Mike

Rando. First name Some?

That's the right attitude George!

Hurricane Mk.IIc Jubilee & 3D Parts (40006) 1:48 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 achieved 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 aerofoil, 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 retained 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 followed by 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. By the time the improvements to the airframe resulted in the Mk.IIC, it was tasked with ground attack, taking out German tanks, which weren’t as easy to crack as first expected, because 20mm cannon shells would often ricochet off the frontal and side armour, and bombing a relatively small target such as a tank was a matter of pure luck, all while the enemy poured lead in your general direction. It was withdrawn from front-line fighter service at this stage of the war, as by then the enemy aircraft outclassed it in most respects, so it carried on in ground-attack, night fighter and intruder roles where it excelled, without unnecessary exposure to enemy fighters. It was succeeded by the D that mounted a pair of 40mm cannon in gondolas under the wings, increasing its offensive power appreciably, at which point it acquired the nickname ‘The Flying Can Opener’, adding additional frontal armour to the airframe that was exposed during the run-in to target. They carried on in that role until the Typhoon came into service, which was capable of doing the job faster and more efficiently without the worry of being bounced by enemy fighters that outclassed it. The Kit This is a special edition boxing of the new tooling from Arma Hobby, which was one that many 1:48 modellers had been waiting for, as their 1:72 kits have a reputation for excellent detail, with the inference being that in a larger scale the detail would be even better. Spoiler Alert: It is, and the detail is present in spades! The kit arrives in an end-opening box with a sturdy tray inside that prevents the dreaded crushing in storage. The painting of a cannon armed fighter with flying over mixed Allied armour and troops disembarking from landing craft is dramatic and well-executed, with the side profiles of the decal options on the rear of the box. It depicts Operation Jubilee, which was the official codename for the Dieppe raid that is generally considered a failure, but despite the heavy losses, which extended to the pilots and aircraft of the RAF escorting the landing, it taught the Allies many lessons that were used to good effect on D-Day, probably saving many lives and helping to secure the beachhead. The package has the same design cues and layout as the 1:72 boxes, so you almost feel like you have shrunk when handling it. Inside the box is a cardboard tray that contains three sprues of grey styrene, a clear sprue, a sheet of pre-cut yellow kabuki-tape masks, special 3D printed parts in four separate Ziploc bags, and an instruction booklet that is printed on glossy paper in colour, with colour profiles on the rearmost pages. Detail is everything we have come to expect from Arma, with crisp engraved panel lines, fine raised rivets, restrained fabric scalloping effect on the fuselage rear, and plenty of raised and recessed features that should result in a superb model if care is taken during building and painting. If this is your first Arma kit, you should know that they have a technique of adding stiffening ribs and stringers inside their kits, and they hide away their ejector-pins in places that won’t be seen, usually with a circle of tiny turrets around them. They are usually placed so that they can be left intact without affecting assembly, but if they do need to be removed, you’ll be advised in the instructions. Construction begins with the lower wing for a change, drilling out holes applicable to whether you intend to fit bombs or drop-tanks under the wings of your model. The holes are marked in red for tanks, and blue for bombs, which is helpful, and the diagrams are accompanied by a little explanatory text that advises that the bombs aren’t used in the decal options of this boxing, catering to those that might want to use aftermarket decals. The gear bay is created from a well-detailed section of spar that has a pair of retraction jacks and a pressurised cylinder applied to it, then has the remaining walls and their ribs mated to it and covered by the bay roof, feeding a brass-painted hose through the bay once completed. Attention then shifts to the cockpit for a moment, building the seat from four parts, which is supplied with decal seatbelts and is glued to the rear bulkhead for later installation in the cockpit, unless you prefer to use the 3D printed seats, which have belts moulded-in, cutting down on the number of parts whilst adding excellent detail. We return to the wing again, removing the drop-tank location points for one decal option, and cutting a new rectangular hole nearby, filling in the original with a piece of scrap styrene or filler whilst you are there. The gear bay assembly is glued into the full-span upper wing, adding another short spar closer to the rear, then joining them together after removing a short length of the ridge behind the landing light bays to achieve a better fit for their inserts. Now we learn why we didn’t build the entire cockpit earlier, as it is built in the space between the wings once they are completed, starting with the control linkage and frame, with the foot rests/trays over the top, and a small lever glued to a cross-member on the left. The side frames are painted and inserted at the perimeter, locating in slots in the upper wing centre, and these are joined by the rudder pedals on a central mount, and a V-frame that stiffens the assembly. The control column is built from three parts and includes the linkages that lead aft under the pilot’s seat, which is inserted last over the V-braces at the rear, locating on more slots in the upper wing. Flipping the wing over, a pair of rods are inserted into the bays, their location shown by another drawing that highlights them in blue. The instrument panel is next, with raised details depicting the instrument bezels and other switches, with a decal included for it and the compass that fits between two legs under the panel, which you are advised to cut into sections for an easier fit. It is glued into the starboard fuselage half with a pair of small pieces of equipment, with six more in the port side, and the option to pose the foot step on the exterior skin in the lowered position, which is a nice touch. There is also a decal for a pair of dials moulded into the fuselage sidewall. With that, the fuselage halves can be brought together, seams dealt with, and then carefully mated with the wings, taking care not to damage the lovely detail in the cockpit. Two vents are removed on the port side of the fuselage low down near the root fairing for the included decal options. If you plan on modelling your canopy closed, you should also cut away the rails as indicated in red on a scrap diagram at this stage to allow the closed canopy to fit firmly. The underside of the fuselage has an insert with the tail-wheel fairing moulded-in, hinting at Sea Hurricanes in the future. The central radiator housing has its core made from front and rear sections with the matrix texture moulded-in, and a circular insert with hosing, all of which is glued to the underside of the fuselage and covered by the cowling that is made from body, intake lip and cooling flap at the rear, locating in a shallow recess in the lower wing that has a horseshoe flange with fasteners to add to the detail. The tail wheel inserts in the hole under the rear of the fuselage, adding a full-span elevator panel with separate flying surfaces that fills the recess in the top of the tail, fitting the two-part fin to a stepped lug in the fairing, and fixing the rudder to the rear, allowing all the tail surfaces to be posed deflected if you wish. The main gear legs are made from a strut with a retraction jack moulded-in, and another added to the rear, plus a captive bay door that fits on the outboard side, and a two-part wheel fitted on the inner axle. There is a choice of two styles of gun camera fairing in the starboard wing leading edge that uses two different parts, and your choice depends on which decal option you have chosen. There are clear lenses to cover the landing lights, and the clear wingtip lights have a recess in their mating surface that you can add some green or red paint to in order to depict the bulb before you glue them in position. The gunsight and clear lens are glued to a recess in the cockpit coaming at this stage, taking care not to disturb it before the windscreen is installed. There is a choice of two styles of cannon barrels, using either the styrene parts from the kit, or replacing them with the more detailed 3D printed parts that accompany this boxing. While the model is inverted, a pitot probe and crew step are added to the port underside, and a clear recognition light is inserted just behind the radiator, painting it a clear amber. The rest of the work on the airframe is done with the model resting on its wheels (if you’ve fitted them yet), installing a choice of two styles of 3D printed exhausts and mounting blisters in recesses in the nose cowling, a pair of glare-hiding strakes in a straight line between the exhausts and the pilot’s eyeline for two decal options, and an aerial mast in the spine behind the cockpit, cutting off the little triangular spur near the top, and the short post on the fin for all options in this kit. A two-part intake is fitted under the chin, and a choice of two styles of prop are included for the different decal options, using the same blade part, but substituting different front and back spinner parts, plus a washer inside the spinner that can be glued carefully to allow the prop to remain mobile after building. To close the canopy, part T2 is used, but if you intend to leave the canopy slid back, a slightly wider part is supplied, marked T3, with pre-cut masks provided for all options, as well as the wheel hubs and landing lights. As already mentioned, drop-tanks are included for this boxing, built from two halves that trap the location pegs between them, and have a small stencil for one side, only to be used for one decal option. The instructions also show the bombs being built up from four parts each, along with their pylons, even though they also tell you they’re not used for any options in this boxing. Again, if you are using aftermarket decals, these may be of use to you. Check your references to be sure. Markings There are three quite different options on the decal sheet, each having a full page of colour profiles at the back of the instruction booklet, with letter codes corresponding to a table on the front page that gives codes for Hataka, AK RealColor, AMMO, Humbrol, Vallejo and Tamiya ranges, which should be sufficient for most of us, although FS numbers are also included for most colours to help you further. From the box you can build one of the following: BE500/LK-A, 87 Sqn., RAF Tangmere, Operation Jubilee, Pilot: Sqn.Ldr. D G Smallwood and Flt.Lt. A H Thom Z3081/FT-V ‘Baron Dhanis’, 43 Sqn., RAF Tangmere, Operation Jubilee, Pilot: Sqn.Ldr. D A R G Le Roy du Viver (Belgium) BD867/QO-Y, No.3 Sqn., RAF Hunsdon, Autumn 1941, Shot down during Operation Jubilee, Pilot: Sgt. Stirling David Banks (RCAF) Dec’d 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 A fabulously well detailed model that shows amazing attention to detail, and deserves to be the new de facto standard in this scale. The addition of 3D printed parts takes it to even higher levels that have been hitherto unavailable from an out-of-box build. VERY highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Street Workers (38081) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd This set depicts a trio of street workers, not to be confused with a similar group of people, often referred to as the oldest profession. These are people whose work is done on the street, and it includes a street-sweeper, a newspaper seller, and a lamp-lighter, from the days when street lamps were gas-powered, a power source that lingered longer into the 20th century around Europe than you’d possibly think. Inside the figure-sized box are five sprues in grey styrene, the longest of which is nipped into two parts at the factory to allow it to fit inside the box, plus a pair of clear sprues, with a glossy sheet of instructions for the accessories that are included with the set. The parts for each figure are found 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. The street-sweeper is holding a long-handled Besom broom with a traditional bundled stick head, akin to a witches’ broom, made from two parts. For a good join, a small hole could be drilled in the head of the broom to accept the shaft, cutting it to the desired length. The lamp-lighter has one leg either side of the ladder (not health & safety approved), and has his arms above his head opening or closing the lamp head, while the paper seller is wearing a bibbed skirt and jacket, with her hair flowing over her shoulders in a 30-40s style, and a three-part stack of papers in her arms. The accessory sprues provide parts to create a step ladder for the lamp-lighter to reach the street lamp, which is also included. The ladder is made from the two sides plus a top step, while the lamp is built from a two-part bottom section and a fluted upper with perpendicular cross-rail ‘lollipops’ across the top that were commonly used by lamp-lighters if they were using a straight ladder. The lamp itself is made from two faceted clear parts for the glazing, and a styrene top-cap with ferrule on top, fitting a clear bulb to a hexagonal base that is linked to the post by a four-legged bracket underneath. There are more parts on the sprue, including an ornate suspension bracket for a lamp or a large clock, the parts for the latter also found on the long sprue. There are no clock-face decals as it’s not an official part of the set, but you could try printing your own if you have the skills. Conclusion Another realistic, life-like figure set with plenty of accessories from MiniArt that will be perfect for a diorama setting. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Nice work John. Makes me want to build another one myself

Tiger I Early Production ‘Battle of Kharkov’ (BT-034) 1:35 Border Model via Albion Alloys 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. A competition was held with only two contenders on Hitler’s birthday, and it was the ignominy of the filmed breakdown of the Porsche designed prototype and subsequent fire that decided him in favour of the less ambitious Henschel design which became the Tiger, and then the Tiger I after the King Tiger or Tiger II came into being. 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. Many of the early Tigers were lost to mechanical breakdown due to excessive strain on the transmission caused by excessive weight, and often had to either be dragged off the field by Famo half-tracks under the cover of darkness under armoured protection, or failing that, destroyed by demolition charges to prevent them falling into the enemy's hands. 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. If you want to get maximum accuracy of fit and finish, check your references for certainty. The Kit This is a variant of a new tooling from Border Model with some different sprues, and while some may be thinking “do we need another Tiger?”, other people’s Tigers don’t make any money for Border, and it’s a perennially popular subject, so should be a money-earner to support other more esoteric projects. This boxing represents early production of the vehicle that would have been seen at the battle of Kharkov, with Feifel air filters that were installed on the rear bulkhead, and other early equipment and appendages that were later dropped altogether, or amended in light of experience, or the need to simplify construction to get more examples into battle sooner. It arrives in a top-opening box, with a painting of a snow-smattered Tiger in wintery terrain, about to either pull up near or run over a German soldier that appears to be studying a map. Inside the box are nine sprues, the turret and the lower hull in grey styrene, some of which are amalgamations of smaller sprues joined together with runners, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE), turned aluminium barrel, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in portrait A4 on glossy paper, with spot colour throughout, and colour profiles on the rear pages that have been penned for them by AMMO, using their paint codes. Detail is good, and it is an exterior-only kit, although some internal areas are given attention despite this. The surface detail is crisp and well-moulded, but they have elected not to depict the subtle rolled-steel texture that is often seen on armour, possibly because a great many German tanks were covered with Zimmerit anti-magnetic mine paste, or because it’s simple (if time-consuming) to depict the rolled-steel texture yourself with some basic tools and liquid glue, allowing you to be as subtle or as coarse as you like with the texture. Construction begins with the lower hull, which has a pair of circular inspection hatches added into recesses under the rear, two torch-cut towing eyes at the rear of the hull sides, which have overlapping joints for strength, then a scuff-plate is fitted on each side next to the idler wheel mounts. The edges of the final drive housing frame are thickened with an extra bolted layer in the inner edges, removing three of the bolts from each one before installing them. This boxing includes the cooling radiators and fans under the engine deck, each one made from three styrene parts, one of which represents the radiator core, topping off the twin fans with a piece of PE that is folded to create a shallow box with holes for the air to pass through. These are installed on the floor of the sponsons at the rear, threading the torsion bar suspension through with swing-arms and stub axles glued into the end, which lock in place in sockets on the opposite wall of the hull. The rear bulkhead is prepared by adding two vertical two-part exhaust pipes with detailed top covers made from seven parts each, the completed tubes plugging into sockets in the bulkhead, adding a mushroom vent and a manual start hatch around them, plus two mounting frames over the rear of the sponsons. Tiny PE clip parts are folded and fitted near the top of the bulkhead, adding a Notek convoy light, which has a clear lens and PE base, then the cast armoured exhaust protectors are located over the bottom of the exhausts, with small pins fitted to slots in the sides. The bulkhead is mated to the hull and the rear mudguards fit into the frames over the sponsons, inserting a towing eye in the centre, then adding towing shackles to each side on separate torch-cut ends, building the jack from eleven parts and mounting it across the back of the vehicle after gluing the curved protectors to the exhausts. Attention then switches to the upper hull, fitting the rearmost grilles from the underside with a choice of two styles, and a pair of brackets supporting the hinges for the forward hatches on the forward deck. The hatches with their clear periscopes and armoured covers are installed once the glue is dry, adding a central inspection cover in the middle of the engine deck after fitting grab handles, a mushroom vent and a rectangular socket for the Feifel filter manifold. The rear centre deck section is fitted with another mushroom vent before it is glued in place, completing the deck surface. Four PE mesh panels are glued over the large grilles to keep dust and grenades out of the engine compartment, fitting the first pioneer tools around the forward hatches, including the jack block, sledgehammer, axe and shovel, plus a mushroom vent, a long pry-bar running past the turret ring, and a pair of wire cutters on the opposite side. The next step shows the upper hull from below, but without the hatches that have been glued in place, building the air guides into a triangular assembly under each of the forward grilles on the engine deck. A note tells you that these parts are optional, and if you use them, don’t install Z012 and the “turret outside toolbox”, which caused some head scratching. The twin headlights have a clear lens at the centre of each unit, and their wires snake away into the hull. Turning to the top glacis plate with driver’s vision slot and optional styles of bow gun socket or cover, plus internal parts applied before it is slipped into the front of the hull as the two hull halves are mated, adding the shallow sloping apron to the glacis after fitting two detail parts and removing a small raised area. The twin Feifel filters were an early fitment that was dropped later in the war to streamline production, and they are easy to spot on the rear bulkhead, consisting on two cylinders with tapered lowers, surrounded by a single central section that holds the PE attachment brackets, which are made from seven parts each, and have their feeder pipe pairs consisting of five or six parts each, which are glued to the input sockets on the filters, creating a single assembly by attaching them together using a V-shaped manifold that leads into the slot in the main hatch on the engine deck, securing the hoses with a large C-clamp that staples them to the deck. As these are installed, a pair of appliqué plates are added to the hull sides to give it additional thickness and detail. A small rack of ammo boxes are fixed to the rear bulkhead under the left Feifel filter, attaching the two styrene tow cables to the top deck with four shackles, and mounting a fire extinguisher on the engine deck, plus three clips on the aft portion. A solitary smoke grenade discharger is glued to the deck in each corner, sited diagonally into the corner to provide additional coverage in the even that smoke cover is needed. The road wheels are started, adding the innermost layer in a similar manner to the real thing, layering them to spread out the ground-pressure, which includes the inner halves of the drive sprocket and the idler wheel after the idler axle has been fitted. If you are depicting your Tiger in transport configuration, the outermost wheels are left off and the next layer have different caps with a PE spring-clip in the centre, although the reason for leaving them off isn’t mentioned in the instructions. The next layer of paired wheels are fitted, followed by another set of paired wheels and the outer faces of the drive sprocket at the front and spoked idler wheels at the rear to complete the drivetrain. Tracks for this kit are link-and-length, taking advantage of modern moulding techniques to shorten the process of creating a realistic-looking track run by moulding the straight sections as a single part on the top and bottom runs. The instructions show the two curved sections front and rear, although the number of links isn’t mentioned on this boxing. A previous boxing used 25 links at the front, and 20 in the rear, with each of the single links having two guide-horns glued in place before they are installed, so that can be used as a starting point. The completed runs are slipped over the road wheels once complete, but it’s probably best to drape the runs around the road wheels while the glue is setting, to obtain the correct shape and sag where appropriate. Another short run of tracks moulded as a single part are fixed to the lower glacis using a styrene bar to hold them in place, adding triangular profile side skirts to each side of the hull, remembering these are usually removed for transit. The main gun is supplied on the sprues in styrene, but you can use the turned aluminium barrel in the box to avoid any seam sanding and take advantage of the crispness of the metal part, adding a styrene sleeve to the rear, and either a three-part muzzle or a transport bag that is on the sprues if you plan on depicting your Tiger in transit either on the road or by train. The mantlet gives a choice of five styles for the outer face, gluing it to the inner portion, and mounting on the flat socket with two pivots to the sides. The basics of the recuperator are glued around the inner mantlet, to which the breech block and brass-catcher box-frame are added, gluing the assembly in between the turret sides later. The main part of the turret is a single slide-moulded part, which has the turret ring slipped into the hole in the underside from within, adding a pair of tiny rectangular parts to the left side of the outer ring. At the rear, a shell ejection port and cramped circular crew hatch are inserted into their cut-outs, the latter having detailed hinge and locking mechanisms added before it is installed. Two crew seat assemblies are made and installed around the turret ring, and interior detail for the ejection port is added, then the main gun is lowered into position and secured by sliding two locking pins into place. The complicated commander’s cupola is built on a clear castellated circular base, adding five clear lenses over the raised sections, and then lowering the toroidal styrene outer over the top and making up the hatch with three locking handles on the inside, pull handle and hinge on the outside, with the option of leaving it mobile by applying the glue to the three-part hinge sparingly. The gunner’s hatch is a simpler rectangular assembly with two pull-handles, a locking wheel and small latch on the underside, and another handle on the outside, gluing into place over the cut-out on the roof, and adding a choice of fume extractor fairing at the rear. When the roof is mated with the turret, you can include a pair of sighting binoculars, building the assembly from five parts, although it’s not made clear where it mounts on the lip of the cupola. A rack of three smoke grenade launchers are fitted on brackets on each side of the mantlet, building an early bustle box at the rear from only four parts, plus two PE brackets underneath, which are shown in a scrap diagram to assist you with correct location of the parts. The turret is a drop-fit onto the hull, so remember that next time you get the urge to look at the underside. Additional towing cables are clipped to the left side of the hull by five brackets, and the final step shows a series of stowage parts that you can use to personalise your model, and these parts are very nicely moulded with some realistic fabric texture to the tarpaulins and rolls, as you can see below. Markings There are three decal options in this boxing, two covered in winter distemper white, and one in a dark yellow and green camouflage scheme, as shown in the box art, although no further information is given for each one. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed mostly in black or white, with only the three black crosses with white inserts having any registration, which is good, as is sharpness and colour density. Conclusion There’s not a lot to dislike about a new Tiger model, especially a nicely detailed model of the type early in its career, and despite a few strange and slightly confusing moments with the instructions, it should build up into a credible replica of this late war behemoth. Highly recommended. Available in the UK in all good model shops. Review sample courtesy of

North American B-25C/D Mitchell (A06015A) 1:72 Airfix The Mitchell was a twin-engined medium bomber that served with distinction during WWII, with over 10,000 being produced by war's end. Named after General Billy Mitchell, the type reached prominence early on in America's entry to the war, as it was used in the famous carrier launched Doolittle raid on mainland Japan, leaving USS Hornet to bomb Japan, and attempting to land on fields in East China after the mission. It was a good aircraft to fly, and was well-liked by its crews, as well as being able to soak up a tremendous amount of punishment from the enemy and still remain flyable thanks to its rugged construction. These traits led to the Mitchell being used in almost every theatre of war, and in addition to bombing duties it was also converted to a "gun-truck" for ground attack, and was fitted with various armaments, including cheek mounted machine guns in fairings, and sometimes the 75mm cannon from a Sherman tank in a solid nose cone, as well as four .50cal brownings in the nose (B-25G) that was named ‘Strafer’, plus the turret guns that could be aimed forwards to add to the hail of munitions. The J-model was the last production variant in a long line of upgrades and improvements, and although many were built with glass noses, they were often converted in the field to a solid nose for ground attack duties. The Kit This kit was first released in 2018, and this boxing adds new decals to the existing tooling and new box art to match, depicting a gaggle of Mitchells flying low over desert terrain. Inside the box are five sprues of different sizes in dark grey styrene, two clear sprues, decals, and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour with decal option profiles on the rear pages, accompanied by a separate page of profiles for the common stencils applied to the aircraft. Detail is good, and this 1:48 modeller was quite surprised by the small size of the Mitchell at this scale, probably because I’ve been handling a 1:48 B-25 kit recently for another review. It includes a detailed cockpit, bomb bay, turrets, and gun position details, with options for dropped or retracted flaps plus poseable tail surfaces, and raised or lowered wheels to add some personalisation to your model. Construction begins with the cockpit, based on a stepped floor, to which the twin control columns with integral centre console is added, with the instrument panel in front, applying a decal to depict the dials. A bulkhead is fixed to the front of the floor, and two crew seats are slotted into sockets in the floor behind the controls. Another bulkhead is slotted in from the side behind the crew, and an additional lower floor part it fixed to the bottom of the assembly after drilling out two flashed-over holes in one side. At the rear of the assembly, a further bulkhead with moulded-in spar is mounted, then the nose compartment is detailed with a small seat and a bicycle-like seat in the very front of the floor. The bomb bay is just behind the cockpit, and the fuselage halves are thinned here to accept the bay wall inserts, which also have the bay doors moulded-in to give it a strong join, and is detailed with the bomb ladders down the sides of the walls. A note in this step tells you to skip ahead if you plan to leave the bay doors closed, which I missed initially, so make sure you don’t. The cockpit assembly is installed on the port fuselage after detail painting, sliding it into position by feeding the spar through a hole in the side of the fuselage. Another spar is prepared with an extra layer to the bulkhead, located on circular pads, then it too is slipped into the port fuselage, adding 25 grammes of nose weight under the cockpit, making use of the box-like structure there. The bomb bay roof is fitted between the two bulkheads, and an insert is added to the belly behind the bomb bay with the socket for the belly turret and its pivot point moulded-in. The bombs are provided in this boxing, making four of them from three parts each, and gluing two on each side of the bay, adding retraction jacks and their mounts to the front of the bay opening. With both sides of the bay built and painted, the fuselage halves can be closed, and the seams dealt with in your preferred manner. If you elected to leave the bay doors closed, a separate part is included with a panel line down the centre to represent the two doors closed against each other. The wings are built on the spars projecting from the sides of the fuselage, adding the upper surface first, and installing the clear landing light lenses in the leading edge, drilling out some flashed-over holes, which are used to locate the aerodynamic fairings over the exhaust ports on the trailing edges of the wings. The lower surface is then glued in place, two clear inserts are fitted into holes in the fuselage sides behind the wings, which cater for various window arrangements through the different variants, and should be test-fitted carefully so that they are level with the rest of the skin of the model. The elevators are built from top and bottom halves with separate flying surfaces trapped during gluing, which can be deflected according to details given as the assembly is glued onto the rear of the fuselage ready for the rudder panels to be built. Again, the panels are made from two halves with separate rudders, one per side, and these too can be deflected according to the numbers given on the diagrams, plus another diagram that confirms that the rudder panels should be posed at 90° to the elevators. The next choice is whether to pose the gear up or down, with gear down the first choice to be described, starting with positioning the main gear legs, using the outer nacelle half as a jig to locate the strut, but not applying any glue to the nacelle part at this time. It can be left in situ while the glue on the gear leg cures, and in the meantime the engines and their cowlings can be made, which are common to gear up or down options. The front row of pistons has a central axle trapped between it and the reduction bell-housing at the front, then it is glued to the combined bulkhead/rear bank of pistons, providing detail that will be dimly seen through the spaces between the front bank of pistons, and via the cooling gills at the rear if you have sharp eyes. The cowling is prepared by adding seven small raised fairings around the main part, sliding the completed motor into the back of the assembly before fitting the cowling gills using the tabs and slots that are shown in the diagrams. The nacelle halves are joined together, assuming the glue has cured on the main gear legs, and these two parts are augmented by a short forward section on the outer half, then mounting a bulkhead and intake to the front, repeating this for the other side in mirror image. The completed nacelles are then lowered over the main gear legs and glued onto the underside of the wings. For the gear-up option, the legs are omitted, and the small curved bay door covers the opening before gluing the nacelles to the wings, removing the two hinges from one end first, which is done again in mirror image for the opposite engine. The engine cowlings are then glued to the front of the nacelles, regardless of the gear option chosen, then the two flap sections per wing can be glued in place lowered, or retracted by using different parts, doing the same on the opposite wing. Both wheel position options have the curved bump-stop at the very rear of the tail, then for the gear down option, separate scissor-links are glued to the legs, adding the doors and a retraction jack near the front of the bay. The wheels are each in two halves, and have a diamond tread pattern moulded into them, so take care aligning the halves once you have applied glue to minimise clean-up. The attachment points on the struts are specially designed to prevent mistakes, so check that the inner peg is aligned with the hole in the bottom of the tyre cut-out before you leave the glue to set. The Mitchell was unusual for a WWII bomber because of its tricycle undercarriage, and for gear-up the bay is covered by a small door that has been reduced in width prior to fitting. The gear down option has the strut inserted into the slot, a translucent scrap diagram showing how it should locate, then the uncut door is fitted to the edge of the bay, adding the wheel with separate outer hub to the bottom of the leg. The belly turret could be retracted so that it was almost flush with the airflow to increase speed and reduce fuel consumption whilst on the way to and from enemy territory and for landing. You have the option to pose it in either position, gluing the two machine guns into a different centre mount, depending on your choice. Both options are then inserted into the clear upper section of the turret, installing both in the cut-out under the belly, the mount holding each option at the correct attitude. The deployed turret clips into position without glue thanks to an expanding spring clip on the mount, but it is a one-time use clip, so make sure you’re ready to install it, and don’t be tempted to put it in early to see how it looks. The retracted turret has its guns aligned with two long recesses, so can be glued into position as there is only one possible position for them. Behind the turret is a crew hatch, which has four tabs around the lip that can support the door if you intend to leave it closed. To open it, the tabs should be cut away, fitting the combined door and ladder to the front of the cut-out, with the same process carried out on the door to the front of the bomb bay. The upper turret is next, fitting the twin machine guns to the central mechanism, and trapping them in position with another part of the assembly. The two ammo cannisters with a twin feed of link is glued to the front of the assembly, then the completed assembly is inserted carefully into the glazing, a scrap diagram showing how it will look from below. The completed top turret is then fitted into its cut-out, locating in a socket in the floor inside. The nose is open at this stage, allowing you to install a rack of ammo cans, plus the gun that is offset to one side of the bomb sight, which is another part fitted to the front lip of the floor. Under the nose is a small window that is inserted from below, then the top glazing is added, followed by the nose glazing, which has a flexible mounted machine gun pushed through the central hole, slotting the fixed gun through the other offset hole in the clear part as you install it. There are two styles of canopy included on the sprues, one for each of the decal options, and at this stage you can choose to seat the two pilot figures that are supplied or not. An astrodome is added to a hole in the fuselage behind the cockpit, fitting two landing light covers in the leading edges of the wings, installing some windows in the sides, and the glass dome in the tail. The final few parts dotted around the airframe include pitot probe in the port wingtip, two antenna masts on the spine, plus a D/F loop in an aerodynamic fairing, and the twin three-bladed props, one in each engine nacelle. Markings There are two decal options on the sheet, one in US service in a desert scheme, the other a lend/lease aircraft in Soviet service, each with a full page of profiles to help you complete the task. An additional page of profiles shows where the stencils are applied to both decal options, using line drawings to simplify the process. From the box you can build one of the following: B-25C Mitchell ‘OH-7’, 41-13207, 445th BS, French Morocco, 1943 B-25D Mitchel ‘09’ 42-87594, 1st Sqn., Uman Airfield, 1944 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A nicely detailed B-25 in this scale with plenty of personalisation options that belies the scale, with a couple of interesting and more unusual decal options, which combines to make for a welcome re-release. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

All of what you said is bang on Steve, but this bit could do with clarification and elucidation If you get a warning, you usually get a 31 day suspension too. Second warning gets three months, and third warning gets an infinite suspension, aka, ban. On occasion, someone will do something bad enough to earn all three at once, so they get removed straight away. We also don't like sock-puppet accounts, which are people sneaking back under another name, or having multiple accounts and behaving as if they're someone different. Not only is it creepy, psychologically troubling and unnerving, but it's also underhanded and deserving of an instant ban. If someone screws up and accidentally starts 2 accounts however, we'll just merge 'em and move on As to how you get warnings, it's personal attacks, insults and swears like Steve said, and if anyone won't shut up about the usual hot topics of politics and religion, they get one too. It's pretty simple really. Be polite, respectful and helpful, and you won't even need to think about it

I took my life in my hands last night, and spent an hour or two scribbling on my model. It took some doing, and after I'd finished I felt like it was a bit.... poo. I think I'd been staring at it for too long, as today I'm not massively unhappy with the results. I do however think that I need to do a bit of touching-up, as there are a few fuzzy areas. I suspect my needle and nozzle are finally wearing out. I've had them both chucked in now for at least 3 years, without so much as an issue, so it's about time. The amount of metal in these tiny parts is infinitesimal, so I guess they wear out eventually. Here's a quick pic: The pic really shows up the imperfections, doesn't it?

Lovely model - especially the engine bell colouring

What a load of pratts! More loverly work. Don't know how you do it.

’Battle of the Bulge’ Ardennes 1944 (35373) 1:35 Miniart via Creative Models Ltd The Battle of the Bulge was the nickname given to the last-ditch attempt by Hitler, sometimes referred to as the Allies’ best General, to stop the Allied advance toward Germany by driving a wedge through the front and separating the four armies, removing Antwerp from Allied hands, and forcing them to sue for peace. This was clearly what is now known as a ‘hail Mary’ play, and relied heavily on capturing Allied fuel supplies, because the Germans were woefully short of their own stores, and would soon run out if they didn’t capture substantial new supplies. It also relied on bad weather keeping the Allied air elements grounded for the crucial period of the operation, as the Luftwaffe was a spent force by this time of the war, and any daylight activity quickly attracted US and British fighters equipped with cannons and bombs, largely unopposed by the Luftwaffe. The operation began on the 16th December 1944 when the weather was bitterly cold, heavy snow and overcast conditions, and Nazi progress was initially good, capturing many Allied units off-guard, resulting in substantial casualties and a large quantity prisoners. Apart from one hideous incident at Malmedy where Kampfgruppe Peiper massacred dozens of US prisoners, the majority captured were thankfully treated humanely by their captors. After the initial advances, the German’s progress stagnated, and they began to run out of fuel, which in concert with the improvement in the weather, permitted the Allied aircraft to take on the vulnerable German armoured columns and support lines, with the Allies back to their original positions by February of 1945, and the Germans in disarray. The Figures This set contains five figures, two German soldiers walking alongside three US prisoners, who are unsurprisingly not looking happy about their plight. The kit arrives in a figure-sized box, and inside are five sprues of grey styrene, plus a small glossy piece of paper with a sprue diagram for the figure sprues. All the figures are in a walking pose, one German nursing a set of binoculars against his chest, while the other holds his rifle across his smocked chest, relaxed but alert. The three Americans are wearing various battle-dress combinations, two wearing blouson jackets with their hands up, while the man in the greatcoat has his hands mid-chest, probably too cold to wave his hands in the air. The American with his hands clasped behind his head isn’t wearing a helmet, and his hair is clearly non-regulation, so he had probably been on the front for a while. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprues that are separated by country 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. The three accessory sprues include helmets, some of the US M1s either covered with netting or cloth cover, and two of the German helmets also have cloth covers. The rest of the equipment includes the usual personal pouches, bags and small arms, although the Americans won’t be using any of those and their webbing will have been confiscated at time of capture, however the Germans will have a full complement appropriate to their unit and task. The rear of the box has the artwork separated with blue colour arrows, while the kit parts are in black text, with the officer having a choice of cap or helmet. A small photo insert shows the equipment on the back of the smock wearing soldier, as those items can’t be seen in the painting. A small swatch of the smock’s camouflage is given on the back of the box, with the colour chart in the bottom right corner, giving paint codes for Vallejo, Mr.Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, as well as small colour swatches and names to assist you with choosing your paints. Conclusion A great figure set that would look good in a diorama, their chaperones pushing the prisoners back through the front lines while the panzers and other forces are heading forward to press the attack. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

One of the issues I don't like about the forum is that if you view just ONE of your notifications, it sets the others as read too. Could that be the scenario? I often use my iPad and iPhone to view the forum, but I use Firefox, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. If what I described doesn't explain it, it might be worth keeping an eye on it to see if you can spot a pattern. You're the first person to mention it, and we have a lot of Mac users on here, so it could be just you Anyway - that's enough let's get back to the modelling

That's a very unusual one. I don't suppose you have any weird add-ins on your browser do you? If you do, try disabling them and see if your notifications are more reliable. Some add-ins can get in the way of the forum's operation, especially security add-ins. One of our members once had two add-ins running together, and it was causing him all sorts of problems with viewing the forum. It was several years ago though, but I'm sure this sort of thing can still happen.

Those kit decals are abysmal compared to yours Good work BTW - if you're still not getting notifications, your email provider might be blocking us, so have a word with 'em. It happens more regularly than I'd like

Sadly, I'm midway through covering my P.1101 in little mangled stars and other weird shapes. Might have a job to fit that in with the rest of the site business, and sleeping a lot

Got chance to squirt a coat of Aqua Gloss on the airframe this avo, which will help separate the base layer of paint from the camo, just in case I stuff it up All things are possible, and I'm not sure I've ever done this type of camo before, or if I have, I've totally forgotten doing it The joys of a memory. A quick snap: I've got the RLM76 in my PS770 already, so just have to muster up the courage to start applying it See you in a few years

Hi all, I've just split the Sci-Fi & RealSpace review section into Kits & Aftermarket, so it's easier to find everything you might want to have a read of. The Aftermarket section also includes decals, reference material and all the rest of it, so you know where to go You can find the Sci-Fi review section by following the link below, if you fancy a mooch about: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/323-sci-fi-real-space-reviews/

I managed to get a bit of time at the bench today, and did some modulation, which I deliberately made quite visible, as the top-sides are going to be covered with light grey squiggles/spiders, so anything still visible will need to be pretty obvious. The underside isn't quite as pronounced, but I may knock that back with a mist coat of the tyre black later. I'll see how I feel. The pic is a little exaggerated by the camera, so imagine it with a little less contrast, and more variation in tone. Here's how she looks: The ancillaries have also been given a coat of this effect, as most of the airframe and its appendages are black for night-fighting. The riveting is still showing through, but not too strongly, which is nice

Fairey Rotodyne (A04002V) 1:72 Airfix Vintage Classics The Fairey Rotodyne was an ambitious project in the post WWII heyday of British aviation, when the aviation world could re-concentrate their efforts on more radical designs, which included the development of rotary-winged flight types that had been of interest during the 30s, but was put on the back-burner during WWII to concentrate on more pressing matters. Fairey were interested in creating a combined rotorcraft that merged autogyro with helicopter, using both type’s strengths to provide a cheaper, faster method of transport that could take-off and land vertically without the high expense associated with helicopter flight then and now. Fairey envisaged blade-tip engines powering the rotors, thereby obviating the need for a stabilising tail rotor, while the rotor would transition to autogyro mode once horizontal flight was achieved, powering down the engines and utilising the passive lift generated from the blades along with the short wings carrying a pair of turbo-prop engines that would supply forward momentum, but could also be used to counter any torque encountered during flight. The engines also supplied high-pressure air to the blade-tip engines, mixing it with fuel and burning it to provide energy to the blades to rotate. Fairey already had experience with this type of flight with their Gyrodyne, which had been demonstrated to be effective, although its size and fuel capacity limited its range substantially. It acted as a development precursor that gave Fairey confidence in its design, although the form factor and layout changed from several times during development before they settled for the twin-engined design. Which brand and type of engine became a problem however, as Fairey had their preferences, and many leading engine manufacturers considered themselves already over-stretched with various projects. Politics reared its ugly and divisive head, as the British Government had been bankrolling the project on the basis that it could be useful for military applications, and in the hope that airline BEA would make an order for at least 20 airframes to act as financial backstop for the project, which they blew hot and cold on as time went by. During the greater periods of interest, there were plans to build an enlarged variant of the Rotodyne that could carry up to 70 passengers, which would have resulted in an even more cost-effective return than the already reduced cost of the original design. The choice and power output of the engines was an ongoing issue that helped to kill the project, along with concerns over the noise caused by the rapidly spinning blade-tip engines, which were said to be painful and potentially damaging to hearing close-up, and still a nuisance even at greater distances, making conversations within range a difficult prospect. There were attempts to reduce this to a more acceptable level, and progress was beginning to be made as funding was withdrawn in the early 60s, leading to the project’s cancellation when Fairey’s new owners, Westland were likely to have to foot the bill for the completion of development. There was a good chance that the noise could have been brought down to similar or lower levels than other vehicles that were in use at the time, but it was never to happen, as the curtain was brought down on a promising project. The Kit This is a reboxing of Airfix’s vintage tooling, which was first released in 1959 while the Rotodyne was still in development, so as you’d imagine it’s a product of its time, and expectations should be measured accordingly. It is however eminently possible to create a realistic and well-detailed model from the kit, as our membership have proved in the past if you’d care to search the forum’s sub-sections. The kit arrives in a modestly sized top-opening box, and inside are eight borderless sprues in a dark grey styrene, a clear sprue, a sheet of decals, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on matt paper, with profiles for painting and decaling on the rear inner cover. As already mentioned, this is an old kit and should be viewed through rose-tinted glasses, as it’s even older than most of us on the forum. Considering its age, time has been kind to the moulds, with surprisingly little flash, and virtually no mould damage other than some scratches evident on the upper rotor-head and one of the tail parts at first glance. It was tooled during Airfix’s heavy riveting period, covering the skin of the kit in thousands of fine raised rivets that can be obliterated during seam filling. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is a simple floor with a moulded-in centre console with decal, and two turrets that the seats plug into, with a crew member for each seat, although they have their hands by their sides so won’t be doing much controlling of their charge unless you plan on undertaking some surgery. The cockpit is enhanced with a pair of thick control columns, and in front of the crew is an instrument panel for which a new decal has been provided, with realistic-looking dials on a grey background that look rather nice. The bulkhead behind the crew has a door moulded-in, and the nose gear leg with twin wheels is fixed to the bottom of this, putting the assembly aside while you prepare the two fuselage halves with ten oval portholes on each side, even though there is no interior present in the passenger cabin. This was the norm back in the day though, so you can either paint the interior a black shade, or build yourself a simple floor and add some seats. To close the fuselage, you will need to create the rotor-head, which consists of top and bottom halves, with a dome added to the top, and a shaft/pin inserted into the hole underneath. This and the cockpit are trapped between the two fuselage halves, taking care not to allow the glue to seep into the socket for the rotor if you wish it to remain mobile later. Seam-filling will doubtless remove some of the raised rivets on the surface, so you may wish to toy with the idea of either removing them all, converting the model to recessed rivets, or picking up some suitably pitched printed 3D rivet decals to replace those lost in the seam-filling process. The same will be true for the other external surfaces, so take it as read that this will occur for those parts of the model. The Rotodyne’s wings are simple top and bottom halves, painting a small portion of the underside interior silver because it will show through a hole in the upper wing. These are put to one side while the tail is made, creating the horizontal section from two parts plus a single flying surface that can be left mobile by not gluing them in, then adding the upper portion of the fin in two halves, and the lower portion that has a separate rudder panel, building one for each side of the model, and plugging them into the sides of the fuselage along with the wings and the surprisingly clear canopy part at the front. The two engine nacelles are split vertically in half, and are equipped with a nose with intake, through which the prop’s axle slots, securing the four-bladed propeller in position. Intakes and exhausts are added to the sides, and the main gear legs are trapped between the two nacelle halves during closure, fixing a pair of wheels to the ends of the axles. Once complete, they are pinned to the underside of the wings, and the main gear bays are given three doors each, plus another three for the nose gear leg that is now projecting from the bay under the nose. One useful feature of the Rotodyne was the clamshell rear doors that made loading cargo an easy task. These are supplied as two curved sections with four-part hinges that let them open and close if you are careful with the glue. They are locked into position by a pair of C-shaped clamps that glue to the interior of the fuselage in the tail. The penultimate task is to build the rotors themselves, adding half of the tip motors to the ends, and plugging each blade root into the rotor-head, ensuring they are installed at the same angle of attack for accuracy’s sake. The forward access door in the port side of the nose is depicted in the open position, hinging up and down in two halves, with a stairway glued to the lower portion for easy access. Markings There was only one flying Rotodyne, and it wore a fetching white, blue and silver scheme, with Fairey Rotodyne written in large text over the lower silver areas on the sides. From the box you can build the following: 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 There is only one kit in this scale, and this is it. It’s an old kit, but it gets the basic shape, and despite some of the details being a little toy-like, a creditable replica can be made with a little effort. The inclusion of new decals will certainly help with that, as they are very crisply designed and printed, especially the instrument panels. Highly recommended for a vintage kit. Review sample courtesy of

Cheers The jet's early, the Luftwaffe isn't though

It is now

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I/II Photo Archive Number 26 ISBN: 9781908757401 Wingleader Publications The Spitfire was the champion of the Battle of Britain along with the Hurricane and a few other less well-known players, and it’s an aircraft with an amazing reputation that started from the disappointing Supermarine Type 224. The gull-winged oddity was the grandfather of the Spitfire, and despite losing out to the biplane Gloster Gladiator, designer R J Mitchell was spurred on to go back to the drawing board and create a more modern, technologically advanced, and therefore risky design. This was the Type 300, and it was an all-metal construction with an incredibly thin elliptical wing that became legendary, although it didn’t leave much space for fuel, a situation that was further worsened by the Air Ministry’s insistence that four .303 machine guns were to be installed in each wing, rather than the three originally envisaged. It was a very well-sorted aircraft from the outset, so quickly entered service with the RAF in 1938 in small but growing numbers. With the clouds of war accumulating, the Ministry issued more orders, and it became a battle to build sufficient airframes to fulfil demand in time for the outbreak and early days of war from September 1939 onwards into the Battle of Britain. By the time war broke out, the restrictive straight sided canopy had been replaced by a “blown” hood to give the pilot more visibility, although a few with the old canopy still lingered. The title Mk.Ia was given retrospectively to differentiate between the cannon-winged Mk.Ib that was instigated after the .303s were found somewhat lacking compared to the 20mm cannon armament of their main opposition at the time, the Bf.109. As is usual in wartime, the designers could never rest on their laurels with an airframe like the Spitfire, as it had significant potential for development, a process that lasted throughout the whole of WWII, and included many changes to the Merlin engine, then the installation of the more powerful Griffon engine, as well as the removal of the spine of the fuselage and creation of a bubble canopy to improve the pilot’s situational awareness. Its immediate successor was the Mk.II with a new Mk.XII Merlin, followed by the Mk.V that had yet another more powerful Merlin fitted, which returned the fright of the earlier marks’ first encounters with Fw.190s by a similar increase in performance of an outwardly almost identical Spitfire. This twenty-sixth volume in the series returns to the early Spitfire, revisiting the Mk.I and then covering later Mk.IIs that the author didn’t have enough content to justify a full book to itself, whilst trying not to rehash old photos and information on the original Photo Archive that detailed the Mk.I from prototype to the Battle of Britain. As such, this has been designated a Special Edition that is a companion to the initial Photo Archive #1, which is still available and can be purchased here if you’ve not already got one. You may recognise the name of the author of this edition, as Richard Alexander is one of the people behind Kotare models, who have uncoincidentally recently released a spitfire kit in 1:32. The profiles have been penned by his colleague Ronny Bar, who is well-known in the hobby. Some of the photos are staged and are of official origins of course, but there are also a large number of candid shots, very few of which are in colour due to the era, and a small number are of battle-damaged aircraft with holes in their rear end for the most part, one upended on the airfield after a difficult landing and possibly over-zealous application of the brakes. There are also several photos of the pilots in and around their cockpits, some of whom didn’t make it through the war. This edition is also unusual because of its Reference Guide that fills the rear pages of the overall 72 leaves, helping the modeller navigate the minefield of subtle differences between the early Spitfire Mk.I and Mk.IIs, many of which are enlarged portions of photos that are accompanied by informative captions specific to the elements under discussion. A visually impressive book with plenty of reading material into the bargain that will have you coming back to it again and again. It will be of use whether you have #1 or not, although it will probably result in more sales of the earlier volume. There are a growing number of Spitfire volumes of various marks in the Photo Archive series, which will build into an invaluable reference for Spitfire modellers. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

We reviewed this puppy mid February, and as I'm a sucker for a late war jet, I dug in straight away to see what I could do with it. As I said in my review, it's not a shake-and-bake kit, so you'll definitely have to apply some of those fabled modelling skills to building it. If you're the type to get all uppity because some flying surfaces are too corrugated, walk away This isn't a Luft'46 subject in some ways, because a partially constructed example was captured at the end of the war, and there are pictures of it languishing outside some buildings, covered with US soldiers and staff posing in front of it. The Americans liked it so much that they took it back to the US and finished it, calling it the X-5. It's the grandfather of the swing-wing generation of fighters and bombers, so it has a place in history. This boxing is the Night Fighter option, and RS sent me the one I was most likely to be tempted by, and they were right. I was. I started off with the cockpit, which was nice, and fitted the fuselage nicely. I added some HGW seatbelts, and detailed the IP with Airscale instrument decals, basing my dabblings on a cut-down sub-set of the Me.262's panel, with the following result: Those HGW seatbelts really are the donkey's whiskers, aren't they? Absolutely worth the faff and fiddle of putting them together. I curse and I swear, but keep going back for another set, and will continue to do so The exhaust was pretty simple, although the outer tube had a big mould seam around it that needed removing. It's a tight fit too, and as I wanted to pop it in later, I replaced the styrene tube with a length of brass tubing of the correct diameter that I had lying about, reusing the centre dooh-dad, and repainting it in the same burnt metal shades. The intake is a simple tube, and again I had to do some fettling later in the build, so all that metal shading was lost under a load of Black 4.0 paint yesterday. This is modelling There's just a blank at the back end of the intake, so no detail was lost, and even with a bright light, I can't really see anything inside. It also works because the airframe is black. Happiness The wheels are moulded in halves, and they looked familiar, so rather than having to carefully sand the seams whilst trying to avoid the raised circumferential treads, I looked up late WWII German aircraft wheels, as I expected them to be reused from another design to save development costs. My first guess was Me.262, but they're way too fat and large. It turns out that they're scarily close to the wheels of a late war Bf.109, so that's what I went with, picking up an Eduard resin set. You can see just how close they are below: Very nice, although the kit wheels are decent, I just couldn't be bothered sanding the seams because I'm lazy The wings were pretty simple, consisting of two parts that glued together as you'd expect. I decided to cut out some wingtip lights and cut out areas that I thought would be the likely site, and glued in some clear acetate after drilling a depression in it that I painted red and green, hoping I'd get the right wing matched with its light The white line is a piece of styrene strip that I used to tidy up the edges so they'd fit better. They got covered up with liquid mask pretty much straight away, and haven't been seen since. Once I'd got the cockpit, intake, and gear bays in the fuselage, I joined the two halves, and set to work on the seams. They took some hiding TBH, partly because the styrene is quite soft, but I was also using soft sanding sticks. Once I'd stopped doing that, the seams disappeared, and I could put the parts together for a test-fit. After seam filling, I had some panel lines to reinstate, which turned into a complete rescribe, so all the panel lines looked the same. Then it got silly, and on a whim, I decided to rivet the entire airframe, which I've never done before. I used the Galaxy Model riveting tools that I've had lurking about for almost 4 years, and have barely used. I've certainly used them now! Over the course of an evening and the next morning, probably 4 hours in total, I marked out the rivets as I reckoned they might appear, again, using the Me.262 as my guide, as the wings were intended to be the outer wing panels off that aircraft at one point. It's probably not the best or most accurate riveting that a model has had in the world, but I'm quite pleased with it, and it has added some extra visual interest, as well as distracting from any mistakes I've made along the way. The top pic is just after I'd finished with some of the pencil still visible, the second shot is later on after a bit of tidying up, and re-filling a few lengths of the seam that had eased or cracked during handling. There was a much fettling and filling of the various mistakes too, tidying up lines that weren't quite square, and making good, plus drilling out four tiny holes in the nose cowling to help me locate the radar antennae later on. once I was done, I glued all the major parts together, and it turns out the tail fin tab was slightly wide, and it split the rear of the fuselage, which I had to make good. The whole thing received a unifying coat of primer and a good buffing to remove any rough patches, then I put it aside for a few days while I was busy with other stuff. I dipped the canopy in Klear and left it to dry, masking it up with narrow lines of tape, which I in-filled with scrap pieces once I'd finished. I glued it on after putting the gunsight on the coaming, which I'd also covered with a sheet of 0.25mm styrene to ensure the seam stayed hidden, replacing the moulded-in glass with two squares of acetate, making sure they didn't interfere with the sharply raked windscreen. The canopy got glued on with GS-Hypo cement, and was taped down and left to cure overnight. Last night I did some choosing of shade, having decided to depict the scariest decal option that's based on an all-over black airframe with little wiggly clouds of grey all over it. I might as well, as I like to make things difficult for myself Here's the base coat, which isn't black, it's a dark grey called Gunze Tire Black H77, which is very dark, almost black, but not quite. I'm going to lighten it with further coats, then noodle the camo grey over the top. That's the plan, at least I noticed in that pic that the paint is a bit thin on the fuselage centre section, so it's just as well I have the paint still in the 'brush. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some modulation on it this evening, and will post up some pics when I do. I'm determined to finish this one, as I have too many sitting close to the finish line that I'm thoroughly ashamed of. Wish me luck!

Those spray-masks look like fun. I really must have a go at those soon. Keep up the good work