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Model T 1917 LCP with ANZAC Crew (35668) 1:35 ICM via Hannants Formed in 1914, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) played a substantial part in WWI often in areas that are seldom given the prominence of the Western Front. They were a major player in Gallipoli where they were heavily mauled due to the Lions led by Donkeys approach that pervaded at the time. They also served in Palestine and Egypt, and it was the former where they used the then new Ford Model T to replace the previous vehicles that were suffering due to the poor availability of spares, They used six of them as Light Armoured Cars, often mounting weapons in a manner that became more familiar in WWII in the shape of the LRDG. The Kit The kit arrives in the usual ICM top-opening box with the captive flap on the lower tray and artwork depicting the contents on the lid. Whoever puts those lids together certainly makes them tight and difficult to get off even after cutting the tape between the two parts. Despite being small, this is a full-detail kit and includes a nicely detailed representation of the engine using 11 parts, a two-part radiator that is moulded into the front axle and attaches to the front of the body shell along with four lifting eyes inside the engine compartment. The completed engine is dropped in behind the rad and with the chassis upended the exhaust is put in place linked to the exhaust manifold on the side of the block. The rear axle of the Model T was suspended on a single lateral leaf-spring, and this is next to be constructed along with the differential and drive shaft assembly. This is also fitted to the underside with various swing-arms and the steering mechanism, then the four single-part wheels are installed and the model is righted once you've had a few moments to appreciate the detail of the wheels, which even have the valves moulded-in. The vehicle looks a bit odd with no upper body, so with the steering column fitted the crew compartment is made up from front, sides and back which have the doors moulded in and the base of the windscreen mount added as a separate part. The cylindrical fuel tank is fitted across the cab in a gap in the floor, and additional fuel is glued to the front bulkhead as a row of four jerry cans in a box on the left side as this is a right-hand drive vehicle. The foot pedals and handbrake are added on the right and the bench seats are made up from bottom cushions (literally!), stiff back with additional cushion and armchair-like sides. Before these are fitted the fuel tank is boxed in and then they can be fixed in place alongside the folded four-part hood and the steering wheel complete with boss and two stalks, one of which was the throttle, surprisingly enough. The pedals on the floor didn't work exactly as you or I would expect either, so it's probably for the best that few of us would ever get chance to drive one. The windscreen can be found on the clear sprue as you'd expect as can the rear light, the front ancillary light and both of the wing-mounted headlights. The screen is in two parts with a C-shaped frame attached to the two halves and a pivot to allow them to be folded or opened. Another pair of fuel cans are attached to the left running board and a spare tyre (no hub) is found on the right. This kit shares the same sprues as the Utility car, and diverges after the creation of the truck bed and crew cab, omitting the canvas roof and including a yoke for the machine gun in the passenger seat foot well plus a back for the bench seat. The gun is in three parts with the barrel seemingly rested on the yoke and having no other visible means of support, which might require some detective work to make look realistic. The water rack, tool box and lights are fitted to this model as the previous option. Markings The small decal sheet contains identification numbers for two vehicles and a small crest for the radiator. The two vehicles are both painted in the overall sand scheme. Model T LCP, Dead Sea Region, Palestine 1918 Model T LCP, Palestine 1918 Crew This is ICM's Anzac drivers set. Cars won't go anywhere without crew and they help to give a vehicle a sense of human scale. Inside is one sprue of grey styrene that holds parts for two figures in ANZAC uniforms with their wide-brimmed hats. They are broken down into head, torso, arms, legs and hats with one of the co-driver's arms split between two parts to allow better adaptation to any weapon he might be tasked with. The instructions show the location and number of each part and give painting instructions that refer to a table over the page with Revell and Tamiya codes listed. Conclusion This is a good re-boxing from ICM with the addition of the crew figures. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Gallipoli 1915 ICM 1:35 (DS3501) The Gallipoli (or Dardanelles) campaign was the ill fated Allied attempt to weaken the Ottorman empire by taking control of the straights that provided a supply route to Russia. Despite a large Naval presence and mass landing of troops eight months of fighting saw the allies defeated by the only real Ottoman victory of WWI. Modern day Turkey see this event as a defining moment in the creation of the Turkish State. Due to the large numbers of Australian and New Zealand commonwealth forces who fought and sadly died during the campaign ANZAC Day was created to honour those men. In both countries this has grown to mark the main day of commemoration for all wars and operations which have followed. There are two sets of figures in the box, one of Turkish troops, and one of ANZAC Troops. The Turkish set which has been previously released here brings us four figures. Two troops running, with one kneeling firing his rifle, and one officer kneeling with his pistol out. In the period leading up to WWI the Ottoman Empire decided to modernise its Army, but did so by buying equipment in, instead of arranging for domestic suppliers to do this. A German Army mission was invited to advise on this, and surprisingly they favoured German Army weapons, and German manufacturers. The standard infantry front line rifle was the M1903 Mauser bolt-action rifle, and the side arm the Mauser C96. This set from ICM brings us two sprues one for the figures, and one for the equipment with a selection of the the M1903 with and without a bayonet. The C96 holstered, and out of the holster with the holster separate. Other items on the sprues are Helmets, Bayonets, ammunition pouches, water bottles, grenades, a map case, and even binoculars and their case. A box with two sets of the equipment is also available here from ICM. For the ANZC troops there are again two spures of plastic; one for the figures and one of equipment. The weapons and equipment are standard Commonwealth items with a standard field cap with neck cover for one figure, and standard slouch hats for the other 3. The figures are one running, two standing and one with a trench periscope. Conclusion This is a good set which provides for any WWI Gallipoli diorama, or even a small stand alone vignette. The figures from ICM are very well sculpted. Highly Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Howdy All, Just finished my RAAF Boston Strafer that I was building alongside my recent RNZAF Dauntless you may remember Built from Italeri`s re-issue of AMT`s 1/48 Boston kit Finished to try and represent one of the few A-20C`s used by 22 Squadron RAAF I was originally going to do it as an earlier one with the RAF style camouflage and four .303 guns in the nose, but when I came across a photo of a `C`.................... ....with the less well known 5 X 0.5 guns, I had to give it a try I couldn`t find much info` or photo`s on Google ( I did find an old thread here on BM, but most of the photo`s are gone ) So it`s mostly my best shot at doing one ( I did find that they were from U.S. stocks and appear to be Olive Drab over Neutral Grey with the stars and bars painted out ) from one grainy in-flight photo of DU*W Hope you enjoy the pic`s, thanks for looking. Cheers Russ

Hi Everyone, Managed to get a brief sunny spell today and took some pic`s of my latest completion: My attempt at Italeri`s reboxing of Accurate Minatures 1/48 Dauntless kit Finished to represent an Aircraft of 25 Squadron, RNZAF, 1944-45 I don`t bother usually about colours but could not bring myself to use the powder blue decals supplied with the kit....... ...so I bought a RNZAF Corsair sheet to replace them. Then shortly after I`d got them a specific decal sheet was issued by Ventura ( V48100 )which had some great options so got those as well Only problem then was deciding which one to build !! Anyway, hope you enjoy the pic`s, thanks for looking Cheers Russ

Howdy Everyone, Just finished my attempt at Special Hobbies 1/48 Spitfire Vc kit from the RAAF Service boxing Finished to represent a Vc flown by Sqn Ldr Eric Gibbs, No1 Fighter Wing, 54 Sqn, RAF, Winnellie, Northern Territory, Australia, 1943 Actually built 100% OOB for a change Although I nearly made the mistake of adding aerial wire to the mast...... ...luckily I found out they didn`t have them just in time. Probably the easiest SH kit I`ve built to date with only the wing roots needing some attention ( chop loads of material off the bottom of the fuselage side walls and sand the top of the u/c bays) The only other issue being which option to do 😊 Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking Cheers Russ

Ok I wont take the credit for this one but the original idea for a RAAF GB really grabbed me for some reason!!! To make it a bit more appealing and a wee bit more inclusive I thought to widen it to include not just the RAAF but to include all Australian and New Zealand service men (and women) and their equipment, be land, air or sea, throughout the years. So I would like to propose an ANZAC in Service GB. I know ANZAC was a term originally used to name the army corps of both countries during and after the Gallipoli landings but it has grown to include all services and is something of great national pride. This is why I decided to use this term for the GB. So pretty much anything from 1914 (its just a starting date) on is in, so a huge range of options here. There would be plenty of scope for the AFV and boat builders as well, which should make them happy. Any equipment that was used by either country would be eligible which should make choices fairly easy. Plus I would like to include Australians and New Zealanders who served with the RAF with Fighter Command, for these the individuals aircraft is eligible. Plus there is Bomber Command where RAAF 458 and 460 Sqn. and RNZAF 60 Sqn. were the main squadrons but there were other detachments to RAF squadrons as well. For the AFVs and navy its a wee bit harder, but I am open to queries. Plus finally 2018 is for us the final part of the ANZAC Centenary with the Battle of Hamel, Villers-Bretonneux being most poignant. So its a very open GB that all members can find something they're interested in to build, and for us downunder to build something to be proud of. ok the list..... 1, trickyrich - host 2, stevej60 3, Silver Fox 4, Caerbannog 5, Cookenbacher 6, adrianm2 7, Plasto 8, TrojanThunder 9, Rob G 10, feoffee2 11, Arniec 12, stevehnz 13, CliffB 14, nimrod54 15, spaddad 16, SleeperService 17, Joss 18, Basilisk 19, DennisTheBear 20, Giorgio N 21, bubbasparksuk 22, Graeme H 23, Cammer625 24, Jon Kunac-Tabinor 25, Rafwaffe 26, Sgt.Squarehead 27, Paul J (Barry) 28, Rob85 29, Admiral Puff 30, PhantomBigStu 31, Antoine 32, TonyTiger66 33, 34, 35,

Hi everyone .....so there I was, with a Tamiya Corsair F4U-1A and a set of Ventura Decals, ready to do a RNZAF Corsair to go with my Gloria Lyons Kittyhawk I did a bit back and intending to do the tri-colour option with the nose art, when along came Peters and Ians brilliant builds. Ah well, might as well do the other one then, so here`s my very latest attempt at doing one of the RNZAF`s highly weathered Corsairs. After doing a bit of research I found on Pete Mossongs site that `Tutea Wera` NZ5614 was a `D` which explains the overall dark blue scheme even though it has still got the earlier canopy with the two frames at the top Had to be daring with the weathering as the electric blue roundels stood out like a sore thumb but luckily nearly all the pic`s I could find ( and there wasn`t many )...... show them in a very weather beaten condition. Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking Cheers Russ

Hi Everyone, Here`s some pic`s of my attempt at Special Hobbys 1/48 Boomerang that I finished last night Done as `The Grim Reaper` of No4 Sqn RAAF, flown by Squadron Leader Walliker, 1944 Built mostly OOB and even managed to use some of the photo etch although some of the smaller levers eluded me Found this one a bit of a slog, especially trying to get the interior to fit between the fuselage halves and the delicate resin tail wheel was replaced with something from the spares box as I kept breaking it Tried to give it a very sun-bleached appearance and hope I succeeded Hope you enjoy looking at, have a great weekend, Cheers Russ

Hi everyone, thought I`d share some pic`s of my just completed AMT, 1/48 scale P-40N kit Which I completed to represent a Kittyhawk MkIV of 18 Squadron, RNZAF, Solomon Islands circa 1944 The kit is pretty much as Mr AMT intended with just some wire additions here and there..... and.some paper seat belts The later style main wheels came from an Eduard/Mauve kit.... as did the decals. Hope you enjoy looking at ,Cheers Russ

Hi everyone, here`s my first ( and most recent) completion from my haul from the Hinckley Show in March. Tamiyas 1/48 Bristol Beaufighter VI completed as an Australian built Mk21 Representing an aircraft of No 93 Sqn RAAF known as the `Green Ghosts` Apart from the decals all the parts were in the box, only extra work was deletion of two wing guns, some antenna, seat belts and a small fillet ahead of the observers station the decals were from an old Eagle Strike set also I thought I`d show you an earlier build This time a Mk X, actually done from the TFX boxing Done as an SEAC aircraft of no particular airframe or squadron but inspired from a pic` of a 22 Sqn, RAF aircraft Markings from the spares stash and the kit decals Only real work done was deleting the guns and ejector shutes and fixing a camera housing to the nose Hope you enjoy them both.

Hi Everyone, Whilst my latest builds near completion and seeing as it`s ANZAC Day I thought I show you two of my P-40s both built from the Italeri boxing of the AMT kit. First up my most recent, although it did start out as a different subject an Australian Kittyhawk MkIV (P-40N) Done as Cleopatra III of Flg Off Geoff Atherton, 75 Sqn, RAAF using decals which came with the kit originally, and Second up a New Zealand Kittyhawk MkIII (P-40M) Done as Wairarapa Wildcat of Flg Off Geoff Fisken, 14 Sqn, RNZAF Used the kit decals except for the roundels which came off a long gone Eduard kit Hope you enjoy looking at.

Here`s my latest two completions; 1st my AMT/ERTL, 1/48 scale A-20G Boston Done as Hilda-Shane, of 22sqn, RAAF, New Guinea From the box but replaced gun barrels with brass tube and decals from AVI-Print Please ignore references to the Spitfire as I`ve replaced PB Photo`s with ones on Imgur and my old effort is soon to be replaced with a Special Hobby `proper` Vc and the old one no longer exists Hope you enjoy... Cheers Russ PS: Sydhuey later PM`d me and retracted his opinion that the markings are incorrect, turns out they`re correct after all