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Special Hobby is to release a 1/32nd Fokker D.II kit - ref. SH32065 Sources: http://www.specialhobby.net/2017/03/sh32065-fokker-dii-132-pripravujeme.html https://www.facebook.com/specialhobby/posts/1351213861640141 V.P.

source: http://modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=97&t=77712&start=720#p1880503 "Dalšími v pořadí nejbližšími rozpracovanými projekty (ono je toho docela hodně) je moderní dvoumotorák s vrtulemi a druhoválečná stíhačka." next project is a twin-engine modern aircraft with propellers And next is WW2 fighter http://modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=97&t=77712&start=735#p1880919 "ne, nebude to Turbolet, lítá to nebo lítalo na západ od nás (a na jih, sever a možná i na východ)" No, not L-410 Turbolet. It flies or flew to the west of Czech Republic (and to the south, north and maybe to the east) type is still secret

Newsletter January 2017: http://www.specialhobby.info/2016/12/special-hobby-newsletter-january.html Newsletter February 2017: http://www.specialhobby.info/2017/01/special-hobby-newsletter-februarry-2017.html V.P.

Special Hobby is to release in Spring 2107 a 1/72nd Gloster Meteor Mk.4 "World Speed Record" kit - ref. SH72361 Source: http://www.specialhobby.net/2017/02/sh72361-gloster-meteor-mk4-world-speed.html Box art V.P.

I know I have a bit of a reputation for doing stupid amounts in a GB so I would hate to break the mould. Here are three Mirage F1s, using the excellent Special Hobby kit. As you can see from the jumble above, only one of the kits is in a box. The two single-seaters are from the bagged "simple kits" that Special Hobby released about a year ago. These are simply the plastic parts with no decals, supplied in a bag. In effect, they are Special Hobby's equivalent to Eduard's "overtrees". I will be building the following: Mirage F1AZ - Gabonese Air Force. This will use the LF Models conversion set. @Giorgio N will be using the same set for his build, which will be a bit more involved than mine. You can see his build here. Mirage F1JA - Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana This is the export version of the F1E. I was struck by the two green camouflage as shown on the Xtradecal sheet and a couple of photographs on the net. @eclipse pointed out in the chat thread that the scheme is actually green and brown. Different references give different paint numbers for the lighter colour, so this will be quite interesting to research while the build progresses. Mirage F1B - Armée de l'air You can't build a batch of Mirage F1s without building one in the classic French blue scheme. It's The Law! The Special Hobby kit provides a suitable scheme, but it is a special scheme. I much prefer standard line jets, so I'll be using a scheme from an Xtradecal scheme. It's really quite plain, which I like. Let's have a look at the parts. Here are the fuselage halves for the single seater. The first batch of these kits had a slightly damaged bit at the very front of the part. this was rectified in subsequent batches. These parts are actually from a boxed kit which had the damage. I replaced these parts in the box with perfectly formed parts from a simple kit. I will be using them on this build for the Mirage F1AZ. It will be having major surgery to the nose anyway, so I thought that the damaged part wouldn't be an issue.

Hello everyone! I just saw this notice from Special Hobby that they're discontinuing all their Azur and MPM kit lines. They're now running a 50% off sale to close out their inventories of them. Anyone else here catch wind of this and what's behind it all? Are the moulds going to be taken into the Special Hobby line? Eliminated entirely and redone, eventually, with new tooling? Special Hobby Website Announcement - Plastic & Steel Online - Azur and MPM product lines are being discontinued now!

Model 239 Buffalo "Taivaan Helmi over Findland" 1:48 Special Hobby The Buffalo was designed by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation in 1935 a US Navy requirement for a carrier based fighter to replace the Grumman F3F Biplane. As such it was one of the first US monoplane fighters. The prototype first flew in 1937 with deliveries commencing in 1939. Brewster had production difficulties and only 11 of the early F2A-1 aircraft were delivered to the USN with the remainder of the order being diverted to the Finnish Air Force. The US Navy and Marine Corps would order and receive the later F2A-2 and F2A-3 models although it was realised by this time that the Buffalo was no match for more modern fighters. It had been suggested that the later orders were just to keep the Brewster factories running, in fact they would later go on to produce Corsairs and other aircraft for the USN. Overseas Finland ordered the aircraft in 1939, the aircraft being assembled by SAAB in Sweden. The Finnish after initial doubts liked the aircraft. The cooler weather in Finland solved overheating problems with the engine, and the aircraft went on to become a success with 477 Soviet aircraft being destroyed for only 19 Buffalos. Belgium had ordered the aircraft but only one was delivered before the country fell to the advancing Germans. Their order was subsequently transferred to the British. The British facing a shortage of combat aircraft purchased the Buffalo. The original assessment by the RAF was not brilliant. The aircraft lacked pilot armour, was under gunned, had poor altitude performance and there were issues with overheating, maintenance and controls. The UK still ordered 170 aircraft which were sent to Australia, New Zealand and the RAF. The aircraft were initially sent out to the Far East. The aircraft were plagued with reliability problems in the hot climate, performance was poor, and the pilots did not have adequate training on the aircraft. Given all these problems and the superior numbers of Japanese aircraft the Buffalos did not fair that well. Some did escape to the Dutch East Indies where they would join those operated by the Netherlands East Indian Army. In Finnish service the aircraft arrived too late for the winter war but did take oart in the continuation war. The Finnish pilots like the Buffalo and called it Taivaan Heli "The Haven Pearl". Many pilots would become aces flying it with H Wind scoring 39 of his total 75 victories flying the Buffalo. With the arrival of Bf 109s the Buffalos were considered obselete but they fought untill the end of the continuation war, with the last battles being against their former allay of Germany. They were retired from service in 1948. The Kit Even in 1:48 this is a small aircraft. The kit is the original Classic Airframes molding and so is mixed media with injected plastic, resin and photo etched parts. In a break from tradition construction starts not with the cockpit but with the wheel wells inside the wings. The resin wells are placed inside the wings before they can be assembled. Luckily tradition resurfaces with the wings as the are conventional single part lower, and left & right uppers. A ventral pnael is also installed under the main wings at this time. The gun front gunbay/wheelbay is then made up, this sits between the cockpit and the engine. The rear bulkhead forms the front of the cockpit, and the front bulkhead the engine firewall. The top of the compartment forms the gun bay with the guns and ammo boxes, and the lower part the main gear retraction parts. Once made up it can be installed in the completed wing section. The cockpit fllor is then installed on the rear, and the engine and its mounts on the front. The cockpit floor parts are then installed on this section as well. Moving on to the main fuselage the rear cockpit bulkhead, rear shelf behind the pilot and the tail wheel area are all installed into the right fuselage. This is then installed onto the wing section. All the cockpit parts including the seat, instrument panel, controls etc are then installed onto the cockpit. The main fuselage can then be closed up. The tail cone, tail planes and engine cowl front can then be added. The framing for the area behind the cockpit is then added. The modeller can now move onto the landing gear. The tailwheel needs the moulded wheel removing from the housing and the correct wheel added on. The left & right main gear weels are added to the legs, the retraction struts added and then they can go into the fuselage. The outer doors are then added. To finish off the canopies and propeller are added along with the a few aerial and other small parts. Markings Markings for 4 aircraft are provided. The decals are by Cartograf so should post no problems. The Finnish markings are in two parts for obvious reasons. BW-393, Pilot Hans Wind, Finlands Top scoring ace with 75 victories, 39 in Buffalos, 1/LLv.24, Suulajarvi, April 1943 BW-393, Pilot Kni Eino Luukhanen, He marked his victories with Lahden Erikois beer bottle labels stuck to the fin. 1/LLv.24, Suulajarvi, Nov 1942 BW-378, Pilot Kni Per-Erik Sovellius, Otto Werde was painted under the canopy for Swedish Baron Hugo Hamilton who raised funds for the aircraft. 4/LLv.24, Lunkula, Herbst/Winter 1941 Conclusion Even though this kit is an older one now the parts are still good and the model should build up to a good looking aircraft in markings you dont see to often. Recomended. Review sample courtesy of

Here's my entry into the Radial Engines Rock GB, Special Hobby's Tempest II in 1/72nd, No.33 Sqn based in Butterworth in 1951. Not a bad fitting kit, the main wing was the worse aspect, good job they include 2 vacform canopies as well. Vallejo ModelAir paint, decals by Xtradecal, rockets by Pavla.

I eagerly purchased a couple of Special Hobby Mirage F1s when they were first released and have been keeping them aside with this GB in mind (I may have purchased a few more since then, I couldn't possibly comment). Although I haven't narrowed the subjects of this project down to particular machines, the intended builds will both be late service examples, probably reflecting some of their operational use. To that end, I'll almost certain that I'll be using Berna Decals for both jets; I haven't used them before but they look very nice. Other aftermarket will include Master pitots, Peewit paint masks and a CMK 'Iraqi' centreline tank for the F1CT. The F1CR will utilise one of the kit-supplied recce pods. Pics of the sprues - apologies for odd effect created by photographing two sets of sprues together... P1000621 P1000623 thanks for looking, Andrew.

Special Hobby working on SAAB VIGGEN scaled down to 1/72 metal mould made with 3D CAD-CAM CNC technology like Vampire, Gnat, Mirage etc.

MD-500E 1:72 Special Hobby The MD 500 is one of the latest in a series stemming from the original Hughes OA-6A. Boeing sold the former McDonnell Helicopters business it acquired in 1984 to MD Helicopters 1999 and the type continues to be produced today. The 500E is a conventional tail rotor aircraft with a five bladed main rotor. The E model features a more pointed nose than other models allowing more head & leg room for the pilots. The Kit This is a new tool kit from Special Hobby. The main feature you notice on opening the box is that the main cabin is made from clear plastic which means not trying to avoid getting glue on the main transparency when gluing it in. Construction starts with the interior for the main cabin. The front and rear seats are attached to the main cabin floor along with the bulkhead which separates the cabin. The rear bulkhead needs to be added which support the back seats. The front instrument panel is added (instruments as a decal). Controls of cyclic & collective sticks are added long with rudder pedals. The completed interior can then be added into the clear fuselage. The tail boom is then attached. Depending on the version being modelled long or short skids are attached. The front & rear cabin doors can be added along with the T tail, and the tail rotor. The main five bladed rotor is then made up with each blade being individually added to the hub. The Chilean version has two photo-etched vents added to the upper transmission housing. Various antenna, cable cutters and light housings are added depending upon which version is being built. Decals Decals are from Aviprint and should pose no problems. Markings are provided for 3 examples; Kawasaki OH-6D, 2118779 Japanese Maritime Self Defence Forces. MD-500E, HH-11 Finish Army. MD500E (MDD-369FF) Chilean Army. Conclusion This is a great little kit with an innovative way of making the main fuselage . Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

MD-520N NOTAR 1:72 Special Hobby The MD 500 is one of the latest in a series stemming from the original Hughes OA-6A. Boeing sold the former McDonnell Helicopters business it acquired in 1984 to MD Helicopters 1999 and the type continues to be produced today. The 520N introduced a revolutionary concept to Helicopter design with a single main rotor. Here the tail rotor has been done away with and to counteract torque from the main rotor exhaust from the turbine engine is directed down the tail boom. The thruster at the end is also controllable for yaw control. By doing away with the tail rotor there are less moving parts, less noise (as everything is contained) and there are less problems of potential ground incidents associated with conventional tails. This system was imaginatively called NOTAR (No tail rotor). The Kit This is a the old Profiline kit with new parts from Special Hobby for the NOTAR setup. The main feature you notice on opening the box is that the main cabin is made from clear plastic which means not trying to avoid getting glue on the main transparency when gluing it in. Construction starts with the interior for the main cabin. The front and rear seats are attached to the main cabin floor along with the bulkhead which separates the cabin. The rear bulkhead needs to be added which support the back seats. The front instrument panel is added (instruments as a decal). Controls of cyclic & collective sticks are added long with rudder pedals. The completed interior can then be added into the clear fuselage. The tail boom is then attached. Depending on the version being modelled long or short skids are attached. The front & rear cabin doors can be added along with the T tail, and the tail rotor. The main five bladed rotor is then made up with each blade being individually added to the hub. The Chilean version has two photo-etched vents added to the upper transmission housing. Various antenna, cable cutters and light housings are added depending upon which version is being built. Decals Decals are from Aviprint and should pose no problems. Markings are provided for 3 examples; OK-YIK Private Operator Czech Republic. G-14 Belgian Federal Police. G-SMAC Private Operator UK. D-HABF Private Operator Germany. Conclusion This is a great little kit with an innovative way of making the main fuselage. It is welcome in this boxing that masks for the glazing have been included. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Just wanted to share some pics of one of my latest finished models. Supermarine Seafire FR.46, LA546 / 600 LM, RNAS Lossiemouth, 1948. From the Special Hobby kit #72231, just added a few details in scratch, a new instrument panel, scribed some lost panel lines and rivetted the whole airframe. Here's the model: And a picture of the real thing... Hope you like it! UnCarlitosModelista

Special Hobby has announced for 2017-2018 a 1/72nd Blohm & Voss BV-155 V-1 kit - ref. SH72340. Source: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235016099-novelties-from-special-hobby/ V.P.

Special Hobby is to release 1/72nd Messerschmitt Me.209V-1 & V-4 kits - ref. SH72138 & SH72221 Source: http://happy.ap.teacup.com/runchicken_s/ V.P.

There's been several excellent Firefly builds on the forum over the past few years and I thought it high time that I dusted off my special hobby kit and gave it a go myself. I'll be using all the information gleaned from the previous builds, in particular that of Navy Bird who was brave enough to build two Special Hobby kits of these wonderful aircraft as once. Australian Fairey Firefly stickers are pretty hard to come but I did manage to secure what appears to be a more recent printing from Red Roo depicting VX388/207Q (AS5) from HMAS Vengeance and VX385/205K (Mk5) from HMAS Sydney in 1953 latter Korean War schemes. I'm very tempted by VX388 which just happens to now reside at the Camden Museum of Aviation and was the subject of Navy Bird's target tug version. Here she is in Stewart Wilson's excellent Sea Fury, Firefly and Sea Venom book. I also have a hankering to represent a Mk.4 from HMAS Sydney during the late 1940's with a Dark Slate Grey/EDSG/Sky scheme. I have the following airframe in mind which is here being flown by one of my late father's friends, and still with Royal Navy codes. I'd need to cobble together some stickers of course which may be the hardest part of that scheme but I'd also be unsure about cockpit colours, whether it was all black as in the latter marks, or had one or more cockpits in interior green. Still some time to decide. Progress to date has involved separating the resin cockpit components from the pour blocks wearing the requisite gloves, mask and eye protection, and tidying up the fuselage halves. A coat of primer can't be too far away. As this is my first resin cockpit, I might also ask what glue do people prefer with resin - superglue (cringe) or epoxy (messy)?

JA-37 Viggen Canard Correction Set (4362) AJ/SF/SH-37 Viggen Canard Correction Set (4361) (for Special Hobby/Tarangus) 1:48 Special Hobby Tarangus brought us a newly tooled JA-37 Viggen a few years ago, consigning the old Airfix kit to history, and Special Hobby - the people behind the tooling and moulding of the Tarangus kit - brought us the AJ-37, AJS-37, and the SH/SF-37 was handled by Tarangus again. As a Viggen lover, I'm still waiting for the two-seater, so if anyone in a position to help move that along is listening, get a move on! Every model has its flaws, and it seems that the angle of the leading edge of the flaps on the canards was a little off, so Special Hobby have created these two sets to correct that issue. They also add a smidge of additional detail to the flap itself, including the see-through parts, and each set has the correct number of vortex generators on the rear edge of the fixed portion of the canard. The canards have the root fairing along their full length, which leaves a thin section where the flap sits, so take care when removing the parts from the casting block. One of my samples had warped in the box, but this is easily fixed by taping the part to a flat surface and pouring hot water from the kettle over it, then dousing it under the cold tap. Handily, the correct angle of droop for the flaps is given on the instructions as 30o, but do take care not to cut off the lugs from the fairing sides, as they are the locating point on the fuselage. A couple of small air bubbles mar an otherwise good set slightly, but this is easy to clean up, and casting thin parts is prone to this kind of issue. As usual with resin, take the precaution of wearing a mask when cutting or sanding resin, as the tiny particles are harmful to your health if breathed in. Washing the parts in warm water will also improve the adhesion of paint, as there may still be some moulding release agent on the parts when you receive them. AJ/SF/SH-37 (4361) JA-37 (4362) Review sample courtesy of

Hello Here is my new finished kit with this 1/72 Special Hobby Nakajima Ki-43-III when used by the Armée de l'air (French Air Force) in Indochina between December 1945 and February 1946. The GC I/7 Provence stationed at Po Chen Tong near Phnom Penh when they used less than a dozen former Japanese Army Air Force Nakajima fighters. There were many accidents and after a couple of months they were replaced by Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX, and this is another story. The kit is easy to assemble. For the very worn effect I painted first the kit with Alclad Duralumin. Next I applied with a piece of sponge some masking fluid before airbrushing the dark green. After one hour I peeled off the paint with the finger. I made the same for the yellow identification markings. I saw on the pictures that the metal blades of the propeller were in perfect conditions. The transfers came from two sheets on the subject by Printscale. I say two because the transfers are too thin and after the first I could see the mottle effect through the white and red transfers. Then I bought another sheet to put exactly a second layer of the same transfers. Patrick

Special Hobby is to release a family of Allison engined 1/72nd Curtiss P-40 Warhawk kits from P-40E to N. Source: http://www.specialhobby.net/2017/02/info-z-norimberku-no2.html V.P.

Hello I have just finished in time this 1/72 Special Hobby Boulton-Paul Balliol as the factory demonstrator aicraft #G-ANSF in a nice red and white dress for the "Made in Britain" GB. The red came from acrylic range Gunze Sangyo H-33 Russet which is not visible on the pictures. You can go to work in progress here : Patrick

Hello I am joining this Group Build with this training aircraft which is the Boulton Paul Balliol. As I have been seduced by the box art of this recent kit made by Special Hobby, here she is in civilian guise. This airplane was used as a demonstrator. First I started to make the cockpit with the metal and injected parts from the box. The instrument panel was made of a picture behind the metal part Next I painted the cockpit with mainly a very dark grey I glued the cockpit in the starboard fuselage half To be continued... Patrick

Next Special Hobby reboxing from a Classic Airframe kit will be the 1/48th IMAM (Romeo) R.37bis - ref. 48185 Source: http://www.specialhobby.net/2017/03/sh48185-imam-romeo-ro37bis-148.html Original CA box art and kit review: http://kits.kitreview.com/ro37reviewse_1.htm http://www.stormomagazine.com/Reviews/CA_Ro37bis_1a.html V.P.

Source: http://modelweb.modelforum.cz/2013/10/19/novinky-od-mpm-production-na-rijen-2013/?lang=CS MPM is working on 1/72nd Potez-Air-Fouga CM.170R Magister (& Tzukit) and CM.175 Zéphyr kits. Bad news for the Valom similar project: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234946157-172nd-potez-air-fouga-cm170r-magister-by-valom/?hl=magister V.P.

MPM SH32049 boxart: http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=97&t=71717&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a translation: Main parts from short run and small details from metal mould.

A new and upgraded - new mould for small parts - boxing from the old 1/48th IMAM (Romeo) Ro.37 kit is in progress by Special Hobby - ref. SH48183 Source: http://www.specialhobby.net/2017/05/modely-v-priprave-v.html V.P.