sense of their personality, and can take an educated guess as to whether they are indeed human, are modellers, and whether you'd trust that person with your money in the hope that they'll then send you the model or whatever it is that they promised you. It's not a perfect system, as we can't control what goes on between members, and neither would we want to. You're all grown adults, and have your own opinions on whether you'd like to take the risk of trading with someone on a forum, having never met that person before. Happily, most of the folks we've had here have been trustworthy over the years, but a few have "done the dirty" on fellow members, mostly at outset when they come on with a host of highly tempting items for sale at good prices, and one or two who have been trustworthy until they flipped and turned to thievery. Those folks get banned just as quickly as the new members that try it. We can't stop thievery (let's be honest, that's what it is) or do anything about it as a site when it happens, and there's precious little recourse for the afflicted member who is ripped off, sadly. That's one of the reasons we ask people to pay using PayPal and don't pay by Friends & Family, as you throw away your protections that could get your money back in the event of a problem. We initiated the 100 post rule to give this "sense of person" if you like, and it works quite well. There are a few folks that try to circumvent it, but in general people tend to grass them up, for which we're very grateful, as it makes keeping control of the mess easier for us few Mods. The occasional person like yourself who has been around for years gets caught up in the rules, and we've had to shrug our shoulders and decide that a couple of taciturn people not being able to use the Buy/Sell area is a relatively small price to pay to stop thieves from being able to get the quick score by being able to come in, hoodwink people, and dart off with their money. If we added the "you must have been around X years", what's to stop them from just forgetting about the account for that time while they con other people elsewhere, coming back to their still "new" account later on, and doing the evil deed. We'd still know nothing about them, so we still consider them new. Just don't take it personally. You might be the nicest person in the world, but we don't know. Get to know us by taking part in the forum's discourse, as being a passive reader doesn't add anything to the community, as I think another poster inferred earlier. You might find you enjoy it more than you thought you would.

Fw-190A-6 ProfiPACK (82137) 1:48 Eduard Introduced in 1941 to combat the ever-improving Spitfire, the Fw.190 was intended to supplant the Bf.109 if it reached a development plateau, or to run alongside it as a stablemate if it could continue to be improved. Its powerful twin-bank radial engine was installed with a close-fitting cowling on a small fuselage, and was initially equipped with an oversized, ducted prop-spinner to keep the engine cool, which was discarded early in development in favour of a fan that ran on the prop's drive-shaft to push air over and between the cylinder heads, also facilitating oil cooling. It was also given a wide-track landing gear, which reduced the likelihood of a nose-over, a problem afflicting both the Bf.109 and its opponent the Spitfire, due to their narrow tracked gear and poor forward visibility over a long cowling. When it first encountered Spitfires, the Fw.190 gave the RAF pilots a shock, as they were expecting Bf.109s, not these agile new aircraft. It caused a frenzy of development at Supermarine, which was just part of the leapfrog game played by both sides throughout the conflict. The initial A-1 production version was equipped with a BMW 801 engine, and by the time the A-4 was signed off, it had two 7.92mm guns in the cowling, and a pair of 20mm MG151 cannons in the wing root, all of which were synchronised with the prop's motion, in turn mated to a more powerful version of the BMW engine. There were several equipment fits used in the many variants that gave the Würger (Shrike) additional weapons and capabilities, including a pressurised cockpit, rocket tubes and reconnaissance cameras. The A-6 was a natural progression of development that started reaching service in mid-1943, with an increased armament that included MG17s in the engine cowling, two 20mm MG 151 cannons in the wing root as before, and another identical pair just outboard of the landing gear bays. The wings were also lightened whilst improving their strength, leaving space for extra ammunition for the two wing-mounted cannons, in an effort to increase their success in downing the bomber streams that were attacking German industry on a daily basis by that point in the war. The Kit Since the initial tooling of the Fw.190A series airframe in 2007, there have been numerous reboxings, additional parts and re-releases of other variants, plus tooling upgrades as time went by. Eduard's Fw.190 today is a great kit, and has stood the test of time well over the last decade, the moulds amended and improved to keep it current. The ProfiPACK boxing of this variant includes extras to improve on the already excellent detail, and arrives in a gold-themed box, which is adorned with a dramatic and emotional painting of the iconic Butcher Bird in night fighter guise, engaged with an ill-fated Halifax bomber, which has its two inner engines on fire, although the mid-upper gunner is still bravely fighting on. Inside are five grey/blue sprues, one of clear parts, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a small sheet of kabuki tape masking material (not pictured), two decal sheets and the instruction/painting guide, printed in colour on glossy white paper. Due to the modular nature of the sprue design and layout there will be a fair quantity of spare parts left after construction, which are marked on the diagrams with pale blue overprinting. Construction starts in the cockpit, which is augmented with pre-painted PE side consoles and instrument panels, but also retained are the decals that can be applied to flat panels, as well as the engraved styrene panels for those that prefer to paint their details manually. The tub includes the sharply tapering rear deck, to which you add the rear bulkhead cheeks, control column, seat, plastic or PE rudder pedals, pre-painted seatbelts and sundry other parts in styrene and PE. The cockpit sides have details moulded-in that are improved by adding PE parts to the areas that will be seen within the finished compartment, detail painting them according to the instructions accompanying each part. To close the fuselage, the cockpit assembly with upper instrument panel that has the same choices as the lower is inserted along with a bulkhead that closes the front of the tub, two exhaust inserts with L and R engraved into the cowling, and the two-part engine assembly, which is only an approximation of the front row of cylinders, as little will be seen once the cowling, prop and cooling fan is in place. The lower wings are full span, and has a spar fitted that runs to the ends of the gear bays, with detail on the face visible through the apertures. This is augmented by the wheel bays, various ribs and the cannon barrels that protrude through, with the upper wing surfaces added after painting of the bay roof detail that is engraved into their underside. The completed wing assembly is then offered up to the fuselage, and the missing sections of the cowling with exhaust stubs, gun barrels and troughs are added to the top and bottom of the nose, adding the instrument coaming to the front of the cockpit cut-out, either adding a small PE part into a recess, or making the same part from scrap styrene and a decal if you prefer. The two-part intake ring finishes the front cowling, and the flying surfaces are glued into place, including separate rudder and ailerons that can be posed deflected, and fixed elevators that slot into the sides of the tail. The tyres provided for the main gear have separate hubs front and back, and fit onto the peg on the ends of the struts, with separate oleo-scissors and captive bay door parts, the latter with a choice of two styles. The retraction gear is installed along with the leg in the bay on the inner side of the leg, and the centre doors fit to the central bar that splits the bays either closed, or opened with a strut holding them in place. The tail wheel slots into a two-part yoke and slides into a socket under the tail, a crew step, aerial and D/F loop for most decal options, gun barrels and pitot probes are installed, then the three-bladed paddle prop is completed with spinner and fan behind it, with a peg at the rear fitting into a corresponding hole in the engine front. Two styles of open and closed canopies are provided, and are outfitted with head armour, PE grab handle and armour support before being added to the airframe along with the windscreen part. The last touch is to add the gear-down indicator pegs to the tops of the wings, which are made from tiny PE parts, and for the night fighter options (F&G), a series of antennae are made from PE strips with circular bases that are applied to the wings and fuselage as indicated, fixing styrene flare hiders to the side-mounted exhausts. A belly-mounted fuel tank is made from two halves, and is mounted on a long, four-part pylon that fixes under the fuselage on two pegs, where another set of antennae for the night fighters are shown in blue. If you are rigging the aerial wire to the tail, remember that if you pose the canopy open, the wire can appear relaxed, although many photos also show it taut, so check your references. Markings There are seven decal options on the sheet provided, with the common stencils on a separate sheet as is common with Eduard kits. Which decal option you choose informs your choice of options whilst building the kit, so make your choice early to avoid confusion and potential mistakes. From the box you can build one of the following: Fw 190A-6, WNr. 550375, Lt. Heinz-Günther Lück, 1./JG 1, Deelen, Netherlands, August 1943 Fw 190A-6, WNr. 550461, Oblt. Helmut Radtke, 5./JG 54, Immola, Finland, Summer 1944 Fw 190A-6, WNr. 550453, Hptm. Friedrich-Karl Müller, Stab /JG 300, Bonn-Hangelar, Germany, October 1943 Fw 190A-6, Fw. Günther Josten, 1./JG 51, Bobruysk, the USSR, January 1944 Fw 190A-6, WNr. 550473, Fw. Walter Nietzsche, II. /JG 300, Rheine, Germany, Summer 1943 Fw 190A-6/R11, WNr. 550143, Oblt. Fritz Krause, 1./NJGr 10, Werneuchen, Germany, January 1944 Fw 190A-6/R11, II. /JG 300, Lobnitz, Germany, Autumn 1943 All the decals are printed in Czechia, have good registration, colour density and sharpness, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the edge of the printing. The stencils are catered for on a separate sheet, with a page of the instructions devoted to their placement, away from the markings options to avoid clutter. As always with Eduard, the Swastikas are provided in two parts on the body of the sheet to comply with local regulations regarding this contentious symbol, and can be brought together to create the symbol if you are striving for historical accuracy and it is permitted in your nation. Conclusion The surface detail on the kit is excellent, with lines of finely engraved rivets adding to the visual appeal (yes, we know rivets aren't holes, but this technique works for most of us though). Add the extra PE detail, and quite a fun set of decal options (I particularly like the night fighters), and you have a winner on your hands. The box art is also striking, so don’t forget that there is a large print of the artwork available to buy without the necessary text and other clutter of the box top. Very highly recommended. Kit EduART Print Review sample courtesy of

M3 Stuart Early Prod (35412) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The M3 Stuart was designed before the US went to war, based upon the experiences of the British, which led to the US top brass deciding that their M2 light tank was obsolete. While the radial engined M3 was an improvement over the M2, it suffered from an underpowered M6 main gun at only 37mm, which although it was improved later in the war, the crews had to suffer with it for some considerable time. The British troops in Africa used it first against the superior tanks of the Afrika Korps, but they fared badly in combat, suffering from the lack of range of the Stuart in the wide-open spaces of the African desert. It was fast and manoeuvrable however, and a British driver’s comment that she was a "honey" to drive led to one of its nicknames during the war. The M3A1 was an improved version that deleted the heavy sponson mounted machine guns of the initial production, and some of these used more conventional diesel engines instead of the bulky radials, which gave the crew more room for other equipment. It also had a new turret with a basket for the turret crew to stand in, and no cupola for the commander that gave the tank a lower profile, and added a gun stabilisation system that helped with vertical alignment of targets while the tank was on the move, ironing out the bumps for the gunners. In British service it was known as the Stuart III and with the diesel engine version was designated the IV. It was hopelessly outclassed by Axis armour in Europe for tank-on-tank engagements however, and was soon relegated to infantry support and recce roles, where it performed well. It was more successful in the Pacific theatre against the lightly armoured Japanese tanks in the jungle, where medium and heavy tanks could soon flounder in the mud and heavy foliage in jungle conditions. It continued to be used to the end of the war by the Allies in the Pacific area, although Russia, another user of the Stuart, disliked it intensely and refused to take the upgraded M5 design that followed the M3A3. Variants were used well into the 60s, and Brazil even built their own version with redesigned upper hull that carried a 90mm gun. Paraguay still had a few of its ancient original stock of 12 beyond the turn of the millennium, which is astonishing, considering the age of the design. The Kit This is a new boxing of a very recent tooling from our friends at MiniArt, who are producing an amazing output of new kits and partial re-tools in recent years, which is doubly-impressive given the abominable situation in Ukraine over the last few years. This kit arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of an early production Stuart on the front, surrounded by a herd of zebras, which gives its location as Africa, unless it was plundering through a zoo. Inside the box are twelve sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in a card envelope, a decal sheet, and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour on glossy paper, with profiles of the decal options on the rearmost pages. Detail is excellent as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, and as this is an exterior kit, the interior isn’t provided, but the exterior and running gear are well-defined, and the tracks are supplied as link-and-length, taking the benefits of individual links and making the job a lot less labour intensive without much loss of detail. Construction begins with the vehicle’s floor with a choice of two styles of floor hatch, then making curved transmission armour at the front of the tank, which is detailed with various towing eyes, additional bolt heads that are cut from the sprue runner, and a central frame that can be folded from PE or replaced by a single styrene part. Now the hull sides can be fitted, but not before they are detailed with various external parts, adding final drive housings to the front ends, using the bogie axle ends to locate the parts on the sides of the floor. The rear bulkhead is built with a hatch space in the upper half, gluing it to the rear of the vehicle. The rear hatch is in two sections, one of which has a PE clapping plate, both having handles, posing them closed to hide the lack of engine. Above the hatch is an overhang with a PE mesh horizontal insert and styrene rear, with a couple of towing eyes mounted on the lower edge of the bulkhead. The next assembly is a thirty-cal bow machine gun, which has a vertical magazine moulded into the underside of the breech, finished with a circular mount that is slotted through the glacis plate from the inside, plus a strengthening strap under the driver’s hatch. It is glued into position on the front of the tank, fitting the transmission inspection hatch with handle in the centre, and adding a pair of towing shackles to the front. The driver’s hatch is in two parts, and can be posed closed for battle, or with both parts folded open to allow the driver to see the full vista, which would of course expose the lack of interior. A two-layer T-shaped cross-member is located over the upper glacis, adding a bracket that supports the headlamp, and a pair of bearing spacers to the final drive housings. As already mentioned, the earliest Stuarts had sponson-mounted machine guns, which extend from the main hull out over the tracks, roughly along the middle third of the vehicle’s length. The two sponson floors are glued into position, and two .30cal machine guns are trapped between two-part mounts, one fitted to each sponson, sliding through the front armour. The sides of the sponsons can then be built around the guns, with a short wall to the rear, and a long panel along the side. Two hatches are fixed to the front of the upper hull after adding an extra layer behind, a clear vision port, and openers to the sides. If you intend to pose the hatches up, you have the option of leaving the inclement weather inner hatches in position, which have large panes of glass and windscreen wipers to save filling the tank with precipitation. The open outer hatches are propped up with a pair of short stays from their top hinges, but the usual caveat about the interior still applies. The hull roof is next, starting with the panel that has the turret ring moulded-in, adding additional nuts on the top ring from the sprue runners, and a pair of filler caps on the deck behind it, shaving away clasp details around them. The completed part is lowered into place on the hull, turning to the engine deck next, placing the panel after fitting handles, gluing it in position and fitting a pair of rear lights on brackets to the sides, adding a little connecting wire if you wish. The main deck panel has a PE shroud to the forward edge to deflect incoming rounds or debris, plus another PE bracket for one of the aerials is attached to the right, with another shelf-bracket mounted on the side wall slightly lower and further to the side than the other. The aerial bases are each made from two parts, adding 73mm of stretched sprue, wire, or carbon fibre rod to represent the aerials themselves. A pair of dome-topped cylindrical air-boxes are built from four parts each and are attached to the rear of the sponson on brackets on both sides. We finally get some wheels for the tank, starting with the two-part drive sprockets and a pair of over-size idler wheels, which are trapped between two halves of the swing-arm, adding a PE rim to both sides. The road wheels are mounted in two-wheel bogies, each one made from ten parts, building four in total, handed for each side. The road wheels flex-fit into position between the arms of the bogies, so that they can be mounted on the sides of the vehicle in shallow recesses along with the idlers and drive sprockets, with three return rollers on short axles above the main run. As discussed earlier, the tracks are link-and-length, using long single-part lengths under the wheels, individual links around sharp curves, and shorter lengths where the tracks are relatively straight. The various sections are attached to the sprues at the edges, and each short portion has a unique tab and slot format to ensure that parts can only be put together in the correct manner. There are a few ejector-pin marks on the inside of the longer track link sections, but these are raised and on flat surfaces, so shouldn’t be difficult to remove with a sanding stick or sharp blade, and won’t slow you don’t too much. When the track runs are suitably cured, fenders are added over the open areas, the rear straight sections fitted with a curved end to reduce kicked up mud, while the front section have inner side skirts to prevent mud ingress, which is improved further by gluing a PE web between it and the leading edge of the glacis plate, along with a PE stiffening strap further back. Before we start festooning the vehicle with pioneer tools, a pair of headlamps with clear lenses are placed, one on each fender protected by a PE cage, and both with a short length of wire leading back to hole in the glacis plate. The pioneer tools are fully styrene tools that have their clasps moulded-in, and are dotted all over the horizontal surfaces of the vehicle, including an axe, pickaxe shaft and head, and a shovel. More tools are located on the forward sponsons, adding PE tie-downs around the deck for securing stowage or camouflage. The twin towing rope requires the modeller to provide either a 157mm length of braided wire or thread, fitting a pair of styrene eyes to the ends, and clamping it in place with PE brackets along the left sponson and fender. Now for the turret, starting with the main 37 mm M6 gun, the gun tube formed by a single part with hollow muzzle that is surrounded by a two-part frame, and has the halves of the breech closed around the rear, adding extra detail on the right, and a breech protector to the left side, followed by a four-part pivot that are fixed around the gun without glue, then the coaxial machine gun is attached to the right side of the breech, and its ammo box is located on the left side, fed by a ‘bridge’ of link over the main gun in a guide to the breech of the smaller gun, dumping spent rounds in a box-like bag underneath. The barrel is pushed through the mantlet and inserted into the front of the turret, which has been made from a well-detailed ring, with the faceted turret sides arranged around it after being detailed with vision blocks themselves. The roof has a yoke inserted on its underside in stowed or combat positions, and is glued in place, sliding the mantlet armour over the main and coax guns from in front. The commander’s cupola is similarly faceted, and each side is prepared by fitting a vision block in the slot, creating an asymmetrical hexagonal shape, and deciding whether to pose the turret crew’s vision ports open or closed. The commander's hatch is a flat panel with a lock on the upper edge, and hinges on the lower, which can be fitted open or closed, with more vision ports on the turret sides posed open or closed around the rest of the perimeter. Another .30cal machine gun is trapped between a two-part mount with adjuster handle, and fixed to a short column that is secured to the rear left side of the turret on curved brackets moulded into the surface. An optional two-part ammo box with a length of link can be fixed to the side of the gun, or if you wish to leave it off, an alternative stub part is supplied in its place. With that, the turret can be dropped into position to complete the model. Markings There are six varied decal options included on the small sheet, and you’d still be almost correct if you guessed that they are all in some variation of WWII Allied green, with only their individual markings to tell them apart. The exception is the specially painted 1,000th tank produced, which was painted white to stand out for the ceremony. From the box you can build one of the following: 192nd Tank Battalion, Luzon, Philippines, December 1941 2nd Independent Tank Company, Free French Forces, Kano, Nigeria, 1942 American Car & Foundry Plant, 1,000th Tank 192nd Tank Brigade, Red Army, Volkhov Offensive, Oryol Region, Summer, 1942 US Marine Corps., Australia, Spring, 1943 Brazilian Army, 1944 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s great to have this much detail present in a newly tooled kit of the diminutive Stuart, or Honey as the Brits called it, and it deserves to become the de facto standard for the scale. If you don’t want to pick up the original Interior kits because they contain too many parts or will keep you occupied to long, then this one should fill the gap perfectly. Very highly recommended. At time of writing, this kit is on heavy discount from our friends at Creative Models Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

That Quinta set looks good. It looks like the discounters are popping it out at around £53, with The Model Centre at £50. Sadly, someone forgot to update the details of the kit on the site, so it seems to be an American Aircraft Carrier https://www.themodelcentre.com/pktm05825

Fairey Gannet COD.4 (A11009) 1:48 Airfix The Gannet was another great British aircraft that began development while the fires of WWII still burned, and was specifically designed to take advantage of new radar technologies that had been developed during wartime to perform the complete anti-submarine warfare task, taking the role of both the hunter and the killer. Early design work experimented with the use of a single turboprop engine for fuel economy to allow the aircraft a long loiter time, but this was found to be sub-standard, and Rolls-Royce cancelled the engine design to concentrate on more pressing wartime needs. The Armstrong Siddeley Mamba engine was considered as an alternative, and it was decided that two of these engines with a common intake and gearbox would be suitable. Known as the Double or Twin Mamba, that gave the design a wide ‘chin’ and twin exhausts. The engine would power two contra-rotating props that had dual roles, eliminating any torque steer effect on take-off and landing, and giving the crew the option of shutting one engine down to save fuel and extend loiter, as there was enough power in a single engine to keep the aircraft aloft. By 1946 Fairey had been given a contract to produce two prototypes, which first flew toward the end of 1949, and the testing programme ironed out the bugs, which included a crash-landing that damaged one of the prototypes and caused some delays. By 1950 the testing process had progressed to the carrier trials portion, carrying out the world’s first carrier deck landing by a turboprop aircraft. The second prototype was completed later, and had benefited from changes to the design based upon experience with the first airframe, which had now racked up two crash-landings. Other changes to the specification were forced upon them too, including a larger bomb bay, an additional crew seat and canopy, and relocation of the radome, all of which was mirrored on the first prototype to ensure its ongoing usefulness to the testing programme. Successful completion and the increasing likelihood of war in Korea led to an order of 100 AS.1 airframes, reaching service by 1954 after resolving a compressor stall issue that had grounded the first production batch for two months. The AS.4 was created later in the 50s, with better engines and avionics, then to replace the ageing Skyraiders in the AEW role, a fundamental re-design of the fuselage was made to accommodate the large radome centrally mounted under the wings, which was designated AEW.3, and was fitted with a new variant of the Double Mamba, which can be easily differentiated from the earlier marks by the fuselage design and the heavyweight radome underneath. Export customers included Germany, Indonesia, and Australia, where they stayed in service for a long time. In the 1960s the Royal Navy transitioned the ASW role to helicopters, effectively making a proportion of the Gannet fleet redundant, but they were found alternative employment with a few alterations, some performing the Electronic Warfare role, and others converted to mail delivery and communications aircraft, travelling between the carriers and shore establishments. These were designated Carrier Onboard Delivery, or COD.4, and were generally converted from AS.4 airframes. By the late 70s, the British Government had mandated a retirement of the Navy’s last carriers, which it was assured were unnecessary, and the Gannets were retired at around the same time, leaving the fleet with a capability gap just in time to make protecting the “through-deck cruisers” that definitely weren’t carriers, and the rest of the Task Force ships that much more difficult during the Falklands War. The Kit Until last year, modellers in 1:48 had never been well-served with Gannet models, although for years the best choice was the Dynavector vacformed kit, with the Classic Airframes coming second, despite being at least partly injection moulded. Both required more modelling skill than your average injection-moulded kit, and both are long extinct, although I still have one of the Dynavector kits in my stash. This second boxing arrives in a large top-opening box that is filled with seven sprues in Airfix’s recent dark grey styrene, one of which is new to provide the COD.4 specific parts, plus a single sprue of clear parts, finishing off with a large decal sheet and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour and has two separate A4 sheets of glossy white paper depicting the markings options and stencil locations. If you have seen the first boxing, or newly tooled 1:48 Buccaneer or Sea King, you will know exactly what to expect, which is a ton of detail, clever engineering, and multiple options that give you flexibility of completion of your model without the results looking toy-like. The surface detail is excellent, covering the skin with engraved panel lines and fine rivets, plus deeply recessed detail in the bomb bay, cockpit and landing gear areas, which are the focal points of any aircraft model that carries a pilot. The front page of the instruction booklet carries an emboldened note about nose-weight, as the Gannet was a tail-heavy aircraft in real life, a trait that also extends to the model. You are advised to add 12g to the purpose-made box under the cockpit floor, and a further 55g in the nose area, with a cut-off line shown on the instructions to avoid baulking the prop insert and intake fairings. That’s a lot of weight, so ensure you have plenty to hand, and weigh it accurately beforehand, as once you close the fuselage there will be little opportunity to add more. Remember that if you are planning on installing any aftermarket, the balance may change, and you may have to increase the amount of weight to compensate. Construction begins with the bomb bay for a change. The main length of the bay is moulded as a single well-detailed part, which is completed by adding the front and rear bulkheads, both of which have a gaggle of stencil decals applied to create some additional visual interest. The nose gear bay roof is fitted to the front, and a large H-shaped twin spar unit is laid over the exterior of the bay roof, adding a support on the aft faceted segment, then gluing the first nose weight box over the front of the bomb bay, inserting 12g of nose weight inside. It’s advisable to glue the nose weight in firmly to prevent rattling, and if you use lead shot, it’s possible some may escape if you invert the model, unless you add a lid to the box using styrene sheet. The cockpit floor is a long part that covers the entire length of the existing assembly, overhanging to the rear, and at this early stage only a circular decal is applied to the pilot’s side consoles. The model is flipped onto its back to add the tapered side walls to the nose gear bay, inserting a detailed rear wall flat against the front bomb bay bulkhead to give it some visual impact. Another 180° roll is needed to begin adding detail into the cockpit, starting with a three-part assembly that includes decals for the 2nd crewman’s instrument panel, mounting over a raised block on the cockpit floor. The bulkhead behind the pilot is applied to the other side of the separator, with a curved part linking it to the instrument panel, adding another bulkhead with added seat backrest for crewman no.2, followed by the seat base with recessed pan to accommodate the operator’s parachute pack. The pilot’s seat is a single part, and a short control-column is fitted in front of this, creating his instrument panel and decals to depict the dials, which is attached to the side consoles in his cockpit. Another bulkhead is built with two equipment racks, and a bulkhead with two large equipment boxes mounted within it, behind which the rear seat is fitted, comprising two parts. The fuselage halves are prepared for use by removing a small piece of the aft cockpit coaming, adding cockpit side wall interiors at the front and rear of the compartment, painting the rest of the area in grey, and adding stencil and dial decals to the inserts to add more interest for the intrepid viewer, and a small window under the tail on the starboard side. The starboard fuselage half is then slid into position over the two spars of the cockpit assembly, and at this point the large 55g of nose weight can be added under the cockpit, but taking care not to let it creep forward and baulk completion of the nose. The port fuselage half is slid over the opposite ends of the spars, permitting closure of the fuselage and the hiding of seams in your preferred manner. Once the glue is dry and the seams dealt with, you can choose to depict the rear radome under the fuselage retracted for one decal option, or faired over after removal with a new part. The main gear bays are built up inside the lower halves of the wings, and are just one of three rectangular(ish) spacers that set the distance between the upper and lower skins. The innermost spacer has bay wall detail inserts applied all round its inner face, with a small fire extinguisher installed in the starboard bay, and remembering to test-fit the inner bay doors so that they fit easily into their slots, saving anguish later if you find that they don’t fit. Someone has clearly test-built this model, which is good to know. The ailerons are made from upper and lower halves, as are the inner flap sections, the outer flap panel are single parts that have two fairing bumps inserted into recesses, putting them all to one side until near completion of the wings. You have the choice of building the Gannet with its wings folded for storage below decks, or deployed for flight, with different parts included for both options so that there is no fiddling with wing sections to align them in relation to each other and the ground. To build her ready for flight, the full wing halves are prepared by drilling out flashed-over holes in the lower surface for rockets and pylons if you are using them, then gluing the three internal supports into position on their raised brackets, the innermost one being the gear bay with inserts applied earlier. The roof of the bay is detailed with moulded-in ribbing, and should be painted at the same time as the rest of the gear bay, closing the wing halves and installing them over the spars once the glue is fully cured. The ailerons are then inserted into their cut-outs at the ends of the wings, and a clear wingtip insert is slotted in, masking the tip lights off so that they remain clear after painting. Building your Gannet with its wings folded is a necessarily more complex affair that will result in a more impressive model that will take up less space in your cabinet, but will take more care when building and painting, so it’s a two-edged sword. The only way to get around this thorny decision is to buy two, which is a tempting prospect. The fixed inner wing portion is built first, fitting the already assembled bay inserts into the lower inner wing panel, adding the fold mechanism, then applying the upper wing surface, and installing the flaps into their tracks in the retracted position. Both the inner wing sections are then slipped over the twin spars and glued into position. The central section has holes drilled out for rockets if you plan to use them, adding the inner support box and a two-part fold mechanism to the outboard edge, the outer flap panel (retracted again), and a rib is inserted into the inner edge. The wingtip panel is joined around its support box, adding a clear wingtip to the outer end, a landing light in the leading edge, and fitting a rib into the inboard end. They aren’t added to the model at this stage however, instead putting them to one side while you build the rudder from two halves, the two elevators from two halves each, and the flying surfaces, again from two halves. The fins are inserted into slots in the tail, gluing their flying surfaces to the rear, and adding the little finlets into sockets above and below the elevators, taking care to align them with each other. The version with extended wings can be modelled with the flaps deployed for landing and take-off or flush for normal flight. To pose them flush, they are glued into position without further parts needed, while the deployed option adds two actuator arms inserted into notches in their thick leading edges, which have extra plastic moulded into the forward mounting point, which should be removed after painting and before installation, presumably to aid handling during this process. They are glued into position in their tracks, taking care to have everything painted and weathered to your liking before you do. In case you were wondering, the installation of the mid and outer panels for the wings-folded option are left until much later in the build. The nose of this turboprop is a particular curved shape with a twin bulge in the lower half, and the exterior is moulded as a single part, into which you slide a long prop shaft without glue, instead gluing a washer over it, taking care not to flood the area with too much that may seize the prop shaft inside. A pair of conjoined cylindrical inserts are glued behind the intakes that add extra strakes and some depth to the intake, with a scrap diagram showing how it looks from behind. The completed insert is then offered up to the front of the fuselage, which is when you will find whether you left enough space between the nose weight and the fuselage front. If you can’t fit the part as it stands due to the nose weight taking up too much room, my callipers suggest that there is around 2mm of styrene at the base of the trunking part that could be removed if necessary. Sand and check as you go however, or be prepared to paint the front of the nose weight black if you accidentally break through. This short diversion leads us to the landing gear, which can be portrayed retracted or deployed for landing by using certain parts and omitting others. As you’d imagine, the retracted gear option is the easiest, first building up the main wheels from two halves plus two hubs, which will be used for both options. They are attached to their respective retracted legs that creates enough of the structure to pass inspection once the outer bay doors are installed over them. The nose gear bay is a single part that covers the whole bay. To deploy the gear, the outer main bay doors are slotted into the grooves that you test-fitted earlier, then the gear legs are built from three parts and inserted into the bays, plugging into sockets moulded into the roof, ensuring that the scissor-links point aft. The nose gear bay is prepared by installing a retraction base in the roof, then building up the leg from three parts, plugging it into the bay roof, and fitting the retraction jack frame at the ends of the base and to the forward face of the strut, which requires the jack to be slipped over the leg, and must be done before installing both two-part wheels on the axles, adding another part to the axle between the wheels. The bay doors are split into two sections per side, and they open at the centreline, hinging down at slightly different angles, the large doors supported by retraction jacks near their forward edge. I do love a contra-prop, and have a few in my cabinet already. Each prop has four blades moulded into a central boss, which mounts on a plate behind it. The rear prop has a tapered spinner portion fixed to the front, while the front prop has the tip of the spinner glued to it. The rear prop is pushed over the axle without glue, fixing the front prop in position with a little glue on the tip of the axle. If you used too much glue when securing the prop shaft earlier, the front blades won’t be movable once glued in place, so take care. The next choice is to have the bomb bay open or closed, with a choice of two sensor fits for both options, requiring holes to be drilled out from inside, adding towel-rail and blade antennae, plus a circular sensor near the front of the bay doors. Again, the closed option is simpler, requiring one part with an engraved join line moulded into it and the sensors, sealing the bay detail away forever. The open doors are made from two layers for each side, adding the sensors as above, then installing the bays, using four actuator jacks in each corner to secure it at the right angle, scrap diagrams reminding you of the stencil decals on the bulkheads at the same time. It's now time for some small parts, starting with a pair of two-part empty pylons under the wing outboard of the main gear bays, followed by a sensor that needs two holes drilled in the spine for two decal options, one each side of the centre, which sounds a terrifying prospect until you see the jig that is included. This curved jig has a pair of lumps on the inside, which should marry up with two depressions behind the second cockpit, and the two holes in the rear should allow you to drill two 0.8mm holes accurately to fit the antenna into position. An antenna glues to the fixed portion of the canopy between the front two cockpits, which is next to be glued into place. Most of this will be painted, leaving just two small windows on each side of the part. The windscreen gives you options too, supplying parts with and without a moulded-in wiper blade, catering to those that purchase aftermarket sets that include replacement wipers, saving you some time removing the moulded-in blades and polishing the screen back to clarity. That’s very thoughtful of them, and an option we’re starting to see more frequently in new Airfix kits. There are a trio of pilots in the hands-on-knees pose if you wanted to fill the cockpits, and they’re all moulded identically with bone dome helmets and oxygen masks, unlike the guy pictured in the instructions, who has a WWII era leather helmet. There are three individual canopies for each crew member, and they can all be posed open or closed, as you prefer. Just when you think it’s safe to put the glue away, you need to flip the model onto its back to install the retracted radome for one decal option. While the model is inverted, the arrestor hook is inserted into the step under the tail, fitting a small T-antenna under the port elevator, a small light under the starboard wingtip, and a pitot under the port wing. Lugs are attached under the wing roots to hold the looped ends of the catapult strop, and the tubular exhausts with angled tips are inserted into their fairings on the fuselage sides, the longer edge closest to the fuselage. A pair of two-part cargo pods are made to be mounted under the wings on the pylons made earlier, with two small antennae under the wing tips, and a tiny light under the belly behind the stores bay. You were probably thinking we’d forgotten the folded wing panels, but they’re on the very last pages of the instructions, starting by adding long pivots to the fixed inner panels to mount the centre panel, helped by a scrap diagram. The outer panel is attached to the centre panel via a hook-shaped pivot, adding the ailerons to the rear edge, so that the wing forms a Z-shape when viewed from the front. A rod is used to prop the wings when folded, fitting into the inner rib of the centre section, and a hole under the wingtip, as shown by a silhouette drawing in the top corner of the step. The port centre section has the pitot probe inserted, adding the same short antennae to the outer wing panels as the straight-winged option. Markings There are three decal options included in this COD.4 boxing, two wearing a fetching dark blue scheme over all surfaces, and one in the period’s Royal Navy scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey over what Airfix calls Beige Green, or Sky if you prefer. From the box you can build one of the following: Fairey Gannet COD.4, 849 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Hermes, 1969.(A) Fairey Gannet COD.4, 849 Naval Air Squadron, B Flight, HMS Ark Royal, 1970. (B) Fairey Gannet AS.4/COD.4, Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers (F.O.A.C.), RAF Changhi, 1965. (C) Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s a fine model of a superbly ugly aircraft that was also very cool (IMHO), and performed a thankless task of vigilance through the deepest period of the Cold War, then was relegated to the task of postman. It’s well worth picking one up in addition to the more warlike AS.4, and for that matter, any of the boxes that might follow. Show the Gannet more love! Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

That's a bit terrifying unless that statement only applies to car and vehicle painters who require super-glossy finishes. There's inference of that in the text, but nothing concrete. I've got so many paints in stock that I don't need to rush at a new brand/range, unless they bring something a bit special to the mix. Improved adhesion and coverage are compelling, but time to dry is less so. The reduction in odour doesn't bother me too much, but I'm more concerned at how it would upset my air purifier, and thereby my lungs, which is probably where the new regulations are pushing consumer paint formulations. There's also the issue to availability, both of the colours in terms of range, and of the brand itself. It possibly won't be hard to get hold of, as the availability of Mr Color has improved massively over the years, although Acrysion, their other range, doesn't seem to have made such headway, probably because of the ongoing wide availability of Mr Color, which everyone seems to like. It's hard to speculate how this will go, especially with a range so narrow at present. Unlike the colours, it's not black and white I'll sit on the sidelines and watch for now.

Let’s face it. This is now the Parabat’s Meme thread (don’t have a problem with that, just thought I’d mention it)

Messerschmitt Bf.109E-3 (81791) 1:35 HobbyBoss via Creative Models Ltd With almost 34,000 examples manufactured over a 10-year period, the Messerschmitt Bf.109 is one of the most widely produced aircraft in history and it saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged. Initially designed in the mid-1930s, the Bf.109 shared a similar general arrangement with the Spitfire, employing monocoque construction and a V12 engine, albeit an inverted V with fuel injection rather than the carburettor used in the Spitfire. Initially designed as a lightweight interceptor, like many German types during WWII, the Bf.109 evolved beyond its original brief into a bomber escort, fighter bomber, night fighter, ground-attack and reconnaissance platform. The E variant, or Emil as it was more affectionately known was the first major revision of the original design, including an uprated engine and the attendant strengthening of the airframe that was required. It first saw service in the Legion Condor fighting in the Spanish civil war on the side of Nationalist forces of Military Dictator Franco, and then in the Battle of Britain where it came up against its nemeses the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane during the critical fight for the survival of the RAF and Britain, which was key to halting Operation Seelöwe, the invasion of Britain by the Nazis. Like the Spitfire it fought against, it was improved incrementally through different marks, the Emil was similarly tweaked to keep pace, with later variants having additional long-range tankage, plus structural improvements and a simpler squared-off canopy with clear frontal armour, but apart from various field modifications and a few low-volume sub-variants, it had reached the end of its tenure, and was phased out in favour of the Friedrich and later the Gustav. The Kit This is a reboxing of a 2015 tooling by HobbyBoss that was originally marketed as a Bf.109F-4 Easy Assembly Authentic Kit, which is a reasonable explanation of its intent. It has been reboxed several times with new parts in the interim, and is now available again as an E-3 in a new box with a painting of one of the decal options flying in formation with colleagues over broken cloud. Inside the box are two large sprues and two small single-part sprues in grey styrene, a long clear sprue, decal sheet, a sheet of pre-cut paper masks (not pictured), the instruction booklet in greyscale, and a colour painting guide, printed on both sides of a glossy sheet of paper that is tucked inside the instructions. Although this is a relatively straightforward kit that shouldn’t tax anyone including the novice, the level of detail is good, extending to the cockpit, gear bays, and even the radiators under the wings and nose. Construction begins with the cockpit, predictably, based upon a flat floor plate that receives the rear bulkhead and seat frame first, followed by rudder pedals that are moulded to a peculiar carrier, seat adjuster, twin-layer trimming wheel, control column, and a small equipment box that is applied to the floor. The two fuselage halves are prepared next, with plenty of detail moulded into the interior, both in the cockpit and the aft fuselage areas, although little will be seen of the latter. The instrument panel consists of two parts, dial decals and clear gunsight part, gluing it to the starboard fuselage along with a representation of the oxygen system, adding a top bulkhead behind the pilot’s seat, and a pair of exhaust stacks through slots in the nose from within, one on each side. The tail gear leg has a separate side to its yoke to trap the small wheel in place, clipping it into position in the rear under the tail, after which the fuselage halves can be closed, fitting the engine cowling to the nose after the fuselage glue has cured. Inverting the fuselage allows fitting of the chin intake pathway where the oil cooler is located, starting with an insert to which the radiator core is glued, applying the actuator underneath beforehand and adding the three-part cowling after detail painting. The supercharger intake horn is fixed to a recess in the port nose, and a pair of rudder actuators are applied to both sides of the tail later in the build. The lower wing panel is full-span, and has a pair of guides for two radiators behind the cut-outs for the main gear wells, adding an L-shaped tank in the centreline further back before the upper wings are laid over the top, having bay roof detail moulded-in. The trailing edges of the wings are thickened up by adding an insert to them on the inner section, including the flap portions behind the radiator outlets. The completed wings are then glued to the fuselage underneath, preparing the elevators by adding their support struts first, then gluing them into position either side of the tail. You can pose the canopy open or closed, using three parts for open, and a single part for closed, adding head armour and a handle inside, although this is only documented for the closed canopy, but it’s not much of a leap to fit the same parts to the open option, and the arrangement of the open canopy is not shown on the instructions either, so check your references to attain the correct angle. The die-cut masks are applied to the outside of the canopy according to a diagram nearby, which applies to both open and closed options. The three-bladed prop is moulded as a single part that is trapped between the spinner and back-plate before it is fixed to the open nose, with no option of leaving it spinning. The narrow-track main gear consists of the legs, a captive bay door, and the skinny tyre with radial tread and integral hub, plugging them into sockets in the inner end of the bays, mounting a pitot probe under the port wing, and horn balances on the ailerons on the underside of the wings. The last assembly is a two-part fuel tank, which is fixed to a platform with two C-shaped supports, gluing the completed assembly to the belly between the gear legs, which is probably best done following main painting. Markings There are two decal options provided on the sheet, and in traditional HobbyBoss style, no information is supplied for them, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to find the relevant information if you are so minded. Both options have mottle or cross-hatching camouflage over an early war splinter scheme, which could be a little taxing for a novice, but is a common feature of German WWII fighters, so is worth the effort to master if you intend to build more of them. From the box you can build one of the following: HobbyBoss decals are usually fit for purpose, but can be a little lacking in some respects. This sheet is printed in good registration with adequate sharpness and colour density, including the yellow decals. They usually go down well with the use of a little decal solution and some mild patience. Conclusion It’s a straight forward kit of this important WWII German fighter, which offers a surprising amount of detail for the skill level, but perhaps some simpler decal options might have been better suited to the kit’s original intent as an easy model for a novice. That said, there’s nothing quite like setting yourself the goal of learning to paint mottle to push your skill set further. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Here's one from my youth, and I still like it for some reason. They did an album that this track came from, but seemed to otherwise disappear without a trace in the UK after that. At least they did to me

Are we sure it's 522, and not the usual 500? I don't know the difference, but I get the occasional 500 error some days, once or twice. If it's part of the same issue, Support have been useless at tracking down "reasons", probably because it's an intermittent error, which they don't like because it requires effort to track down, but it should disappear when we change servers later this year. In the meantime, I'm afraid we all have to suck it up and hit F5/Refresh when it happens

Ferret Scout Car Mk.1 (A1386) 1:35 Airfix Intended as a successor to the Daimler Dingo, the Ferret was again produced by Daimler following WWII, commencing deliveries in 1950 as the Mk.1, a 4 x 4 wheeled reconnaissance AFV that was powered by a Rolls Royce B60 6-cylinder 4.3 litre petrol that output up to 130hp at peak range. It was larger and more powerful than its predecessor, but used the same suspension layout that gave it a low profile that is advantageous when being targeted by an enemy. The suspension also moderated torque that gave it excellent traction, and prevented the vehicle from bogging down under most circumstances, which coupled with large, run-flat tyres made it a reliable ride unless it encountered larger calibre munitions. The initial design was open-topped, and carried only crew-served machine guns, leaving the vehicle open to plunging fire, shrapnel and grenades, not to mention rain and other precipitation. The Mk.2 added a turret to mount the 7.62mm (.30cal Browning) machine gun, keeping out all the above-mentioned nasties, and protecting the gunner from injury from anything but larger rounds. Almost 4,500 Ferrets were made of all variants before it was replaced, the Mk.2 being the one with most sub-variants, to be followed by the improved Mk.3 that benefitted from a larger hull and thicker armour, and the Mk.4 that mounted the turret from a Saracen armoured car. The mark 5 was adapted with a shallow turret to mount Swingfire anti-tank missiles that were wire-guided. The specification of the ferret varied so much between individual vehicles that it is sometime difficult to tell which variant you are looking at, thanks to interchanging of parts, field modifications, and the availability of spares. A later upgrade was the use of the Austin Princess 4-Litre R engine, which gave a 40% increase in horse-power, and was possible to retro-fit to earlier vehicles, adding yet more confusion to identification. Even though it has left service of the British Army and other original users, of which there were many, there are still some Ferrets in service in many countries, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, where the open-topped variants would at least let out a little accumulated heat. The Kit This is another boxing of a brand-new tooling from Airfix that arrived with only a short preamble in 2023. Modellers of a certain age and nationality will possibly have some fond memories of the type, and as has often been the case with British armour, we haven’t been best served with injection-moulded kits over the years. The kit arrives in a narrow red-themed box with a top-opening lid, and inside are five sprues of varying sizes in a subdued olive-green styrene that’s not too garish, and shouldn’t be hard to cover with paint. There is also a small sprue of clear parts, a decal sheet, and instructions printed in colour with profiles of the decal options on the rear pages. Detail is good, and includes a basic crew compartment with radio gear that will be visible through the roof or any open hatches and should be sufficiently detailed if you include a crew to hide any blank spots. Construction begins with a decision whether to build a Mk.1/1 or 1/2, with a choice of superstructure fitments, ranging from machine gun mounts or a tonneau cover over the open compartment for the 1/1, to a casemate-like armoured superstructure with a choice of searchlight or machine gun for the upgraded 1/2, including guidance on which instruction steps to follow or avoid. The first physical work involves the interior, starting with the floor, onto which a pair of parallel trunks are glued, with the stepped firewall behind, that accepts the radio gear on a double-layered mount to support the two individual boxes, or one combined box, depending on which decal option you are building. A flat seat fixes in front of the radio gear, and another larger one slots over a raised box in the centre of the crew area, adding a seat back that locates on a pair of holes in the rear. After a little painting of the interior parts, the two hull sides are joined to the floor, held at the correct angle by the lower glacis plate that is moulded into the floor. Two hatches are built up with interior faces added that include twin hinges so that they can be fixed into the rear diagonal panel that looks out over the engine deck, a panel that is fitted directly after and has a pair of large rectangular inspection hatches cut out of its angled surface, although there is no engine provided inside. The rear bulkhead is added to the back, then the diagonal crew-compartment forward cheek panels are made with two-layer hatches to be fitted to the front of the vehicle, leaving a central gap for the driver’s hatch and upper glacis plate, which also has a two-layer hatch, then the steering wheel is made with separate central boss, and inserts on a nub below the hatch before it is glued to the front of the vehicle. The hatches to the engine bays have bevelled edges and act as oversized mushroom vents to allow hot air from the motor to escape, dropping over the raised edges of the cut-outs. The suspension is next, starting with pairs of swing-arm mounts in each wheel arch, then adding a two-part drive-shaft to each one, which is linked to the coil springs by an upper control arm for each corner. A bracket is glued to the side of the arch to mount a tie-rod, then the lower control arm is joined to the underside, allowing fitment of the fenders that have separate stowage boxes located on raised guides on the undersides. The fenders on the left side are built as separate items to accommodate the spare wheel, while the right fender is full length, and has a large segmented stowage box, gluing onto the vehicle sides with the help of raised guides. A series of eight loops are added to the undersides along the edges of the undersides, at the front, sides and rear of the hull, after which the wheels can be made and slipped onto their axles. Each wheel is made from two halves, plus a central hub cap, while the spare tyre on the left side has a thicker centre cap, fitting over a circular peg on the side. The glacis is then dotted with lights, pioneer tools, a fire extinguisher, and smoke grenade launchers on the arches at the front, with a choice of capped or uncapped barrels. The headlights and wing mirrors are located lower on the arches, and four lifting eyes are attached to the arches, one per wheel station, with jerry cans fitted over the rear left arch, taking up some otherwise free space. The right rear arch has the exhaust made up with a fish-tail pipe, adding a protective cover and mesh panel holding it level on the sloping rear of the arch. A document box is mounted on one of the diagonal panels on the rear of the crew compartment, then there is a choice of aerials base and insulator styles that fit on the front and rear of the compartment, differing on which decal option you have chosen. The official installation has been shown, but the instruction advises you to check your references, as it was sometimes a case of taking what’s available or easy to install. Before the superstructure can be started, the remaining parts of the hull need to be attached, starting with a three-faceted unditching/sand tray that is covered in lightening holes, and fits to the front of the vehicle on a pair of separate twist mounts for one of the decal options. A choice of two styles of front and rear light cluster are applied to the fenders, and that too depends on your decal choice. There are two styles of superstructure, starting with the faceted casemate, which has a base to which the shallow walls are fitted to increase protection for the crew, especially the gunner. A couple of clear vision blocks are inserted at angles to each other at the front, creating a hatch support for one decal option from four parts, then adding the hatch to the top in either the closed position from a single part, or using two parts to depict it folded back to the rear. A searchlight with clear lens and handle is made, to be fitted later with a Bren gun for one decal option, followed by the alternative flush cover, which starts with a different surround, and needs a hole drilled into it for two of the decal options so that a Browning machine gun can be mounted on a three-part mount with separate two-part ammo box. The same gun can be fixed to the rear by drilling a different hole to accept a two-part mount for the gun and ammo can. The Bren gun can also be fitted to the flush superstructure option, using a two-part pintle-mount, plus an optional ammo can that fits instead of the lower breech plug, which should be cut away before the box is installed underneath. Yet another option for the Bren allows the pintle-mount to be located on the left front of the flush surround, with the last option being a fabric tonneau cover to protect the crew from inclement weather ingress. A further page of the booklet shows how the hatches should look if they are all posed open to cope with a hot day, and includes three additional diagrams that give painting instructions for the various machine gun options. Markings There are three options on the small decal sheet, with British Army vehicles in a variation of colour and location that should suit many of us, and not just standard Bronze Green. From the box you can build one of the following: Ferret Mk.1/1, C Squadron, Ludgershall, British Army, 1980s Ferret Mk.1/2, 7th Armoured Brigade, Operation Granby, Saudi Arabia/Kuwait, British Army, 1991 Ferret Mk.1/1, Queens Royal Irish Hussars, RAC Centre Bovington, British Army, 1959 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Ferret saw extensive use from outset in the British Armed Forces, including the RAF Regiment for what is now called Force Protection duties. It’s a good-looking model of the type, and if you’re looking to depict a specific example, there are plenty of options in this boxing for the earliest variants. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Russian MiG-35 Fulcrum F (81787) 1:48 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Ltd The Mikoyan MiG-35 is based upon the MiG-29 series of aircraft. Known in the West by its NATO reporting name 'Fulcrum' it is an air superiority fighter designed and built in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, carrying on under the Russian Federation after the dissolution of the USSR. As with other comparable aircraft of that period, such as the Su-27, F-16, F-15 and Panavia Tornado, it was produced in significant numbers and is still in widespread service with air arms around the world. The MiG-29 was developed as a lighter, cheaper aircraft compared to the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker, an aircraft with which it is broadly comparable in terms of layout and design, if not size and weight. As with the Su-27, the engines are spaced widely apart, with the area between them being used to generate lift and improve manoeuvrability. The MiG-29 is powered by two Klimov RD-33 Turbofans, each of which generates over 18,000lb of thrust in reheat. As with many Soviet types, the aircraft is well suited for use on rough airstrips, particularly as the engine air intakes can be closed completely when on the ground, allowing air to be drawn through louvres on the upper surfaces of the wing roots avoiding FOD. Armament consists of a combination of Vympel R-27 medium-range air-to-air missiles and R-73 or R-60 short-range air-to-air missiles, as well as an integral GSh-30-1 30mm cannon in the port Leading Edge Root Extension (LERX). The aircraft can be used in a range of roles and can carry bombs and rockets in addition to more technologically advanced missiles. The MiG-29 has been widely exported and is still in widespread use with Russian, former Soviet and aligned nations, including several NATO member states such as Poland. Based upon the MiG-29KR, the MiG-35 was developed to display capabilities in 2017 as an all-weather carrier-capable multi-role fighter that incorporates modern technologies that make it comparable in terms of generational capabilities to the Eurofighter, Saab Gripen and Dassault Rafale. Due to its enhanced avionics, it has more autonomy than many Soviet-era and subsequent Russian fighters, the single seater designated as the MiG-35S, and the two-seater the UB. The first production airframes arrived in 2019, and an export option was developed to attract foreign buyers with a revised tail, more powerful engines and other improvements. Only a small order was forthcoming from Russia, which was further reduced to twenty-four airframes, entering service in time to take part in the unlawful invasion of Ukraine, where it saw limited active service notably in 2025, defending against Ukrainian drones, according to the Russian MoD. So far there have been no successful bids to supply foreign operators with airframes, but a carrier specific variant is being worked upon. The Kit This is a new boxing from HobbyBoss based upon their earlier MiG-29K tooling of 2024, but with new parts to depict this upgraded airframe. The kit arrives in a sturdy top-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front, and profiles of the decal options on one side. Inside the box is a cardboard divider to reduce movement of parts during shipping and storage, and most sprues are individually bagged, with delicate parts pre-wrapped in thin foam sheets, secured by tape. There are nine sprues, two fuselage halves and four exhaust nozzles in grey styrene, a long clear sprue in a bubble-wrap envelope, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass backed by a piece of card, decal sheet, instruction booklet in black and white, plus a folded sheet of glossy A3 printed in colour with one decal option per side, and another A4 sheet for the painting and decaling of the weapons that are included in the box. Detail is good, with intelligent use of slide-moulding to create additional features without increasing the part count, and a choice of exhaust nozzles in closed or open positions, with excellent detail moulded into both layers. Construction begins with the K-36D-3.5 ejection seat, which is made from thirteen styrene parts, plus four seatbelts and ejection actuator handle in PE. This is slotted into the front compartment of the cockpit tub, adding the instrument panel and control column, and applying six decals to the panel and side consoles. Additional parts are fitted along with the cockpit sidewalls in both compartments, fixing a rudder bar with two PE foot straps in the front of the cockpit, remembering that most of the rear tub will be covered by an insert later in the build, so don’t waste any time painting and weathering that area. The nose gear bay must be built next, as it will be trapped between the fuselage halves, and this is built up from four parts, with the nose gear leg made from a single strut with integral supports near the top, fitting the oleo and swing-arm to the bottom, plus a clear landing light and other small parts before you attach wheels on either end of the cross-axle, making them from two halves each. The cover for the rear cockpit is raised, and has a grille on the front, plus two small boxes added to the top surface, then the fuselage can be prepared, drilling out several flashed-over holes under the wings, and one on the roof of the space between the engines. The nose gear bay is inserted into its cut-out, adding a pair of extension cups to the main gear bays behind the moulded-in sections, then gluing the cockpit tub into the upper fuselage along with an insert in the nose for a refuelling probe. The two fuselage halves are brought together, fixing the rear cockpit cover and a small spine insert, then building the HUD from a sloped styrene core with clear lens, PE supports for the two clear part, and applying a choice of two decals to the lens before it is fitted in a recess in the cockpit coaming. Soviet/Russian fighters tend to have built-in FOD guards to their intakes, which in this case are supplied as large mesh panels that fit into the front of the inner engine intake trunks, that have a cylindrical profile and are blocked at the inner end by an insert that has the front of the engine moulded-into it, inserting the completed assembly into the engine nacelles, painting the inner surface grey, then adding the roof of the trunks to the sloped forward edge. This is done twice of course, and the two finished assemblies are inserted into the underside of the fuselage after adding extra wall detail to the main gear bays that nestle into the outer sides of each nacelle, and a new sensor fairing on the outer sides. In preparation, two short cowling sections are fitted to the upper fuselage where the exhausts will sit later. The twin fins are each made from two halves plus rudder, but they are equipped with different sensor fits in the trailing edge of the tip, which is further accentuated by the probe and sensors added to the rear, whilst both share the same T-shaped PE aerial near the change of angle of the leading edges of the fins. There is a large tapered cylindrical fuel tank between the engine nacelles, and this is built from two halves that are capped at either end, the nose cone made from two halves to include the forward pylon mount. This and the fins are put to one side while other assemblies are built for the underside of the model. This begins with the landing gear, the main gear made from a thick strut with trailing retraction jack, small captive bay door, and a two-part scissor link, which receives a two-part wheel with circumferential tread moulded-in, although you’ll have to take a sanding stick to them if you wish to depict the weight of the airframe on the tyres. The exhausts have a short two-part trunk as their starting point, with a double layer depicting the rear of the engines and the afterburner rings, then you have a choice of posing the exhaust petals opened or closed, using two different sets of parts to portray the inner and outer layers of the nozzles. The closed nozzles have their inner part inserted from within, while the opened nozzles have their inner layer slid in from the rear due to the angles of the respective parts, with the resulting detail worth the effort. Both sets of nozzles are glued to the rear of the trunking, and are slipped inside the rear of the fuselage, adding the main gear legs and a bay door actuator to each side, then fitting the chaff & flare boxes on the fairings each side of the exhaust trunking, a pylon under each of the inner wing panels moulded into the fuselage, gluing on leading edges slats, and finally the twin fins that are attached to the fairings to the sides of the engines on pegs for strength. Doors are added to the gear bays, flaperons and their actuator fairings to the rear of the wings, a gaggle of antennae under the nose, and mounting the large central tank between the engine nacelles. The next step is to fit the jointing parts to the ends of the inner wing panels, fixing them flat, as this boxing doesn’t have operational folding wings. This involves omitting the hinge parts, laying the hinge cover panel flat to the wing, and fitting the outer wing panel at the same angle as the inner. The new outer wing panels are built from two halves, adding slats at the front and ailerons to the rear. It’s best to test fit this in situ to obtain the correct attitude for the various parts. More probes and antenna are clustered around the nose along with the refuelling probe with its cover, adding a clear lens to the sensor under the windscreen, which is also fitted at this stage. An actuator for the main canopy is installed behind it, and further aft two jacks for the air-brake are glued in position, which might be best done whilst fitting the panel to ensure they all line up. The canopy has a separate styrene lower frame with a cross-brace, four PE latches on each side, and a pair of curved rear-view mirrors in the front frame, fitting to the rear of the cockpit opening on the afore-mentioned jack. The elevators/elevons are single parts that fit into plugs on the side of the fuselage, and a gun fairing is fixed in the leading edge of the port LERX with another pair of PE antennae, one on each side of the new nose cone, which has a separate pitot probe mounted at the tip. Like many Hobby Boss kits, this boxing has a plethora of weapons to suspend from the various pylons under the fuselage and wings. The following are included: 2 x R-77 (AA-12 Adder) BVR A2A Missile 2 x R-73M (AA-11 Archer) Short Range A2A Missile 2 x MSP-418K active jammer pod 2 x PTB-1150 1,150L Fuel Tanks 2 x KH -29T (AS-14 Kedge-B) TV guided A2S Missile 2 x KH-31P (AS-17 Krypton) Anti-Radiation Cruise Missile 2 x KAB-500Kr TV-guided bomb 2 x KH-35 (AS-20 Kayak) Anti-Ship Cruise Missile The various missiles are moulded as two halves, have separate fins fore and aft, and clear seeker heads where appropriate, adding adapter rails as necessary. The KH-35s however have their aft section removed before they are built, fixing folded fins to the sides of the missile, with a scrap diagram showing how they should appear once completed. A diagram at the end of the instruction booklet shows where the various munitions and pods can be mounted, but check your references for real-world load-outs if you prefer. Markings As is common with HobbyBoss, Trumpeter and I Love Kit, there is very little information given regarding the decal choices, other than the aircraft codes. Both choices wear the same two-colour blue scheme, and from the box you can depict one of the following: The various weapons, tanks and pods have a great many stencils that can be applied, using a separate colour page to guide you, all of which adds realism to your model. Decals aren’t always Hobby Boss’s strong point, but these are of good quality with registration, sharpness and colour density that are suitable for the task at hand. They usually go down well, and there are plenty of stencils for the airframe and weapons to add detail to your model, including more detailed instrument panel decals than many other companies provide. Conclusion The MiG-35 is a recent part of the expansive and sometimes confusingly arranged MiG-29 family, and it seems a competent representation of what is a niche modern variant that has so far only been produced in small numbers, including lots of detail and a large quantity of weapons for you to get to grips with. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Ia (A05126B) 1:48 Airfix The Spitfire is perhaps one of the best known and well-loved aircraft in Britain, and deservedly so for its work in the Battle of Britain alongside the doughty Hurricane. It thrived in its point-defence role, and shone during its finest hour, then through many upgraded versions and types until the end of WWII and beyond. The Mk.I was predictably the first in-service type, carrying eight wing-mounted .303 Browning machine guns, and by the time hostilities commenced in 1939 many of them were using revised blown canopies that gave the pilot a better field of view with less likelihood of smacking his head against the glazing. Fairly soon it was understood that the Brownings didn’t have enough destructive power, and the Ministry asked for a cannon wing to be developed, with those airframes being referred to as Mk.Ibs, and the original machine gun armed airframes retrospectively designated Mk.Ia to prevent confusion. As the early cannon installations were prone to jamming, sometimes it would have been better to have the more reliable rifle-calibre bullets than 20mm rounds you couldn't fire. The Mk.I was superseded by the Mk.II, Mk.III, and then the Mk.V due to the introduction of the Fw.190 by the Germans that gave the British Spitfire pilots a nasty shock when they first encountered it. The Mk.V gave them the extra horsepower to cope with these pugnacious new Nazi fighters, and so the tactical leapfrog continued to the end of the war with the Mk.22/24 being the last mark of the Spitfire with cut-down fuselage, bubble canopy and the monstrous power of the Griffon engine at the front, the engine shared with the Seafire Mk.45 with a contra-prop. The Kit This is a reboxing of Airfix’s Spitfire Mk.I that has been given new decals and box art to depict it as a choice from a trio of Mk.Is and Mk.Ia. It arrives in a standard Airfix red-themed top-opening box, with five sprues of grey styrene inside, a clear sprue, decal sheet and the spot-colour instructions that have a colour painting guides on the rear page and on a separate sheet of glossy white paper. Detail is good, offering a well-appointed cockpit, moulded-in details on the side walls and in the gear bays, plus restrained engraved panel lines, rivets and fasteners. Construction begins with the cockpit interior, which consists of two inner skins that are decorated with the usual items we all know and recognise instantly. The pilot's seat is made from an L-shaped panel with separate sides, which can either be mounted on an armour panel or without one, with both having an adjustment lever on the right side. The frame behind the pilot has moulded-in lightening holes that you can either fill with wash or drill out at your whim, then add the seat frame and optional head-armour, finally fitting the seat to the frame on its four corners. The rudder pedal assembly goes through a section of the wing spar and has separate pedals that you should leave off if you are intending to fit the pilot, and the control column with separate top is planted in the middle of the sub-assembly. The instrument panel is glued to the next frame forward and has a nice decal with finely printed dials and an outline to help locate it accurately on the panel. A little decal solution should help that to settle down into the recesses nicely. The compass attaches to the rear of the panel, and is then inserted into the port cockpit side along with the rudder pedal assembly and a lever, allowing the two inner halves to be joined and a front firewall bulkhead to be fitted to close in the foot well. The seat assembly and next frame to the rear are slotted vertically into the grooves, and your optional pilot with his two separate arms can be placed in if you intend to use him. Before inserting the cockpit tub you need to paint the interior of the fuselage above the waistline, and remove a small part of the sill if you are posing the canopy closed. Then it slips inside the starboard fuselage half along with an oxygen bottle, and the port side is joined up together with a choice of two inserts in front of the canopy, which is where the fuel tank filler is found on both options. You can also cut out the access door on the left side of the fuselage, bearing in mind that you have a new door on the sprue so you can afford be brutal in removing the excess plastic. The wings are built next, and you have the option of opening up the gun bays in each wing by cutting out three panels on the top and one larger one on the underside, using the instructions as a guide on where to cut. The full-width lower wing has two circular bay walls fitted along with a section of the front spar, which holds the landing gear top sections, before the rear spar and front spar extensions are also attached to stiffen the wing. If you are fitting the guns they are built up as breeches and mounts, then slipped into recesses within the spar, with a pair of boxes straddling the lower cutout. If you’re not cutting out the gun bays, it’s just a case of popping on the upper wings and moving on to joining them to the fuselage after making sure you’ve fitted the light in the belly first. The elevator fins are slotted into the tail at 90° to the rudder fin, then the flying surfaces are added with any deflections that you might wish to portray. The ailerons are also separate and can be posed with the same caveats applied. Under the nose the chin-insert is glued in, noting the Dzuz fasteners there and on the side cowlings. Under the leading edge of the wing there is a two-part intake, then the square radiator bath with textured radiator panels and tubular oil-cooler are added to their recesses, with optional open or closed cooling flaps on the rear of the radiator. The tail wheel was fixed in the Mk.I, so slots into a hole in the tail, and you then have the choice of wheels up or down. In-flight a small portion of the wheels can still be seen, so Airfix have provided a slim wheel to put on the doors so that a realistic look is obtained. For the wheels down option, you have separate struts and doors, which slot into the top-sections already within the bay and have a pair of tyres with separate hubs added, making sure that the slightly flattened portion is facing the floor. A pair of scrap diagrams show the correct angles from the front and sides to help with positioning. A choice of straight or kinked pitot probe goes under the port wing, then the exhaust stubs are glued into the nose, and joined by a one-piece two- or triple-bladed prop, one- or two-part spinner, and three parts that permit the prop to spin if you don’t flood it with glue. You then have a choice of open or closed canopies, using a three-part assembly plus rear-view mirror for open, and two-part plus mirror for closed, remembering to install the clear reflector gunsight lens before gluing the windscreen in. The open canopy also allows the side door to be posed down, which as previously mentioned uses a new hatch part. There is a choice of wide or narrow aerial mast behind the cockpit with small teardrop light, and then if you’ve cut open the gun bays, there are four bay doors on each side that you can place loose on the wings or nearby. Markings There are a generous three decal options included in this boxing, including a French aircraft later captured by Axis forces, an Egyptian-based airframe, and one from Duxford before the war. Spitfire Mk.I, N°.19(F) Sqn., RAF Duxford, UK, August 1938 Spitfire Mk.Ia, N°.1 Middle East Training School, RAF El Ballah, Egypt, 1942 Spitfire Mk.Ia, Armée de L’Air, Orleans-Bricy Air Base, France, captured by Axis Forces, July 1940 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A welcome reboxing of this staple from Airfix, and the variety of decal options are a welcome sight. Detail is good, and you’ll be left with several spare canopy parts for the parts bin. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Spherical Fighting Vehicle TsAMO Project Interior Kit (40003) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd This is a hypothetical design from an alternative reality where ball-tanks were practical, and although there are some quite realistic looking pictures out there on the web, this is a decidedly fictional or "what-if" design for a small infantry tank that might have been quite handy for approaching bunkers or installations with significant light weapons presence. It does appear to have some critical weaknesses though, such as the little outrigger wheels that if shot out, would result in a seriously dizzy crew at best, so it's probably for the best that it remains in the realms of the fantastic. The ball hull is static, with a wide track running around the circumference, propelled by the motor inside. There would be some serious torque transfer to the hull on acceleration or deceleration, but as this doesn't seem to adversely affect those big-wheel motorcycles, it wouldn't be a huge impediment, especially as the major part of the hull won't be moving. There is a crew of five, with the top-most crew member in each side operating the weapons stations, and the front-facing crew driving and crewing the forward machine gun. The final crewman operates another machine-gun that faces to the rear. Oddly, the main guns face sideways in ball-mounts, which would make shooting straight ahead difficult without cooperation from the driver, which could be tricky in such a confined, noisy environment. In reality, it would probably have been an abject failure, but it's an interesting concept nonetheless. The Kit The first boxing of this kit was MiniArt’s initial foray into What-if or ‘alternate timeline’ subject-matter, arriving on the shelves in 2018. A lot of effort had been put into making it appear believable however, including a complete interior, which gives the model more gravitas and believability than an empty hull otherwise would, and opens up the possibility for dioramas or vignettes. The kit arrives in standard sized MiniArt top-opening box, with a painting of a pair of ball-tanks passing a knocked-out German Panzer, and inside are 23 sprues in mid grey styrene of various sizes, a single sprue of clear parts, and a decal sheet. The instruction booklet is bound in a glossy colour cover, with greyscale drawings inside, and the decal options printed on the inside covers front and back. Detail is good for a relatively small kit, and I have to say that this is just the kind of silliness that appeals to me, as it is at least semi-believable, whilst coming firmly from the left-field. Construction begins with the engine, which is quite a complex assembly, and has a large friction roller at the rear to apply power to the track. The crew seats are built up next with foot steps to keep their feet out of the way where appropriate, and then they are attached to the main frame, which consists of two large hoops with cross-members to hold them apart, and retain its shape. Track rollers are fitted to the inside of the frames, with the engine, seats, a fuel tank on a support rack, and ancillary equipment all suspended from this. Ammo racks for the main guns are built up at the same time as the gun breeches and the machine guns, which also have spare ammo cans made up, and all these sub-assemblies are installed into the hull halves, which have cut-outs for the ball-mounts, a radiator grille (backed with a standard-looking radiator), and conformal tank that could contain fuel or ballast. In the centre of each side is a large crew hatch that is operated by a wheel, with curved hinges and interlock mechanism included. With the breeches and machine guns fitted from the inside, and the hatches put in their required positions, the halves are glued to the frames, and the hollow tipped gun barrels are added, plus a headlight with clear lens for night operations (ha!). The track is supplied in four parts with a smooth tread and perpendicular joins to simplify clean-up. The four parts glue around the open section of the hull, and of course the two "trainer-wheels" that stop it from tipping over. The last diagram shows the option of leaving one or both hatches open to expose the interior. Markings As it's all fiction, it's probably more a case of choosing one of the six schemes that appeals to you, and it should be pretty easy to find one you like. You can of course mix and match decals and schemes, as no-one (sane) is going to be complaining that it isn't accurate. From the box you can build one of the following: Unidentified Unit Red Army, Spring 1942 13th Motorcycle Regiment, Red Army, Summer 1942 29th Guards Tank Corps, Red Army, Summer 1943 Unidentified Unit, Red Army, Summer 1944 Captured 5. Panzer-Division, Wehrmacht, Kursk, Summer 1943 Captured unidentified Unit, Italy, 1945 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion An awesome trip into alternative history that's got a certain hokey appeal, partly because it looks like it could possibly have worked, although it only takes a moment to identify its critical weaknesses. The internal structure has been well thought-out, and the variation in decal options makes for a fun project that shouldn't take too long to complete. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of