Mike

We might if we didn't like them. Just sayin'

That's a bit large. Can't wait Also: I wonder how long they'll last now WHS is supposed to be closing its doors

No dodgy canopy in our review sample either, as you can probably see. There was a white mark when I got it out of the bag, but that turned out to be dust

Brilliant Does Kane also have an ejection seat* in his butt cheek? (*I know it's a Nostromo patch, not a warning triangle)

Sd.Kfz.234/3 with 2cm Schwebelafette 38 (35431) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Armoured cars and their derivatives were a dominant part of German military thinking after WWII, as they were prevented from having tanks or other types of heavy weaponry by the Versailles Treaty, at least until they unilaterally set its terms aside once Mr Hitler was firmly ensconced as the country’s mad dictator. Although it closely resembles the earlier Sd.Kfz.231, the 234 was based upon a more modern ARK chassis, while the 231 was built on the GS chassis. The 232 Schwerer Panzerspähwagen was available in 6- or 8-wheeled formats, with the number of wheels appended to the designation, and it was the 8-Rad that the basis for the 234, following on later in 1940 and learning from issues encountered with earlier designs. The new turret was designed by Daimler Benz, while the engine was a Tatra air-cooled diesel unit, powering all eight wheels that were also all steerable. To add to the ease with which the vehicle could be driven, there was an additional driver’s station at the rear, complete with a steering wheel that gave it the capability of reversing out of trouble with similar speed and dexterity as driving forward – a facility that came in very useful in the event of an ambush or stumbling into an enemy position. The 234/2 was the initial variant and the most prevalent, as well as being the best known, probably because of the (comparatively) big 50mm gun in the turret. Oddly, it was replaced less than a year later with an open-turreted /1 variant that mounted a smaller 20mm cannon, and concurrently another variant with a short-barrelled 75mm K51 gun under the /3 designation. This variant was also short-lived, increasing the fire-power substantially with an installation of the powerful Pak 40, although the extra weight caused extreme stress to the 234’s chassis and running gear. All the variants after the /2 were open-topped, leaving the crew exposed to the elements, incoming plunging fire and explosive charges lobbed in by the enemy. To keep them out of range however, a single MG42 was coaxial with the main gun - a very capable machine gun against troops and lightly armoured targets. The armour built into the vehicle could deflect light-arms and smaller cannon rounds, with 30mm of sloped armour on the turret, and up to 100mm thickness on the mantlet, but at the rear the protection was only 10mm, as was the roof of the /2. Over 100 /2 vehicles were made before it was superseded, and despite being the most well-known, there were around 200 of the later /1 produced, with roughly 90 of each of the other two made before the war ended. The Kit This is a new boxing of a recent tooling from MiniArt, the fifth (IIRC) in a line of boxing that includes Interior Kits, and now has a unique sub-variant such as this /3 with a 2cm Schwebelafette 38, a 20mm autocannon that was also installed in an Sd.Kfz.251 half-track in the same mount. We’ve had other kits of the type in this scale previously, but not for some considerable time, and it’s fair to say that armour modellers with an interest in this genre are very pleased. The kit arrives in a standard-sized top-opening box with a painting of this unique vehicle on the battlefield, passing some German troops that are making good use of cover. Inside the box are twenty-three sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on the outer pages on glossy paper, with profiles of the decal options on both sides of the rear cover. The detail is excellent, as usual, restricted mostly to the exterior for this boxing, but the hatches can be posed open or closed, although with limited appeal for this boxing, PE details, and the surface detail is fully realised with weld seams and exterior structure well defined. Construction begins with the lower hull, starting with the narrow bottom section where the drive-shafts and suspensions are located, which is made from three faces, two internal bulkheads, and two steering actuators, one at each end. The hull floor has tread-plate moulded-in and a cut-out that’s ready for the interior kits, which is sandwiched between the two outward sloping sides, adding a rear bulkhead behind the engine compartment. The two assemblies are mated, fitting the first parts for the suspension to the sides, and a U-shaped stiffener in the centre of the lower portion. Despite the exterior-only nature of the kit, various internal parts are installed in the lower hull, with side doors and their locking mechanisms, and an inner bow-tie stiffener in the centre of the crew space. The upper hull has inner structure of the vision ports applied, radio gear, an instrument panel, gas mask canister on an appliqué panel, plus hinge-points for the driver’s hatch and building two vision ports for later installation, and a pair of inserts fixed proud of the edge of the lower portion of the engine bay. The upper hull has the engine deck filled with cooling vents that can be posed with the louvres open or closed by using different parts, with two solid doors at the sides, locating it in the cut-out in the back of the deck, joining the rear bulkhead with hatch, mating the upper and lower hull assemblies, fitting the vision ports and a hatch with separate hinges and handles in the square cut-out in the glacis plate. Suspension and steering parts are assembled on the underside of the hull, making up four axles on each side, replacing left with right-handed hubs on the relevant side, and applying leaf-springs between each wheel pair. Either four or six triple-handled Jerry cans with PE central weld-flares and cap are made and wrapped in PE straps that secure them to the vehicle later, making up both sides of the sponsons and installing the rear carcasses of the flush stowage boxes, plus making a start on the external parts such as the jack, two mufflers and another stowage box, then going on to fit steering linkages and other detail parts before the sponson sides are glued in place, finishing the ends with additional parts. The doors can be fitted open or closed by using different parts, with a set of width-indicator lollipops used for some decal options. The spare wheel is the first to be made, making it from either four centre laminations and two exterior faces to create a highly detailed tread pattern, or using a simpler two-part wheel structure if you prefer, fitting it to the bracket on the rear of the vehicle, with a muffler on either side of the sloped rear of the sponsons with feeders on the sides. Stowage boxes and the two twin-packs of Jerry cans are mounted on the fenders to the side of the engine deck, plus pioneer tools and a fire extinguisher on the left sponson. More detail parts are dotted around the hull, including a headlight and horn, pioneer tools, an antenna, fitting the tyres that are made from four laminations and exterior faces, one of the inner parts a tapering hub that will be seen once the wheels are installed on the eight axles. This exterior kit includes the entirety of the 20mm autocannon, and starts with the application of the vertical protective shroud for the crew, which consists of four outer components and two inner sections on each side. The gun has a flared muzzle, which involves cutting the stub tip of the barrel off, and rolling a small PE part into a tapering cylinder and gluing it position, or you can use an alternative part that has a styrene rendition of the muzzle moulded-in. Your choice is fitted to the breech, adding a combined magazine and its well to the left side, encasing it with a three-part frame, a rectangular armour panel sited vertically on the breech, sighting gear with a PE insert and bracket on the top, and a four-part trigger assembly that is attached to the frame without glue. A back-up sight is attached on the left along with an adjustment lever, making the pedestal from five parts, plus a rear damper that attaches between the base of the pedestal and rear of the gun mount, made from four parts. A pair of bicycle-style seats and two three-part ready mag assemblies are fixed to the pedestal to complete the gun, leaving just the armoured surround with a pair of grab-handles to finish off the assembly, locating on two arms at the sides of the gun. A two-part pintle-mount is fixed at the rear of the crew compartment and a rest is mounted on the left side with an MG42 that has a separate drum mag, breech cover and cocking handle, plus a simple mounting plate on the underside, resting the stock in the PE bracket. The cannon assembly is installed in the lower hull on the support on the floor to complete the build. Markings There are two decal options included on the sheet, both of which have a base-coat of dunkelgelb (dark yellow), with a green and red camouflage on the real choice, and another with a hypothetical winter distemper over the top of it, possibly the same vehicle. From the box you can build one of the following: Stabskp.Pz.Aufkl.Abt.20, 20. Panzer-Division, Czechoslovakia, Spring 1945 Hypothetical winter camouflage Stabskp.Pz.Aufkl.Abt.20, 20. Panzer-Division Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The 8-rad armoured car is an appealing subject to a lot of modellers, and the Sd.Kfz.234/3 with a unique gun mount is quite appealling. The detail is excellent, and I can’t wait to see what’s next. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

B-17F Guns (6481023 for Eduard/HK Models) 1:48 Eduard Brassin HK Models released their scaled-down 1:48 Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress kit, which has recently been re-boxed with extra parts by Eduard as the Bloody Hundredth, and it is an excellent kit. This set from Eduard is intended to replace the kit guns with more detailed and realistic resin parts with PE ring and bead sights for exceptional fidelity. As is now usual with Eduard's more compact resin sets, they arrive in a shallow Brassin cardboard box, with the resin and Photo-Etch (PE) parts safely cocooned in bags, and the instructions folded around acting as padding. There are fourteen guns in the box on separate casting blocks, five of which have separate barrels, of which there is a choice of ten, the rest have barrels cast-in, five of which have a ball pivot in the midst of the cooling jacket to permit movement within their mounts. There are separate cocking handles where appropriate on another casting block, with PE ring and bead sights, again where appropriate, plus two U-shaped mounts for the top of post-mounted weapons in the waist. The ball-mounted weapons are sited in the windows on the side of the nose, and either as a single or twin mount in the nose glazing, depending on which variant you have chosen. The ball turret has separate barrels for ease of building and painting of the assembly, as do the top turret guns, and the Cheyenne mount in the tail, with a choice of intimidating flash-hiders or plain barrels to be fitted after main painting is completed to avoid damaging them where possible. Each mount has its own instruction step, showing which part to use, the type of cocking handle, ring and bead sights, and how the new resin guns and their barrels integrate with the kit parts, two of which need the guns and their pivots removing from the supporting shaft, replacing the top with a PE bracket as mentioned earlier. Colour call-outs are made during each step of the instructions, using Gunze H and C codes, with the name of the colour also provided in case you don’t have Mr Color paints or their codes to hand. Detail is exceptional, from the perforated cooling jackets to all aspects of the breeches of the weapons, enhanced by extra resin and PE parts for ultimate detail that won’t break the bank. Review sample courtesy of

It was a good sarnie, thanks It didn't come across as too blunt, and I know that's not your style anyway, so no harm done. The review is more accurate now too, which is good.

Looked like a tank to me Funny thing was, I was looking at the EMI (other record brands are available) Pod while I was writing the review, but didn't put 2 and that other number together. I'll edit the review when I've finished munching my sarnie

Yeah, how many members do we have again?

Having built a KH Jag A, I agree to a great extent, although I still enjoyed building it, but the leading edges of the wing were a weird shape, and the way it was engineered to have everything hanging open wasn't for everyone. They're gone now, and here's the Airfix one! You won't be disappointed

SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1/GR.1A (A11010) 1:48 Airfix The Jaguar had a convoluted development history, which began with Britain and France wanting different things, with some commonality of goals, if that makes any sense. Eventually these converged sufficiently to make more sense, and with the cancellation of one of the possible solutions, the Jaguar was born along with a separate joint venture between Breuget and BAC (as it was then) to form SEPECAT, which stands for Société Européenne de Production de l'Avion d'École de Combat et d'Appui Tactique, which translates to European Company for Production of Combat Trainer & Tactical Support Aircraft - a descriptive title if ever there was one, but a long way from catchy. The British and French partners ordered about 160 airframes each, with the French opting for a portion of their lot to be the yet-to-be finalised Jaguar-M options. These maritime operations tuned airframes were of course cancelled due to cost increases and political wrangling in favour of the single-engined Super Étendard. Each Nation also ordered 35-40 two-seat trainers to assist in the conversion of pilots to this new jet. With the jet trainer element now completely removed from the aircraft's tasking due to the introduction of the Hawk and Alphajet, the Jaguar was transitioned to a pure Ground Attack and Tactical Strike aircraft, a job that it did well, as it was a mechanically robust aircraft, with its unusual over-wing pylons freeing up more wing hard-points for munitions. Powered by two Adour engines, the initial airframes were considered to be underpowered, and crews joked that they only took off due to the curvature of the earth. Successive improvements to the engines increased power and load hauling ability though, and its ability to produce high power for take-off and short dashes made for some interesting low-level flight videos on YouTube over the years. The French Jaguar A was delivered to the Armée de l'Air in 1973, taking part in several conflicts in North Africa where French interests were threatened, and then went on to serve in the Gulf War through to the Kosovo and Bosnian conflicts, before being retired in 2005, some two years earlier than the British Jaguar's final curtain call. The British order of 165 of the initial GR.1 models with a further 35 T.2 two-seat trainers resulted in the formation of two active squadrons and one Operational Conversion Squadron in the mid-70s, which became operational carrying the British nuclear deterrent in 1977. As the fast-jet training aspect of the Jaguar's initial requirements was removed by then, further squadrons were raised to carry out reconnaissance tasks. After avionics upgrades they became GR.1As with more powerful engines that went at least some of the way to dispel their reputation for being underpowered. The GR.3 update saw the avionics and power plants upgraded further still, but only 10 years after this expense they were retired before their time (as usual), which marked the end of the Jag's faithful service with the RAF. During her time at the front line, she served in Bosnia and the first Gulf War, narrowly missing the later invasion of Iraq after Turkey withdrew permission to overfly their airspace at the last minute. The final scheme was a stunning salute to this interesting aircraft, consisting of a blazing orange spot pattern of the jaguar showing through the simulated torn outer skin of the aircraft. After a number were sent to museums for preservation, the rest were reduced to main assemblies for storage, thus ending an era. India still operates a number of license built and former RAF airframes, carrying out upgrades of their own, including radar systems similar to those proposed for the Jaguar-M in the 70s, while the other legacy operator, Oman retired theirs in 2014. The Kit Even though there was a relatively modern tooling of the Jaguar in this scale a few years back, most people didn’t much care for it, so the announcement by Airfix of their new tooling in 1:48 was greeted with uproarious applause. I built one of the now defunct Kitty Hawk kit, but I’m still in the cheering crowd, as with hindsight I didn’t fancy building any more of that manufacturer’s offerings if I didn’t have to. Now I don’t! This kit as a complete new tool that replaces their old kit in this scale that was lacking in many aspects, including the height of the spine in the coke-bottle area-rule midriff of the fuselage. The kit arrives in a good-sized top-opening box in Airfix’s usual red theme, with a painting of a brace of desertized Jags high over somewhere hot and dusty that doesn’t take a genius to guess where it might be. The Jaguar’s last hurrah in the Gulf War. Inside the box are seven sprues, although some linked sections have their own sprue codes, two clear sprues, a decal sheet, instruction booklet printed on matt paper in spot colour, and three glossy pages of white A4 paper that are printed on both sides with four decal options, and a fifth containing profiles of the weapons, pods and tanks on one side. Airfix routinely scan aircraft they intend to kit with LIDAR to ensure they achieve accuracy in gross outline and as much of the detail as possible, backed up by the more traditional methods that involve research, a camera and a tape measure. We know that they scanned the airframe that is preserved in running condition at the Bentwaters Cold War Museum, where our Moderator Julien is a volunteer. They have the aircraft on display there, along with a surprisingly large number of other aircraft, plus a ton of Cold War exhibits at a former US base where the Cold War was very real for those stationed there. They even have a little bit of UFO related history there too. Detail on the kit is excellent, with a nicely appointed cockpit and a pair of well-appointed ejection seats. The exterior is covered in finely engraved panel lines, plus raised and recessed rivets as appropriate, and other features where you would expect them to be. The wing trailing-edges are realistically thin and moulded into the upper wing surface to achieve finesse, and the air-brakes have a translucent thin aft section with details moulded onto the inner faces, and no annoying ejector-pins to be seen there. The engines have deftly moulded exhausts and afterburner rings, there are plenty of stores for above and below the wings, and a crew figure with hands-on-knees, plus a redundant (for this boxing) second identical figure that can be left on the sprue or committed to the spares box. The gear bays and air-brake bays are similarly well-detailed, and there is a jig included to adjust the nose to accommodate both the earlier solid option with probe, or the Laser Ranging and Marked Targeting System (LRMTS) under the nose that was fitted later. The first page of the instructions shows where all the decals in the cockpit, canopy and on the gear legs should be applied, although these will be mentioned again in the relevant steps. You have a choice of either a Mk.2 or Mk.3 Martin Baker ejection seats, which have their own stencil layouts as well as alternative parts on the sprues. Construction begins with the cockpit tub, which has a pair of side console tops glued in and decals applied to the tops. A pair of raised marks underneath are removed, then the instrument panel with a further two decals, and the control column are inserted into the front of the cab, followed by a rear bulkhead with plenty of detail moulded-in. Your choice of seat is built from a two-part chassis, back and base cushion with lower support, a one, or two-part head box front, and base insert that incorporates the pull-handle to initiate ejection. Each seat has individual stencils applied to the head box and shoulders after detail-painting, sliding your choice into position into the cockpit floor. The nose wheel bay comprises a detailed roof, with two side walls, cutting off a pair of raised ejector tabs before adding the two-part front and rear bulkheads with a choice of paint schemes, gluing the completed assembly underneath the cockpit. Basic cockpit sidewalls are moulded into the sides of the nose, adding a block of equipment to the starboard side before proceeding with detail painting. Both sides of the nose are moulded with the LRMTS cut-out integrated, and if you intend to depict an early airframe, this must be removed, which might seem scary at outset until you see the lilac coloured jigs in the instruction steps that allow you to mark and cut the exact line without hesitation, although cutting a little away from the line and sanding the final distance is a sensible technique. Remember however not to glue the jigs to the nose halves, or you’ll have a very bad day, but the instructions do mention this twice for good measure. If you cut the tips off the nose, a replacement cone is included to make good, trapping the cockpit between the halves as you apply glue, and fitting the nose glazing if you elected to keep that feature. The instrument coaming is applied over the front of the cockpit to complete work on the nose for now, setting the assembly to one side while work begins on the main fuselage. Ejector-pin towers are cut from the main bay panels, then the boxes are built from four parts each, making the air-brake bays from another three each, which mount inside the fuselage halves just behind the main bays, with a scrap diagram helping you orient them correctly. A smaller almost heart-shaped bulkhead is fitted where the fuselage begins to taper, and our example had a lot of mould-release agent still clinging to it, which should be wiped away and cleaned with some IPA or similar. Bringing the fuselage halves together is the next task, taking care to align the holes along the belly, which will help the engine insert to sit better once it has been installed, following drilling out of four flashed-over holes, and a choice of clear or a styrene insert that receives a raised clear light later for some decal options. The insert should be aligned carefully with the exhaust cut-outs, making a pair of perfect circles if you succeed, then the nose can be retrieved and glued into the front of the fuselage to complete its length, save for the para-pack cap in the tail. A pair of two-part cannon trough inserts are added on the border between the side and underside of the fuselage by the cockpit, which will be useful when the 2-seater comes out, as it only carried one cannon, the redundant bay filled with relocated avionics from behind the pilot. A pair of strakes are inserted in the holes under the engines, with a scrap diagram showing the correct angle to the vertical once the glue has cured. It’s time for another jig, but put away your dancing shoes, as this is to align the engine intake parts either side of the pilot. Earlier kits of the type suffered from a lack of detail of the blow-in doors, and the radiused internal corners of the trunks weren’t depicted, which Airfix have sensibly dealt with, ably assisted by a flat rectangular jig that is used for both intakes and has P and SB for Port and Starboard, or left and right to the lay person. The trunks are built from two L-shaped halves with angled join-lines that have shallow ridges to assist alignment, attaching the inner “half” to the jig without glue, then bringing in the outer half with engraved blow-in doors from the side, carefully applying glue to ensure you don’t accidentally weld it to the jig. You are advised to leave the glue to cure for a little while before removing the first intake, carrying out the same task with the port intake, leaving that to cure too, then fixing them both to the splitter plates moulded into the sides of the fuselage once you are happy with the seams. Thanks to the Jaguar’s high wing planform, the upper wing is full span and incorporates part of the spine, needing a single hole drilling in the centre before it goes into service. The lower wings are separate parts, and they too have flash-over holes drilled-out for pylons before they are glued to the underside of the upper wings. The completed assembly is then mated to the fuselage, the instructions showing the use of pegs or other clamps around the leading-edge root to ensure a good fit. A NACA intake for the primary heat-exchanger is supplied as an insert behind the wing, and another insert fixes to the starboard side further forward to add detail there, making up the prominent cockpit secondary heat-exchanger fairing behind the canopy from a body and intake lip, and once the glue is cured, another jig is placed over the top to assist with drilling either one or two holes in the top of the unit, depending on which decal option you have chosen. The tail fin is a separate unit in this kit, made from a main part that has the leading and trailing edges moulded-in, and adding an insert into the thicker centre section, and on the opposite side to thicken out the rectangular avionics fairing that crosses the upper portion, slotting the finished fin into a groove in the fuselage at the rear. The Jaguar’s oft-maligned engines are a pair of Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk.102s, of which the exhausts, trunks and afterburners are depicted. The trunk has a blank forward end that accepts the afterburner ring, painting it first to simplify the task, making the shrouded exhaust petals from two layers, fitting them at the rear end by way of a keyed lug to ensure correct alignment. They then slide into the holes in the rear of the fuselage under the tail, and are joined by a pair of elevators with serious anhedral, para-pack tail-cone, and two chaff and flare packs under the engine fairings. You have the choice of fixing a pair of wing fences or a combined fence and pylon that was almost unique to this Cold War jet, with the BAC Lightning another example. Two bulged fairings are applied to each of the flap sections before they are glued in place in the drooped position, as was often seen ground-side or on a taxying aircraft, lending them an aggressive air. The leading-edge slats are also separate, and are mounted on short struts in the deployed position, as shown in nearby scrap diagrams. The model should now look like a Jag, but there is still much to do before it is complete. The main gear was a complex arrangement that previous kits didn’t do justice to, but Airfix have done their best to rectify this, using substantial numbers of parts to achieve the desired level of detail. The main struts are made from two halves, and you must remove the raised ejector-pin turrets beforehand. A T-shaped part has a pivot inserted at an angle, sliding the main strut over the peg on the end, then bracketing it with two ancillary struts to complete the leg structure. The opposite leg is built in mirror-image, and the root of each one has a substantial wedge moulded into the top to achieve a good bond, helped along by multiple scrap diagrams showing different angles. Two retraction jacks are strung between the legs and bay walls, adding them in sequence to achieve the correct look, and painting sections of the oleos chrome as indicated. Two wheels per strut are made from halves, with a flat-spot depicting the weight of the airframe on the tyres, making another two for the opposite leg and mounting them on the cross-axles. The nose gear leg is a substantial forged Y-shape, and again has ejector-pin turrets to remove first, joining the two halves, then adding the yoke to the hole in the bottom, and fixing it into the front of the nose bay on two prongs that slot into the front bulkhead, then adding a retraction jack to the front, which has a small cut-out in the front of the bay to accommodate it. Unlike the prototype Maritime variant, the nose gear has just one wheel, which is again made from two halves with a slight flat-spot portraying the airframe’s weight. The contents of the air-brake bays are not identical, one side having the APU, while the other side has an equipment box instead. The air-brakes are well-detailed, complete with perforations and a thin trailing edge, fitting into the front of the bay with a retraction jack holding them at the correct angle, and the instructions advising you to paint the interior the same colour as the exterior. Moving forward, the main gear bays are partly covered by L-profile doors, hiding away some of the detail in the interior, but these doors were usually closed on the ground, unless the aircraft was under maintenance. The forward portion of the bay is covered by a two-part clamshell that separates on gear deployment to allow the retraction jacks to pivot out. Another smaller door opens to accommodate the gear leg, hanging down toward the centreline. The front nose gear door is in two parts, and has two clear landing lights inserted in depressions, fitting the second portion at an angle in the rear with the help of two scrap diagrams, adding two more doors to the bay sides that latch in corresponding holes. A slender arrestor hook is applied to the chine between the exhaust troughs after fixing a bumper, with four tiny parts under the engines, plus a raised light for two of the decal options, then moving forward, a choice of two styles of probe for the nose options are glued to the tip, with a pair of L-shaped whiskers further aft, and an angle-of-attack probe forward of the avionics bays in the sides of the nose. Either one T-shaped antenna or a pair of blade antennae are added to the holes in the heat-exchanger fairing behind the cockpit, and a choice of nav-light shapes are inserted in the spine. Two vents are also installed on the sides of the spine, with a fuel vent exiting the rear under the tail, with two large blade antennae on the sides of the fin, and a pair of optional FOD covers for the intakes, which are a welcome inclusion. As mentioned earlier, there are two identical pilots included on the sprues, and you can choose to paint and install one of them now along with a clear HUD panel in the coaming, after which you can glue in the windscreen, and choose whether to pose the canopy open or not, remembering to add a decal to the aft frame, as per the accompanying diagram. There is a wealth of stores and pods to hang under (and over) your new Jag, starting with a set of four pylons, two per wing, each made from two halves, plus a centreline pylon with a pair of ejector-pin turrets to remove before gluing. Two 1,200L wing tanks and a solitary centreline EMI reconnaissance pod with its own pylon are made, the wing-mounted tanks fitted with a pair of fins at the rear, slotting into grooves in the tail. A Phimat Pod with Heavy Weight Adapter is made from three parts and stashed under the starboard wing on the outer pylon, with a two-part AN/ALQ-101 ECM pod on the port wing outer station. There is also a choice of loading two retarded or free-fall bombs on the separate centreline pylon, each made from two halves, but this can be replaced by the EMI Pod already mentioned. If you are a purist, the Heavy Weight adapter on the Phimat pod should have its ends made a little more pointed with a sanding stick. If you have fitted the over-wing pylons, a pair of AIM-9L Sidewinders are supplied with two fins moulded on a separate part to complete their empennage, locating on lugs moulded into the pylons and corresponding depressions in the missile bodies. Markings There are four decal options on the sheet, spanning much of the Jag’s career with the RAF, including one choice from Operation Granby (Desert Storm), namely 'Buster Gonad'. From the box you can build one of the following: Jaguar GR.1 No.54(F) Sqn., RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland, 1974 Jaguar GR.1A No.6 Sqn., RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, England, 1990-94 Jaguar GR.1A XZ118/Y ‘Buster Gonad’, Operation Granby/Desert Storm, Muharraq, Bahrain, October 1990 – March 1991 Jaguar GR.1 NO.II(AC) Sqn., RAF Laarbruch, West Germany, 1976 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Additional Information Our Walk Around of the Jaguar is the largest on our site, and has been viewed over 80,000 times so far, and includes many photos of the airframe at Bentwaters that was used to create the initial data for this model. The following videos are also of the Bentwaters Jaguar, and if you look carefully, you might see Julien wielding a fire extinguisher in the engine reheat test video. Conclusion Detail is excellent, with some good choices of options for this initial boxing. It’s unusual to see a modern Airfix kit without the option for in-flight and clean configuration, but it’s something I can live with, as that’s how the Jag looks best, in my opinion, of course. Add in four decal options, plenty of stores, and it results in a quality package. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

You could say it's not a hatchet job. If you were to axe me, of course. Mind you, after that pair of offal puns, I'd deserve it Nice Butterfly Pete - looks like it'd float on water too, if all the tanks were empty

Best first sentence of the first response I'm an airbrusher for the most part (theoretically of late), unless we're talking figures, so I'll butt out now

German Officers & Drivers (53030) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd It’s a well-known fact that Officers are far too good to drive themselves around, so generally get someone from the lower ranks to do it for them, leaving them to relax in the back of the car, sleep, work, plot or otherwise entertain themselves, arriving (hopefully) refreshed at their destination. The Nazis were no different, possibly more conceited and obsessed with their own status, so any officer worth his riding crop and calf-length boots would ensure he wouldn’t have to steer his own vehicle, even up until the very end of WWII. This new set from MiniArt arrives in a figure-sized box with a painting of the four figures on the front, and the same artwork cut-down and separated to act as the paint and assembly instruction, with a panel of colour profiles of the accessories underneath, and a paint chart beneath that, giving codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour swatches and generic names for completeness. There are five sprues of grey styrene in total, three containing parts for the figures, the other two full of accessories for you to detail them or the surroundings in which you place them. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprues for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. There are two drivers, one actively driving, or at least adopting the pose ready to go, while the other is opening the driver’s door from inside and leaning slightly out as he does so. Two offices complete the set, one sat cross-legged in the back of a car with his hand folded, while the other is a more practical-looking gentleman, standing by the car as if he has just been investigating something interesting, an MP40 machine gun held loosely in his right hand. Both drivers are wearing side caps at an angle on their heads, while the officers have peaked caps suitable to their rank, both with riding trousers and long leather boots as is typical of Nazi officers of the era. There are two sprues that are devoted completely to a substantial quantity of accessories that include Small Arms, pistols in and out of holsters, ammo pouches, and map cases, bayonets in and out of scabbards. The weapons range from MP40s, an STG44, an FG42, Karabiner 98ks, MP28, Erma EMP-35, Gewehr 41, Walther P38, and of course a Luger P-08. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

aboard, Jim or Bobby. You've accidentally popped this in the WWI section though, so I'll move it for you in a sec. If you can you familiarise yourself with the forum structure, you should have a better experience going forward