Mike

I predict this thread will go on and on ad infinitum, with someone sad/angry that it's not their scale, the wrong mark, or some such. There will also be someone complaining about the price, the rivets, and almost every aspect of the kit before the thread has run its course.

WWII US Army Kitchen Truck (35587) 1:35 ICM via The Hobby Company The Chevrolet G506 truck formed the basis of a range of 4x4 load-carrying vehicles that could carry up to 1.5 tonnes of cargo or equipment. They were initially made under the 4100 code, then moved to the 7100 range, and usually had a standardised enclosed cab, a 3.9L straight-6 engine under the bonnet, with a four-speed “crash” (non-synchro) gearbox putting down an uninspiring 80hp through all four wheels. It rapidly became the Allies’ standard light truck, and served in substantial quantities with the Allies in the West, the Soviets in the East, and the forces fighting Japan in the Far East. There were a myriad of variants, some in US Army service, others in USAAF service, with almost 50,000 of two specific types, the G7107 and G7117 sent over to the Soviets under the Lend/Lease program. The G7017 had a cargo bed with canvas top, while the G7117 was the same except for the addition of a winch to give it some static pulling power. They were well-liked by their drivers and crews, and were adapted to other tasks due to their ubiquity, such as being used by the Soviets to carry Katyusha rockets on a stripped-down flatbed. In US service, they were sometimes used as mobile field kitchens, filling the load bed with equipment and supplies that were unloaded at the intended destination to feed the troops. The Kit This is a reboxing of a recent kit from ICM with extra parts, and is one of a wide range that is now available from them. It’s a full interior kit, with engine, chassis, cab and load area all included, along with some very nice moulding and detail, particularly in the chunky tyres, plus the new parts of course. It arrives in one of ICM’s medium-sized top-opening boxes with the usual captive inner flap, and inside are fourteen sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, decal sheet and glossy instruction booklet with colour profiles on the rear pages. Construction begins with the ladder chassis, first removing 14.5mm from the front of each rail, as the winch is fixed to this area. Leaf-springs are installed fore and aft, adding cross-braces and a multi-part rear towing eye fitted to create the structure, and the winch spool made from four parts with a pair of arms to the sides, one side fitted with the motor housing, the other the braking assembly. The front bumper has a roller added to the lower centre portion, and is attached to the main chassis rails by a pair of beams that also support the winch assembly underneath. The engine is built up based on the straight six-cylinder block, with carburettor, dynamo and transmission added, plus the pulleys and fan at the front, and a short drive-shaft at the rear that links to the transfer box in the middle of the chassis. The rear bumper irons, fuel tank, transfer casing and front axle are installed, before the rear axle is made up and fitted with another drive-shaft, while the front axle gets the steering arms installed, keeping the two ball-jointed hubs pointing in the same direction, providing you’ve not been over-enthusiastic with the glue. The exhaust and its manifold slip into the underside of the chassis from below, and the battery box attaches to the outside of the ladder chassis next to a pair of tread-plated steps, then on the left of the engine, the air box and intake are attached to finish it off. The crew cab is next, beginning with the dashboard that inserts in the front bulkhead complete with decal for the dials, along with an overhead panel that has a rear view mirror added, joining it with the cab floor and decked out with a pair of levers, gear stick and hand-brake on the floor, three foot pedals and the steering wheel on a long column that slides through a hole in the kick board in front of the pedals. The driver and co-driver share a bench seat that is made up from back, cushion and a C-shaped surround under the front, fixing it into the rear of the cab that has the back wall with small radiused window, then the roof is fitted, after which the doors are made up with handles, winders and glazing, locating them within the frame in the open or closed position. On the front of the firewall a vent is glued to the scuttle panel, and two reservoirs are attached, then the cab is mated to the chassis along with a couple of additional engine ancillaries and linkages to the front axle. The radiator is laminated from core, surround and tin-work, with a bezel fitted to the front and the assembly applied to the front of the engine, attaching to the chassis and input/outlet hoses that are already there by this stage. The cowling sides and front fenders are installed to permit the front grille to be attached, plus the bonnet, and it shows a large front bumper iron that runs full width again, and is quite literally a girder, although the one in the second drawing doesn’t have the roller for the winch, so is most likely a faux pas by the instruction designer. Behind the cab a spare tyre is placed on a bracket near the exhaust on the left, and attention then turns to the load bed. The load bed floor is a single moulding with a ribbed texture down the centre, and a thick headboard base with hooks, and the reflectors moulded-in. The same is true of the shallow sides, which also have a series of tie-down hooks fixed along their lengths, and the headboard gets the same treatment. An upper headboard incorporating two vertical pillars is glued to the front, and a pair of planked sides that consist of siding on five pillars per side are made up and are added to their locations, while underneath the floor is stiffened by adding four lateral supports, a trapezoid rear valence with lights, and four vertical mudguard boards and their supports. The front valance has a hole with a length of tube for the fuel filler to thread through, and the final position of this tricky part is shown in a scrap diagram to help you with placement. It’s time for the wheels to be made up, with singles at the front, each made from two halves each, and twin wheels at the rear axle, put together with two two-part wheels each, and two hub parts added to the finished pair. Each wheel slips over its respective axle, and is secured in place by a central cap. There is a choice of steps when completing the lower portion of the load bed sides, as they can be built either vertically to make maximum use of the floor area, or with the lower sections flipped down to form seats for the transport of troops. This is accomplished by using a different set of supports, fitted vertically for stowed, or diagonally below for deployed to support the weight of the troops. Both options then have the five tilt hoops fixed into the tops of their pillars at the end of the build to finish off. The base model is finished off with front light with clear lenses, side lights, door handles, bonnet clasps, wing mirrors, windscreen parts and wipers, plus two large hooks on the top of the chassis rail ends, and a pair of circular wing mirrors on long stalks. Kitchen Equipment There are three portable ovens that are built from a high number of parts that includes the heating mechanism, control knobs, handles and doors that can be posed open or closed, arranging them along the front of the load bed against the headboard. A single shallow stowage box is made up from five parts, building a larger multi-drawer unit with a working surface on top that sits on the right side of the bed, with three detailed jerry cans made up from four parts each on the opposite side. A large cooking pan with twin handles is made up and installed in a two-part frame to keep it stable, and it is accompanied by two large cylindrical pots with domed lids and twin handles, plus a large handle on the lid. These are placed on the floor or on one of the open ovens as you see fit, adding utensils such as spoons, a two-art ladle and knives to add interest to the area. All this detail is best built, painted and installed in the back of the truck before adding the five tilt support frames mentioned earlier, as otherwise it will complicate the task. Markings There are three decal options on the included sheet, all of which are in a WWII Olive Drab scheme, with mild variations in the markings. From the box you can build one of the following: Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Given that an army marches on its stomach, kitchen trucks were a crucial part of military planning, and an everyday sight, even dangerously near the front. This kit is well-detailed and provides accessories to improve the realism, leaving you to build and paint it in a realistic manner. Highly recommended. Available from all good model shops now. Review sample courtesy of

We all have our off days

This has popped up before, and I still can't seem to remember. Or I've forgotten. I can't remember which. It was probably something simple and 1:72. Probably a Spit or something similar, but it wasn't my last. I had about 80 kits hanging from my ceiling as a kid, and only one or two fell down on me during the night. They all got blatted when I discovered girls and booze though, so I had to start again from scratch when I came back to the hobby after a great many years away.

Allied Drivers (53052) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd This new figure set from MiniArt arrives in a figure-sized box with a painting of the four figures on the front, and the same artwork cut-down and separated to act as the paint and assembly instruction plus a sprue diagram sheet inside, with a panel of colour profiles of the accessories underneath, and a paint chart beneath that, giving codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour swatches and generic names for completeness. There are five sprues of grey styrene in total, two containing parts for the figures, the other three full of accessories for you to detail them or the surroundings in which you place them. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprues for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. There are two Soviet drivers, one operating the levers of a tank or other tracked vehicle, the other driving a truck with a wheel, resting one elbow on the door sill whilst conversing or looking to his left. A US Army driver is included in the process of dismounting his vehicle, one leg and arm still in the cab, his other hand on the sill of the door. The final figure is a British RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) driver, sat in his cab, driving with both hands on the wheel and an intent stare forward. All figures are wearing typical battle-dress clothing and equipment of their respective army, as can be seen from the box art, and the accessory sprues are also themed, so take care in choosing which parts to use with each figure. Conclusion A useful set of drivers to give your next project that trusty human scale, and give some rationale for a vehicle being there in your diorama. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Junkers F13 Mid Production (48005) German, Polish & Swiss Service 1:48 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The design process that led to the Junkers F13 was begun while WWI was still raging, and it was an unconventional and advanced design for the time, when most aircraft were still wood and canvas biplanes that were strengthened by copious rigging wires that created excess drag, making them slow and delicate. The J13 as it was initially called first flew in 1919, and reached maturity during a time that Germany was prevented from having an Air Force, and the market was flooded with military surplus aircraft that could be quickly and cheaply converted into rudimentary airliners or transports. It had a few cards up its sleeve however, such as its all-metal monoplane construction that was far easier to protect from the deleterious effects of weather, especially in humid or damp climates. Through careful design and extensive testing, it had a clean aerodynamic profile that meant a lower power output engine could be utilised to achieve desired speeds, meaning that it could be fitted with different engines from many manufacturers, rather than being saddled with a single high-output and potentially temperamental power-plant. It was crewed by one pilot with a spare seat to his side twin control columns, and a further four passenger seats in the rear compartment, utilising the cockpit seat for an extra passenger should the need arise. Its stressed, corrugated duralumin skin and internal bracing made it both light and strong, with the fuselage attached to the top of the wing, which gave the crew and passengers an extra layer of protection in the event of a rough landing that compromised the gear legs. It also had an unusual trimming system that utilised fuel that was pumped between header tanks in the fore and aft of the fuselage to adjust for centre of gravity changes of the aircraft, and its fixed gear was simple to replace with skis or floats if the need arose. Germany was prevented from building any aircraft until 1921, which resulted in initial sales going overseas, even selling to England and America, Germany’s former enemies. It became so popular thanks to its many appealing qualities that within a few years it constituted around 40% of the world’s civilian air-traffic, and was a familiar sight in the skies of many countries around the world. Production continued until 1932, and included license-built examples that were manufactured in Russia and America, with airframes around the world continuing commercial service until the early 50s, whilst civilian operators were less inclined to give up flying them. The type’s development was mostly centred on the engine type that was mounted in the nose, having several options during its life-time, but there was also a stretched-fuselage variant that could carry more load, and the afore-mentioned float or ski options. More unusual variants were created by users, including a light bomber in China, a bizarre ground-attack aircraft in the US that mounted thirty downward-firing machine guns to pepper enemy troops below, and Soviet forces pressed some of their aircraft into military service with the Red Army. The aircraft remained popular despite its age, and in the new millennium, a Swiss-German company decided to create a series of replica airframes in the noughties, utilising as much of the original design as possible, but substituting a more modern Pratt & Whitney engine and precision instruments where the improvement would be worth the change. The design was based upon original blueprints and a laser-scan of an original airframe to confirm their accuracy, but at $2.5m per example, there won’t be too many gracing the skies any time soon. The Kit This is a new boxing of a recent tooling from MiniArt of this grandfather of the Ju.52 that utilised many of the same technologies and engineering techniques that were pioneered in this small aircraft. The kit arrives in a standard MiniArt top-opening box with a painting of the subject-matter on the top that is parked on a grass field on a sunny day, and has the decal option profiles on one of the sides. Inside the box are twelve sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a large decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that has a cover printed in colour, with a full set of profiles on the front and rear pages, also in colour. Detail is up to MiniArt’s current standards, and examining the sprues reveals a huge quantity of detail that extends across the entire exterior, covering the model with finely rendered corrugations, and where appropriate, these corrugations also extend to the interior. The cockpit is well-rendered, and sits behind a replica of the BMW IIIa six-cylinder engine, with a radiator at the front, while the passenger compartment has a humped floor just like the real thing to accommodate the wing spars under the floor. This edition also sports extended span wings, and the changes to the airframe commensurate with this mid production airframe. Construction begins with the starboard rear fuselage, which has a window and two bulkheads fitted, setting it aside whilst building the cockpit on its contoured floor. The two control columns are detailed with a lamination of two PE layers that represent the control cables, fitting a bow-tie wheel at the top of each one, and setting them in place through rectangular holes in the floor, mounting rudder pedals in front, and making up two barrel seats from two styrene parts and PE lap-belts, setting those aside while the unusually-shaped instrument panel is further detailed with levers and controls, plus a few PE parts, adding another PE lever between the columns along with a styrene part. The panel is decaled extensively after painting, and is fitted to a bulkhead via a C-shaped stand-off bracket that locates on two recesses. This too is put aside, mounting the starboard fuselage half to the short cruciform fuselage floor after drilling out a few holes, and fitting two optional boxes in place in the wing roots if you plan on building your model with the wings mounted for flight. The forward section of the fuselage has three window panes added and is fixed to the rear, using raised guides in the floor to ensure the assembly is straight and true. The cockpit is fitted next, and will be useful to help align the fuselage sides, fixing the two seats in place, then adding the instrument panel on its bulkhead. Another bulkhead is made to separate the cockpit from the passengers, adding a window and two tied-back curtains, plus a pair of wedge-shaped strengtheners into slots at the sides. Two more individual two-part seats with PE lap-belts are made and inserted in the floor as the front row, building a four-part bench seat/sofa that also has PE seatbelts added, gluing it to a stepped bulkhead, and fitting that into the rear of the passenger compartment, using the guides to ensure it is correctly aligned. A handle is inserted into a hole in the side door, fixing another to the opening door on the opposite side later. The six-cylinder in-line BMW engine is based upon a two-part block, into which the individual cylinders are dropped, adding a prop-axle and generator, then completing the tops of the cylinder heads, cooling tubing, wiring loom, air-intake and exhaust manifold to the sides, ending the manifold with a vertical horn if you plan on leaving the cowling open. Engine mounts are installed on both sides of the bay, lowering the completed engine into position between them, fitting the radiator after gluing the rear and a PE cross-brace to it, and a fixed aft cowling panel. The opposite side of the fuselage is made from two almost identical (but handed) parts, although a separate door is included, fitting the windows, a door handle and rail, and drilling two small holes in the rear section close to the wing root. The completed parts are then brought in and glued to the floor, creating a cowling for the engine bay from top and side parts, with a further option of a PE strap around it if you wish. The cowling open option isn’t discussed any further in the instructions, which is unusual. A folded PE part is available to replace a styrene grab-handle part if you prefer, mounting it on the forward section of the cowling, fitting the roof on the fuselage after adding a circular light to the inside and drilling a small hole nearby. Another styrene or PE grab-handle is fixed to the side cowling on both sides, and a pair of clear windscreens are installed in front of the cockpit, as this variant also didn’t have an enclosed cockpit, which is tough luck for the crew. At the rear, the elevator is made from upper and lower halves, the upper half having the entire flying surfaces moulded-in to achieve a slim trailing edge, mounting it on the open rear of the fuselage behind the roof panel. The new straight tapered tail fin is slotted into the top of the elevator, with the rudder moulded-in. There are two short C-beams provided for the inner wing upper panels, which are only utilised if the wings are to be built ready for flight, fitting into a recess under the short inner wing panels, then gluing them into place either side of the fuselage. At this stage the decision must be made whether to mount the wings, or leave them off for transport, using either three parts to create the joint for the mounted option, or an open rib with a socket glued behind it that will be seen in the wingless option, depending on your choice. Your preferred insert is glued into the ends of the inner panels, adding a pair of intakes under the belly, fitting a PE crew step under the port trailing-edge, the tail-skid under the rear, and a PE actuator tab in a recess on the rudder. More PE or styrene grab-handles are fitted to the rear fuselage for ground-handling, and around the square back windows to ease access to the door over the wing. The extended outer wing panels are stiffened by adding two ribs to the grooves moulded into the inner surfaces, and slotting a three-quarter span spar lengthways into the grooves in the ribs, cutting the inner ends off as indicated if you are leaving the wings off the airframe. The wing underside is glued to the uppers over the spar, and once the glue is cured, the ailerons can be fitted into the cut-outs in the trailing edges along with grab-handles in drilled-out holes under the wingtips. They are put to the side for a while so that the landing gear can be made, which is based upon a K-shaped axle, which has a pair of V-shaped supports glued near the ends, finishing the assembly with a pair of two-part wheels, or using two-part tyres with PE spokes spaced apart by a hollow bearing in the centre, and mounting the completed gear in the recesses under the belly between the wings. The supports are handed, so be careful when putting them together to ensure the correct parts are used. The wings are completed by fitting PE actuators at the inner ends of the ailerons, after which the completed assemblies can either be slipped into their slots in the inner wing panels and glued, or depicted stowed nearby in whatever fashion you choose. An aerial mast is slotted into the roof behind the cockpit, and a choice of two propellers with or without spinner is supplied for you to complete the build. Markings There are three decal options on the large sheet, all wearing the same basic scheme of silver over black, with a black engine cowling and landing gear, differentiated mainly by the large individual markings and black or red wing bands. From the box you can build one of the following: CH-91 Ad Astra Aero, Switzerland, Early 1920s P-PALD ‘Daniel’ PLL Aerolot, Poland, Early 1920s D-230 ‘Wieldehopf’ Deutsche Luft Hansa AG, 1920s Decals are screen printed 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 This popular aircraft went through design changes through its career like many other successful designs, extending the wingspan, changing the underside of the fuselage from flatter to tapered, and amending the shape of the tail fin, all of which are depicted here. Detail is excellent, and the kit should build into a creditable replica of this corrugated monoplane. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

A quick Google of "Meng Paint Conversion Chart" came up with the following: https://www.mech9.com/p/meng-color-paint-conversion-chart.html

Can't do it. Partly because I've not finished a model in a long time now (excluding a few figures I've painted lately), but I just can't bring myself to throw a kit in the bin in any shape or form, even if it cost me nowt I also don't get annoyed when I make a mistake, as my mind is racing with ideas on how to rectify my mess. Of course it'll happen one day, if I accidentally spill a pot of liquid glue on top of a kit, but it ain't happened yet. Enhance your calm, dear modellers

German Ground Staff North Africa (49020) 1:48 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd This new figure set from MiniArt in 1:48 will mesh perfectly with your next North Africa diorama or vignette that incorporates Luftwaffe aviation in that scale. The set arrives in a figure-sized end-opening box with a painting of the figures and their equipment on the front, replicated separately on the rear to act as painting and building instructions, with a paint chart that gives codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour swatches and generic names for completeness. Inside the box are six sprues of grey styrene, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, and a single sheet of instructions for some of the multi-part accessories that are included. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprues for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. They look more impressive for being that much smaller than their usual 1:35 figures. There are four figures, all bar one dressed in hot-weather light-weight clothing to keep cool in the extreme heat of North Africa. One is shirtless with braces holding up his trousers, resting one foot on a chair while he paints something, another is wearing shorts and a Pith helmet bringing a wooden toolbox for some task, retaining his calf-length boots and looking like someone from 70s sitcom ‘It Ain't Half Hot Mum’. The third figure is working at a bench on an engineering task with sleeves rolled up, while the last is sitting consulting a clip-board, comparatively over-dressed in long-sleeved jacket over a shirt, long trousers and calf-length boots. The accessories are spread across four sprues, providing plenty of assemblies to add to your work, consisting of a wheeled compressor with receiver tank, a wooden tool box with a choice of tools, a trestle table, a portable bench vice, wooden step ladder, a pillar drill, hacksaw, two metal toolboxes, one open with PE covers and spread open drawers, the other closed, an anvil, a fixed bench vice, chair, stool, buckets, spades, spray gun and many other small tools. Markings Whilst there are no decals included with the kit, the afore mentioned painting guide on the rear of the box should be sufficient to enable accurate painting with some care and a good quality paint brush. If you use other makes of paint than those given in the chart, those codes should give you a suitable starting point for conversion to your preferred brand. Conclusion Figures lend a human scale to any model for obvious reasons, and with careful painting these ground crew with the tools of their trade should add a lot more than just that. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Model A Standard Phaeton 1930s (24051) 1:24 ICM via The Hobby Company Phaeton was originally a name for an open-topped, cut-down horse-drawn carriage, which translated into motoring parlance for soft-top, or open-topped vehicles that didn’t possess side windows that could be rolled down, and if they had a roof, it was one that was installed for inclement weather, or removed for sunny days. The name fell out of use in favour of Cabriolet and Convertible, but before it faded into history it became a broad term that could refer to any four-wheeled vehicle with two rows of seats and an open top, although triple-Phaetons and double-Phaetons were also a thing, just to muddy the waters further. After the runaway success of the Model T Ford, it was eventually replaced eighteen years later by the more modern Model A, reaching showrooms at the end of 1927. It was produced until 1932, by which time almost 5 million units had been sold. The chassis ran a 3.3L inline four-cylinder petrol engine that could propel it to a maximum speed of around 65mph, which might seem a little slow to today’s motorists (unless they’re on modern British motorways), but with only drum brakes slowing each wheel, it was probably for the best. There were several body styles available, the Phaeton being one of the most unrecognisable names to us today, other than the fact that the name was recently used by Volkswagen for an enlarged luxury coupé variant of their Passat for a while, and that most definitely had a roof. Ford’s Model A Phaeton was available in two- or four-door format, and the gearbox gave a single option of a three-speed unsynchronised (crash) gearbox, plus one reverse gear. Due to the difference in controls that were offered by most competitors by this time, the quirky layout of the driver’s controls were standardised to clutch, brake and accelerator pedals left to right on the floor, and a shifter in the centre for gear selection. It was replaced by the Model B after ‘32, and just to carry on confusing people, the Model 18. The Kit This is a new boxing of a recent tooling of this type, with other variants still to come. The kit arrives in a top-opening box with a captive lid on the bottom tray, and inside are seven sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a bag of five flexible black tyres with short lengths of runner still attached, and a small decal sheet that is slipped inside the colour instruction booklet that is printed with a glossy cover and matt paper insides, with profiles on the rearmost pages. Detail is up to ICM’s current high standards, portraying the full chassis, engine, interior and bodyshell in glorious detail, plus a removable soft-top that can be fitted or removed at will once complete. Construction begins with the main chassis rails that are set apart by five cross-members of various shapes and widths, adding bell-housings near each end, L-shaped front bumper supports, and a steering column with box at the bottom end attached to the left chassis rail, as this is a left-hand drive model. The engine block is made from two halves and a sump, making the transmission and clutch housing from four parts, emplacing the cylinder head, and ancillaries such as the generator, fan & belt, and the exhaust manifold, bringing the sub-assemblies together before it is inserted into the front of the chassis along with a long drive-shaft to the rear axle, which has the differential moulded-in to slot between the two axle stubs that are moulded into the end cross-brace on the chassis. The front axle with short laterally oriented leaf-springs is fixed to the front cross-rail, and a two-part exhaust is slung under the chassis, mating with the down-pipe of the manifold. Rear drum-brakes have small parts fitted to their rear before they are glued to the ends of the axle, adding small control pivots and more L-shaped supports along the outer length of the chassis rails, plus a brake actuator rod that fits on a pivot. The front drum-brakes are made from the same number of parts, adding links to the axle, and more control rods running down the outer faces of the chassis rails, plus an extension to the chassis, and two diagonal strengthening supports under the rear on either side of the drive-shaft. Two more control rods attach to the brake drums and pivots, linking the hubs together with a rod, and adding a V-shaped damper between the two ends. By this time wire-wheels were available, and this kit has five made from two styrene parts that are joined together, trapping a flexible black tyre in between them, sliding four of them onto the ends of the axles, and leaving the last for the spare later in the build. The bodyshell is made by fitting the combined arches and running boards to a tapering floor after removing the texturing of the running boards, and strengthening the assembly by adding another layer on the underside of the floor, sandwiching the sides between the two layers. This is carefully mated with the chassis, making a small three-part fairing for the front of the car under the radiator, taking care to align the two triangular parts with the slots on the outside. The firewall is extended by adding a diagonal kick-board, steering column, lever and foot pedals, plus a stylish two-part dashboard with lower fairing that slots into place horizontally, applying decals to the central instrument binnacle after choosing a colour to paint the assembly, depending on which colour option you have chosen. The panels under the A-pillars are made up from dual layers, fitting to the sides of the firewall and supporting the dash, with a scuttle to top, a central filler cap for the fuel tank, and dash pots on the engine side, fitting it to the growing assembly at the front of the floor. The body side panels are fitted with three interior cards per side, adding handles and a rear panel that is best placed on the floor pan during curing of the glue to ensure it sets straight, mounting a three-part radiator and housing to the front, with engine cowlings linking it to the rest of the bodywork, fitting a handle and a pair of catches on each side, plus the top-cowling that is moulded as a single part. The front and rear bench seat cushions are layered from three parts each, and are located on L-shaped location marks, fitting a rear shroud to the front seat to support the back, which is a single part, and has a pair of tapered arms added to the sides of the shroud, painted to match the seat cushions. The same style of rear cushion is fitted to the back seat, supported by the rear of the bodyshell without additional arms, mounting the steering wheel and control stalks on the column, and the gear shifter on the transmission tunnel. A two-part rear-view mirror is fixed in the centre of the windscreen, adding a wiper motor housing to the top left frame, which operates the single wiper that is moulded into the windscreen part. The remaining wheel is mounted on a back-plate with a diagonal tube that links it to the back of the car, adding short bumper stubs, light clusters and a number plate holder to the sides. The front of the car is finished off by a full-width dual-rail bumper, a pair of headlights with clear lenses, horn and number-plate on a curved rod that is placed between the forward arches, adding a pair of clear wind deflectors to the sides of the windscreen, completing the model by building the stowed roof from upper and lower halves, attaching it to the rear of the car. Markings There are three colour options depicted on the decal sheet, which will also affect the choice of interior colours during the build, so choosing early will be a benefit. From the box you can build one of the following: Indiana, 1930 California, 1931 Pennsylvania, 1932 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. As is common now with ICM kits, there is a portion of one page of the instruction booklet devoted to the masking of the windscreen, using the printed shapes on the right of the page and the diagram to create your own masks if you wish. There are two masks, one for each side of the screen to ease painting of the frames. The deflectors don’t have masks, as they are attached to the screen by two small metal clips, so can be left off until late in the build process. Conclusion Detail is excellent, and its size should make the build a pleasurable experience, resulting in a realistic replica of this short-lived early sports car. Highly recommended. Available from all good model shops now. Review sample courtesy of

Sorry to butt into this thread, but I bobbed in to admire the camouflage work you've done, and noticed that the pics were loading slowly. I tested some of the pics, and they were 4mb in size, which is pretty large when posting up on the internet, even in today's relatively fast broadband. You should be aiming to save your files to around 2-300kb maximum, give or take a bit. To accomplish this, you can reduce the size of your pics, as anything over the recommended 1024 x 800 or 1280 x 800 maximum we advise is wasted bandwidth and your own storage space usage. Most people view these pics on phones, tablets and 1080p screens, so huge photos of 4119 x 3238 px will have to be shrunk down by the forum software, creating unnecessary load on the server and delay for the user, as well as the extra bandwidth that is uses up on the wider internet on its way here (around 16x what's necessary). The downsides of this from a viewer's point of view is the waiting time before you can view the pics, and some people might get bored and click away, especially if they're not lucky enough to have fast broadband for whatever reason. From the server's point of view, it's wasteful of bandwidth, cache storage size, and it's wasteful of the server's processing resources due to the calculations needed to accomplish the shrinking, which means a slightly slower experience for all of us. This isn't meant as a "telling off" BTW, more of a bit of useful advice to help you as well as help us. If you can size your pics to the recommended limits, we'll be really happy, and so will the members Keep up the good work

You might want to edit the title and add "F-15" into it, as it doesn't make a whole heap of sense to the uninitiated until you read the post in full.

Raupenschlepper Ost RSO/01 Early Prod. (35478) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd During the first Autumn of operation Barbarossa during WWII, German forces struggled to a virtual standstill due to the muddy, then icy conditions that occurred on the rudimentary road systems they found in Russia, or the Eastern Front, as they called it. The Raupenschlepper Ost was the response by Steyr, or ‘Caterpillar Tractor East’ in English was available in two main variants – the cargo version and the self-propelled version with a PaK40 mounted onboard. Shortened to RSO, the initial /01 cargo variant had a pressed steel cab and a shallow-sided load area, plus a canvas tilt over the load-bed. This was simplified later to a straight-sided cab to streamline construction and in-the-field repair, retaining the main underpinnings, which consisted of a Steyr 3.5L petrol V8, followed by a substantially lower-powered Deutz diesel engine for those vehicles manufactured by Magirus, reducing fuel consumption and flammability, but increasing available torque that’s typical of diesel engines. The engine was mounted in the front of the vehicle beneath the crew cab for all variants, which must have been a boon during the cold winter months, powering the drive-sprockets initially with a differential similar to those used in wheeled vehicles, which was later replaced by a final-drive system more typical of an AFV. The driver effected steering via a pair of levers akin to those used in many AFVs of the era, with four gears plus reverse available for motion, and a standard single-plate clutch for power delivery. Suspension was simple elliptical leaf springs on two double-wheel bogeys per side, which took some of the lumps out of the terrible Russian roads, most of which were nothing more than packed dirt tracks in the summer, turning to muddy bogs in the period between summer and winter, at which point the ruts solidified, creating their own problems. The simple wheels and slack-track with no return-rollers gave the RSO enhanced capability during the change of seasons and during winter-time, with no complex interleaved wheels or ‘live’ tracks for mud to accumulate in and/or freeze. Its primary drawback was its relatively small load capacity, as it was based on a 1.5 ton truck, requiring multiple RSOs to replace their 3.5 ton wheeled equivalents once the weather deteriorated beyond the usefulness of wheels. The Kit This is a new tooling from MiniArt of this small bad-weather capable truck, and is already the first of three boxing, the third carrying a PaK40, as mentioned above. This first early variant arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of a camouflaged RSO on the front, and profiles of the four decal options on one side of the lid. Inside the box are sixteen sprues of grey styrene, one of clear parts, a small Photo-Etch (PE) fret, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on glossy white paper, with full profiles of the decal options on the front and rear covers. Detail is excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, including a full chassis, engine, interior and load area with canvas tilt or bare framework in the back. Construction begins with the chassis, starting with the bottom plate and four cross-members, sliding two sections of the drive-shaft through holes in the centres, then adding the rails to the sides after removing several tabs from the upper edge, and adding triangular stubs that encroach into the centre. A platform with tubing is fitted to the front, adding actuator rods front and rear, plus a K-shaped rear bumper iron, and a pair of flag-like rods that appear to be scrapers that remove mud accumulations from the drive-sprockets. In the front of the soon-to-be engine compartment, a bench-like fixture is applied, adding a four-part blow-torch/engine pre-heater for the open bonnet option, with the front axle, bumper bar and a small box in a cut-out under the chassis, covering it with a panel that has an access hatch moulded-in. The rear axle with differential bulge is built from five parts, and is fixed to the flat rear of the chassis under the bumper, pushing up against the aft end of the drive-shaft, then mounting two brake-housings to the ends of the axle. The engine is a complex assembly, making the V8 block from six parts, and nestling the four-part transmission and sump in between the banks, adding exhaust manifolds, serpentine belt, plus a substantial pair of intake fans, dynamo, and other ancillaries, joining the two intakes via an air-box and filters, then installing the motor in the chassis, linking the radiator hoses, making a fuel tank with cut-out for the drive-shaft and feeder pipe that drops into the centre of the frame, and fitting a three-part exhaust with muffler under the rear of the chassis. Righting the chassis sees the installation of a choice of two towing hitches, one with a further sub-variant using different parts, slipping your chosen assembly into a hole in the rearmost cross-member. Although the suspension consists of a pair of two-wheel bogeys, the entire length of the tracks pivots around a centre axle that fits in a slot under the chassis, with a pair of leaf-springs at the ends of rails that have bearings for the bogeys, one fitted to each side of the vehicle, with a PE strip wrapped around the front axle that is linked to the assembly via piston that allows the system to stretch and rotate as the main suspension bar pivots. The idler and drive-sprockets look broadly similar, although they use different parts, fixing them carefully to the correct end. Four bogeys are made from tubes with a pivot strengthened by another layer, again, paying attention to where each one is fitted, then mounting the road wheels to each stub axle. The included tracks are link-and-length, achieving the look of individual links without the most of the tedium. The straight runs top and bottom are moulded as one part each, with short lengths on the diagonals, then six individual links around the highly curved ends, plus an extra link between the diagonals and the horizontal runs. The moulded links have several sensibly placed sprue gates per section, while the individual links have three each, while the designers have managed to avoid any ejector-pin marks on the links that is a blessing, especially if you plan to build your model clean. The cab is a small area, the floor built in halves from four parts each with a choice of two styles of footwell. A fuel filler is pushed through a hole in the side, adding a section of tread-plate at an angle on the opposite side, with a small bracket under the floor. The rear bulkhead has a shaped bar fitted to the bottom edge, a fire extinguisher, two canvas rolls and a bottle between the crew, and is set aside while the halves are joined and levers mounted in recesses, after which it is joined to the bulkhead, fixing a window in the central cut-out, and installing the crew controls, consisting of a set of foot pedals and two track control levers in a housing on the left side. An engine cover joins the two halves of the cab, followed by a pair of tubular framed canvas seats for the crew, with a choice of two styles. The cab front has a two-panel windscreen inserted, two wiper motor casings, and a choice of two dashboards under the screen, gluing the assembly to the front of the cab, spaced apart by the roof. The crew doors can be made with open or closed windows by using different clear parts, adding winder handles inside and a door handle to the outside, plus a PE hinge strap if you intend to pose the doors open. You also have a choice of a thickly louvred hood or one with a fine grille, both having a locking-handle on the lower frame, and an optional PE horse-shoe for luck on the grilled option, using a PE strut to hold it open if you intend to display the engine deep within. A choice of PE or styrene windscreen wiper blades, a two-part convoy light, and two reflectors/side lights are added to the front of the cab, mating it with the chassis, and adding a long wire from your own stock between the back of the cab and the chassis if you feel the urge. A set of pioneer tools are fixed to the rear bulkhead, with a choice of styrene tools with moulded-in brackets, or PE replacement clips after you have cut the chunky styrene brackets away from the two shovels and pick-axe. A couple of PE L-brackets are fixed to the rear of the cab roof to finish work on that aspect of the model. The load bed is constructed from a single planked floor that is supported by three cross-members and two ribs, with a choice of open or closed bed sides, which is achieved by using the same side parts but changing the location of the clasps that hold them in position at the corners, cutting a lug off for the closed option, or omitting the parts if you intend to use the canvas tilt that is included. The tail-gate has a rear light on a PE bracket that can be fixed open or closed, while the headboard is a single part that is glued on three pegs. To omit the tilt, four C-frames are installed along the sides of the bed, mounting it behind the cab on the chassis. The tilt is made from two sides, a solid front, a rear with entryway cut out, and the roof, all with creases and folds realistically depicted, plus a rolled-up and tied door panel that is glued to the top of the rear cut-out. Markings There are four decal options on the small sheet in a variety of schemes, two of which have additional camouflage overpainted in the field. From the box you can build one of the following: Unidentified Unit, Eastern Front, Autumn 1942 21. Luftwaffen-Felddivision, Eastern Front, Winter 1942/3 21. Luftwaffen-Felddivision, Eastern Front, Spring 1943 Unidentified Wehrmacht Tower Anti-Tank Gun Company, Eastern Front, Autumn 1943 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 The RSO is a diminutive vehicle with short wheelbase that gives it a hunched, almost comical appearance. Detail is excellent, and extends inside and out, using link-and-length tracks to simplify the process without losing detail. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

The crew and penguin were unharmed, which is the main thing. "Unsecured" makes it sound like it was ricocheting round the cockpit squawking, when in fact someone just hadn't put the box in a stable position inside the cab. Poor little thing

I-153 Luftwaffe with Pilots and Ground Personnel (48094) 1:48 ICM via The Hobby Company The I-153 was an interwar creation by designer Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov, and was a sesquiplane, which means that the lower wings were substantially smaller than the uppers, giving the pilot a better view below, and benefitting from retractable landing gear, that gave it a sleeker profile that improved its top speed, the prop driven by a Shvetsov M-62 radial engine. The prototype first flew in summer of 1938, although not with its intended engine, as it wasn’t available at that point in the type’s development. Even with the lower specification engine, it outflew its predecessor the I-15, although once the M62 was installed it proved disappointing with only a small increase in performance. They considered upgrading the power plant, but as it was important not to disrupt or delay production, these changes never reached fruition, making do with the I-153 as it was. While it lacked a top speed that could make it a formidable fighter, it was equipped with four guns that although they were of rifle calibre, they had been re-engineered to increase the rate of fire to around 1,800RPM, effectively increasing the weight of fire to punch above its weight, at the expense of burning through the 2,600 rounds that were carried somewhat faster, giving less than 40 seconds of fire in combat. It first fought in 1939 against the Japanese in Soviet hands, where it acquitted itself well, partly thanks to the manoeuvrability of the biplane, although it wasn’t without problems. The lack of a cockpit firewall meant that an engine fire would quickly penetrate the cockpit area, fanned by a draught that turned the fire into a virtual blow-torch that would leave survivors with terrible burns. The M62 engine was only good for a few sorties before it needed a rebuild, often because of the supercharger breaking down, reducing the availability for combat missions. Various prototypes were built with improvements such as cannons, a pressurised cockpit, and a replacement laminated wooden aft fuselage, none of which went into production, save for a ground-attack variant that carried additional ShKAS machine guns in panniers under the wings, or 20 light-weight bombs, depending on their tasking for the day. Production of the type finished in 1941, but the aircraft continued in service with Soviet, Chinese, and Finnish Air Forces during WWII, and in Luftwaffe service using captured airframes in the usual Nazi style of reusing other people’s gear, despite maintenance and supplies problems. The Kit This is a fresh reboxing of a 2015 tooling by ICM, but with added figures that depict German pilots and ground crew, plus new decals to portray German markings in the service of the Luftwaffe during WWII, which were tooled in 2004. The kit arrives in a top-opening box with a captive lid on the lower tray, and inside are five sprues in grey styrene, a small sprue in clear parts, a decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed on glossy white paper in colour, with profiles of the decal choices on the rear pages. Detail is good on the kit, with a fully-fledged cockpit, engine details, and despite the figures being 20 years old, the detail there is excellent, with crisp sculpting, and moulding that looks as fresh as the first pressing. Construction begins with the fuselage internal framework around the cockpit, which is made from four sections, plus instrument panel with decal, two additional dials on the side frame, assembled and applied over the cockpit floor after installing the seat on two L-shaped brackets, plus rudder pedals and control column on the floor. The completed cockpit is laid in the trough in the centre of the lower wings, which is moulded with both sides having ribbing detail present. Eight holes are drilled out at the ends of the underwing hard-points, putting the assembly aside while the fuselage is made from two halves, adding upper sidewall inserts to each side, and two pressurised bottles low on the fuselage insides, detail painting as per the instructions, then joining the halves, dealing with the seams in your preferred manner. The completed fuselage is lowered over the cockpit in the centre of the wings and glued into position, fitting two thick, aerodynamic interplane struts between the upper and lower wings, the uppers glued to a fairing in the top of the fuselage in front of the cockpit. The elevators are each single parts that slot into the sides of the tail, with their flying surfaces moulded-in. The 9-cylinder M62 engine is moulded as a single part, fitting a star of push-rods to the front with a prop axle in the centre, inserting the detail-painted engine into the front cowling, then adding the intake and exhaust trunking to each cylinder, with a spacer ring in the centre rear. The completed engine is then installed in the forward fuselage, taking care with the exhaust stubs so you don’t bend or break them. Two cowling halves are fixed to the fuselage sides to cover most of the engine, adding an oval exhaust to the lower port side at the rear of the cowling. The two-blade prop has two small triangular parts fitted to the boss, with an optional spinner pushed over the centre to complete it. Another cowling segment covers the top of the engine, and the clear three-pane windscreen is applied over the coaming after fixing a gunsight to it. The main gear bays are moulded into the lower wings, and the struts are built from a single leg with moulded-in jack, adding a retraction jack to the rear, and mounting a single-part wheel to the stub axle at the bottom of each one. A captive door bay is attached to the lower end of the leg after painting, with a pair of inner doors along the centreline between the bays, painted the same colour as the captive doors. The tail-wheel is moulded into its strut, and a pair of V-shaped supports are attached between the fuselage and elevator just forward of the tail-wheel to complete the build. The last diagrams of the instructions show the location of rigging wires in red, which you must make from your preferred material, which you can use in conjunction with your references and the box art to carry out the task to your satisfaction. Figures There are seven figures on the sprue The parts for each one found in separate areas of the sprue for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from ICM’s artists and tool-makers over the years, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. There are two officers in flat peaked caps, one in a leather flight jacket and riding jodhpurs over calf-length boots, while the other is wearing a three-quarter leather coat. A pilot in cold-weather gear is being strapped into his parachute by a member of the ground-crew, with two more crew working on the aircraft, one kneeling, the other stood. The final figure is a mechanic standing with one hand on his hip, the other carrying a wooden tool box, while he does nothing much other than spectate. Markings There are three decal options on the included sheet, all wearing German markings in two main schemes. The drawings have diamonds where the swastikas would usually be, as these markings are banned in some territories, and some modellers prefer not to apply them to their models. For those that want to depict their models with historical accuracy however, there are halved swastikas included on the sheet. From the box you can build one of the following: Jagdfliegervorschule 3, Wien-Schwechat, 1942 Luftlandegeschwader 1, Eastern Front, 1942 Reichlin Test Centre, 1942 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, 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 well-detailed model of this Soviet interwar design, one of the last biplane fighters, depicted in German markings with figures to give it a human scale. Highly recommended. Available from all good model shops now. Review sample courtesy of

As this isn't vehicle specific, I've moved it into Tools & Tips > Paint. I bought some cheap plastic spoons from Amazon, and they work just great. I tend to buff them with a fine sanding stick to enhance adhesion, but if I forget it doesn't seem to make much difference

Has it disappeared entirely, or is it just greyed out? A new tab will have a greyed out back-arrow unless you've navigated to another page since opening it. If it's entirely missing, try the following link below, and if you can't figure it out why it's gone off, just reset to default, which is a big button on the right of the window: chrome://settings/appearance (copy and paste that into a new tab if it's not showing as a link - it isn't on my screen).

Panzerwaffe Steel Cats (DS3524) 1:35 ICM via The Hobby Company During WWII Germany’s tanks were both feared and respected by their Allied enemies, although initially the Panzers I and II weren’t particularly technically advanced, they were however an integral part of the Blitzkreig tactic employed by the Nazis during the early days of WWII as they overran France and the Lowlands after taking over Poland, Czechoslovakia and much of Eastern Europe at a similar speed. The Panzer III was more competent, and was in-turn outperformed by the Panzer IV until that encountered the Soviet T-34, which forced upgrades to weapons and armour, and the early entry of the Panzer V and VI into service, which were given the names Panther and Tiger respectively. Never satisfied with big, Hitler was obsessed with bigger, perhaps compensating for something? The almost entirely re-worked Ausf.B variant of the Tiger was given the name King Tiger (KT), Tiger II, or Königstiger, depending on who you ask, but either way, it took the mantle of heaviest tank from the retroactively named Tiger I in the German Panzerwaffe for a while, but without much of an upgrade to the running gear. We can forget the Löwe (Panzer VII), Maus (Panzer VIII), as there is conjecture as to whether the prototypes saw action or not before the end. The Panther is sometimes described as the “best” or most effective tank of WWII, and was available in larger numbers than the KT, although still not enough to change the eventual outcome of the war, sometimes losing out on kudos due to panicked Allied survivors telling the story of being attacked by Tigers. The Set This boxed set includes both a King Tiger and a Panther Ausf.D, and the name is of course a reference to their own naming after big cats. The box contains both kits in separate re-sealable bags in a compact package, arriving in a top-opening box with a captive flap on the inner lid. King Tiger The successor to the much-vaunted Tiger heavy tank instilled more terror in the Allied forces due to initial encounters lending an almost invincible air to the design. It was soon found that although it packed a formidable punch, and could absorb a lot of punishment, it was in fact a flawed design from an engineering standpoint. Further stressing the almost identical transmission even further than the Tiger I, they suffered terrible attrition due to breakdowns, leading to many examples being captured or scuttled by their crew if these breakdowns occurred during combat. When it worked, it was very difficult to kill, and could seriously outrange almost everything on the battlefield, but as with the Tiger I before it, the Allies worked out a strategy to take them out by cooperative attacks between multiple Allied tanks. As well as the reliability issues that were never fully addressed due to the state of the war, the complexity of the design was such that they were never available in sufficient quantities to make a difference, and even when they were, Hitler's obsession with micro-managing every aspect of the war led to some poor placement of resources. Many King Tigers were captured by the Allies and taken back for analysis, with a few remaining intact long enough to find their way into museums, such as the one at Bovington. The Jagdtiger was a development of the King Tiger, using the chassis to mount an even more powerful gun in a casemate, but again very few of these saw action, as it was too late in the war, and they were even heavier than their progenitor. Inside the bag are six sprues and two hull halves in grey styrene, four lengths of flexible black tracks, a decal sheet and the instruction booklet, printed on glossy white paper in colour, predominantly on the rear cover where the profiles are found. Construction begins with the breech, with breech-block, shell ejection guide, the gun mounts and recuperator tubes fitted to create the basics to hold the gun tube. The basic breech is then fitted to the twin slots in the front of the turret floor, and the upper turret gets its mantlet and weather strip glued in place before the two are mated, after adding the roof-mounted vision-block, which is moulded in grey styrene. The two-part gun barrel is outfitted with the studded ring found at its base, and the two-part mantlet ring that sits behind it, protecting the gun and turret front from incoming rounds. Once complete it slots onto the breech, and can be left loose for painting, so you get paint right behind the shield. Next are the commander's cupola and the gunner's hatch, the latter being well-detailed with hand-holds and latches, and the former having a hatch hinge-point protector fitted before installation. Lifting lugs, mushroom vent, shell ejection hatch, periscope armour and the commander's lift-swivel hatch are fitted, with the rear hatch that doubles as the exit route for the gun during maintenance built up with latches and handles, plus the armoured hinges and a representation of the early pistol port moulded in. The delicate mount for the commander's machine gun is fitted to the top of his cupola, and hooks for the spare track links are installed over small marks on the side of the turret, with the links being added from styrene links that are found on the sprues. Now for the hull. There isn't a traditional "tub" for the hull, and you start by building up the sponsons with internal and external parts such as dampers, and the torsion bars for the suspension. The hull floor is a sled that is fitted under the torsion bars that extend across the hull floor. Two perforated ribs are laid front to back on the floor around the torsion bars, stiffening the floor in the process. The engine firewall bulkhead is installed in the rear of the hull along with two plates that are installed under the turret position, with another laid over it that has a cut-out for the turret basket. Two more periscopes are installed in the front of the upper hull, adding a cross-member to the lower hull, clasps to the engine deck, and the armoured kugelblende around the bow-mounted machine gun port, mating the two halves of the hull. The King Tiger was designed with overlapping pairs of road wheels, learning from the mistakes of the Tiger I which had interleaved wheels to spread the vehicle's weight, which could result in taking off up to 14 wheels if an inner one needed repair or maintenance. The all-up weight increased substantially between the two vehicles, so there are a LOT of pairs of wheels on a Königstiger, with nine axles each side, plus the idler and drive sprockets, all of which are assembled from two parts each and fitted to their respective swing-arms. These are capped off with hubs, and later in the build the tracks are wrapped around them. Mudguards are attached to the fenders front and rear, adding towing shackles to the torch-cut eyes nearby, and mounting the final drive housing before installing the drive sprockets. The twin exhausts are made from two halves, and are fixed on the aft bulkhead along with two brackets for the jack, jack block, and a pair of track tools, adding armoured bases to the exhausts to protect the pass-through hole in the bulkhead from incoming rounds. The engine deck has a set of lifting eyes fixed in recesses around the radiator armour, with more around the main engine panel, making up the inspection hatch with two mushroom vents and a grab-handle in the corner before installing it in the rear. The front insert contains two cut-outs for the front crew hatches, both of which have grab-handles, and more lifting eyes for removal during maintenance, gluing it into the forward deck, then adding periscope armour over the top. Pioneer tools, fire extinguisher, mushroom vents and raised frames are added to the engine deck and around the sides of the hull, placing a headlamp on a plinth in the centre of the glacis plate, and towing cables that are moulded with barrel cleaning rods on the sloped left side. The tracks in this edition are of the rubber-band type, each length made from two sections that have overlapping joints that are best glued with super glue (CA) and hidden at the centre of the upper and lower runs to keep them out of your eyeline. Detail on flexible tracks is always a compromise, but the detail is well-done, with only the guides a little simplified. To complete the model, the turret twists into position on the hull using a bayonet connector, adding an aerial to the engine deck at the last gasp to prevent it from being damaged during handling. Markings There are four decal options on the sheet, all with a base coat of dunkelgelb (dark yellow), two with green and red-brown camouflage schemes, one with a coat of winter white distemper that’s beginning to show its age, and one wearing just the base colour. From the box you can build one of the following: Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B, s.Pz.Abt. 509 Feldherrnhalle, Hungary, March 1945 Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B, s.Pz.Abt. 503, Danzig, March 1945 Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B, s.Pz.Abt. 501, Ardennes, December 1944 Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B, Stab/s.Pz.Abt. 501, Ardennes, December 1944 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Panther The Panther was Germany's answer to the surprise appearance of the Russian T-34 after they finally reacted to the invasion that was Operation Barbarosa. Although the project had been in gestation for some time before, they took some design cues from the T-34 in the shape of the sloped armour, resulting in the Panther that was intended to fill the gap between the Panzer.IV and the (then) new Panzer VI Tiger. It was eventually supposed to replace both the Pz.IV and the earlier Pz.III that were really showing their age, but in reality it often fought alongside the Panzer IV due to lack of production numbers. It was planned as a lighter, more manoeuvrable tank than the Tiger, and was fitted with a high velocity gun from the outset, which gave it enormous penetrating power that was only equalled by the 17-pounder fitted to the Sherman by the British that turned it into the highly effective Sherman Firefly. The sloped frontal armour gave it an increased effective armour thickness, but this was not quite so true of the side armour, which was weaker and more steeply sloped, becoming the preferred target area of allied tanks, especially in urban combat where this became a telling issue that led to the demise of many Panthers. Like most German tanks of WWII, it was complex and expensive to produce, so suffered in terms of production volume, which led to it being rushed into service with quite a laundry-list of problems still to resolve. Later production solved most of the initial gremlins, but losses in the interim were high with many being abandoned after breaking down during combat. Curiously, the Ausf.D was the first to enter production, with the Ausf.A following later in 1943, replacing attrition of the less reliable Ausf.Ds until they themselves were superseded by the Ausf.G, which became the final major variant, benefitting from increased ammo storage, simplified design to ease production, and further improvements to reliability, although this was never fully cured with a high rate of attrition due to mechanical issues that lingered, some of which resulted in catastrophic fires. There are four sprues and two hull halves in grey styrene, four sprues in black, a decal sheet and instruction booklet that is printed in black and white. Construction begins with the lower hull, which is completed by adding the T-shaped rear bulkhead and the armoured surrounds around the final drive housings at the front of the hull. The many stub axles are inserted into the hull with a peg holding them at the correct angle, and these are accompanied by several additional suspension parts, bumpers, the housings themselves and of course the interleaved main wheels, plus the four-part idler wheels and two-part drive sprockets. The rear bulkhead is detailed with twin exhausts that hold the detailed jack across the armoured bases of the exhaust stacks on two brackets, fitting the uniquely-shaped stowage boxes with separate doors in the top corners of the aft bulkhead. The upper hull has the inside of the glacis plate detailed with driver’s hatch and vision blocks, plus two hatches on pegs that insert into the lift-out front section of the forward deck. The rear deck also has a large inspection hatch in the centre that is decked out with mushroom vents and grab-handles, then has the various rectangular and circular vents from the engine compartment added either side, plus a couple more circular vents and lifting lugs. The stowage for the sides of the hull is made up on frames, one for each side, plus a tube for the barrel-cleaning rods and two racks of spare track links at the rear, again one each side. The separate front mudguards have width indicators added that are fairly unusual for the Panther, then it’s time to make up the tracks. The track links are made up from individual parts that are joined together to create the complete run, although you aren’t given a guide figure of how many to use, but from memory I suspect around 90 would be appropriate. They clip together, but need some glue to retain their integrity, so wrap them around the road wheels while the glue is still flexible, then hold them in place with tape, foam wads and other tools to obtain the correct sag on the return run. The good news is that there are only two sprue gates to deal with per link, but they are on a concave surface, so if you have a circular sanding stick, file or burr for your motor tool, they won’t hold you back for long. There are however two small circular ejector-pin marks in the outriggers of each link’s outer face. Sanding those could be done with a small, flat-tipped burr, or you could make your own and glue some abrasive to it, as I have done in the past. The alternative is to slap some weathering and mud on the tracks to hide any issues you didn’t fix. The turret contains the main gun, which necessitates creation of the holder, which is made from top and bottom halves that are set between D-shaped supports that are glued into the inner mantlet through the turret shell. The outer mantlet is fitted over the top, and the two-part gun tub with moulded-in muzzle-brake slots into the hole in the centre. The rear wall of the turret is first fitted with a circular hatch that attaches via an L-shaped hinge so that it can rotate outside the turret more completely, improving crew access. The shell-ejection port is also fixed on a set of hinges to permit it to swing open if you are careful with the glue, sited on the left turret wall. The turret is completed by mounting the shell on the floor, making up the three-layered commander’s cupola with hatch and pull-ring, adding a mushroom vent near the forward edge, plus smoke grenade launchers, lifting eyes and a grab handle over the rear hatch. It is locked into place on the hull, where two towing eyes and one-part side-skirts are installed, making up a four-part travel-lock for the barrel and mounting it on the forward deck between the front hatches. Markings There are two decal options included on the sheet, although the profiles are both small and printed in greyscale, as you can see below. Both have a base coat of dunkelgelb (dark yellow), with two styles of green camouflage over the entire surface. From the box you can build one of the following: Panther Ausf.D, 52nd Battalion, 29th Armoured Regiment, The Kursk Salient, July 1943 Panther Ausf.D, ‘Grossedeutschland’ Armoured Regiment, August 1943 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, 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 compact boxed set of two of the most (in)famous German tanks of WWII. Detail is good, although some folks may wish to add some rolled and cast steel texture to the armour. Highly recommended. Available from all good model shops now. Review sample courtesy of

I figured it might be

Can I have my Scimitar now please? Also, what's all this chatter about F-105s? Get your own thread!

I thought I'd re-awaken this one, as I recently got the (almost) last of the inserts from Hutch, and have put them to use. They're brilliant, and as the Army Painter paints are available in Flexible Triads of six or seven, each Triad can go from front to back in the drawer, so those without a seventh (those from the John Blanche sets) bottle just have a single space near the back. Turns out that Hutch is also pretty good at designing and building paint caddies, so I can stand 6 or 7 bottles ready for some shading action in a handy unit that I can't knock over, and if I need to move it, I can do so without any juggling or mixing up of the shades. Marvellous, and he's cut me two of 'em into the bargain I just want to say a public thank you to @Hutch, as he's saved me a lot of hassle, swearing, and untidiness going forward. Much obliged, and very happy with his creations Now, if only he could laser me up something to make the rest of the workshop that tidy!

They accept electricity as payment. 🤕 Not sure my real UPS man would enjoy that though. Seems like a nice bloke too, so I won't test that out

Having read that, they're either a bit thick, or were using it to depict the UK as an aggressor, as we seem to be flavour of the month for dissing in that country Anyway, nuff said, as it's a bit politicky.

I'd forgotten about this. Crackin' work Tom