Review Content

That is what I do, along with the correct catalogue number of said item so that the wrong version of kit cannot be bought!!!!

Wehrmacht Maultiers (DS3522) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The term Maultier was applied to several vehicles that were used by the German Wehrmacht during WWII, many of which were built by Ford’s German subsidiary, some by Opel, Mercedes and even Alfa Romeo, and that word translates to Mule in English, which is an understandable nickname. The tracked variants came into use after their initial experience with the poorly prepared roads and tracks during their invasion of Russia, where wheeled vehicles were quickly stranded in a sea of mud during the spring and autumn. They weren’t as mobile as specifically designed half-tracks, but they could carry heavy loads long distances, and were easy for crews to adapt to, as they closely resembled the ordinary trucks that they were used to driving. The Kit This new boxing from ICM contains three kits of different variants of the Maultier, all with half-track running gear, but with varying bodywork, cabs and manufacturer. The kit arrives in a large top-opening box with a captive flap on the lower tray, and inside are three separate bags that contain all the plastic, with three instruction booklets underneath, and the individual decal sheets slipped inside. Two kits have colour profiles in the rear, while the older tooling has black and white, but that doesn’t matter much due to the simplicity of the scheme. V3000S/SSM Maultier ‘Einheitsfahrerhaus’ (35410) This is a reboxing of a fully-wheeled kit that originated in 2010, but has had new parts added in the interim, and has also been seen in other people’s boxes over the years. Inside the bag are five sprues in grey styrene, and a clear sprue. Detail is good, and incorporates a full engine and bay, chassis, axles, tracks and cab features, as we’ve come to expect from ICM. Construction begins with the chassis rails, which are extended on top at the rear, then are fitted with three two-part u-clamps, after which the cross-braces are prepared by adding small parts to them to improve the detail. There are a total of six cross-beams joining the two rails together, then the leaf-spring suspension is attached underneath each end, adding extra parts at the front. The V8 engine is built upon a two-part block, which has cylinder heads and ancillaries added, plus air box, gear lever over the transmission box, and cooling fan at the front. The completed motor is dropped into the front of the chassis, with a two-part spare tyre on a double-rail in the middle of the chassis, then a choice of early or late radiators are built, one having directing tin-work to guide the air from the fan behind it. It is fitted to the front of the chassis, joined to the engine by a pair of L-shaped feeder hoses, which vary between the style of radiator you have chosen. The front wheels are made from two halves, with a stepped washer placed in the centre without glue to allow them to rotate after completion, so don’t overdo the glue. They are joined to the ends of the front axle, with a steering arm ensuring that the wheels turn in unison once they are glued in place and the axle is fitted to the leaf-springs under the chassis, which also received a straight bumper iron and two curved support rods to the sides. An exhaust is made from three parts, leading from the down-pipe across the chassis, then back toward a muffler, after which it dog-legs back across the chassis to exit in front of the rear axle. A sub-frame for the track assembly is provided, and must be detailed with several brackets and pivots, before the drive axle is built from two parts to create the thickness of the differential, fitting three-layered drive sprockets to each end, then making up four twin wheel bogeys with separate springs and a small return roller at the top. The rear axle is fitted to the open end of the sub-frame, and the idler wheels are installed on the simple axle at the other end, mounting the four bogeys, two per side on the remaining tubular axles. The track is link-and-length, using long runs across the top and bottom of the road wheels, adding short diagonals to the ends of the bottom run, then completing the rounded ends with eight individual links wrapped round the idler and drive sprockets. The completed track assembly is mounted on the underside of the chassis, and power is provided by a short drive-shaft from the transmission to the differential. The cab is begun by inserting the two radiused windscreen panels into the frame at the top of the firewall bulkhead, and placing the dashboard under it, applying a decal to depict the instruments. The floor panel with integral kick-board has the foot pedals and handbrake lever applied, then it is mated with the bulkhead, which has a lower section installed at the same time to extend it into the firewall and create the footwell. A short scuttle panel covers the space under the windscreen, and the engine bay’s side walls are fitted to mount the curved radiator grille between their front ends, after which the driver gets his steering wheel on a short column, then a bench seat is glued to the floor in two parts, adding the door frames on each side, and the rear of the cab that has the back cushion and a small window fitted before it is mated with the base and the roof is mounted. The doors each have handles and window-winders plus flat clear panes to keep the weather out. The tapering bonnet has two extensions added to the underside, plus a brace across the underside and a fin with logo down the centre, or there is an alternative with more grille cut-outs in the front of the bonnet that has a fin without logo and uses different parts, including a separate front that has the grille cut-outs moulded-in. The assemblies are brought together to complete the cab, which then has a choice of three styles of fenders, all of which require alteration to remove or shorten the crew steps that are moulded in. A convoy light, headlamps with clear lenses, door handles, fuel filler cap, width indicator lollipops, windscreen wipers, outer door handles and even a shovel are added around the exterior of the cab to finish it off. The load bed has a single floor part that is stiffened by adding five cross-members underneath, and four shallow risers around the edges, the headboard being higher than the others, with a cut-out for rear visibility. Two small three-part stowage boxes are made and fixed under opposite corners of the bed, then the front mudguards are fitted to reduce spatter from the tracks covering the cab, with no regard for those behind them. The headboard has a two-part frame for the tilt slotted into receivers moulded into the headboard, and the three sub-assemblies are then brought together to create the finished truck. Markings There are three options included on the tiny decal sheet, all in later war Dunkelgelb dark yellow, with one wearing a comprehensive brown and green camouflage scheme applied over the yellow, the other overlaid with a heavy coating of winter distemper paint that is starting to wear away into a mottled pattern in places. From the box you can build one of the following: Non-camouflage 1944 Camouflage 1944 Winter Camouflage 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. V3000S/SS M Maultier Ambulance Truck (35414) This kit shares a chassis with the kit above, totalling five sprues of grey styrene, two of clear parts, a small decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in black and white, as it is an older boxing before the transition to colour booklets. Construction begins with the chassis and running gear, which although the steps are in a different order, the drawings and parts are the same, right up until the cab is started, which has a less rustic moulded steel structure. The roof is moulded into the windscreen and scuttle, fitting the screen and instrument panel with dial decals, joining it to the rear cab after installing the back cushion, rear window and another curved part. The bonnet has sides and a central decorative trim piece fitted, and a cross-brace underneath near the front helps to strengthen the structure. The lower panels are mounted on the firewall, with the radiator at the front, laying the bonnet over the top, and making the cab floor with pedals, levers and the steering wheel on its column before the bonnet and cab are mated with it, making up crew doors with windows and door cards, which you can pose open or closed. The front wings have running boards moulded-in, and you must remove 11mm of its length for this variant, adding headlights with clear lenses, convoy light, pioneer tools, wing mirrors, indicators and windscreen wipers to the exterior, and fitting a Jerry can in a frame on the right wing, plus a filler cap on the curved panel applied earlier. The rear box has a flat floor with five cross-braces underneath, to which three sides are installed, fitting windows and doors with handles to the sides, then making the roof with shallow gable ends before gluing it in place. The rear doors are decorated with handles, number plate, hooks, to be installed either open or closed in any combination, then the raised centre section of the roof is made, with a curved top, long straight sides and ends that follow the curve of the main roof. At the rear, a two-part chimney/vent is fixed in a recess on the main roof, bringing the three main assemblies together, then installing the track assembly under the load area, and linking it to the engine with a drive-shaft. The back steps can be flipped up and held on hooks for travel, or folded down for access, making it from two carriers and four steps, plus two rings to correspond with the hooks on the doors. A stowage platform is built for the cab roof, consisting of a slatted floor, two brackets that conform to the slope of the roof, adding a shallow basket with ‘handle’ and a spare tyre that is made from the main carcass and hub, inserting one sidewall, and a handle that winds down to lock the tyre in position. Markings There are two decal options, with a dark yellow (Dunkelgelb) chassis, and white load box, with the white repeated on the bonnet, adding red crosses to further deter the enemy from shooting at them, or smaller red crosses and no white on the post-war option. From the box you can build one of the following: Poland, Autumn 1944 Germany, Winter 1945 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. KHD S3000/SS M Maultier (35453) Despite looking outwardly similar to the kit above, this kit has a different motor, and an open load bed, and is essentially a different kit entirely under the over-arching nickname ‘Maultier’. The kit consists of five sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a pair of flexible black front tyres, and the instruction booklet with a glossy colour cover. Detail is good, based upon a 2015 tooling that was fitted with four wheels, instead of two wheels and a set of tracks. It was built by Klockner-Humbolt-Deutz (KHD), which changed its name to Magirus after the war, and had one of their own engines up front, with a subtly different look, and extremely tall width-checking lollipops. Construction begins with the Deutz engine, which looks surprisingly modern, built from a two-part block with sump, cylinder head, ancillaries, and a four-port manifold on the side and two bolts in the cylinder head, followed by a dual-layer set of serpentine belts that are fixed on pegs to the engine, with a fan on the front, completing the power plant. The chassis is bulkier than the other Maultiers, as are the cross-braces, adding four of them to space the two rails apart, and four steps on the outer face of the rails, followed by a transmission carrier near the front axle, which is covered by a pair of forward wheel arches. The completed engine is inserted between the arches, flipping the chassis over to make the exhaust from three portions that includes a muffler, and a curved outlet to the rear. The transmission is built from three parts and is inserted in the back of the engine, nestling in its carrier between the crew steps. The front axle consists of a double beam with steering linkage that is installed on a pair of leaf springs moulded into the front of the chassis, making the drive sprocket axle from two halves, joining it to the transmission via a short drive-shaft, as it is sited at the front of the track installation, for which three axles are glued into position, the front are two simple rods, while the idler wheel axle is more substantial, made from two parts with a rectangular profile. The drive sprockets are each three parts, and two bogeys per side are made from twin wheels and a return roller that are clamped between the bogey halves, slipping onto the ends of the axles, and joined by a single idler wheel on an adjustable stub axle. Tracks are link-and-length, using a single straight run under the wheels, with two diagonals at the ends, and another long run over the top. The highly curved sections around the ends of the track runs are made from eight individual links to complete the runs. A large radiator with a arched top is inserted in the front of the chassis, beginning work on the cab, starting with the bench seat on a C-shaped support, then making the floor, adding foot pedals and control levers to the driver’s side and the transmission tunnel, plus a pair of circular studs near the left arch. The seat is installed in the rear, adding a rear wall with small window on pegs from behind, plus the seat back glued to it along with the B-pillars and door sills attached to the sides with a simple foot step hanging down to each side. The cab roof and windscreen are moulded as a single part, fitting the dash with two supports in under the scuttle, and inserting the window into its cut-out from inside, mating the roof and floor assemblies to create the cab, before adding it to the chassis along with a steering column, mounting a wheel to its top. The crew doors have windows and simple door cards on the insides, with handles and winders slotted into depressions, fitting those to the cab sides open, closed or any variation of the two, whilst building the engine cowling from two halves, with a radiator grille inserted into the front, and a small curved fairing on the left side. Four cross-braces are fitted to the load bed floor, which has planking moulded into it, and once righted the four slatted and planked sides are fitted in place, along with a small mudguard to the front, and a number plate holder at the rear, then adding that to the chassis behind the cab, and fixing four tilt support hoops into the sides of the load bed to finish that area. The remaining parts detail the cab with number plate, radiator cap, indicators, outer handles, headlights with clear lenses, convoy light, wing mirrors, windscreen wipers and width indicator lollipops. Markings There are two decal options on the small sheet, one in early war Panzer Grey, the other in later war Dark Yellow (Dunkelgelb). From the box you can build one of the following: Ukraine, Summer 1942 Poland, Autumn 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. Conclusion If Maultiers are your thing, and you’re not afraid of tracks, these competent off-roaders provide three variants in one box that is both good news from a modelling standpoint, and a stash density point of view. Detail is good, and the variety enough to keep you entertained. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Hurricane Mk.IIA/B/C Eastern Front Deluxe Set (70045) 1:72 Arma Hobby The Hawker Hurricane was one of Britain's foremost fighters of WWII, and although overshadowed by the more graceful and slender Spitfire during the Battle of Britain, it was a capable aircraft that was available in large numbers, and made more than its fair share of kills during the conflict. It went on to see service to the end of the war, but was relegated to less onerous tasks as technology leapt forward resulting in faster, more agile aircraft that came on stream on both sides of the conflict. The type originated in the early 30s and first took to the sky in 1935, despite the Air Ministry’s tepid reaction to monoplanes at the time, and it was an aircraft that set standards for fighters that followed it, being a monoplane with a predominantly metal airframe, retractable landing gear, an enclosed cockpit and of course the delightfully powerful and throaty Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Compared to the Spitfire it was a little old-fashioned, starting out with a fabric-covered ‘rag’ wing that was eventually replaced by an all-metal unit, and it was less aerodynamically streamlined, with a thicker wing and overall chunkier, blunt appearance. Although the wing was replaced by a metal aerofoil later, it kept the fabric rear fuselage and as such was able to have minor damage repaired quickly and easily, compared to the Spitfire that would have to go back to a repair facility for structurally insignificant through-and-through bullet damage. A fabric patch and a few coats of dope, and the Hurri would be back to the fray, which endeared it both to its pilots and ground crew alike. The Sea Hurricane was initially developed to be launched from Catapult Armed Merchantmen (CAM Ships) as a one-shot launch that would be used to defend a convoy from attackers, and then either flown to friendly shores, or ditched close to the convoy in the hope of being picked up. The aircraft were converted from well-used airframes for a last hurrah to protect the merchantmen, and were initially known as Hurricats. They had several alterations to make them suitable for launch and operation by Navy pilots, including naval specification radio gear. The later 1B was equipped with an arrestor-hook and catapult equipment and were used on aircraft carriers of various types, while the later 1Cs had cannon armed wings and an over-boosted engine that put out 1400hp at low level. The IICs were used on naval carriers, and over four hundred were built. The Kit Arma’s Hurricane Mk.I was first issued in 2018, and has been reboxed in various guises since then. This new boxing depicts the Hurricane in British and Soviet markings on the Eastern front, with two kits in the box plus 3D printed extras, so you can build yourself a brace of Hurris. The kit(s) arrives in a slightly larger than usual end-opening box, and inside are four sprues of grey styrene, two clear sprues, a Ziploc bag of 3D printed parts that is wrapped in bubble-wrap, two sheets of pre-cut kabuki-style masking material, a large decal sheet and the A5 instruction booklet with colour profiles to the rear. If you’re a neophyte to Arma Hobby kits, the detail is excellent, with fine engraved and raised details, plus a generous quantity of components within the box that many companies would consider to be aftermarket. As a 1:48 modeller, I was really quite envious of the quality of these kits until the 1:48 boxings started popping up, but I’m OK now. As there are two kits in this box, just assume that we’re talking about and photographing everything in duplicate, except the decal sheet and resin parts, which contains markings and parts for both kits. Before starting building the kit, the instructions have you choose the decal options you plan on building, which will affect which wing parts, tail-wheel, and chin intake that you use, with some more changes requires along the way, which is pointed out in red where necessary. With that preparation done, construction begins with the main gear bay, which is made from two parts that form both bays in one D-shaped assembly, with a central tank applied to the front wall before it is inserted into depressions inside the wing, which is moulded as a single span part top and bottom, filling some ammo chute holes under the wing for some options. Work begins on the cockpit, starting with the rear bulkhead, which has an angular headrest, the seat in styrene or resin (your choice) and decal four-point belts if you don’t use the resin seats, which have the belts moulded-in. The instrument panel is also made from the styrene panel with raised details and two decals, one for the panel, the other for the compass between the pilot’s knees for enhanced detail. The cockpit sidewalls are detailed with decals and styrene parts, and you can also add quite a gaggle of 3D printed resin parts if you wish to give your model more detail, adding a cross-brace under where the seat is fitted, and gluing the completed instrument panel into the front. On the top of the wing, the foot troughs are moulded-in and receive the control column and rudder pedals, and the fuselage is closed around the rear bulkhead and seat. The wings and fuselage can now be mated, taking care not to ping off the raised cockpit detail perched atop the wings as you bring them together. At the rear, the elevators are moulded as full-width fin and separate flying surfaces, and drop onto the back of the fuselage with the fin and moulded-in rudder inserted from behind to complete the empennage after removing the aerial peg at the top of the rudder for some options, then filling in some panel lines and gun ports on the wings, and on the fuselage below the cockpit opening. Inverting the model will allow you to put the retraction jacks and gear legs in their bays, and the wheels on the axles, with their captive bay doors fixed to the outer side of the legs, adding the tail-wheel into its socket under the fuselage. The belly-mounted radiator is made up from the main fairing with front and rear radiator faces slotted into it, and covered over at the front with the oval intake installing it with a circular light behind it painted with clear orange, and a two-part chin intake in front, with optional resin mesh cover. You have a choice of styrene or 3D printed exhaust stubs with fishtail ejectors that give a good impression of being hollow, especially for their size. Each wing leading edge gets a clear landing light, a T-shaped pitot probe in a small hole in the skin, and for one decal option a set of superb 3D printed cannon barrels with integrated springs. A two-part tropical filter is supplied for some of the decal options, to use as necessary under the nose, then the propeller is made up, the blades of which are moulded as a single part, sandwiched between a spinner cap and the airframe, which has a tapering styrene washer and needs a little glue to keep it mobile within the spinner. The windscreen is fixed to the forward deck after adding the gunsight to the coaming, and has a 3D printed rear-view mirror glued on top. To pose the canopy open or closed, there are two parts, one patterned to fit the cockpit aperture snugly, the other widened slightly so that it can slide over the spine behind the cockpit, stopping just before the aerial mast, from which you’ll need to nip the aerial tab off the back. There are also a pair of wingtip lights in clear that have a tiny bulb-shaped hole inside for you to fill with paint to depict the red or green lamp within. For options with standard guns there are optional 3D parts to replace the styrene barrels, and a pair of appliqué panels in resin that have separate angled deflectors for the outermost ammo chute, which you can see on the additional sheet that accompanies the resin parts in this set. Over the page an eighth decal option is printed, which will require you to pick up some Finnish decals and a Mk.I propeller from another Arma Hobby kit. Markings There are seven decal options on the sheet, five wearing red stars, the other two RAF roundels, and you can build two of the following: Hurricane Mk.IIb, BM959/60, Karelian Front Air Force, 609th Fighter Aviation Regiment, USSR, April 1942 Hurricane Mk.IIa, Z2585/42, Karelian Front Air Force, 152nd Fighter Aviation Regiment, USSR, February 1942 Hurricane Mk.IIc, KX452/64, Northern Fleet Air Force, 78th Fighter Aviation Regiment, USSR, March 1943 Hurricane Mk.IIa, Z5548/48, Soviet Air Force, Unknown unit, Probably 26th Fighter Aviation Regiment, USSR, Winter 1941/42 Hurricane Mk.IIb, Z4017/FU-56, 81 Sqn. RAF, Flight B, Operation ‘Benedict’, USSR, October 1941 Hurricane Baltic Fleet Air Force, 3rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Pilot Cpt. G D Kostyliev, USSR, Autumn 1942 Hurricane Mk.IIb, Z5236/GO-31, 134 Sqn. RAF, Operation ‘Benedict’, Vaenga, USSR, October 1941 Bonus: Hurricane Mk.II, HC-465, ex Z2585, Finnish Air Forces, 34 Fighter Sqn., Spring 1944 There are two sheets of masks Decals are by Techmod, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion What do you get if you take a great kit and put two in the box, plus some extra 3D printed parts and 7/8 decal options? A better package that’s of great interest, especially to those with a thing for the Eastern Front. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

FM-1 Upgrade Sets (for Tamiya) 1:48 Eduard Brassin Tamiya’s Wildcat range in 1:48 was broadened last year by the addition of the British operated FM-1 Martlet, operated by the Royal Navy in large numbers under the Lend/Lease agreement. Now we have some after market parts to increase the level of detail in quick, easy ways that won’t break the bank. As usual with Eduard's smaller Brassin sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package similar to their PE sets but with different branding, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. Bulkier small parts are further protected by being shut inside a low-profile crystal clear clamshell box inside the packaging, the parts prevented from rattling around by a small sticky patch in the centre of the box. Some of the sets are all directly 3D printed parts, and they are attached to their print-bases by many fine fingers that taper at the top end to reduce clean-up once you have liberated the part(s) from the base. A little light sanding is usually sufficient to make any marks disappear, after which you can start putting parts together. FM-1 Exhausts PRINT (6481015) Consisting of two angled hollow exhausts, these ultra-fine parts should be a drop-in replacement for the kit parts, with much more finesse than their styrene equivalents. FM-1 Wheels (6481016) Containing two traditional resin wheels, two 3D printed spoked hubs, two flat PE hubs, and a sheet of kabuki-style masking material that is pre-cut to simplify painting immensely, you can choose to use either style hub, cutting the wheels from their casting block that is located on the contact patch, where you will find a slight flattening of the tyre under the weight of the airframe. They are drop-in replacements, and packed with detail. FM-1 Seat PRINT (6481017) This set contains a 3D printed seat and a set of STEEL Photo-Etch (PE) belts that are nickel-plated and pre-painted to give your model realism. The seat is a drop-in replacement for the kit part, and the belts are easy to mould to the shape of the seat pan to give a realistic drape, thanks to the thinner, more flexible metal they are printed upon. Conclusion The great thing about these sets is that you can pick and choose what you want to focus on, they’re not going to blow your budget, and the detail is exquisite. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Dassault Mirage F1 – Warpaint #142 ISBN: 9781916759169 Guideline Publications The Dassault Mirage F.1 was a successful point defence fighter for over thirty years, and was developed initially as a private venture by Dassault as a replacement to their ageing Mirage III fighters. It is a single-engined, single-seat fighter aircraft with a high-mounted delta wing and capability of reaching Mach 2.2 in short order. Dassault soon found an eager customer in the shape of the French Armée de l'Air, who bought various versions over the years. The B model was a two-seat variant that is 12"/30cm longer than the single seater, sacrificing some fuel capacity to house the second cockpit, and weighing in heavier due to the two Mk.10 ejector seats that were installed. The cannons were also sacrificed, but cannon pods can be used if required. It is predominantly intended as a trainer, but other than the lack of cannons, it is fully mission capable and is wired and rated for munitions identically to its single-seater sibling. The F.1 was an export success, bought by twelve nations, most notably and somewhat infamously, to Libya, Iraq and Iran, some of which were destroyed in the conflicts in the 2000s. The two seat B was sold in smaller quantities to Libya, Spain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, although not all the airframes were delivered to Iraq before they fell from grace internationally. The EQ was sold to both Iraq and Iran, ironically, and the ED was used by Libya, one of which famously defected during the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The F.1 is still in service with a few nations although France retired theirs in 2014, and before its retirement it earned the nickname Grandma with the Spanish Air Force due to its advancing years. At time of writing, they are still in use with the new Libyan government, Morocco, and Iran, to name a few. The Book The book by author Andy Evans is in the usual Warpaint format of portrait A4(ish) with a soft card cover but for the time being at least, with higher page counts of recent editions, it utilises a perfect binding instead of the usual pair of staples to accommodate the genuine total of fifty-six pages plus content printed on the four sides of the glossy covers, including a two-page spread of plans in 1:72, penned in great detail by Sam Pearson. The initial section details the birth of the type, with some interesting titbits of information included, then the subsequent pages detail the different variants, including those specifically engineered for foreign operators, of which there were quite a few due to the success they had with overseas sales. Most of the photos are in colour, with airframes from French and the many overseas operators, as well as the usual official sources and historical records that were kept by the developers, operators, and manufacturers. The pages include a lot of useful photos with informative captions of aircraft on the apron, on the field, in the air, during trials, and even under protection of a Mk.19 Grenade launcher in a desert location. The Profiles section shows a range of colours that the type was painted, including some of the military and more colourful schemes, adding an extra section of photos of some of the more esoteric schemes near the rear that spans four pages. My favourite variant is usually the slightly weird one, but there’s not much weird about the F1 and its variants, other than a few of the brighter colour schemes. Of the schemes that are shown in the two pages of profiles, the bright sky blue and duck-egg green camouflage look quite interesting, at least to me, although when I build one it’ll be one of the Libyan defectors, as I have some pre-revolution paper money that I was given by a family member that almost got stranded there, but for an RAF Hercules. The plans include F.1B, F.1CT, F.1M, and F.1C, using single side profiles and scrap drawings to squeeze this many variants into two pages of dense drawings. The In Detail section is an interesting look at the aircraft at close range that spans seven pages, and includes shots of an F.1B in French service, an F.1M and F.1M C.14 in Spanish colours, and an F.1EQ-6 in desert camo, that are in various locations including museums and on aprons. There are kits of the F1 in all the major scales, some newer than others, but there’s plenty of aftermarket to spruce them up if you feel the urge. Conclusion The Warpaint series always gets a thumbs-up due to their consistent layout and quality. This is an excellent book that will see plenty of use by anyone interest in, or in building this appealing early fast jet Note: You can buy either the traditional physical version of the book by following the link below, or the digital version if you’re more modern and forward thinking, or have limited storage space. Digital reference is starting to grow on me. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Doh! Why didn't I think of that? 🫤 All I would need to add is a web address for the preferred mail order supplier on each item. 🙂

Thanks for the review - I didn’t know about this kit! I’m probably in the minority but I’m keen on F1 subjects in 1/24. It means they can go side-by-side with my other race car builds, for a realistic size comparison.

A-10C Upgrade Sets 2nd Tranche (for GWH – Great Wall Hobby) 1:48 Eduard Great Wall Hobby (GWH) sprung a new 1:48 scale A-10C Thunderbolt II on us late last year, and although we’ve not seen one here at Britmodeller yet (we have one on the way), the potential given their history of well-detailed models is generating much excitement and anticipation as they reach people’s stashes and workbenches. Eduard's new range of sets are here to improve on the kit detail in the usual modular manner, and we reviewed the first tranche of sets here recently. Now we have the second batch of sets available for you to salivate over and choose from. Get what you want for the areas you want to be more of a focal point. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. There are also some weapons sets and other more complex sets available now and coming soon, so watch out for our next review. Interior (491458) Two frets are included, one nickel-plated and pre-painted, the other in bare brass, plus a small sheet of pre-printed clear acetate sheet. A complete set of new layered instrument panels, sidewalls, and side consoles with added levers for the cockpit and the extensive instrument panel are in full colour, with rudder pedals; a replacement HUD that is made from PE, adding a lens to the lower portion, and sections of acetate film after removing the kit parts marked in red. The canopy is augmented by hoops with rear view mirrors, a hoop for the windscreen, and a frame for underneath the canopy to be seen when it’s posed open, adding skins to the sides of the retractable crew ladder bay, and vents on the sides of the forward fuselage, which isn’t strictly speaking part of the interior. Speaking of exterior, the undersides of the wings are upgraded by adding chaff and flare boxes to the wingtips just inside the downturned tip, and to the rear of the main gear bay nacelle, removing the moulded-in kit depiction beforehand under both wings. Zoom! Set (FE1458) This set contains a reduced subset of the interior, namely the pre-painted and acetate parts that are used to improve on the main aspects of the cockpit, as seen above. Whatever your motivations for wanting this set, it provides a welcome boost to detail, without being concerned with the more structural elements. Seatbelts STEEL (FE1459) These belts are Photo-Etch (PE) steel, and because of their strength they can be etched from thinner material, which improves realism and flexibility in one sitting. Coupled with the new painting method that adds perceived extra depth to the buckles and other furniture by shading, they are more realistic looking and will drape better than regular brass PE. As well as the crew belts, you also get a set of pull-handles either side of the pilot's knees that gets him or her out of there in case of an emergency, plus a pair of straps on the drogue ‘chute pack in the ejection seat’s headbox. Review sample courtesy of

M55 203mm Self-Propelled Howitzer (63548) 1:35 I Love Kit via Creative Models Ltd Based upon the chassis and some of the lower hull of a P47 Patton, but with the running gear and hull reversed, it travelled engine-deck first, with a huge turret that had limited traverse overhanging the rear that necessitated changes to the rear of the track run, and had a self-entrenching tool attached to the rear. It was developed from the earlier M53 that carried a 155mm gun, which it replaced in 1956 with the US Army, serving in Vietnam until the end of the 60s, when it was replaced in turn by the open-topped M110 howitzer after serving with it side-by-side for several years. The type also served in small numbers with a few NATO states, the last of whom kept it a little longer before it faded into history, scrapyards and museum storage. It was operated by a crew by six, consisting of a commander, driver and gunner, plus three more crew members to feed the gun with massive shells, of which it could carry just ten in internal storage, and as it was essential that it was required to continue firing for more than twenty minutes (1 round per 2 minutes), it would be accompanied by support vehicles that carried more rounds to feed the beast. The type was built by Pacific Car & Foundry, and was protected by 25mm/1” of armour, as although it wasn’t expected to be on the frontline, the nature of combat couldn’t always guarantee that it wouldn’t occasionally see limited action, even if it was only sporadic gunfire as a target of opportunity by the Vietcong, as the North Vietnamese army was sometimes known. Its top speed was a surprising 30mph, but that would reduce markedly on unmade roads or tracks, as 44 tonnes of metal and armour will stress any suspension system. The Kit This is a new boxing from another of Trumpeter’s brands, although it’s a strange name for a brand by any usual standards, even if it is descriptive of how we sometimes feel about our stashes. The kit shares many of the hallmarks of a Hobby Boss kit, which is another of their brands, and arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front. Inside the box are five sprues and two major parts in sand-coloured styrene, two identical sprues in brown styrene, a blast bag part on its own sprue for the gun in light grey flexible plastic, a tree of sixteen translucent poly-caps, a small clear sprue, two substantial frets of Photo-Etch (PE), a small decal sheet, instruction booklet in black and white, plus a glossy colour painting and decaling guide printed on both sides. This is an exterior kit, and the detail is good, extending to the link-and-length tracks, and the PE adds more fine detail to the kit, remembering that you’ll need to glue the PE parts in with Super Glue (CA). Construction begins with the road wheels, making eight pairs of one type, four more of another, and two of a third type, each made from hubs and separate tyres, with a poly-cap trapped between the two wheels for easy installation and removal. Six pairs of return-rollers are made up, then the hull is prepared with suspension details, four on each side, plus a more complex arrangement at the front, building one for each side from five parts. A pair of hatches with separate latches are fitted into holes in the rear bulkhead, mounting several small parts around them, including a towing hook and lugs for various eyes, breaking it down into two separate stages. The suspension arms and stub axles are inserted into each of the axle ports, fitting two suspension struts per side, adding the return-rollers to their sockets, and a single small wheel to the front suspension arm alongside a pair of road wheels, using up the rest of them in specific order on both sides of the hull. The front bulkhead has two small hatches and eyes installed, building up the drive sprockets from three parts, plus a two-part final drive housing that is glued to the sides of the hull. The tracks are link-and-length, using a long length on the lower run, plus three shorter sections for the upper run, adding a diagonal section under the drive sprocket, and creating the rounded ends from seven individual links at the front and ten at the rear, plus another two between the diagonal and lower run at the front. The upper hull is a large part with the turret base in a stepped down area at the rear, and this is detailed with louvred grates that have separate lifting lugs, stowage boxes with separate hatches and handles, two tapering assemblies with PE grilles on the open wider end, and many small parts around the deck and sides. Two more boxes are built with PE inserts glued into slots within, and their open rear ends house the front light clusters with clear lenses that are fitted on a PE support, adding a PE strip along the sides of the hull so that the PE side skirts can be fixed in place along with several PE fixings per side. More lifting handles are dotted around the deck, then it is mated to the lower hull, and the travel lock is built from five parts, some without glue, and mounted on slots in the front bulkhead. The turret is a large moulding, as is the floor, which has two supports that trap the mantlet between it and the upper when they are mated. A rack with several shelves is attached to the left of the turret before it is closed, covering the projecting edges of the floor at the sides with PE that has tread-plate texture etched into it, bending the edges over to hide the styrene underneath. A lower door is mounted in the cut-out in the rear, building the upper door with its locking mechanism from seven parts, adding vertical parts with PE sections to the sides, and festooning the turret sides with individual pioneer tools, and more on racks, along with several small parts, which have their shapes magnified in the instruction steps for a better view. A side hatch is added, and jerry cans are made for either side of the rear door, with a vent on the right side, creating the commander’s cupola from three parts reminiscent of a Patton’s cupola, making the gunner’s hatch from three parts, gluing it in place with another side door beneath it. More detail parts in styrene and PE are used, and two pairs of track links are fixed to the sides of the mantlet, sliding the two-part gun barrel through the flexible blast-bag after dealing with the seam, which will be eased by ensuring proper alignment of the two halves whilst gluing. The barrel assembly is slotted into a keyed hole in the mantlet, adding a small searchlight nearby, and completing the detailing of the turret with PE racks on the left side, grab handles and styrene protective cages around parts at the front of the roof. The self-entrenching blade has two pivots made and linked with a flimsy panel, which is probably best done after locating the pivots on the blade to ensure they are glued at the correct angles. The blade has several stiffening ribs moulded-in, with three more inserted in slots, joining the blade to the hull using two pegs that slide into the projecting trunnions at the back of the vehicle, passing through holes at the ends of the pivots. The turret then slots into position on the rear of the deck, but as there aren’t any bayonet lugs, it will be held in place by gravity and will fall out if you invert the model. The barrel is locked in position with a C-shaped clamp that glues it to the travel lock assembly at the front of the vehicle. Markings Two decal options are provided on the sheet, and the only clues to their use and location is given by the serials and the names painted on the barrel. From the box you can build one of the following: US Marines 233244 ‘Eve of Destruction’ US Army 40228648 ‘Tiny Tim’ The decals are printed with good density and sharpness, and only one has two colours, so register isn’t a problem. Conclusion The M55 is a bit of a monster, and quite appealing as such. It served in active combat zones, so can be built in a state of heavy use, and the detail should be enough for most modellers to make the most of. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Ciao Kjetil, I recently bought the 2 Kitty Hawk boxes relating to Etendard IVP/IVM and Super Etendard. As already said by others, the instructions do not explain correctly how to obtain the different versions. It seems that the Argentine or Iraqi Super Etendards, therefore early versions, are quite different from the version obtainable from the kit, closer to a SEM. Even the distinction between Etendard IVP and IVM, are not always indicated, some pieces are specific only to one version, but it is not explained which ones to use, in one case or the other. I was honestly shocked when examining the sprues. There are some pieces not necessary for assembly, because they are needed for other kits and there are pieces called in the instructions with wrong numbers, but the strangest thing are pieces forgotten by the instructions. For some you can guess where they should go, but for others I honestly can't imagine what they are for. For several days, I have been desperately trying to understand what the pieces C11 and C12 are, present in both boxes. Can you help me, please. Marco

Thanks for the review Mike. This has jumped straight to the top of my wants list as I've been looking for the older Tamiya kit for a few years with no luck.

British Tank Crew Special Edition (35332) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd British tank crews in WWII generally wore custom overalls and either a black beret with the tank regiment badge on the front, or a cut-down style helmet without brim, so that they wouldn’t get hung up on the equipment inside their vehicles. During colder weather, a leather body-warmer was worn over the overalls, cinched in by the crewman’s webbing belt to keep from snagging inside the tank. This set depicts a crew of five in and around a tank wearing just such items of clothing, suitable for all but the hottest and coldest of weather. Inside the figure-sized box are four sprues, two containing the figures and two their accessories, including helmets, weapons and pouches, plus a small paper sprue diagram to show where all the parts are. The commander is wearing a leather tabard over his overalls, while the rest of the crew aren’t, but some of them are wearing drop-leg holsters for their side-arms, which look surprisingly modern. The commander is stood with hands on hips, two other crew are stood, one resting a hand and foot against something, while the other inspects some charts in a rigid folio against his compass. The two seated characters could be placed half in or out of their hatches, one with a foot up level on the edge of the hatch, the other leaning forward talking into a microphone. Three of them also have comms headsets integrated into their helmets or on a band over their berets. The helmets have their internal webbing moulded-in in case you want to pose them off within or on the tank, and a set of goggles and holster is supplied for all, with a few ammo pouches, map case, unholstered pistols and even a sniper rifle with scope found on the sprues. Conclusion As usual with MiniArt figures their sculpting is exceptional with crisp detail and sensible parts breakdown plus extras to add some detail to their vicinity if you use them in a diorama. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Mclaren MP4/4 1988 (CS-007) 1:24 MENG via Creative Models Ltd McLaren are named after their founder, Bruce McLaren, who began the team in 1963 competing in Formula One, with their first Grand Prix win in 1968 during a four year period where they dominated F1. Bruce McLaren was killed during testing in 1970, but the team continued to do well under new management, merging with Ron Dennis’s team in 1981, under whose management they have gone from strength-to-strength, expanding their range into production cars in more recent years. During the 1988 season drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost dominated almost every race of the season, achieving a 1-2 in the Detroit Grand Prix, Prost coming in 38 seconds behind Senna, powered by turbocharged Honda engines that were outputting immense levels of power, part of the reason for the change to normally aspirated engines by the governing body the FIA for the 1989 season. The MP4/4 was arguably one of the most successful overall designs in Formula 1, using a V6 Honda engine that displaced only 1.5 litres, but output 675hp at 12,000rpm thanks to a substantial boost from the turbocharger while they still had access to its benefits, deleting the turbo intakes briefly due to aerodynamic concerns, which proved to be a mistake that was rapidly corrected. The car ran almost unchanged for much of the season, with a reclined driver position keeping the centre of gravity low, allowing it to corner at high speeds, and with the reliability of its engine, its retirement was limited to only four races of the season, and it achieved a great deal of success and many podium positions. Their worst placing other than retirement was 6th at Portugal, although both Senna and Prost had Nigel Mansell in his Judd snapping at their heels, which perhaps spurred them on to greater things. Senna placed 10th in Italy after retiring from pole in a collision with another driver he was lapping, who unexpectedly regained control after locking his wheels in a corner. In preparation for the 1989 season, an altered MP4/4 chassis was fitted with a 3.5L V10 normally aspirated engine for testing to ensure they were ready for the following season in conjunction with the new chassis that was under development. The Kit This is a new tooling from MENG in my preferred vehicle scale, and it’s also from an era when I regularly watched F1 before I took on an old house that needed total renovation, and my free time evaporated. The kit arrives in one of MENG’s typical satin-finished top-opening boxes, with a painting of the car on the front, against a stylised backdrop. Inside the box are four sprues and a bodyshell part in light grey styrene, a clear sprue, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE), four flexible black tyres, two sheets of self-adhesive chrome stickers, a sheet of pre-cut woven material in black, three sheets of decals, and the instruction booklet, which has a painting guide in colour, sprue diagrams and a paint chart with MENG AK and Acrysion codes, plus the names of the colours in four languages including English. Detail is excellent as expected, and the inclusion of the afore mentioned extras creates a model that can be built by most of us without the need for aftermarket. The PE is trapped between two sheets of adhesive film, as it has been etched with no equivalent to sprue-gates, so once the sheets are removed the parts will be loose, as I found out when I forgot about their way of doing things. Construction begins with the Honda V6 engine, the block of which is made from seven parts, with a Honda logo decal applied in the centre of each bank of piston heads. The air intake trunks in between the banks and the fuel injectors are installed on pegs in the centre of the block, fitting additional pipework to the ends, the first-motion shaft on the rear, and a pair of exhaust manifolds on the sides. The transmission is built from two long halves that project from the rear of the engine, adding a pair of braces for the bodywork panels, and inserting two driveshafts on the sides, then applying decals to the backs of the body panels before plugging them into the sides of the transmission. Two pairs of wishbones are fixed to the top and bottom of the transmission assembly, adding more linkages and a turbo intercooler radiator over the top, then creating the rear wheel hubs from a two-part brake disc and callipers that give it the prototypical venting between the two layers of braking surface. The discs are attached to the front of their bearings with a poly-cap allowing easy removal of the wheels at any point, gluing each one to the wishbones on pegs, and mating the engine and transmission together into one. The monocoque chassis of the vehicle was laid-up from carbon fibre, which was still relatively new at the time, here depicted by the main shell with two lower sections and a front bulkhead that are spot painted, using white for a small section that is seen through the outer bodywork panels, fitting bulkheads at the rear of the side pods, then attacking it with carbon-fibre decals that are found on the large sheet. A similar process is carried out in the cockpit, which starts as a single curved tub that has decals applied all around the seat, fitting some small ancillary controls into position after decaling, moving on to create the lap belts from the black fabric sheet, threading the PE buckles through according to the diagrams, and adding a circular quick-release to one of them. The shoulder belts are each two fabric parts that wrap around a U-shaped assembly at the top, with PE adjustment buckles linking the two sections of each belt together, finishing them with more PE buckles. The completed assembly is fitted in the cockpit on the rear lip, and a pair of Boss advertisements are applied from the decal sheet in a prominent part of the upper belt where it went over Ayrton or Alain’s shoulders. A logo decal is applied to the belt holder on the lip, subtly letting everyone know which chassis and variant it is. The cockpit is mated with the shell from below, applying another small decal to the shell behind one of the cut-outs in the nose, fitting the dash into position at the front of the cockpit, using decals for the instruments, and painting the many buttons appropriate colours according to the key nearby. The relatively simple steering wheel with two red and green buttons is attached to the dash via a short column, showing just how much steering wheel technology has come on, the modern wheels costing hundreds of thousands to make, as they contain complex computers, and are covered in buttons and often have a screen built-in. A control box is decaled with another Honda logo and fixed onto each side pod, making up two radiator assemblies per side with their own feeder hoses and supports, installing them on the angled rear sides of the pods after detail painting them. Air-intakes are made from two handed parts each, fitting a cylindrical assembly to the rear, and installing them across the face of the rearmost radiator, making sure that anything needing painting is done before you start applying glue. The undertray, or lower surface of the body is almost flat at the front, with splitters near the rear that guide the airflow out from under the car, creating downforce that sucks the car onto the track, with a lot of help from the upper aerodynamic fixtures. The inside is decaled with carbon-fibre and reflective stickers, applying paint to the other areas, then doing the same to the underside, painting crucial parts of the undersides a wood colour, which are the FIA’s guide to whether the vehicle is obeying the regulations regarding its height from the ground. Additional decals are applied to the sides of the splitters at the rear, and a set of wishbones are glued into the nose, adding three pedals and a small tank in the driver’s foot well. Another set of wishbones are attached to the top of the monocoque’s nose, bracing them with additional damping rods before bringing the two assemblies together, and applying another two decals to the sides of the nose once the glue is set. The front discs and hubs are made in the same manner as the rears, and are glued to the wishbones in the same way as at the rear, with a steering linkage applied to the front bulkhead, wrapped in a protective shroud, which has three small reservoirs applied beneath it. The sloped rear behind the driver has two assemblies fitted on pegs, followed by the roll-over hoop, building up the remaining hoses and ‘conch’ shaped turbo housings to link them and the engine to their outlets in the underside between the splitter plates, which allows the engine assembly to be fitted, assuming everything is painted and decaled at this stage. Two engine mounting brackets link the monocoque to the motor, and a large cylindrical reservoir with filler cap is fixed to a peg at the front of the transmission. The plenum chamber that is sited over the air intake trunks between the piston banks is made from three sections, with an FIA logo decal applied to the cylindrical assembly at the front, locating it on four pegs at the top of the trunks after painting, then adding waste-gate cooling hoses between the intakes at the rear of the side pods. The nose cone and rear wing supports are both covered in carbon-fibre decals and installed in their respective places at either end of the vehicle, painting the four parts of the wing red and white before applying decals over their inner and undersides and assembling it so it can be installed on the supports at the rear. A brief interlude to make the wheels is next, using the flexible black tyres, which have a seam around the centre of their circumferences. These can be removed by ‘scrubbing’ the contact surface with a motor tool or other sanding material to replicate the scrubbed wheels that were usually fitted before the race so that the car got maximum traction for the start, providing the tyres were also warm. The hubs are single parts, and like their full-sized counterparts, they are attached to the car by a single stud, which in this case slips into a poly-cap rather than screwing in. Dymag decals are provided for each hub, two per rim, and if F1 isn’t your thing, you’ll need to fit the smaller, narrower wheels to the front axles for maximum traction at the rear, which will stop your more knowledgeable friends from laughing at your mistake. The completed wheels slide into position and are held there by the poly-caps, whilst giving you the flexibility to remove them whenever you need to. The front wing provides down-force to the wheels, and much of this assembly is moulded as a single part, adding a small section under the nose, and two end-caps, after painting it all white and applying carbon-fibre decals to the inner faces of the caps. Another carbon-fibre decal is applied to the full width of the wing on the underside, consisting of three separate sections to make it a little easier to wrangle. The main portion of the bodyshell is moulded as one, adding the small windscreen to the front of the cockpit, and a pair of intake inserts to the holes in the side pods, marked L and R to ensure you fit them in the correct position. The wing mirrors are each single parts, using two small chromed stickers to depict the mirrors, and mounting them either side of the driver on their short supports. The bodyshell and nose cone can then be lowered over the car to complete the build, or you can make up two A-frame trestles from four-parts each to keep the body off the floor using a similar method used by the mechanics during maintenance, showing off the details of the chassis. Markings Mclaren Honda were sponsored by the Marlboro brand of cigarettes in 1988, while such advertising was starting to be banned in many countries, and MENG have used the name McLaren on the rear wing, which IIRC was the case in some countries that had already moved to ban advertising of cigarettes and tobacco-based products. You shouldn’t smoke, vape, or drink too much, but you know that already, so I won’t go on. Two decal options are supplied as you’d expect, with just a small decal on the roll-over differentiating between Senna and Prost, the drivers for that year, plus their numbers on the nose and sides of the rear wing. Shell and Honda also get a look-in, with their logos also found on the sheet. The stickers are chrome, but look blue due to the reflections in the photobooth. You can see your face in them, although there's a little distortion. Decals are printed in China to a high standard, and have good register, sharpness and colour density. There are no decals included for the Marlboro red stripes that make the car stand out, but instead you are given a slight step in the surface of the bodyshell to mask against, and I’m unsure if that will work. The step is infinitesimal, but is the additional layer or layers of red enough to make up the difference in height? Will subsequent layers of clear gloss after decaling encourage the steps (and the carrier film on the decals) to disappear? I’m not sure. You can of course sand away the step, which shouldn’t be too onerous, as there are only short lengths on the body. Conclusion The old McLaren MP4 was an impressive machine, and this new kit does it justice. The hardest part will be choosing the correct shade of red, although Zero paints have probably got a shade in their range already, followed by a little patience applying the many carbon-fibre decals, and deciding what to do about the step mentioned above. Overall, it’s a cracking kit though. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Tiger I Vs T-34/85 (05655) Conflict of Nations Series I 1:72 Carrera Revell The Tiger tank was part of Hitler's obsession for bigger, heavier and stronger, which drove him to extraordinary and dizzying heights of impracticality at times, but in this case served him reasonably well. The goal was to mount the extremely powerful and accurate 88mm cannon used in the Flak 36 in a tank with sufficient armour to withstand any artillery round then-fielded by the enemy. This series of objectives were achieved, but at the cost of reliability and a prodigious thirst for fuel. It also made for some nervous bridge-crossings, as the finished article weighed in at almost 60 tonnes, which was too much for many smaller bridges of the day. A deep-water fording kit was created to get around that issue, allowing the tanks to ford streams and smaller rivers where the bridges or culverts wouldn’t take their weight. When it first reached the front it caused panic and heavy losses for the Allies, being capable of almost everything it was designed to do, including knocking out tanks long before the enemy's guns were able to get within range. Even when the Allies could get their own guns into range, it wasn't until they got much closer, almost to point-blank range, that they had any measurable chance of crippling or destroying the mighty Tiger, especially during frontal engagements, where a shot might just ricochet off harmlessly. The Tiger underwent constant changes throughout production to improve performance, fix problems, simplify and cheapen construction, but these are generally lumped together into early, middle or late productions for the sake of the remaining sanity of us modellers. The T-34 was Stalin's mainstay medium tank that was produced in huge numbers by sometimes crude and expedient methods, to be thrown into the fray against the numerically inferior German tanks on the Eastern Front, sometimes even before the paint was fully dry. The designers combined several important advances in design such as sloped frontal armour, wide tracks to spread the ground load, and the ability to cope with the harsh Russian winters without freezing to a halt, which was a problem that affected the Germans badly after the initial successes in the summer of Operation Barbarossa. The part count and cost of the tank was continuously reduced during production, with plants turning out up to 1,300 per month at the height of WWII. The initial cramped welded turret was replaced by a cast turret with more room, and later the 76mm gun was replaced by a more powerful 85mm main gun in the T-34/85 with an enlarged three-man turret, giving even the Tiger pause for thought. The Kit This is a new boxing of two Revell kits in a special edition that includes a diorama backdrop printed on some of the surfaces, two kits, six thumb-pots of acrylic paint, a bottle of Contacta cement with a precision applicator tube, and a #2 paint brush. The book that gives the box serious weight is perfect-bound with a predominantly black cover, and the usual colour instruction booklet is provided, with the decals for both models on one sheet slipped inside. These aren’t the simplified easy-click kits we’ve seen from Revell under the World of Tanks banner, but is the 1997 tooling of the Tiger, and their T-34/85 from 2002, and while they are relatively long-in-the-tooth, the detail still holds up to scrutiny for the scale. The book is written by Alexander Lüdeke, and extends to 80 pages of dual-language text, German in black, and English in blue, with plenty of photographs that include dual-language captions, several charts, diagrams and drawings that should prove entertaining. Many of the photos are black & white due to their age, but there are some modern and contemporary photos in colour scattered throughout the book, which covers both the tanks and how they were used in battle against each other during WWII. The package is of high quality, utilising thick card for the exterior, and the kits are both hidden under pull-up areas of the interior, which holds the paints, glue and brush in situ centrally during shipping and storage, with the book resting on the interior card and the instructions between them. Tiger I This kit consists of four sprues of grey styrene of varying sizes, and includes link-and-length tracks, individual wheels, and detailed exterior. Construction begins with the lower hull, which is made from the floor and two sides initially, adding the interleaved wheels to the moulded-in axles after painting the rubber tyres and hubs the main colour, building the drive sprockets and idler wheels from two parts each, fitting them on the ends of the wheel runs. The tracks are link-and-length as mentioned, consisting of long flat sections and shorter sections for the diagonals under the front and rear, and two sections across the top run to create the contour of the sag behind the drive sprocket. Individual links are used around the ends of the track runs, using six at the front and five at the rear. The rear of the hull is a broad T-shaped part that has chunky exhaust stacks and Feifel air-filters applied, covering the exhausts with a faceted shroud with louvres at the top that this reviewer hasn’t seen before. A jack is sited under the right double-filter box, installing the bulkhead in the rear of the hull and inserting two towing shackles on the torch-cut ends of the hull sides. The upper hull with engine deck insert are added next, fixing two more towing shackles to the ends of the sides, then linking up the filters with two pairs of snaking hoses, adding mudguards to both ends of the fenders. Skirts are glued to the sides of the hull, and the top deck has two towing cables (A must for the unreliable Tiger), and a choice of two styles of headlamps, one on each side of the hull. Some detail painting is undertaken on the moulded-in tools at the front, although this can be left until later if you’re not ready to apply paint yet. The turret sides are two parts that are joined together around the mantlet, removing a flashed-over hole for the shell-ejection port at the rear right, then sliding the barrel into the shroud that’s moulded into the mantlet. If you’re going for more accuracy, you can drill out the tip of the barrel, carefully opening the flash-hider with a drill that will allow the imaginary shells to leave the barrel. If you leave the mantlet unglued, the barrel can be left to elevate, unless you’d prefer to fix it in position for posterity. The turret roof needs three holes drilling in the top, fitting it over the sides and adding a mushroom vent near the rear, plus a one-part stowage box on the back. The commander’s cupola fills the hole in the roof, with an option of opening or closing the hatch, then fitting triple-barrel smoke dischargers to slots near the front of the turret, then filling the holes on the sides with spare track links, or filling them with putty if you prefer. A small tapering part is installed on the two holes in front of the moulded-in gunner’s hatch, fitting it to the body using the bayonet lugs moulded into the ring. The final parts are an additional towing cable on the left side of the hull, and six spare links in sets of three on each side of the vertical glacis plate. Markings There are two decal options on the sheet, both with a dark yellow (dunkelgelb) base coat that has either brown and green camouflage or a brown splinter pattern. From the box you can build one of the following: Battle of Berlin – April/May 1945 Panzer-Division Müncheberg Battle on Ostfront – 1944 Panzergrenadier-Division Großdeutschland 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. T-34/85 This kit is moulded on three sprues of grey styrene, and includes similar detail levels to the Tiger kit, and has link-and-length tracks with good detail moulded into the parts. Construction begins with the road wheels, which are paired, as are the idlers and drive sprockets, installing them on the hull sides that are separate at this stage. The link-and-length tracks are fitted around the road wheels, using longer lengths on the underside, a three-part assembly on the top, and short diagonal lengths under the ends. Seven individual links are used around the front, with another five at the rear to complete the track runs. The completed hull sides are applied to the blank sides of the hull, fitting towing shackles to the rear bulkhead before fitting it, and closing the hull by gluing the upper to the lower, before adding details such as the bow-mounted machine gun, additional towing shackles, spare track links on the glacis, exhausts and armoured protectors at the rear, towing cables on the left side, followed by four curved supports on the right hull, and another two on the left, accepting three four-part fuel tanks that were often seen on Soviet tanks of the era. Grab-rails are mounted on the engine deck and hull sides, three stacks of grousers, a couple of stowage boxes, headlight and two-man saw are also festooned around the hull. The turret upper is moulded as an almost complete part, adding a pair of inserts to the lower cheeks, then trapping the mantlet between it and the lower turret without using glue to leave it mobile. A cylindrical cupola has a choice of open or closed hatches, with another flush hatch for the gunner, and three grab-rails are inserted into holes around the three sides of the turret, finishing off by rotating it to lock in place on the bayonet lugs moulded into the ring. Markings Two decal options are included, both in Russian green, one with substantial white edging and a cross on the turret, the other with a lower-profile marking set that consists of one white decal on each side of the turret. From the box you can build one of the following: Battle of Berlin April/May 1945 – 95th Tank Brigade, 9th Tank Corps Battle of Ostfront 1944 – Unknown Unit, 3rd Belorussian Front Conclusion Two good kits of important players in WWII, especially on the Eastern Front, and the book should prove interesting to anyone with a grasp of English or German and tanks. The price might hold it back from selling well initially however, but that should reduce as time goes by when reality sets in. Recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Review updated with "Available Now" link added with a list of partners where you can buy the model from

Panzer Crew 1943-45 (35465) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd During WWII, German tank crews usually consisted of four, sometimes five men, led by their commander, who was generally dressed differently from the other men, and had the lofty seat in the cupola on top of the vehicle, communicating with the rest of the crew and others in their unit by radio with a wired throat-mic, and over-ear headphones. In the early part of the war, the crews were usually dressed in black uniforms with a large beret, but as the war progressed, they transitioned toward camouflaged uniforms to make them at least a little less visible when they were outside the comparative safety of their tank. This set arrives in a figure-sized box, with a painting of the contents on the front, and the same artwork sectioned up and used as the instructions and combined painting guide, 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 are five sprues of grey styrene in a heat-sealed bag, with the parts for each figure on separate 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 four figures, two standing as if they are in a turret hatch, both wearing headphones, one of whom is scanning the horizon with pair of V-shaped ranger-finders. The two seated crew members appear to be on the outside of the tank from their poses, both looking down, one studying a map, the other navel-gazing. All crew are wearing a standard two-piece uniform with double-breasted jackets, and low-profile cloth side caps, plus rolled cuffs over their combat boots. The two men with comms will need some fine wire to represent the cords leading to their headsets and throat mics for additional realism once the figures are painted and ready to be placed on/in the model. The accessory sprue contains plenty of pouches, Lugers, other pistols in and out of pouches, a Gewehr 43 and Kar98k rifle with scope, an FG42 machine gun, an STG44 assault rifle, a Bergmann MP18, a Steyr MP34, and an unusual Erma EMP with a stubby fore-grip. Not all of those will be appropriate for the crew, but can be added as part of the clutter in the background, or used on another project in the future. Conclusion A crew gives an AFV model human scale, with the realistic sculpting and poses adding to that feeling. Careful painting and weathering will further add to the effect. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Boeing B-17F Upgrade Sets (for Eduard/KH Models) The Bloody Hundredth 1:48 Eduard and Eduard Brassin We reviewed the Bloody Hundredth boxing of the HK Model kit that Eduard have reboxed with new parts here, and here are some extras for those of us that have a desire for even more detail than provided in kits, even kits this well-appointed. Eduard's new range of sets are here to improve on the kit detail in the usual modular manner. Get what you want for the areas you want to be more of a focal point. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. The medium and larger Brassin resin sets arrive in a shallow or deep Brassin cardboard box respectively, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags, and the instructions folded around acting as padding, plus foam sheets for the engine set. Cockpit (491460) Two frets are included, one nickel-plated and pre-painted, the other in bare brass. The main instrument panel is already covered by the kit’s PE sheets, so this set has been designed to augment that further. It starts with the removal of the unwanted moulded-in details from the kit, all marked in red for your ease. A new Boeing logo is supplied for the centre bosses of the control wheels, covering a diagonal section on one of the bulkheads with a riveted sheet. The sidewalls have their moulded-in detail removed, fitting dozens of details over the surface, including a set of headphones on hooks for the flight crew, adding instrument faces and new boxes to raise the quality of those areas appreciably. The centre console throttle quadrant area is denuded of detail, to be replaced by new panels and levers, plus new rudder pedals folded into shape and suspended from 0.8mm rod from your own stock, which are suspended in the centre by holes in the console sides. Levers and wheels are added, and the diagonal braces have inner detail skins fitted, sliding a new floor into position after installing a few detail parts, with another round of detailing carried out on the rear bulkhead, some of which is pre-painted. Whilst not quite cockpit, the stirrups for the upper gun turret on the verticals are removed and replaced by a more accurate rendition, moving on to the seat-backs for the flight-crew, which are stripped of the moulded-in armour, adding back two layers of PE and the kit bracket. The roof above the crew is skinned with a PE insert, adding a ring around the turret opening on the underside, then moving forward to remove the majority of the detail from the overhead console to replace it with PE boxes and pre-painted panel fronts, using a length of 0.4mm rod from your stock to create a towel-rail that straddles the console. Brackets, instrument boxes with pre-painted faces, and hooks are applied to the bottom edge of the crew insert, plus another set of headphones hanging on one of the hooks for the use of the gunner. Radio Compartment (491463) Two frets are included, one nickel-plated and pre-painted, the other in bare brass. It supplies parts for a massive upgrade to the level of equipment and detail in this area, starting with the removal of the table and some other details on the front bulkhead, and the faces of most of the equipment on the aft bulkhead. On the front bulkhead, two new shelves are folded and filled with two and three similar-looking stacks of equipment boxes, plus another small box on the two pack. The boxes even have four feet each that are folded up from three connected circular layers of PE, which you could always replace with punched discs of the correct thickness if you don’t fancy your chances of getting them to align correctly. Other small boxes are built and faced with pre-painted fronts, making up a new table that has pre-painted wooden texture and shiny metal edges, with a support strut, adding a box with PE face to the top, and a cluster of navigation tools laid out ready for use, including a morse key. The detail of the rear bulkhead is almost totally reworked, adding faces to all the existing boxes, and pull-handles on each side for removal during maintenance, plus a support web for the remaining shelf. Sides are also included for the stack of five boxes, while the ones on the opposite side of the hatch wrap around. Extra details are fixed to the side walls of the compartment that aren’t present in the kit, which includes an ammo box at head-height that is folded up and has a length of feeder chute made to supply the rear window gun. Another set of headphones on a hook, more instruments, an empty rack with strap for an oxygen bottle or fire extinguisher, a folder with paperwork provided and other small parts all add to the detail. The last parts of the set add a box to the floor, and pair of sidewalls to the surround of the rear gunner’s window. Nose Interior (Alternate Nose, Sprue X)(491462) Pick this set for the decal options that will utilise the new clear parts, which includes two frets, one nickel-plated and pre-painted, the other in bare brass again. The first act is to remove the detail from a large sloped equipment box and one next to it, plus another several on the rear bulkhead. The latter are replaced by a series of small parts including pre-painted surfaces, adding a large open-topped box next to the details, which has three sub-boxes folded-up and inserted with a grab-handle on the top for removal. A new box with face is fitted to the bulkhead next to the moulded-in fire extinguisher, adding details to the table, and building back the surface of the large sloped instrument panel from four sections that have different layers and stencils, and the smaller box in front is replaced by a pair of levers on bases, and another small switch on the side of the large box. Two ammunition cans are folded-up with a stencil added to the front, and these are placed on the floor one behind the other, with PE ammo chutes leading to the guns, the nose gun in front, and the side gun to the rear. A new rack with three new boxes is built from numerous parts and pre-painted faces, then it is attached to the rear bulkhead and the rear section of the table. The port sidewall of the compartment has an ammo can with PE chute fixed to the rear behind a window after removing two small sections, fitting controls and instruments to the ribbing, then repeating the process with the starboard side, removing two small shelves and brackets, then filling the space with more instruments, boxes and equipment, including new shelves with enhanced details and scale thickness. Another open-topped box is made and applied to the ribbing, filling it with more sub-units with pull-handles for removal. The nose machine gun has a series of upgrades applied, including a better triangular mounting bracket, a stirrup-shaped bracket that leads to a wire that takes the weight of the gun when not in use, and an ammo box with a PE chute leading to the breech of the gun. The two side guns are similarly upgraded with the same improvements, creating a more realistically crowded nose for your model. Wooden Floors & Ammo Boxes (491466) Two frets are included, both nickel-plated and pre-painted with a highly realistic wooden pattern of varying colours, one fret painted on both sides, as the need dictates for the ammo boxes. The single-sided printing is for the floor sections, which starts with the Radio Compartment floor, after removing the three small boxes moulded into the kit part. The narrow floor along the centre section and the two steps for the waist gunners are covered with new wooden skins, as is the floor that leads to the tail-gunner’s position, which has folded-over edges to complete the look. Take care with these folds however, and touch-in any paint that could conceivably flake away if you are unlucky or careless. A section of floor under the cockpit is also provided, again folding the edges carefully to give it structure, the last parts covering the two levels of the nose floor, and the large tapering table on the port side. The ammo boxes begin with the tail gunner’s supply, removing the tabs on the floor sides and building up the new boxes from double-painted PE, adding extra wooden strips around the top, middle and bottom of the boxes, and a stencil on the back faces, touching in any visible metal that you might see with an appropriate colour. Unpainted rectangles on two sides are covered with a raised wooden painted part that matches the size and shape. The waist gunner steps have wooden boxes folded up, a trapezoid horizontal ‘wing’ added to a slot in the side, adding stencils to the ends, and gluing them in place over the wooden floors. The rear window gunner’s ammo box is similarly folded up, adding a strip along the side, and a bracket to the vertical face. Three boxes are folded up for the nose area, two on the floor, and another on the port sidewall behind a window. Bomb Bay (491465) Two frets are included, the smaller fret nickel-plated and pre-painted, the other large fret in bare brass. The bulkheads are detailed with strengthening webs, plus a few stencils from the pre-painted sheet, and a pair of manual bomb bay operation handles that needs a short length of 0.3mm rod from your stock. The walkway through the bay is folded at the edges and have a pair of strakes at the front, removing the stiffening webs from the ladder framework beneath it, and replacing them with new PE parts on both sides. The sidewall inserts have the raised portions in the rack space removed, fitting a new PE rack in the recess after folding the sides and adding seven stencils up the centre. New boxes are applied to the sidewalls, and stiffeners are fitted to the diagonal bracing. The central bomb racks take the kit part, adding PE strips to the sides, removing the raised parts from the centre recess, and placing another PE insert with twelve stencils into the recess. Where a bomb is present, additional PE parts and a bomb carrier are used to hang the bombs, with scrap diagrams showing the correct orientation from the side, representing the bombs as circles on the racks. When the bomb racks are installed against the roof insert, a bracket with two pulley wheels are applied to the top, which helps the ground crews winch the bombs into position in the bay. The sidewall sections of the compartment that are moulded into the fuselage halves are then detailed with extra PE parts, including an additional pulley wheel, stiffeners, and other small parts. The bomb bay doors are supplied as flat parts with ribbing etched into the inner face, and rivets on the outer. They must be bent to match the profile of the kit doors, annealing them with a flame to make the process easier, remembering to let them air cool to retain the softening caused by the heat. Once this is completed, horizontal ribs are glued to grooves etched into the skins, and a large number of vertical ribs that are shaped to the contours of the bay doors, folding the centre edges in to give it structure, then applying a latticework of top covering over much of the ribbing, which will take careful gluing and a little bit of bending to make the task easier. Undercarriage & Exterior (481147) Supplied on a single large fret of brass, this set first details the landing gear bays, adding detail inserts to the ribbing moulded into the supercharger ducts, and strapping around the duct in the roof, adding a triple-bracket above the trunk, and some strengthening plates. Additional surface plates, brackets and guides are fixed to the bulkheads moulded into the main part, adding yet more to the front bulkhead, some of which require stiffening mouldings to be pressed into the back of the parts with a ball-point pen, so make sure you have one on hand, preferably not your best. The lower wing portions of the bays are also upgraded with additional plates in the narrow part of the well. The tail wheel bay is moulded under a section of floor inside the model, and this is given a full overhaul with sidewall skins and a roof panel that covers the flat portion behind the wheel trough. The upper wing is dotted with two-part filler caps, totalling five per side, removing two more moulded-in panels on the inner nacelle sides, replacing them with new PE parts. The interior of the lower wing has mesh inserts added to the base of the leading-edge intakes, folding the edges to extend them slightly, each intake having a FOD cover that has a separate handle fitted if you prefer. The intakes between the engine nacelles are separate parts with louvred covers at the front, and after removing the rear, a mesh panel is glued in place instead. The undersides of the nacelles have more panels that need removing to be replaced by new PE hatches. The last few parts include tie-down eyes on the bottom of main gear legs that are fitted in holes drilled there, a raised panel in front of the bomb bay, and another panel just aft of the tail-gunner’s window. Ammo Feed Chutes (481148) This set consists of a single bare brass fret, and can be used to add ammo feeds to the kit, or to augment an upgraded kit if you need more for whatever reason, whether you want longer feeds, have messed one up in the other sets, or you would like to have some on hand in case you do make a mistake, with the balance kept for another project. There is a template included to assist with folding the finger-like projections over, and it is folded into a three-stack of PE, with a backstop at one end that acts as a handle when withdrawing the jig from the completed chute. The completed feeds are shown in use on the back of the instruction sheet, showing the rear window gun, the waist guns, tail gun, and the four nose gun options. There are two 7cm chutes, three 3.2cm, and four 2.4cm lengths, some with additional sections that facilitate fixing them in their suggested positions. It’s important that you fold the fingers over correctly the first time, as re-folding them may result in them breaking away from the chute, which might be difficult to hide on your model. Undercarriage Legs BRONZE (6481022) This set will give your Fortress strong foundations if you’ll excuse the pun, which will be useful if you intend to load it with detail such as the sets above. The three legs are lost-wax cast bronze, and have very fine detail moulded-in, as they have been cast from 3D printed masters, with just a slight mould line down the sides. These are best removed with a diamond-grit file or motor tool, as emery paper or sanding sticks will take up a lot of modelling time and material to achieve similar results, due to the hardness and rigidity of the bronze when compared to the previously common white metal. The main gear legs are drop-in replacements for the kit legs, adding two resin retraction jacks to the front, locating the struts and jacks in shallow recesses. The tail wheel has been cast with a protective T-shaped assembly at the top of the strut, which should be cut away with a saw or cutting wheel on a motor tool, unless you have a light sabre handy? It is then a drop-in replacement, and you are given Gunze Sangyo Mr Color codes to paint them, with options for some areas that will have you reaching for your reference material. Engines (6481021) This is a mammoth set of upgrade parts for your model, and will bring an insane* level of detail into play. Inside the large Brassin box are four resin engine parts, plus four bell-housings, four customised tubular mounts, dozens of push-rods on five bases, a fret of bare brass, and a small decal sheet. The engines and other resin parts are liberated from their casting blocks, which are sensibly placed to minimise clean-up, but remember that any small particles that you breathe in aren’t good for you, so take precautions. Once free of their bases, the tubular inserts are pushed through the hollow centres of the engines to the rear, using the long version for the outer engines, and the shorter option for the inner engines. There is a tab on one side that will ensure that they align correctly, then the bell-housing is inserted in the front, hiding the hollow centre, applying a decal to the underside of the housing after painting, using a scrap diagram to aid with placement. The push-rods are arranged radially around the centre, fitting a resin part at the 6 o’clock position with another decal and PE strip, then fixing the wiring loom that is in two main parts on each side of the bell-housing, plus a couple of strays at the top, with scrap diagrams helping with location again. The final part is a resin magneto with a PE strip and a PE belt-drive that disappears into the engine and won’t be seen, which is why the ends are loose, rather than wrapping around a pulley. A PE ring is fixed to the front of the engine around the outer edge, after which they can be mounted on the wings between your choice of cooling gill inserts and the forward cowling, using the correct assemblies for the appropriate location. As usual with Eduard’s resin sets, Gunze Sangyo Mr Color paint codes are given throughout the build steps, and you will need these due to the detailed nature of the engines, which will require painting as you go for best access. * This word is being over-used so much right now, but it is entirely appropriate in this instance, so I’m sticking with it. Conclusion A fabulous array of sets to push the detail beyond the limits of human endeavour for you to choose from as your needs, budget and wants dictate. That’s probably a little bit of hyperbole, but unless you have the equipment and skills necessary to make these from scratch, you’ll be hard pushed to get anywhere close to the levels of detail presented here. The engine set is also exceptional value, considering the detail it adds to the wings. Extremely highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

StuG III Ausf.G Mar 1943 Alkett Prod. (72105) 1:72 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The StuG is a popular German WWII AFV subject, and the more you learn about it, the more obvious it becomes why. The SturmGeschütz III was based upon the chassis of the Panzer III, but removed the turret and front deck, replacing it with an armoured casemate with a lower profile that mounted a fixed gun with limited 15° traverse. It was originally intended to be used as infantry support, using its (then) superior armour to advance on the enemy as a mobile blockhouse, but it soon found other uses as an ambush predator, and was employed as a tank destroyer, lurking in wait for Allied forces to stumble obliviously into its path, where it could be deadly in the right hands. With the advances in sloped armour employed by the Soviets, the original low velocity 75mm StuK 37 L/24 cannon was replaced by a higher velocity gun that was also used in the Panzer IV for tank-on-tank combat, extending the type’s viable career to the end of WWII, but making ditch-crossing a little riskier due to the longer barrel. The earliest prototypes were made of mild steel and based on Panzer III Ausf.B chassis, and whilst they were equipped with working guns, they were unsuitable for combat due to the relative softness of the steel that would have led to a swift demise on the battlefield, being withdrawn by '41-42. By this time the StuG III had progressed to the Ausf.G, which was based on the later Panzer III Ausf.M, with a widened upper hull and improvements in armour to increase survivability prospects for the crew. Many of the complicated aspects of the earlier models that made them time-consuming and expensive to produce were removed or simplified by that time, which led to several specific differences in some of the external fitments around the gun, such as the Saukopf mantlet protector. The Ausf.G was the last and most numerous version, and was used until the end of the war with additional armour plates often welded or bolted to the surface to give it enhanced protection from Allied tanks and artillery, and schürzen plates mounted on brackets to diffuse incoming shaped charge rounds. The Kit This is a re-boxing of a recent tooling from MiniArt in their new 1:72 armour line, which is bringing high levels of detail to this smaller scale, with MiniArt’s engineers and tool designers applying their skills to a scale that has been neglected to an extent for many years. The kit arrives in a small top-opening box, and inside are ten sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a small clear sprue with decals in a Ziploc bag, a Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret in a card envelope, and the instruction booklet in full colour in portrait A5 format. Detail is excellent, including weld-lines and tread-plate moulded into the exterior of the hull, with plenty of options for personalisation, and link-and-length tracks to provide good detail without making the building of the tracks too time consuming or complex. Construction begins with the lower hull, which is put together with five parts creating the ‘tub’, then adding the three-part glacis plate at the front, and the exhaust assembly at the rear, accompanied by duct-work and overhanging vents with a PE mesh panel underneath. Various suspension parts are applied to the sides that have the swing arms and axles already moulded-in. Six paired return rollers are made up, along with twelve pairs of road wheels, plus two-part idler wheels and drive sprockets, which have an alternative front sprocket face for you to choose from. Once all the wheels are installed on their axles, the tracks can be built, utilising the long lengths on the top and bottom, adding shorter lengths to the diagonal risers, and individual links around the sharper curved sections toward the ends of the runs. There are eight individual links at the rear, and six at the front, plus another between the lower and its diagonal, each link having three sprue gates in sensibly placed locations. The gun sleeve is built from four parts and mounted on a carrier between a pair of trunnions, which is then fitted to a pivot plate and set aside while the casemate front is made from two sections. First however, the fenders are glued to the sides of the hull, locating on three lugs moulded into the sides, with a choice of shortened fenders for one decal option. The gun sleeve is slotted into the front of the casemate, with a mantlet slid over the front, after which the lower heavily armoured and bolted lower casemate front has a vision slot and armour cover applied before it is glued to the bottom of the casemate, along with the sides and rear bulkhead, attaching it to the lower hull while the glue cures to ensure everything lines up, remembering to remove small raised chevrons from the cheeks of the casemate before you move on. A convoy light is glued into the centre of the glacis, then the engine deck is made, fitting two-part sides with separate baffles, and a single rear panel that is aligned when the deck is installed on the rear of the hull, choosing one of two narrow rear facets on the rear round-down. Two PE grilles are glued over the outer cooling intakes, and a length of spare track is fitted over the rear bulkhead of the casemate, adding armoured covers over the five vents on the engine deck, with a choice of cast or bolted vents on two at the rear of the deck. A choice of three styles of cupola can be made, each one made from a differing set of parts, based around the commander’s vision blocks and central hatch, adding wire grab handles from your own stock where indicated, then inserting the completed assembly in the cut-out on the roof, adding a periscope forward of the cupola from within the roof for one option. Small PE fittings are glued to the rear corners of the casemate, with triple-barrelled smoke dischargers at the front for some decal options, adding a pair of aerial mounts on the casemate rear. The barrel is moulded as a single tubular section with a hollow muzzle glued to the business end, and its sleeve is moulded into the front of the saukopf, which is an inverted trapezoid that is made from another two parts, with a stowage box in the middle of the engine deck for some decal options. Pioneer tools are built up and fitted where there is space as the build progresses, including muzzle cleaning rods, jack, fire extinguisher, and track tools. The gunner’s hatch can be posed closed, or replaced by two separate parts in the open position, adding another scratch-built grab handle from wire, then fitting a drum magazine to the supplied MG34, sliding it through the frontal V-shaped bullet shield with PE support and another DIY grab handle before putting it in place in front of the gunner’s hatch. Towing eyes are supplied for the tow cable, but you must provide the braided thread or wire to make the cable itself, attaching one to each fender, and two stacks of wheels that are mounted on long pins on the rear of the engine deck on the aft vents, the pins made from your own wire stock. One decal option adds a further two identical stacks of wheels on the forward fenders, using more of your own wire to attach them, using more wire or stretched sprue to make two aerials of 30mm each that are needed to fit on the bases on the rear of the casemate. One decal option also has a different arrangement of the towing cables at the front of the fenders, and the same variant has another length of track draped over the rear of the vehicle, with a large stowage box made and fixed on the engine deck near the rear. Markings There are five decal options on the small sheet, with various schemes all but one with a base coat of dunkelgeb, and various camouflage styles over the top. From the box you can build one of the following: 201 Stg.Abt., Greece, Summer 1943 322 Stg.Abt., Eastern Front, Summer 1943 1st Company Pz.Abt. ‘Rhodos’, Rhodos, Autumn 1943 Bulgarian 1st Assault Gun Battalion, Autumn 1943 10th SS Panzer Division ‘Frundsberg’, Pomerania, March 1945 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion MiniArt have brought their talents to bear on 1:72 scale armour, releasing a subject they have already researched for their extensive 1:35 scale StuG range, resulting in a highly detailed model with plenty of options for personalisation, and an ongoing broadening of the range available, three down, with another still in the queue to be reviewed, and doubtless more to come. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Curtiss Tomahawk Mk.II (A05133A) 1:48 Airfix First flying before the outbreak of WWII, the Warhawk was a development of the P-36 Hawk, and although it was never the fastest fighter in the sky, it was a sturdy aircraft that served during the entire length of WWII in American and Allied hands, with many Lend/Lease airframes used by Soviet pilots in their battles on the Eastern front. The various marks garnered different names such as Tomahawk and Kittyhawk, so it can get a mite confusing if you're not familiar with the type. It couldn’t quite keep pace with the supercharged Bf.109, but was used to great effect in the Far East and Africa, which may have assisted in the feeling that it was a second-string aircraft of inferior design, when this really wasn’t the case – certainly not to the extent inferred. It was robust, cheap to make, and easy to repair, although its high-altitude performance dropped off somewhat with an Allison engine providing power. The early marks were under-armed with just two .50 guns firing through the prop from the top of the engine cowling and a pair of .303s in the wings, but later models benefitted from improved armament and engines. The B model was a revision of the initial airframe with lessons learned from early production, self-sealing fuel tanks and armour in critical parts of the airframe, although this extra weight did have an impact on performance. It wasn't until the –F model that the Allison engine was replaced by a license-built Merlin that gave it better high-altitude performance, and these were followed by the L, which was a stripped-down variant that was lightened to give it extra performance, receiving the nickname Gypsy Rose Lee as a result, although the weight-loss failed to give it the boost to speed that it needed. In British service the 330 Lend/Lease airframes were known as the Tomahawk Mk.IIA up until the final hundred airframes to differentiate. The Kit Originally tooled in 2016, this is a welcome reboxing in British and Turkish service, the latter after finishing service with the RAF. The kit arrives in one of Airfix's standard red-themed boxes, and inside are three sprues of grey styrene, plus a clear sprue, a decal sheet, plus of course the spot colour instruction booklet that also has the painting and decaling guide on the rear in colour. A look over the sprues shows some nice detail, with engraved panel lines that should look good under a couple of coats of paint and primer. You get a nicely detailed cockpit, a pilot figure with separate arms, the option of open or closed cooling flaps under the engine cowling, raised or lowered landing gear that use alternative parts for the legs, tyres and doors, and a choice of open or closed canopy. Construction starts with the cockpit, which is built up on a detailed portion of the centre-section of the wing, showing the front of a fuel tank behind the pilot's seat, a detailed front bulkhead, and a pair of side walls that have a latticework of ribs and stringers on which the various ancillary controls are suspended. The instrument panel is slotted into grooves in the sidewalls, and a decal is included to represent the dials, with no background colour to complicate the painting process. The optional pilot figure is a squat fellow with separate arms, and should fit within the cockpit without any adjustment, but test that hypothesis before you get too far with the build. The fuselage halves have ribbing moulded-in, and these are a few necessary ejector-pin marks that might need work if you think they’ll be seen, which they probably won’t in this boxing. There is an oddity after step 13 in the instructions where you fill the side hatch with a blanking plate, but step 14 shows a camera mount in red, which isn’t used in this boxing, although the parts are still found on the sprues. The cockpit interior is glued into the fuselage whilst upside down after inserting some small clear parts at the lower rear by the wing root, and once the glue has cured, a bulkhead that has the mesh texture moulded-in for the chin scoop are added, terminating with a nose-ring at the front. This then allows the fuselage halves to mate firmly, after which the final part of the chin-scoop ducting is added at the tip of the nose. Two sections of supporting sprue are left in the nose until this point, to give the assembly more rigidity before it is complete, cutting them out when the fuselage is glue is cured to accommodate the gun-trough inserts and fairings. The large wing root fairings are moulded as separate parts, and are added to the fuselage before the wings are built up, slotting into a keyed area on the sides. The lower wing is full span as you would expect, and into this is placed a single part that performs the combined task of providing the fabric-lined wheel bay inserts and a tunnel between them that adds structural rigidity to the wing. Two flashed-over holes are found in the centre of the lower wing to facilitate use of a stand that’s sold separately if you’re so minded, drilling them out at this stage. The assembly then slots into the bottom of the fuselage leading-edge first, engaging a pair of tabs into the corresponding slots, which should make for a good strong joint. The upper wings and the "kneecap" fairings of the landing gear bays are then added, as are the separate elevator fins, their flying surfaces and rudder, which are single parts and posable. The instructions give you maximum deflection angles for each surface, which will help you get them looking right. A choice of open or closed cowling flaps under the nose is next, simply by choosing the appropriate part, each option having a side-profiles to assist with location. Next you need to choose whether to model your Tomahawk with the wheels up or down, which affects your choice of parts for the next few steps. Wheels up includes a closed tail-wheel door, partial depth main wheels and main struts, plus closed bay doors that cover the struts only. The gear down option has single-part struts, and open bay doors that fit into place with good-sized contact areas and a separate V-shaped retraction jack. The wheels are separate from the hubs, and have a slightly exaggerated flat patch at the bottom to simulate the weight of the airframe on the tyres. The prop is supplied as a single part that fits into a four-part spinner and axle with surround at the rear that glues into the larger hole in the front of the fuselage, and requires you to be careful with the glue if you want to leave it rotating. The wing-mounted guns are used for one decal option, and sit in their respective slots, filling the holes for the other option. The exhaust stacks are slotted into grooves in the sides of the cowling, and a cranked pitot probe slots into a hole in the port wingtip. The final task is to fit the pilot's armoured glazing panel before adding the windscreen, and the scalloped rear-view panels that cause so much confusion over the colour of the panels behind it. Then you have a choice of open or closed canopy parts that differ slightly in width, after which you're done. Markings There are two markings options on the sheet, one in RAF and the other in Turkish service, as previously mentioned. From the box you can build one of the following: No.1686 Bomber (Defence) Training Flight, RAF Hixton, Staffordshire, England, 1943 Ex-RAF, allocated to XIV Battalion, 2rd Regiment, Turkish Air Force, 1941 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This is a welcome reboxing of the kit, and it’s good to have both a British and Turkish decal option to choose from. Detail is just as good as the original, and Cartograf decals are always top-quality. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Iraqi T-55 Al Faw/Enigma (37095) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd The T-54's gestation and transformation into the T-55 was long-winded and complicated by constant changes to an unsatisfactorily performing vehicle, and began as early as the end of WWII. Production of the T-54-1 was halted due to production and quality issues, and recommenced as the re-designed T-54-2, with the turret design changed to closer resemble the eventual domed shape of the T-55. The -2 didn't last all that long before the -3 replaced it, and the requirement for survival of tactical nuclear blasts led to the eventual introduction of the similar looking, but significantly different T-55 that we know so well. As the heavy tank fell out of favour, the T-55 became part of the burgeoning Main Battle Tank (MBT) movement, with thousands of them being produced over the years in various guises. In the early 60s the T-55A was developed, providing more competent Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) protection that required a lengthening of the hull and concurrently added anti-spall protection for the crew. It also sounded the death-knell of the bow-mounted machine gun, which was removed to improve ammo storage, and hasn't been seen on MBTs for decades now. The Czechs built their own versions of the T-54 and T-55, with quite an export market developing due to their being of better build quality than the Russian built alternative. Some of Iraq’s stocks of T-55s were upgraded before the Gulf War with a locally designed and produced set of Non-Explosive Reactive Armour (NERA), which consisted of a series of layers of aluminium, rubber and toughened steel that were extremely bulky and slowed down the top speed of the vehicle accordingly, whilst affording enhanced protection. Based upon combat experience, the armour upgrade was reasonably effective in tank-to-tank engagements where the armour was thickest, but in one particular engagement that was documented, a tank that had survived a number of impacts from ground-based Milan missiles was then taken out by a rotary-wing air asset from a higher angle where the tank was unprotected by the ENIGMA panels. The Kit Based upon MiniArt’s successful range of newly tooled T-55 kits, this boxing adding new sprues to depict the additional armour, and any changes that were made to the tank to accommodate these alterations. The kit arrives in a standard top-opening box with a painting of a camouflaged tank in action in a desert environment, and inside are thirty-one sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass in a card envelope, decal sheet and instruction booklet, which is printed in colour on glossy paper, with colour profiles on the rear pages for the markings options. Detail is excellent as per the other kits in the range, and the new parts are extensive and well-detailed to match the rest of the kit. Construction begins with the lower hull, which has cut-outs for the suspension mounts, hatches and access panels, all of which are supplied as separate parts. The suspension is torsion-link, so the bars are inserted with the axles at their ends, or shorter stubby versions can be installed if you want to freeze the suspension in the level position. Another layer of suspension fitments are installed on the sides of the hull floor, preparing the hull sides with a second layer at the front, and the final drive housings on the rear exterior, adding some small parts, and curved surrounds to the turret area, plus a PE grille laid flat on the top of the right side, joining these to the hull floor along with the rear bulkhead and the engine firewall that is there purely to add support to the structure. A short strip is added under the glacis plate, which is next to be fitted along with the deck with the turret ring, slotting a driver’s hatch in on a pivot, and two clear vision blocks at the panel break. A multi-part engine deck with individual slats fitted before installation is made up in three segments, adding PE mesh panels with raised covers with more PE louvres and mesh supplied as additional parts, plus dozens of small details for the engine deck and the rear bulkhead that includes PE and styrene. The fenders have additional structures moulded underneath, and more added to the top to support the extra weight of the armour, with PE bracing inside the sprung mudguard parts, exhaust on the port side, and several triangular cross-braces perpendicular to the upper surface of the fender and additional metalwork. Stowage boxes and extra fuel tanks are built and fitted to the rear portions of the fenders where there is no augmentation, adding a long narrow box to the right-hand fender over the bracing. The first sections of appliqué armour are built from upper boxes and lower surfaces, plus some mounting lugs (they’re heavy IRL), and the edge blocks have brackets with custom light fittings, adding springs and fitments to the front mudguards on both sides, the main lights that have clear lenses, fitting inside a multi-part cage to protect them from damage, which will take some care to glue together neatly, but they have pins and recesses to assist with location. At the relatively unaltered rear of the vehicle, an unditching log is lashed to the bulkhead with PE straps, and the extra fuel drums so often seen are also lashed to curved brackets that overhang the rear of the hull. the wheels are handled next, with five pairs per side with separate hubs, plus the idler wheel at the front, and drive sprocket at the rear. Tracks are then made from individual links, requiring 90 links per side, each of which have four sprue gates, but no ejection pin or sink marks to worry about. They are moulded in stunning detail, which includes the casting numbers inlaid into the hollows of each track link, and close-fitting lugs that should make building them an easier task. An eight-segment side-skirt of NERA blocks are made up from two parts each, and are attached to the sides of the strengthened fenders, mounting a set of strips in a box-shape on the engine deck, the use of which isn’t illustrated, but could be used for shallow stowage due to the extreme overhang of the bustle-armour that is built shortly. The turret on a standard T-55 is a busy assembly, but the Al Faw takes it up a notch, eschewing some small parts on the exterior for massive armour blocks. The kit is an exterior boxing, but still has the basics of the breech mechanism and coax machine gun made up and mated with the lower turret on two trunnion mounts at the front. The upper turret is attached to the lower, after which the two-part turret roof is fitted with hatches, vents and vision blocks. The commander’s cupola is raised above the armour, and has a periscope fitted to the front vision-block location, with two clear blocks to the sides, surrounded by grab-handle-like protectors. Externally a four-part blast-bag is slipped over the one-part barrel then it is surrounded by PE strips. A searchlight with a separate bulb in the reflector is made and fixed to a flat platform on the front of the commander’s cupola, surrounding it in a curved ‘hutch’ and a two-layer PE front door that you can fold down to depict it in use. An armature links the gun barrel and another searchlight together so they move in unison, and this too is surrounded by another hutch with two-layer PE door at the front. Apart from some tie-downs and brackets on the rear, much of the exterior detail to the turret isn’t required due to the presence of the armour blocks, with work commencing by making a block that can hinge up, sitting on the right side of the turret and acting as the locating point for the other blocks later. A pair of tapering arms are made from three main parts plus three triangular fillets for mounting on the rear of the turret, each one handed to close around a large flat stowage box and a vertical sheet of armour, which then has four NERA blocks mould as one to the rear, doubling as a counter-weight to the frontal armour. The frontal NERA quadrants are built from exterior panels with sides, back plates and undersides, the latter having spacing support bars moulded into them. A set of mounting brackets are fitted to the rear of the blocks and they are fixed to the right side, the same process carried out in mirror-image for the opposite quadrant, except the opening box is at the front with springs added to the top. The turret is dropped into the hull to complete the build, and you should bear in mind that there are no bayonet lugs that will hold it in situ if you invert the model, so be careful to support it if the need arises. Markings There are two colour schemes and no decals because these were highly customised T-55s and were only used for a relatively short period in the field. From the box you can build one of the following: Conclusion For a long time there were only resin options if you wanted to depict these oddities, but that changed 12 years ago, but this is the most well-detailed and modern kit of the type to reach the market in a long while. MiniArt make very good T-55s. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

That kit goes on my shopping list... I saw the real thing decades ago while on holiday in what was still Yugoslavia at the time, so it's a required tool to process childhood memories 😇 perhaps better described as "adolescent aircraft nerd memories". Interesting how a new kit manufacturer can spring up in Ukraine in such difficult circumstances. Btw, "litak" means "aircraft" in Ukrainian, and the silhouette in the logo looks like a Tu-22.

Mine was delivered on Friday but unfortunately I am 3500 miles away from it until mid-September 😭

Mine arrived on Friday 23rd. Good review.....but the new Sprue P wasn't mentioned. I love the larger rudder.... Many pilots felt that the VIII was the pinacle of the Merlin Engined Spitfires. It is not often appreciated that the prototype Spitfire with a bubble Hood and cut down fuselage was a Mk VIII. Now there is a modelling challenge. Also worth a comment that the Mk IX was a modified Mk V with a big engine to manage the FW190 whereas the Mk VIII was a comprehensive re-engineered and strengthened and logically should have been numbered after the IX.... As soon as the 1/32 Whirlwind Fighter is finished the Spitfire will be started as my winter project... In the meantime....

That looks nice

NJ-22 Orao (72002) 1:72 Litaki Model Kit The Orao was a joint project between Yugoslavia and Romania in the early 1970s to create a sub-sonic trainer, ground-attack and reconnaissance aircraft, to reduce the two countries’ reliance upon Soviet Russia’s output. They named the collaboration YuRom, but due to political pressures and probably the egos of the two dictators then in power, Yugoslavia named their J-22 Orao/Eagle, while Romania’s project name was IAR-93 Vultur – if you can’t translate that for yourself, get to the doctor! The politics extended to the initial test flights in 1974, both participants ensuring that their aircraft flew on the same day at the same time as the other, on the 31st October - Halloween here in the West. The initial intention was to power the aircraft with a single powerful, afterburner-equipped engine, but as that possibly over-optimistic desire couldn’t be fulfilled, the designers selected two of the less powerful Rolls-Royce Viper engines, hoping to add an afterburner later to push the aircraft’s top speed above the magic number. Different engines with afterburners were eventually fitted, increasing performance and giving the aircraft improved capability to carry out its intended mission range. In Yugoslavia the aircraft entered service in the 70s, and continued until the 1991 war, at which time there were three fully equipped squadrons, and more with at least some Oraos on strength. When Yugoslavia broke up, the aircraft were spread unevenly between the combatants, some going into storage while negotiations over their future continued. As the various factions settled down into peacetime stability, the remaining airframes that hadn’t fallen into disrepair due to lack of funding or parts were kept operational, some seeing action in Kosovo at the end of the last millennium. Serbia managed to maintain a fleet of ten airframes that was a mixture of J-22s and NJ-22s, with more in storage that could be reactivated with some work. They are expected to remain in service for some time to come, as maintenance and upgrades are ongoing, and while it can’t return them to zero-hours, they are able to extend the operational capacity by up to 1,000 hours at a time. The NJ-22 is the two-seat trainer and is powered by two afterburning engines, and while it can’t get to supersonic speeds in level flight, it can break the sound barrier in a shallow dive, but is still referred to as subsonic for that reason. An upgrade to the Serbian fleet in 2010 was referred to colloquially as the Orao 2.0, as it overhauled the avionics extensively to upgrade the type’s capabilities in line with technology advances, improving navigational efficiency and providing the crew with Multi-Function Displays, with the intention of turning the entire cockpit digital in due course. Note: The process that led to Yugoslavia becoming the various nations they are now was a complex and sometimes bloody one, and I wasn’t previously too familiar with it. If I’ve made any errors in chronology or naming, it was an honest mistake, and no harm was meant to anyone. The Kit This is a reboxing with two cockpits, based upon a new tooling from Ukrainian company Litaki Model Kit, and we’re pleased to be able to bring you a review of their new kit, which bears a passing resemblance to a Jaguar, with elements of Hawk thrown in to give it a good-looking but purposeful look. It was a low-numbers aircraft that spent much of early years behind the Iron Curtain, so it’s not surprising if you’ve not heard of it at all, or don’t know much about it other than its name. The kit arrives in a small box with an Orao banking over a canopy of forestry on the front, carrying cluster munitions under its wings on the inner wing pylons. Inside the box are two resealable bags containing seven rectangular grey sprues, some of which have protective sheets of foam over the ends, and a separately bagged clear sprue with more foam. Another bag contains the A5 instruction booklet with a colour cover, and two Ziploc bags with decals, pre-cut grey vinyl masks (not pictured) and Photo-Etch (PE) brass completing the package, save for three sheets of glossy profiles that are printed on both sides, and the full-size glossy colour print that replicates the box art without all the graphics necessary for packaging. Construction begins with the two ejection seats, each made from five parts, applying two decals to the sides, and folding the PE front of the headbox, fitting a set of PE belts over the top, and another section on the base cushion, then applying three more parts to complete the harness. The instrument panels are different shapes and are both built on a base with rudder Pedals, a panel that has a PE layer attached to the front, and a decal that is applied over the top, with a choice of turquoise or cockpit green, depending on the era you are depicting. The four side consoles are similarly layered from PE and decals, adding throttle quadrants with PE levers to the starboard side after the decals, then installing them all on the cockpit floor, separated by a bulkhead between them. The seats and instrument panels are added along with control columns for both crew, and the rear pilot has curved sections added to the very rear of the floor to later form part of the intake trunking. In preparation for closing the fuselage, a bulkhead has two rear engine faces moulded into it, which has PE afterburner rings, followed by two concentric rings in the middle, making the exhaust trunks for early and late variants of different lengths according to the diagram. The nose gear bay is made from three parts, creating the two main bays from five parts each, laying all the bays in the lower fuselage along with the exhausts and two inserts at the rear of the assembly, not forgetting to drilling holes in the floor for the chaff boxes and centreline pylon. The upper fuselage has the cockpit glued into position with the front coaming, and you are incited to apply nose-weight before closing, after which some small PE and styrene parts are scattered around the sidewalls. The exhaust surrounds are different between early and late engine variants, and the later option has a set of petals inserted to complete the installation, adding a fairing below the tail from two parts, and fitting the twin intakes on the fuselage sides after assembling the two parts and dealing with any seams. The tail fin and wings are all made from two sides, while the elevators are each single parts and have tabs that slot into the rear of the fuselage. The fin and wings mount on shaped recesses that should give a strong bond, but check the fit before you commit to glue. Now that the airframe is ostensibly complete, it’s time for details, starting with the most important, the landing gear. Five wheels are made from halves, with two utilised on each main gear leg, which are made from seven parts including retraction jacks in mirror image of each other, inserting them into the main bays on three attachment points for a strong join, just remember to scrape away any paint at the joints first. The nose gear leg is similarly complex, with two separate arms to the yoke, a retraction jack, landing light in a boxy fairing, and a captive bay door that is linked to the leg by two lengthy PE arms. The belly-mounted air-brakes can be posed open or closed by using different parts, the open option having lightening holes moulded into the inner face, as do some of the main gear bay doors, which all have separate actuators, and can be posed open or closed around the deployed gear. Two additional doors are added to the sides of the nose gear bay, with moulded-in hinges helping with alignment. The model is flipped onto its back to add twin strakes under the rear of the fuselage, an actuator fairing to the ailerons, two weapons pylons under each wing, and a central pylon under the belly. There are plenty of things to hang from the pylons on the sprues, starting with two fuel tanks that are made from two halves plus a pair of butt-jointed tail fins with a scrap diagram showing their angle from the front. Four BL755 cluster bombs are also included, built from halves and four finlets on the tapering rear, with a choice of two styles of rocket pods that are built from halves with a nicely moulded pointed nose, and a PE rear bulkhead to finish them off. A diagram at the rear of the booklet shows the likely configurations, which you can verify by checking your references for real-world instances. We’re not done with armament yet, as the Orao carries a pair of twin-barrelled GSh-23L cannons under the intakes on the sides of the fuselage, each one made from two parts, and slipped through a hole in one set of inserts with the option of depicting your model without them by using a blank insert instead. Three chaff and flare dispensers are fitted under the rear of the aircraft, two on aerodynamic fairings with PE inserts to depict the tubes, and one that is flush with the underside of the fuselage, again, depicted by a PE insert. Righting the model, the HUD is fitted on the front coaming before fitting the four-part canopy, which has two opening sections, and unlike the rearward opening single-seater, they open sideways, hinging on the starboard side, with a retaining strap that holds it in position. Adding a length of wire or stretched sprue with the help of your references should accomplish that, taking care to achieve the correct angle. PE wing fences are mounted on the upper wing on fine engraved lines, with a pair of rearward facing PE antenna either side of the fin. An Angle-of-Attack probe and blade antenna are fitted under the nose, with a pitot probe inserted into the tip to finish the build. The included masks (not pictured) can be used to protect the canopy during painting, and there are also a set of masks for the wheel hubs as a bonus. Markings There are a generous six decal options included on the sheet, and the separate colour profile sheets have an additional page devoted to the location of the many stencils on the airframe. Colours are called out in letter codes throughout the instruction steps, which correspond to a table at the rear of the booklet, giving codes for Mr Color, AMMO, AK Interactive, and Tamiya, which should be sufficient to convert to your preferred paint system if the brands mentioned aren’t in your collection. From the box you can build one of the following: S/n: 25504, Yugoslav Air Force, 242nd Fighter-Bomber Sqn., Golubovci-Podgorica Air Base, 1989 S/n: 25504, Republic of Srpska Air Force, Banja Luka, 1996 S/n: 25526, GTA-002, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 1999 S/n: 25525, Serbian Air Force, Batajnica Belgrade Air Base, 2007 S/n: 25528, Serbian Air Force, Batajnica Belgrade Air Base, 2012 S/n: 25528, Serbian Air Force, Batajnica Belgrade Air Base, 2023 Decals are by DecoGraph, 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 is a well-detailed model of a relatively rare aircraft based upon number of airframes produced, and remaining aircraft that are still on strength. It’s also an attractive jet that deviates from the usual Soviet Bloc look of the day. I’d certainly be interested in one in 1:48 scale, and am feeling a little jealous right now. Available from all good model shops now. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of