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Volkssturm, Germany 1944-5 1:35 Master Box As the war continued to go against Germany and the attrition of trained men of fighting age put more pressure on their military, many civilians and veterans of WWI were pressed into service. Men, boys and even women were trained to operate the basic weapons of defence, such as the Kar98 rifle, and the dreaded Panzerfaust that could turn a housewife into a tank destroyer, providing she could get close enough to fire it effectively. The Volkssturm, which means "people's storm" were hastily trained, often by those that had been invalided out of the service, or older soldiers that weren't fit for front-line service anymore. This set contains five figures in injection moulded styrene on one sprue that is held within a standard figure sized box. Included are the following: A moustachioed old soldier with puttees, greatcoat and forage cap, loading a Kar98 rifle, which has the bolt back and a clip of ammo being pressed home. A lady in a fur-trimmed ¾ coat with matching hat, toting a Panzerfaust on her right shoulder in the aiming position. An older soldier in great coat, boots and forage cap explaining the finer points of firing a Panzerfaust. An officer in great coat, boots and holding an instruction manual, with the option of either holding a cigarette in his right hand, or an alternative part that represents an empty sleeve, allowing him to be posed as a former soldier, recalled to duty. A gentleman in a double-breasted rain coat, trilby and brogues, watching a demonstration intently with his hands clasped behind his back. As usual with Master Box, the sculpting is first rate, and all the figures are broken down sensibly to improve detail whilst minimising joint clean-up. All figures have separate legs up to their waists, with the coat tails as separate thin parts that shroud the upper legs realistically, so there are no solid areas when viewed from below. Heads, hats and caps are separate too, as are the arms, and the lady has been sculpted on a frame appropriately smaller than the men in the set, so that she looks distinctly female. The colours, part numbers and construction notes are found on the back of the box, using Vallejo and Lifecolor paint codes as reference. Conclusion A superbly candid scene during the desperate final days of WWII is depicted, needing only a battle scarred backdrop to finish it off. Sympathetically painted, these figures will tell their own story. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Soviet T-18 Light Tank Mod 1927 1:35 HobbyBoss At the end of the Great War the French FT-17 light tank was well-regarded, as it was the first true tank with a fully rotating turret and reasonable manoeuvrability, which were two things that the British tanks didn't have. The Americans used the design, as did Japan into the 1930s, and this Soviet light tank is also based on the same basic chassis, but with improved suspensions and a redesigned upper hull to mount a larger turret, which resulted in an enlarged upper deck that overhangs the tracks. The design went through some changes to counter the initial lacklustre performance of the original T-16 design, although the out-dated 37mm gun was retained, which although it wasn't capable enough to target and penetrate other armoured targets, could be loaded with shrapnel rounds that were quite effective against soft targets. It stayed in service until the early 30s as a training vehicle, as it was found to be unsatisfactory in frontline use. The Kit We have been treated to FT-17 kits in 1:35 of late, and HobbyBoss are slowly working their way through the more esoteric Russian early armour, so the T-18 turning up was just a matter of time. It is a new tooling, and comes in a small top-opening box with a card divider inside to protect the delicate hull parts. Cocooned within individual bags, some of which are further protected by a thin foam sheet, there are four sprues in a sand coloured styrene, plus three individual parts in the same colour, two in brown styrene for the tracks, plus a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), instruction booklet and a separate glossy painting guide. The kit seems nicely detailed, uses a smattering of slide-moulding to improve detail further, and parts breakdown is sensible, so should go together well with few issues. Construction begins with the road wheel bogies, which have the revised vertical travel suspension arms grouped in two sets of two, and one of three with the longer one at the front, that has an additional strut attached, reducing the initial deflection on hitting an obstacle. A set of return rollers that were added to keep the track from strumming are fitted over the road wheels, with the larger front idler wheel and drive sprocket at the rear completing the running gear work, until the installation of the tracks later on. The lower hull is tiny, so the addition of the rounded casemate below the turret gives it a rather top heavy look that is partially reduced by the fenders added to the sides. These mate neatly with the lower hull, and the front deck is completed with doors for the driver that form the larger part of the small glacis. The rear bulkhead has a row of holes drilled in its rear for engine cooling, which turned out to be insufficient in practice. This is replicated by a PE panel that is bent over the underlying plastic part, and it would be a good idea to anneal the PE in a flame to soften it before applying, and considering removing the styrene behind the holes for a more realistic look. The FT-17's unditching skid at the rear is carried over almost unchanged, and is made up from the skid surface plus a slightly simplified supporting framework. The hull is completed with some louvres on the rear deck, pioneer tools and a vision hatch for the driver, after which the tracks can be added. The tracks are held on the two brown sprues, and you will need 51 individual links per side, which have three sprue gates per link, but no ejector pin marks, making clean-up quite straight forward. Simply glue the links with liquid glue against a straight-edge, and then wrap the still soft track run around the wheels, dialling in the correct sag by packing the links to hold them in place. The detail on the outer surface of the links is excellent, and they should look good once painted up and weathered. Only the turret remains to build, and this is a fairly straight forward affair, as it has no internal detail to complicate matters. The upper section is dressed with the mantlet insert fitting into one facet of the front, receiving the hollow muzzled 37mm barrel, while the other facet has two machine gun barrels inserted in a small mount, both of which could do with their barrels drilling out to add realism. They also aren't shown on the box art, which instead shows a single, more Hotchkiss-like gun in a ball mount. A small raised "mushroom" cupola fits into the hole in the top, and the turret just drop-fits into the hull. Markings There aren't any! You can paint it Russian Green though, and the glossy guide shows you that it goes everywhere on the hull and roadhweels. I guess that because it was barely used, there aren't that many photos of any markings, so they erred on the cautious side and saved a few Yuan. Conclusion It's an interesting little project in itself, and if you have an FT-17 in your cabinet, it will look good as a show of progression that might generate the occasional question as to why a French tank (if you put some markings of your own on it) is in Russian colours. Shame there were no decals though, but it's quite keenly priced, so you can forgive them that. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

French FT-17 Crew & Orderly Figure Set (HS-005) 1:35 Meng Model via Creative Models The diminutive Renault FT-17 tank from WWI is a personal favourite, and Meng did a superb job of creating models of both the cast and riveted turret versions a few years back. This new figure set fills a gap in providing crew for the tank, plus a dispatch rider handing over some new orders to the two-man crew. So we have three figures right? Nope. We have six, as there are two of each figure on duplicate sprues, plus two early motor bikes on an additional sprue, making a total of three sprues in the box. Said box is the de facto standard figure box sized, and has an excellent painting of the contents, with the majority of the tank greyed out to imply for the hard of thinking that you don't get the tank too! Meng's small but growing figure line is produced under their "human Series" banner, and the sculpting is always first rate. The standing figure is wearing a beret with a chainmail anti-spall mask hanging round his neck and a pistol holster on his hip. An additional left arm is also included to give an alternative pose to vary your figure from the next modeller's. The seated figure is designed to be hanging out of the rear hatch on the turret, taking the orders off the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist figure is handing the orders up to the commander, and is supplied with a head with a leather motorcycle helmet on, or a peaked cap to add some more variation. The bike (there is only one) is a Peugeot 1917 750cc 2-cylinder bikes, according to a search of the internet, and of course it wasn't possible to mould the wheel spokes to scale, but I'm sure you can forgive the designers that under the circumstances. Sadly, one bike means that one of the figures will have nothing to sit on. There's a little flash on the figure sprues as you can probably see from the photo, but none of it seems to be on the parts, so you can ignore it. The paint codes are called out on the back of the box, which doubles as the construction guide for the motorcycle. The codes are in the new Meng paint range that stems from their collaboration with AK Interactive, supplying modellers with convenient colours for their new kits. Conclusion A figure set designed with a particular kit in mind can often be used elsewhere, and with the growth of the WWI armour genre this is bound to be handy somewhere, even if you don't have an FT-17. The figures are superb and with two sprues of them, you end up with six figures, and the remainder figure can be adapted either using the spares, or your own modelling skills. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

US Marines Individual Load-Carrying Equipment (SPS-027) 1:35 Meng Model Meng's Supplies series continues to expand with this handy set of load-carrying equipment, MOLLE bags and such that would be extremely useful in dioramas or to add to your AFV as stowage. The set comes in their usual black box with the funky orange interior, and the resin parts broken down between two bubble-wrap bags and four re-sealable clear foil bags. There are no instructions in the box, and none visible on the site, so it's either a head-scratching session while you figure out what goes where, or you can use the guide below that I've pieced together from what I know, photos on the net, and trial-and-error. The parts list online doesn't show everything in the box, so I've laid out a complete list below, with the straps and attachments cross-referenced with their part numbers in brackets for your ease. Duffle Bag (1) with harness (2) FILBE Main pack (3) with side pouches (4,5) and harness (6,7,8) ILBE Assault Pack (9) with straps (10,11) FILBE Assault Pack(12) with harness (13) MOLLE II Patrol Pack(14) with harness (15) Folded MSS Sleeping Bag (16) Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV) (17) Soft Gun case (18) M4A1 Rifle with EOTech 552 Holo-Sight (19) M4A1 Rifle with Trijicon ACOG TA31 Sight (20) Folded APLS Litter (21) Casting is first rate and the detail is crisply moulded and of superb quality, with one exception being the barrel on one of the guns, which had an unfortunately placed bubble that has rendered the muzzle separate. That's fairly easy to fix though, so a dab of CA will be applied to join them up, and some light sanding to return it to the correct section. As usual, take the precaution of wearing a mask when cutting or sanding resin, as the tiny particles are harmful to your health if breathed in. Washing the parts in warm water will also improve the adhesion of paint, as there may still be some moulding release agent on the parts when you receive them. The parts fit together beautifully once you know where they go, so a little super glue (CA) and you'll be done. Review sample courtesy of

French R35 Tank 1:35 HobbyBoss Designed by Renault, this was an interwar light infantry tank used by the French army in their unsuccessful defence of their homeland at the beginning of WWII, after which it remained in service with the German forces as a beutepanzer, where it was either used in second line service, or heavily converted to a makeshift gun carriage and used as a self-propelled howitzer. It was originally intended as a replacement for the diminutive FT-17, but due to the sloth in re-training their crews, they were still ill-prepared even on the eve of war. When Germany pounced, there were almost a thousand R35s in service, although they had been found unreliable, poorly armed to combat tanks, and with too little armour. All the remaining vehicles were taken on charge by the Germans and more than a little tinkering with cutting torches began. Some had their turrets removed to use as small gun emplacements, while others were thoroughly butchered to become tank destroyers, although in doing so the original chassis was horribly overloaded, leading to slow, breakdown prone vehicles such as this, that must have been loathed by their crews. By the end of the war a small number were left and used by the French until they were replaced with more capable tanks. The Kit It seems no subject is too off-piste for HobbyBoss, and the little R35 proves this, although it was important to the French at the outbreak of WWII. There are a number of options to make use of the basic chassis, which HB will naturally exploit to the maximum as you'd expect. The kit arrives in a fairly small box with a divider keeping the sprues from rattling about. Inside are seven sprues, upper hull and turret parts in sand coloured styrene; two sprues in a brown styrene containing the tracks; a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a brass turned barrel, decal sheet, colour painting guide and black and white instruction manual. Someone made a mistake with the inner cover's sprue map, so a separate sheet was included to correct that goof. It shares a number of sprues with the catchily titled 5cm Pak(t) Sfl.Fgst. Pz.Kpfw.35R 731(f) that we reviewed here a few months ago, which shares the same chassis. The engine is first to be constructed, with a two part block that is heavily detailed with additional parts, a great many of which are absolutely tiny, which conspires to give you a very nicely depicted motor for your R35 chassis. Work then commences on integrating the engine with the lower hull, beginning with the sand-cast rear bulkhead, which has the idler tensioning devices and towing hook added, after which the radiator, cooling fan and ducting are assembled with the power-take-off wheel projecting from the rear of the box. The hull itself is made up from two side panels and a floor piece, into which the radiator housing, a styrene/PE stiffening plate and driver controls are added. The side panels are fitted out with three return-rollers and a final drive housing per side, and four bogies with two wheels per housing and a big suspension spring are built up. Two more solo bogies, two drive sprockets and two idler wheels are also constructed, and are installed on the suspension mounting points on the hull sides. At the same time the driver's seat, fuel tank and engine-mount bulkhead are ensconced within the hull, and the rear bulkhead closes up the rear. After adding a few more driver controls and their linkages, the drive-train is dropped into the hull, with a transmission housing added to the front, and driver-shafts to the sprockets complete the drive-train. Given their small size in 1:35, HB have decided to go down the link and length route with the tracks, and I can't say I blame them. The straight track runs are made up from six parts with a few links in between the curved lower sections, and twelve individual links at each end. Each of the individual links have three sprue gates, while the lengths have additional dead-end tabs that ensure against short-shot links, and also double as ejector-pin positions, saving the delicate detail from marring by mis-alignments. Unless you're going to the trouble of using metal replacements, these should do you proud with a bit of sympathetic painting and weathering. Give them a rub with an artist's pencil to impart metallic sheen where they get worn, and you'll never know they weren't metal. With the tracks in place, the full length fenders are added, along with a little stowage and a big bottle-jack on the right rear. The upper hull is detailed inside with the driver's instrument panel, plus a choice of actuator for his vision hatch, which can be posed open or closed. The final drive inspection hatch is added along with some PE parts, as is the lower part of the driver's hatch, with the upper section added in the open or closed aspect, depending on your whim. The upper hull is then closed up and a host of pioneer tools are threaded through their tie-down blocks to be added to the sides of the hull together with the silencer/muffler and exhaust, the feeder pipe for which comes from the rear of the vehicle. The small cast turret has the top hatch added, with a number of lifting and tie-down lugs around the edges, and the side view ports installed, before the main gun is slotted through the aperture, with its brass turned barrel. The rear hatch can be left unglued to open and close, and the turret is then completed by the addition of the floor with integrated turret ring. Twist the turret into place on its bayonet lugs, and it's done. Markings There are two options in the box for this kit, one in French service and one in German as a beutepanzer or war prize. You can build one of the following from the box: French R35 in brown/green camo, with a blue club in a white triangle on the turret sides German R35 in Panzer Grey with white crosses on turret sides and top hatch The sheet is small with good register and sharpness, but check the colour density with one of the decals you aren't using before you commit, as white decals can be precocious. Conclusion It's a small tank that's almost cute in 1:35, with plenty of detail included in the box. If it floats your boat, you should be pretty happy with what's in the box. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

AuF1 TA Self-Propelled Howitzer 1:35 Meng Models Developed from the successful AMX-30 Main Battle Tank, the AuF1 is a 155mm howitzer that as well as being rather heavy (over 41 tonnes), is also fast and manoeuvrable, as well as having an automatic loading system giving it a high sustained fire rate of 6 rounds per minute, and burst mode of 8 RPM on a good day. Because the vehicle has sufficient room inside for the whole 4-man crew to travel inside the cab, it has quite a high profile, but because it has a range of almost 24km it has little need for stealth, and is in fact only lightly armoured to a thickness of 20mm to withstand small arms fire. The AuF1 is used by the French army, all of which are now upgraded to the AuF2 spec, as well as the Saudis who have over 50 units on strength. Iraq had 85 that saw action during the Iran/Iraq war, but following the first Gulf War, some remained intact, possibly because they were unable to take part in operations due to a lack of spares caused by the years of arms embargoes in the run up to the conflict. There were rows of abandoned machines at a former Republican Guard base that made for quite an impressive sight. The Model Meng originally released a version of the AuF-1 back in 2012 which came complete with the interior of the turret. This new version unfortunately doesn’t have the interior, so will make for a simpler, if less interesting build. They have also changed the colour of the styrene to a very dark green colour, which not only makes for a more challenging painting experience, but was a real pain to photograph. There are eleven sprues, and a separate lower hull section in the green styrene, one of clear and four in a dark brown. The kit also included a short length of brass wire, a length of string, a small sheet of etched brass, twenty poly caps and a small decal sheet. Construction of the lower hull is identical to the previous release, as you'd expect, with paired drive wheels attached to the suspension arms by friction fit of the poly-caps, and full-length torsion bars mimicking the real suspension. The upper hull is, naturally, the same too, with the same hatches on the glacis plate at the front, side pioneer tool panels, and the rear bulkhead/radiator/exhaust assemblies. The light clusters, spare fuel cans and external telephone are all present, as are the PE grilles that cover the hot exhausts. There are pair of large front mounted tool box assemblies which are built up and the right hand side box fitted with fire extinguishers, before both are fitted to the front of the vehicle. The tow ropes are consigned to the port side panels with the pioneer tools. The tracks are meant to be working, and to build them, Meng have included an ingenious part C10 as a template for building up the individual click-together track links, 80 parts per run. The main difference between releases is that you only get the external parts of the gun, so that means the barrel base, with its four recuperators are assembled and fitted to the simple trunnion mount, which is fitted from the inside of the mantlet. The mantlet is installed at the front of the turret, and is joined by the sides, then the frame of the rear wall, and finally the roof. The roof has some boxes, smoke dischargers and various lifting eyes added around the turret before the large side doors are constructed from an inner skin joined to the outer, with a clear vision port and internal handle to improve the detail. These can be posed open or closed on the moulded-in hinges, and the top hatches are left loose to be posed open or closed at will, but with no interior it’s not much of an option. Grab-handles, an antenna base, along with two sets of barrel cleaning rods, and a roof mounted searchlight are attached, along with a 50cal weapon with mount and ammo-box is added to the left-hand hatch. The rear magazine doors can only be posed closed, thus needing the hinges removing. The final parts are the main gun barrel, which is supplied as separate halves, with a small detail section added to the aft of the muzzle brake. Once complete and the seams hidden, this just slots into the hole between the recuperators, and could even be left loose for ease of transport, as it is a little on the long side! Decals Unlike the first release, this version comes with two marking options, one with the standard French tri-colour scheme depicting a vehicle from the 1st battalion, 40th Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armoured Brigade of the French Army. The second option is for a vehicle of the 1st Marine Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armoured Brigade of the French Army, as used in the Lebanon in 2006 and is painted in the UN overall white scheme. The decals are well printed, with good register, colour density and crisp demarcations. The colour profiles cover every side of the vehicle, so there will be no guess work on where the various colour splodges start and finish, which makes a nice change from recent experiences with other manufacturers. The large crest/shield on the decal sheet is beautifully printed, unfortunately there is nothing in the instructions showing where, or if this is used, but I’m sure a bit of research on the internet will show it. Conclusion This is still an imposing model, with its huge gun barrel. Just a shame that Meng decided not to include the interior parts of the turret, as it would have given this kit some more options on how to display it. It’s still a great kit and one I can whole heartily recommend it. It will certainly stand out in the collection if painted in the UN scheme. Review sample courtesy of

MAZ-543M Sagged Wheel Set 1:35 Meng Models This set of resin wheels is designed to fit their new 9A52-2 Smerch in 1:35, which I've just reviewed here, to replace the kit parts with something a little more detailed that has a degree of sag engineered in. The set arrived in a black box, and inside is a stunning orange liner, plus eight resin wheels with moulded-in hubs, all individually coddled in small bubble-wrap bags. The wheels are all cast on small tapered block with three sprues attaching it to the bottom tread-blocks on the sagged part of the tyre. There is also a number embossed on the side of the casting block, ranging from one to eight. This is because Meng haven't just made one master and cast it eight times, but have instead made eight masters in different positions so that the tread-blocks and nomenclature embossed into the sidewalls is in a different position, as would most likely happen in the field. This adds a little realism and shows Meng's dedication to the finer points of modelling. The casting is first-rate, as is the detail, and the pour stubs have been located so that clean-up is minimal. The picture above shows two wheels of the eight that had snapped off the blocks during transit. Little more than a buff with a sander would see them ready for a wash in warm soapy water and then installation. Below is a picture lifted from Meng's site showing the wheels painted and weathered – and very nice they look too! Conclusion While the kit parts would probably suffice for most modellers, these resin replacements are easy to use, more detailed, and more robust long-term. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

IDF APC Nagmachon (Doghouse II) Trumpeter 1:35 History With the success of the Achzarit [T54/T55 based] and Puma Combat Engineer Assault Vehicles, the IDF began looking around their armour graveyards for more refits. The most obvious choice was the large selection of Centurions falling apart and rusting away. These were rebuilt with a new engine and named the Nagmashot (circa 1983), the Nagmachon (circa 1980s) and the Nakpadon (circa mid 1990s). The main drawback of these vehicles was their lack of mobility and therefore, inability to support Merkava MBTs. Nagmachon is a heavily armoured personnel carrier fielded by the Israel Defence Forces. The Nagmachon evolved from the Nagmashot APC, which in turn was based on Centurion. It made its first appearance in the Lebanon Conquest, upsetting many Arabs who found their AT missiles bouncing off the APC's thick hide. The Nagmachon is an improved version of the Nagmashot and Sho't. Nagmachon is an acronym for Nagmashot and Machon. Nagmashot is an acronym for Nagmash and Sho't; Nagmash is an acronym for Noseh Guysot Meshoryan, Sho't being a whip, the Hebrew name for the Centurion main battle tank; Machon is Hebrew for belly. Head-on photographs of the Nagmachon disclose an additional layer (in some cases two layers) of armour plating on the underside of the hull. The turret is removed and the space replaced by troop seats, a raised superstructure, and hatches. Machineguns ring the superstructure, and the engine is replaced with a smaller, more efficient design, allowing a small door in the rear of the vehicle. The Nagmachon can be fitted with several devices in the front, including mine-breaching devices such as Nochri anti-mine system. Along with its heavy bully armour plate, this makes it ideal for breaching routes through mine-fields and booby-trapped areas. Therefore, it can be classified as combat engineering vehicle (CEV). The Nagmachon is very notable due to the elevated pillbox turret, an elevated armoured cabin with shooting-sights and 7.62 mm machine guns, enabling the troops inside to shoot soft targets without being exposed to enemy's fire. This feature makes it very efficient for urban warfare and security patrols. The features which make it ideal for mine-clearing and urban warfare were proven valuable when the Nagmachon was heavily employed in the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Beside opening routes for other AFVs and patrolling in hostile populated areas, it was also used to mobilize infantry and carry them in the Palestinian cities. Because of their elevated turret, Nagmachon CEVs supervised and secured armoured Caterpillar D9 bulldozers in dangerous combat zones and under fire. The latest Nagmachon vehicles have increased belly armour for mine protection and a distinctive armoured extension on the top, called the doghouse. Those features optimize it for counter-insurgency operations but reduce its capacity for traditional mechanized warfare. The Nagmachon weighs 52 tons, has a 750 hp engine, and carries a crew of 2 and 10 infantry. The Model The kit comes in a surprisingly large box, certainly bigger than Trumpeter normally uses for their MBT’s. The boxart shows a Nagmachon driving in the desert in the company of a Merkava MBT. Inside there are twelve sprues and three separate parts, all in a beige coloured styrene, four of a brown coloured styrene, two sprues of clear, two etched brass sheets, twenty four styrene “tyres” and a small deal sheet. As we have come to expect from Hobbyboss, the parts are all very well moulded, with some very nice detail, no signs of flash or other imperfections, but there are quite a few moulding pips that will need to be cleaned off. Of particular note in this kit si the comprehensive suite of bar armour which is all injection moulded and yet, very finely done. There really isn’t a need to replace this with etched brass, unless you are particularly picky about these sorts of details. The instructions are nice and clear with only a few operations per step. There doesn’t appear to be anything too taxing, with perhaps the exception of the tracks which I will mention in detail later. The build begins with the assembly of all the road wheels and the fitting of the separate tyres. Of course, these can be left off until after painting, which will alleviate the masking that would be required otherwise. The sprockets and idlers are also assembled at this point. The suspension blocks are each made up from six parts. The rear bulkhead is fitted out with two short lengths of track, a storage box, two grab handles, two steps and two towing eyes. Before any parts are added to the lower hull, there are a number of moulded sections that need to be removed and holes drilled out. Once these are done the bump stops are added to the hull sides, along with the suspension assemblies and two piece idler axles. The rear bulkhead is attached, followed by the skirt supports, three rear mounted three piece towing hooks the two piece sprocket gear covers, the road wheels, idler wheels, return rollers and drive sprockets. The engine deck also requires some holes being drilled out before fitting to the hull. The exhausts, each made up from three parts are attached to each side rear of the deck, whilst the four piece stowage rack is fitted to the centre. The foredeck is also attached, and fitted with the ERA blocks. The tracks are made up from individual links, each connected to the sprue with four sprue gates. Fortunately these are very thin and shouldn’t take too long to clean up the 106 links per side that are required. Since the links require to be glued together it may be best to make up lengths of track before fitting, using only individual links to fit around the idler wheels and sprockets. If you want to, you can get away with only doing the sections of track that aren’t covered by the side skirts. With the tracks fitted the rear light clusters are attached and a pair of Jerry cans assembled and placed in the storage cage on the engine deck. Each of the two fenders are made up of the main length and a separate front mudguard section. Each fender also requires several holes to be opened up before they can be fitted with the wide selection of storage boxes, front light clusters and guards, more Jerry cans, racks and brackets for the forward mounted self defence systems boxes and two piece rear mudguard flaps. The two fender assemblies are then fitted to the hull, followed by the revised drivers position, complete with viewing ports, large hatch, ERA boxes and bar armour. More bar armour sections are attached to the front of the engine deck, immediately aft of the “turret” pillbox position. The middle section of the pillbox is fitted with two large hatches which are detailed with viewing ports, handles, catches, vents, hinges and large springs which aid opening on the real vehicle. The upper section of the pillbox is fitted with four panels, two large panels fore and aft, which are fitted with armoured glass panels, steps, and grab handles, whilst the forward and aft quarter panels are each fitted with a machine gun and armoured glass. On top of the pillbox, two, three piece hatches are fitted. The top and mid sections of the pillbox are then joined together and the bar armour supports fitted. The faceted base is then assembled and fitted with ERA boxes, a two door rear hatch, two whip aerial bases, two ECM aerial bases and yet more ERA blocks. The top assembly is then glued to the base and fitted to the hull, before the bar armour is attached, along with their associated supports. Two large aerials are fitted to a separate base unit, before being attached to the rear of the engine deck. The larger of the two aerials is fitted with a PE part which will need some careful rolling and teasing to shape to get it to look right. The side skirts are assembled and are actually large ERA blocks for the first two thirds of their length, with the aft sections just armour plate, with the rearmost section fitted above the rear decking keeping the sprocket wheel clear of possible clogging mud and sand. The section just forward of the sprocket is fitted with a large three piece step, whilst on either side of the engine deck a three piece stretcher is fitted, completing the build Decals Whilst the decal sheet isn’t the smallest I’ve come across, there are in fact very few decals on it. The huge Israeli flag dominates the sheet and will require some stretched sprue or thread to attach it to the rear of the pillbox. There are three number plates and two lots of numbers, 070 and 038, but these aren’t mentioned in the painting guide. Conclusion As with a lot of Israeli vehicles this one is certainly an unusual design and will stand out from the crowd in any collection. The injection moulded bar armour is really well done, being really quite fine. If the kit builds like some other Hobbyboss releases I have completed, then it should be an enjoyable time for any modeller. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

US GMC CCKW-352 Machine Gun Turret Version 1:35 HobbyBoss The CCKW was the mainstay of US forces transport during WWII, and was affectionately known as the Deuce-and-a-half due to its 2.5 ton load carrying ability. It was introduced in 1941 and was finally phased out in the 60s after years of solid service. It was developed from a design by General Motors for the French Army, had six-wheel drive, good reliability and as over half a million were built over the years, spares were plentiful. There were numerous variants with long or short wheelbases, and it was common for an M2 50cal machinegun to be mounted on a ring behind the cab to give additional self-defence capability when trekking through territory that was recently taken, but not fully cleared of pockets of resistance a common situation as the Allies raced to Berlin after D-Day. The Kit This is a revised tooling with additional parts, utilising a shorter chassis rail, and adding the parts for the machinegun mount to the box. If you have any of the other toolings, there will be a lot that's familiar, including the price! So far there have been a tanker, steel-sided and wood-sided variants, and I'll bet they're not finished yet either. The box is standard HB fare, and there is a small divided off area to keep the more fragile parts such as the slide-moulded cab shell safe from harm. Inside the box are fourteen sprues and the cab in sand-coloured styrene, a clear sprue, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a small decal sheet, a short length of copper wire, and a length of rather fuzzy-looking synthetic braided cord. The instruction booklet is printed in greyscale, while the single-sided glossy A4 painting guide is in colour with paint call-outs in Mr. Hobby, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol, although Humbrol and MM only have one exact colour match. The build commences with a nicely appointed engine that is fitted between the two chassis beams along with a number of cross-braces onto which the transfer boxes and drive-shafts are fitted together with the steering rack and exhaust system. A choice of front fender styles is given, while the rear is just a standard c-beam held on with sturdy brackets. Suspension is of the leaf variety, which is depicted well, supporting the axles and their various drive-input housings. The rear wheels are dual hub, so in total you will make up ten road wheels plus one spare, with all parts being styrene on this kit. The wheels are two parts each, while the hubs are multi-part with a poly-cap held between in the centre, allowing them to be taken off for painting. The cab floor receives the bench-seats, pedal box, gear shifter and steering column, which has a separate wheel, with the simple dashboard added to the underside of the cab shell after painting and adding the instrument decals. The shell fits over the floor, has windows added from the clear sprue, and a blanking plate for the circular top hatch added to complete it. There are a couple of ejection pin marks and raised part codes inside the cab, so you will need to hide these if you are going for a realistic cab. The crew doors have separate clear windows, winders and handles on both sides, and can be mounted on the cab in open or closed position by leaving their attachment until the engine cowling is in place. The two wings have integral running board/steps for the crew, and the cowling sides have cooling gills moulded in, plus a radiator core at the tapered front end. Lamps, mirrors and the front grille are added, and inside is a triangular support that you must bend up to a scrap diagram profile before installing it under the hood, which is another separate part that gives possibilities for exposing the engine. The turret ring and M2 are assembled and attached to the frame behind the cab, with the crew member standing on the cab seat. The flatbed is built up next with wooden textured panels, framework and sides. Upstands are positioned on top of the sides, and bench seats are added, braced against the shallow sides, then this is added to the chassis along with front and rear mudguards. A stowage box between the cab and flatbed is built up, and one spare tyre is fitted into the curved brackets before being lowered into place and joined by the cab, at which point the ring-mount and framework are slotted between the cab and stowage box onto a pair of lugs moulded onto the chassis. Two bracing struts add rigidity to the frame, attaching to the top of the metal truck bed sides. Markings Khaki is the colour, and the little decal sheet is almost completely white, holding three stars plus a few stencils, and the instrument decal adding a touch of black to depict the dials. Printing is up to standard, and HobbyBoss decals usually settle down well with a little solution. Conclusion A nice addition to the growing range of Deuce-and-a-half trucks, with the addition of the turret ring adding a little extra interest. Great for dioramas, or just to add to your display cabinet. Review sample courtesy of

Britsh Heavy Tank Mk.V Female 1:35 Meng Models The British Mark V tank was an upgraded version of the Mark IV tank, deployed in 1918 and used in action in the closing months of World War I, in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War on the White Russian side, and by the Red Army. Thanks to Walter Wilson's epicyclic gear steering system, it was the first British heavy tank that required only one man to steer it; the gearsmen needed in earlier Marks were thus released to man the armament. The Mark V had more power (150 bhp) from a new Ricardo engine (also ordered by Stern). Use of Wilson's epicyclic steering gear meant that only a single driver was needed. On the roof towards the rear of the tank, behind the engine, was a second raised cabin, with hinged sides that allowed the crew to attach the unditching beam without exiting the vehicle. An additional machine-gun mount was fitted at the rear of the hull. Production of the Mark V started at Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon at the end of 1917; the first tanks arrived in France in May 1918. Four hundred were built, 200 each of Males and Females; the "Males" armed with 6-pounder (57 mm) guns and machine guns, the "Females" with machine guns only. Several were converted to Hermaphrodites (sometimes known as "Mark V Composite") by fitting one male and one female sponson. This measure was intended to ensure that female tanks would not be outgunned when faced with captured British male tanks in German use or the Germans' own A7V. The Mark V was first used in the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918, when 60 tanks contributed to a successful assault by Australian units on the German lines. It went on to take part in eight major offensives before the end of the War. Canadian and American troops trained on Mk Vs in England in 1918, and the American Heavy Tank Battalion (the 301st) took part in three actions on the British Sector of the Western Front in late 1918. The Canadian Tank Corps, however, did not see action and was disbanded after the war's end. Approximately 70 were sent to support the White Russian forces in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and in the British North Russia Campaign. Most were subsequently captured by the Red Army. Four were retained by Estonian forces, and two by Latvia. The Model The last year or so has been great for those who have been hankering for some new British WWI tanks. What with the Mk1’s from Takom and IV’s from Takom and Tamiya. Meng have previously released a Mk.V Male with full interior which has been reviewed HERE, they have now followed that up with the Mk.V Female, unfortunately without the interior. The kit comes in a deep box with a depiction of the vehicle on the battlefield. Inside there are seventeen sprues of beige styrene, four in black styrene ad sheet of etched brass and a small decal sheet. The kit has been designed with the co-operation of the Bovington Tank museum and there is evidence of this tie-up on the boxtop and on the beautifully laid out instructions. Naturally, being a Meng product the parts are all superbly moulded, with no sign of flash or other imperfections, just gorgeous detail. It is interesting, having built the Takom Mk.IV, to see the way different companies design, what are very similar vehicles. In a way the Meng kit is quite a bit simplified in comparison to the way Takom went about it. That’s not to say that the Meng kit is inferior, just different. The simplified points in the build are mostly concentrated around the areas that won’t be seen, such as the rhomboid structures and wheel fittings. Talking of wheels, that is where the construction of this kit begins. The idler, sprockets and two variations of road wheel are each made up from two parts, with the sprocket drive chains, including a section of chain and the chain box, are made up from five parts. The ammunition storage racks, which make up the internal angled faces of the gun compartments are each fitted with a pair of fire extinguishers. The track runs between the two faces of the rhomboid structures are much simpler than in the Takom kits with each of the top and bottom runs being single lengths, with just the end plates being separate. The drive chain assemblies are then attached and the road wheels slid onto the axles moulded to the rhomboids outer half. There is a small hatch fitted just in front of the sponson opening and an internal grille to the inside rear. The rhomboid halves are then closed up and fitted with a chain oiler and shackle mounting. The armoured fuel tank is made up from seventeen parts, but this does include the rear bulkhead of the tank and the ball mounted Vickers machine gun. This assembly is then glued to the rear portion of the hull floor before being sandwiched between the two rhomboid assemblies. The two top mounted cabins are each assembled from separate plates, to which the pistol port covers are attached. The forward “command” cabin also has a ball mounted machine gun fitted to the front plate and separate viewing hatches. The completed cabins are then fitted to the top hull plate, along with two more hatches, and the unditching beam rail attachment points. The exhaust and silence, which are of a completely different design compared with the earlier versions, is made up of six parts, whilst each beam rail is made up from four parts. The kit has the option of fitting the semaphore mast, which is positioned just aft of the rear cabin. The mast is fitted two rings from inside, allowing it to rotate should the modeller wish. With two semaphore arms attached on the top of the mast and two handles on the inside the completed top deck can be fitted to the rest of the hull, followed by the beam rails and exhaust assembly. The build then moves onto the sponsons. Each side having two dustbin style mountings with a machine gun in each mount. Each mounting comprises of eleven parts and each pair is fitted into the nice piece fixed sponson. Alternatively the modeller has the option of build the kit with two separate sponson ends which are then able to fold into the hull. Beneath each sponson there is a large panel with two hatches fitted to the outside and two crew seats fitted to the inside. The hatches can be posed open if required, although with no other internal detail there doesn’t really seem much point. With the armament fitted the rest of the hull is detailed with various pieces of PE to make up strengthening beams, brackets and intake grille shields. The rest of the parts, such as access panels are also added at this point. Coming to the end of the build and the tracks can finally be tackled. Each link is attached to the sprue by four gates which will take a while to clean up, but when they’re done it’s just a matter of clicking them together to make each ninety one link length. With the tracks fitted, the unditching beam with added chains is attached to the beam rails, followed by the large fascine, made up from fifteen parts and attached to the front of the tank, above the command cabin, with another pair of chains. Decals The smallish, well printed decal sheet provides markings for three vehicles, all of which are painted in brown, which I still have yet to see any definitive proof of use, except at the Tank Museum. Still, Brown it is, for now. The three vehicles depicted are:- Mk.V Tank A6 of the 1st Battalion, tank corps, British Army, France 1918. This vehicle has the red and white stripes on the outside front of each rhomboid. Mk.V Tank, of the 10th Battalion, Tank Corps, British Army, at the Battle of Amiens, France, August 1918. Mk.V Tank found in use by the German Army, Berlin 1945 The decals are well printed, with good register. Conclusion Well, they’ve been a long time coming, and now modellers have a raft of British WW1 tanks to choose from. Fortunately the modelling companies only seem to have clashed on the Mk.IV, thus giving the other versions a fair crack of the whip. This is an excellent looking kit, which looks like it will go together without too much fuss and will look great in a diorama or amongst its sisters in a collection. Very highly recommended Review sample courtesy of

D9R Armoured Bulldozer w/Slat Armour 1:35 Meng Models Based upon the successful Caterpillar D9 bulldozer chassis, the D9R is the latest incarnation of the armoured variant used extensively in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in the Combat Engineering Corps. It is heavily armoured with bullet-proof glazing, as well as protection for the hydraulic and electrical components, with The updated version sporting the new slat/bar armour to pre-detonate RPG rounds before reaching the cab area, a feature that was introduced in 2005. It has a crew of two, with the commander issuing the orders and manning the roof mounted M2 machine gun, and a driver living up to his job title. Its nickname in IDF service is Doobie, which is Hebrew for Teddy Bear, which I'm guessing is ironic. It is used for breaching barriers under fire, as well as creating or destroying earthworks, or making areas passable by heavier armour. They have also been used to clear landmines, make fortifications and clear areas of cover, preventing sneak attacks on their forces. They are so well armoured as to be impervious to all but the largest of explosives, and have been known to withstand direct hits from RPGs and IEDs up to half a tonne. So successful has the Doobie been that some have been purchased and used in US service for similar tasks. The Kit The original release was way back in 2013, reviewed here, and it has taken the best part of three years to tool the necessary parts to do the slat armoured version, although the "slats" are actually tubular bars, so the title bar armour would seem more appropriate if we were going to be pedantic. Inside the box are nineteen sprues in sand coloured styrene, three in black, two sprues in clear, one of which is truly clear, the other tinted bullet-proof glass green. A small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, seven chromed metal tubes of varying lengths, a length of flexible black tubing, four poly-caps plus of course the decal sheet and instruction booklet round out the very full package. The moulding has been adapted cleverly to incorporate the new parts, and construction is almost identical to the earlier model, so I won't go into vast detail about it, although some important upgrades have been added with the benefit of feedback from the modelling community. The first and most obvious upgrade is the inclusion of chrome tubing to replicate the finish on the hydraulic rams, along with a newly tooled end-caps and attachment eyes on the two new sprues to complete them. These are simple replacements for the plastic parts and should give a much more realistic finish to the area with a little careful masking of the metal. The second change is to the track links, which were a little fiddly in their previous incarnation. Instead of two inner links to marry up and glue to the traction plates, the two parts are supplied as one, ready to be glued directly to the plates. This will save a lot of time, glue and cursing, so Meng are to be applauded for expending the effort to improve them. The hangers for the slat armour panels are added around the top of the crew cab on armoured "pelmets" above the window that fit onto the wall panels. Additional brackets are spaced around the sides, with scrap diagrams showing the correct orientation of those that are difficult to see from one view only. The panels themselves are almost without exception single parts, very finely moulded to give a realistic depiction of the bars and slats that hold them together. There is however a tiny amount of flash here and there, but this can be quickly scraped off with a sharp #11 blade along with the moulding seams to give the correct look to the rods. A little tedious, but worth it to get it right. The sections are shaped to hug the contours of the cab, and separate parts are used to allow access to stowage areas, or to go around protrusions. It is very nice to see that the armour is left until last, which will suit the modeller down to the ground, allowing them to complete the kit as far as possible before painting, and at the same time they can paint the armour panels. Markings There are three markings options, but all vehicles are painted IDF Sand Grey, which is referred to as Hemp in the instructions, but as the likes of AK, AMMO and LifeColor have the correct IDF colours in their range, it shouldn't be a problem to convert the Vallejo colour call-outs if necessary. From the box you can build one of the following: Combat Engineers Battalion, 188th Barak (Lightning) Brigade, IDF, Golan Heights, October 2015 – coded 949642. Combat Engineers Battalion, 401st Brigade, IDF, Golan Heights, June 2014 – coded 949630. Un-named unit with a small stylised cat motif on the blade sides, with the digits 003 beneath it – coded 949669. 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 Another welcome release, and a nice easy way of building a slat-armoured Doobie without resorting to the expense of aftermarket PE sets. It's a Meng kit, so moulding quality and detail is first rate, and if you want to upgrade the rest of the detail, most of the aftermarket for the original release should fit just as well on this kit. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Vickers Medium Tank Mk1 Trumpeter 1:35 History Despite being in general more conventional, in one aspect the Medium Mark I looked rather modern: instead of a high track run it possessed a low and flat suspension system with five bogies, each having a pair of small double wheels. The axles of these were too weakly constructed; as Major-General N.W. Duncan put it in his Medium Marks I-III: a perpetual nuisance. The axles were continually breaking and the path of the Mark I tanks was littered with discarded wheels". This was cured by switching to a "box bogie" in 1931. To ease repairs the suspension was not protected by an armoured covering. There were two vertical helical springs of unequal length in each of the five bogie casings attached to the hull. In front and behind the normal ten road wheel pairs, there was a tension wheel pair. Ground pressure was very high, even though at 11.7 tons the vehicle was not very heavy for its size. The engine was an air-cooled 90 hp Armstrong Siddeley engine derived from an aircraft type. Surprisingly the engine and transmission was distributed throughout the hull - with the engine to the left of the driver, the gearbox underneath the commander and final drive at the rear, which Duncan describes as "an unbelievable retrograde step in view of war-time experience". The Medium Mark B and the Mark VIII had introduced compartmentalisation to reduce the debilitating effects of engine noise and fumes on the crew. However with the Medium Mark I considerations of ease of maintenance took precedence. The engine drove, via a multiple dry-plate clutch, a four-speed gearbox. It had no synchromesh and switching between gears without excessive noise was a challenge to the driver. A propeller shaft connected the gearbox to a bevel box at the end of the tank which divided the power to a separate epicyclic gear for each track. These gears automatically provided extra emergency torsion to the normal first and second gear if the vehicle suddenly slowed down due to an obstacle or soft ground. The petrol tanks were at the very rear of the hull, so the fuel lines had to run along the whole length of the vehicle, pumping fuel to a secondary tank that fed the engine by gravity. The engine was lubricated and partially cooled by oil; leakage was common and the original four-gallon reservoir had to be replaced by a 13.5 gallon one. The tank could be electrically started, but only if the motor was already warm, so the first start had to be done by hand from the inside of the vehicle. Maximum speed was about 15 mph and the range about 120 miles. There was a cylindrical bevelled turret on top of the hull that carried a "Quick Firing" (shell and cartridge in one complete round) three-pounder gun (47 mm calibre) and four ball mountings for Hotchkiss machine guns. A novel, unique feature was a three-man turret. This meant that commander was not distracted with performing either the loader's or gunner's tasks and could fully concentrate on maintaining situational awareness. This gave a huge potential combat advantage, but went largely unnoticed at the time. Except for the Lago prototype, a predecessor to the Stridsvagn m/42, produced by Landsverk in 1934 no other manufacturer constructed a tank with a three-man turret until the German Panzer III. The practical importance of this feature is signified by the fact that later into the World War II, most of both sides tanks' designs either quickly switched to the three-man turret, or were abandoned as obsolete. There was no co-axial machine gun. There was only room to operate one machine gun from the turret; normally one gun was switched between the respective mountings as the guns were removable. The turret machine gunner doubled as main gun loader. In each side of the hull was a Vickers machine gun. There was one gunner to operate these weapons as well as being a mechanic. The shape of the Mark I Medium hull was very distinctive. The back was a simple armoured box; the front plate was high and perfectly vertical. Between them, from the armoured hood of the driver at the right of the vehicle six armour plates fanned out to the left, making for a complex hull geometry at that side. In the entire tank made an ungainly squat impression. The crew of five was only poorly protected by 6.25 mm plating, riveted to the chassis, barely enough to counter the threat posed by light machine guns. With its many shot traps the vehicle was unable to withstand even anti-tank rifle fire and it had a high profile. The internal lay-out worsened this vulnerability as the petrol tanks were inside the main compartment The Model It’s great to see an British interwar tank being released at last, and hopefully it’ll be the first of many. The kit comes in the now standard style of top opening box, with a nice depiction of the tank trundling along a country track. Inside you get eight sprues and two separate parts in the beige styrene favoured by Hobbyboss, four sprues of brown styrene, a medium sized etched sheet and a decal sheet. All the parts are very well moulded, there is no sign of flash or other imperfections, but you do get quite a few moulding pips that’ll mean a bit more cleaning up of parts. The moulded detail is nicely done, including the fairly prominent rivets on the turret and slab sided hull. The individual track links look like they’ll cause the build to slow down quite a bit as each link has three sprue gates to clean up, as well as each of the separate track pads, which have two gates each. Care and patience will be the watchwords when assembling. Construction begins with the assembly of the multitude of wheels, fortunately each of the small wheels are moulded as a single piece. There are two pairs on single short struts, two on long struts and ten quad bogies, each made up of ten parts. Each wheel assembly is then fitted into the track sponsons with the suspension plates attached to the top of each strut. The idler wheel axles are then fitted to each sponson, to which the six piece idlers are attached, then sandwiched with an outer panel. The side mounted Vickers machine guns are now built up, and whilst they are quite well detailed, each being made up from six parts, it’s all a bit of a waste as you won’t see any of it once they are fitted. The guns are fitted into the two piece ball, which in turn sandwiched between the outer panel and in internal socket. The lower hull is fitted out with the bottom panel, two sprocket axle plates, rear mounted door and four side hatches, along with the machine gun assemblies. Each sprocket is built up from six parts before being glued into place, along with the rear door step, several grab handles, a top mounted panel and a panel above each machine gun. There are two intake vents, a large square one that fits to the front of the hull and a round one fitted just in front of the engine grille, there is also a oblong hatch fitted to the right side front hull. Two further panels are attached to the hull, one just aft of the engine deck, the other in front of the turret ring. The two track sponsons are now glued to each side of the hull, along with a flat plate that attaches to the front glacis plate. The modeller has the option of two different styles of return rollers to fit, some research will be required to work out which was fitted to the specific being modelled. Each roller is made up from two wheels and a separate axle, before being attached to the hull, four per side. The rear section of the drivers hatch is also fitted at this point. A tie rod is then attached across the return roller axles and the rounded sides of the drivers position are glued into position and topped off with the hatch. The tracks are now assembled, each side requiring sixty five links. The track guards are then attached to the hull, with the port side one being fitted with the two piece exhaust pipe. The hull is then fitted with a host of PE track guard brackets, whilst the two four piece headlights are assembled, again with the option of two different styles, and fitted to the fronts of each guard. The upper turret comes as a single piece moulding and is fitted with two rear mounted hatches, five viewing ports, and the trunnion mount, to which the main gun barrel and underslung recouperator are fitted. The turret ring is fitted, along with the commanders and front mounted hatches. The model is finished off with the fitting of the turret and prominent headlight protectors to the hull. There is a slight disparity between the instructions and the painting guide, in that the guide shows the turret mounted Lewis gun fitted, and the gun is supplied in the kit, but there is no mention of how to fit it, even though there is a ball socket style lump on the rear of the turret roof showing its position. Decals Whilst the decal sheet isn’t the smallest I’ve come across, there are in fact very few decals on it. In fact one of the two options only has the front and rear number plates. The other option has these, as well as a unit and tanks codes for the turret, hull sides and rear hull, all in white, but no reference to which unit it belonged to in the notes. Both vehicles are painted in the camouflage colour of the day of Olive Drab. Conclusion This will be a great addition to any AFV modellers collection, beginning to bridge the gap between the Rhomboid WW1 tanks and the more modern tanks leading up to WW11. Apart from the fiddly track links, the rest of the kit looks like it should go together without too many problems. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Messerschmitt Me-262-A2a/U2 1:48 Hobbyboss History The history of the Me-262 is pretty well known, but in the short career of the aircraft there must have been more designs and prototypes than almost any other aircraft. In this latest release in their series of Me-262 variants, the Me-22-A2a/U2, only two prototypes were actually produced before the end of the war. The Model Hobbyboss have now released no less than ten different variants of the Me-262, with yet more to come. They have certainly earned a reputation of being reasonable on the pocket, fairly easy to build, pretty accurate and with so much choice, the modeller can build either their favourite variant, or an extensive collection. This kit is of a bomber version, with a wooden and perspex nose, housing a prone bombardier. The top opening box has a nice portrayal of the second prototype in flight, being chased by a Mustang, presumably on its defection flight. Inside there are six sprues of grey styrene, three of clear a metal part for the nose wheel bay/bombardiers station and a well filled decal sheet. As we have come to expect from Hobbyboss, the parts are well moulded, with no sign of flash or other imperfections and only a few moulding pips. Construction begins with the cockpit tub, which takes the form of two halves of a tube that are split horizontally to allow better access to add the details of the instrument panels, rudder pedals two seats and the instrument panels in, before the top is added to form the sidewalls, with a long slot in the top for the cockpit sills. The end bulkheads hold the cockpit in the correct place within the fuselage, and additional parts are added under the cockpit tub to begin forming the main landing gear bay. The nose gear bay has its walls formed from the white metal part, to which the various parts of the bomb aimers office are attached, including the two piece bomb sight, a cushion and the curved section of the nose bay roof. The metal part is a little more roughly cast than one would perhaps like, with detail lacking in the bay roof. The rear bulkhead is then attached and the assembly is fitted in place in the fuselage, followed by the fitting of the nose wheel with its single long gear leg and captive forward door fitting into a slot in the roof of the bay. A choice of wheel types with either fine tread or coarse radial tread, in case your chosen airframe was fitted with one or other, but check your references. The cockpit and nose bay are fitted within the fuselage halves, and a radio bulkhead is added behind the cockpit, along with various other detail parts, that you're probably wondering what their purpose is. There's a little radio hatch in the starboard side of the fuselage that will enable the parts to be seen within. With all of these parts glued in place and painted (if you're leaving the door open), the fuselage can be closed up, and you can begin construction of the engines. These are rather simple but effective, consisting of two halves of the cowlings with ribbing detail inside, split vertically. The ribs will never be seen, sadly, as the nacelle is capped off at the ends with a two part intake with short trunk and separate engine face, and at the rear an exhaust trunk/bullet and exhaust cowling. The profile and thickness of these parts are well done, having a much better shape than the old Dragon kits, which were too blunt and thick, especially at the intake lip. The closed up fuselage is still open at the front by this point, and the canopy for this area is a separate part, allowing the part to be posed open, should the modeller require it, followed by the clear nose cone. The rear decking behind the cockpit is attached, along with the brace and fixed section of the canopy, followed by the windscreen and optionally posed mid section. The main spar and central bulkhead between the main gear bays is fitted to the single piece lower wing section, followed by the fitting of the two upper panels. The wing is then cemented into place with the fuselage and fitted with the pitot probe on the port wing. If you are going to model the aircraft that defected to the Americans near the end of the war, then you will need to add the two long probes to the nose, one on each side. These were probably fitted to detect any yaw during bombing runs. Part D9 is the extended fairing under the nose, used with the Lofte 7H “Kansell II” bombsight, and, as such, should only be fitted to the second prototype, V555. The first prototype, V484 used the Lofte 7H “Kansell I”. The completed nacelles assemblies should clip right into the wings with little in the way of fettling, but as always, check before applying glue. Once again Hobbyboss haven’t allowed for the passive leading edge slats that are generally dropped as the aircraft slows down, as they are pressure activated. The elevators are single parts that fit into slots in the side of the tail, with their tabs interlinking to improve the strength of the joint and hold them at the correct angle. The elevators themselves are moulded into the fins, but the rudder is a separate part that can be posed deflected at your whim. The main landing gear has only one choice of tyre, which has a diamond tread and a radial pattern on the sidewalls. They are split vertically, so some clean-up would be wise, unless you plan on using some of Eduard's wheels that we reviewed HERE, which although designed for the older Tamiya kits can be made to fit quite easily. The gear legs are sturdy and have separate oleo-scissors, as well as a two-part captive bay cover attached via small lugs and slots on the inner face of the doors. The inner door covers are single parts with moulded-in retraction jacks, while the nose gear bay door has a separate cranked retraction jack that holds the single door open to the correct angle. If you plan on fitting the bombs, you will need to open up the holes before gluing the two pylons in place. Now Hobbyboss have kindly provided the two types of pylons mostly associated with the 262, so once again check your references as to which is the most likely used, as I have yet to see a picture of whether prototype actually carrying any weapons. With the pylons fitted you can attach the two six part bombs. Decals Along with the instrument panels, the decal sheet carries national markings and individual markings for both prototypes. The decals are well printed with minimal carrier film. They are slightly glossy, with good opacity and in register. There is also a full set of stencils included, whilst the swastika has been printed in two halves, to get round the laws in some European countries. Conclusion Whilst this is yet another Me-262, it is different enough to make for an interesting comparison and companion to the standard aircraft. For the money, you do get a great looking model, one that should build up relatively easily and with a rather simple camouflage scheme could well be built in a weekend, or as a mojo booster. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Finnish T-50 Infantry Tank HobbyBoss 1:35 History Advancing Finnish troops spotted T-50 tank first time in July of 1941 and later that same year succeeded capturing one of these rare tanks near Äänislinna/Petrozavodsk. It was one of the fifty tanks manufactured by Voroshilov Factory number 174 in Leningrad. The tank was repaired and taken to use of Finnish Army with tank-registry number R-110 in February of 1942. It was first issued to Heavy Tank Company (Raskas Panssarikomppania) of Tank Battalion, but as part of process expanding Tank Battalion to Tank Brigade it was transferred to 3rd Tank Company of Tank Brigade already in March of 1942. Later it was often used as command tank of the tank company. While the tank crew named their T-50 as "Niki", also nickname for it soon appeared and ended up spreading far and wide. This popular nickname was "Pikku-Sotka" (Small Pochard), which referred to its physical resemblance with larger T-34 medium tank, which Finnish soldiers had already earlier nick-named as "Sotka" (Pochard) after a tugboat of that name. This Finnish-captured tank was equipped with 14-mm thick additional armour plates attached with bolts to front hull and turret sides. It had a 45mm Psv.K/38 tank gun and two coaxial DT-machineguns. As to be expected maintenance of this one of a kind tank proved difficult, but still it remained in active use until 25th of June 1944. That day it was used as command tank during famous counter-attack of Finnish heavy (medium) tanks from Juustila to Portinhoikka during Tali-Ihantala battles. During this counter-attack the tank suffered serious technical failure (engine-failure), which the mobile repair shops of Tank Brigade were unable to repair. The next day it was sent to Centre Armour Repair Facility in Varkaus and apparently was never repaired. While the line T-50 wasn't in operational condition since June 1944, it still remained in armoured vehicle inventory listings of Finnish Army until year 1955. Nowadays this tank is in Parola Armour Museum. The Model The kit comes in the now standard style of Hobbyboss box, with an artists impression of the vehicle in battle with Russian forces, although it also depicts it fighting with another Finnish T-50 which as mentioned above is incorrect. Inside, there are ten sprues and three separate parts in sand coloured styrene, four sprues of brown styrene, two of clear, a sheet of etched brass and a small decal sheet. The parts are al beautifully moulded with some very nice details and naturally for a modern kit, no sign of flash or other imperfections, although there are quite a few moulding pips that need to be removed and cleaned up. The build begins with the assembly of the road wheels, each of which is fitted with a brass rim. The wheels are then paired up and fitted with a central hub cap. The idler wheels are assembled in the same way, whereas the sprockets are made up of just two parts. The separate upper hull has to have several holes opened up before using, then put to one side. The lower hull is then fitted out with the multitude of parts that included the bump stops, return roller axles and idler wheel fittings. The two part return rollers are joined together and attached to their respective positions, followed by the torsion bar suspension parts and sprocket gearbox cover. The road wheels, idlers and sprockets are now attached followed by the tracks. The tracks are each made up of individual links which also have separate guide horns are each glued together, so it would probably best to make them up as link and lengths allowing for some sag on the top section. Each side requires ninety three links to make up a complete length. On the underside of the lower hull there is a large hatch that requires gluing into place, whilst the rear mounted shackle pads and shackles are fitted. In the upper hull the two intake plates are fitted on each side of the inner engine deck, along with their associated baffles. On the outside of the upper hull, the drivers hatch and rear engine hatch are fitted. The track guards are then attached to each side of the upper hull and the additional armour plate fitted to the glacis plate. The upper and lower hull sections can then be joined together. The intake grilles and track guard braces, jack, front mounted shackles, pioneer tools and a selection of brass clamps and brackets. The turret assembly begins with the trunnion, it’s turret attachments, and fitted with one machine gun muzzle and one complete machine gun. The trunnion is then fitted to the upper turret part which is in turn fitted with the lower turret section. The turret is then fitted with the mantel, rear mounted hatch and additional side mounted armoured plates. The commanders hatch, periscope, and vent cover are then fitted, as is the main gun barrel. The hull is now fitted out with even more detail, including the fender braces, folding headlights, viewing ports, exhaust and two large brass intake grilles, which will need some very carefully rolling and bending to fit correctly. Two lengths of track, each six links in length are fitted to each side of the upper hull and a brass footstep fitted to the glacis plate. The turret assembly is then attached, completing the build. Decals The small decal sheet only provides a selection of Finnish swastikas, each in two halves to comply with some national laws. There is quite a lot of information on these tanks on the internet, so it shouldn’t take long to find a different scheme for your model, should you so wish. The single colour scheme is a mixture of Wood Brown, Sand Yellow, Red Brown and Russian Green splodges.overall. Conclusion Yes, it’s yet another small Russian tank from Hobbyboss. They are really scraping the barrel with this one though as there was only ever one captured T-50. I guess it makes sense to utilise the moulds as much as possible, and this tank is still extant in a museum. The tracks look awfully fiddly, so some modellers may wish to change them for Friulmodel metal tracks. Highly Recommended Review sample courtesy of

US Cougar 6x6 MRAP & Russian GAZ-233014 STS Tiger Resin Wheelsets 1:35 Meng Models Meng's broadening of their product range into aftermarket sets for their own products continued apace with these two sets of resin wheels for their recent kits. Both sets arrive in the same style black cardboard box with a tuck-in flap that reveals a bright, almost fluorescent orange interior that as usual with Meng, says quality in no uncertain terms. Every part is individually wrapped in a small heat-formed "pillowcase" bubble-wrap bag that is open one end, but folded over to protect the resin inside. The moulds have been pressure filled, resulting in nice solid castings that have very little in the way of defects, with four small casting blocks that are attached to individual tread blocks to reduce clean-up after their liberation. These points have been placed at the bottoms where the wheel is slightly deformed to mimic the weight of the vehicle pressing down on the tyres, so little will be seen anyway. The weighting has been done in a sympathetic manner, so that the tyres have the prototypical look, rather than need reinflating! US Cougar 6X6 MRAP Vehicle Wheel Set (SPS-024) This set contains eight resin wheels, two of which are without their inner hubs for mounting on the side of the vehicle as spares. The remaining six have their inner hubs present and are ready to just glue into place instead of the kit parts when removed from their casting blocks. Detail is superb with sharp aggressive tread pattern, circumferential beading around the shoulder of the tyre, and the ribbing showing through from the internal compartments that permit the tyres to survive small arms fire and still stay partially inflated. There is one slight downside to this set, in that all the tyres have been cast from the same mould, so the raised tyre data will be in the same place on each one when placed on its contact patch. A minor issue, but having seen Meng making a number of moulds to get around this in previous releases, it's a shame they couldn't have continued this format. Russian Armoured GAZ-233014 STS Tiger (SPS-025) Inside the box are five wheels, one of which is provided as tyre and rim only, while the other four have big dustbin-lid style hubs moulded in. An aggressive V-tread pattern is present, as is the various beads and maker's data panels. This set has two different moulds for the mounted tyres, which permits the modeller to have hubs and sidewall detail at different orientation on both sides of the vehicle by using one of each type per side. Review sample courtesy of

M1A2 SEP Abrams TUSK I/II 1:35 Meng Models The Abrams Main Battle Tank is the direct replacement to the M60, when it was realised that the venerable design was ill-suited to further modification. The new design entered limited service in 1980 and went on to become the main heavy tank in the Army and Marines branches of the American armed forces. It saw extensive action in the two Gulf Wars, where it cleaned up against older Soviet designs with minimal damage inflicted in a stand-up fight due to its composite armour. It was developed further with the AIM programme, which upgraded the battle management systems and returned the vehicles to factory fresh condition. The A2 was improved again, giving the commander his own sighting system as well as other system changes. The SEP received additional changes to its armour and systems, with a remote weapons station added later on. With the involvement of the Abrams in urban combat during the Afghanistan campaign, it became clear that the tank was vulnerable in close-quarters combat, where the top of the tank was open to attack from small arms fire and RPGs could be used with relative safety, as the firing team could pop up and disappear in between shots. The problems of IEDs buried on roads or in buildings also disabled a number of tanks in practice, all of which led to the TUSK and improved TUSK II upgrade packages, which stands for Tank Urban Survival Kit. To counter IEDs an angled "keel" was added to the underside to deflect blast away from the hull, reactive armour blocks were added to the side skirts and turrets, and bullet-resistant glass cages were mounted around the crew hatches on the turrets to provide protection for the crew during urban transit or if they were called upon to use their weapons in combat. A combat telephone was also installed on the rear of the tank to allow communication between accompanying troops and the tank, as well as slat armour to protect the exhausts for the gas turbine engine, the blast from which was directed upwards by a deflector panel that could be attached to the grille to avoid frying troops behind. The TUSK II kit improved on the original TUSK with shaped charges incorporated into the ERA blocks on the sides of the tank, and additional shields for the crew when exposed. Both kits were field-installable, which reduced the cost and time spent out of the field. The A3 variant will incorporate many weight-saving changes, such as internal fibre-optic data transmission, lighter armour and gun, amongst many improvements. This is a long time distant at time of writing however, so the A2 will be around for some time yet. The Kit This is a new tooling from Meng, and only the second in this scale to give the modeller the option of portraying a TUSK equipped vehicle out of the box. Previously, it was down to expensive and complex aftermarket sets to spruce up a basic Abrams, which bumped up the total spend to close to £100. Now you have the option of this injection moulded kit that dispenses with the resin and most of the Photo-Etch parts, making the TUSK much more accessible. As always with Meng kits, the detail is excellent, and the parts-layout well considered, and the result will be a pleasing replica of this pugnacious-looking tank. The box has the standard Meng footprint, but is deeper than usual to accommodate the large quantity of parts within. Inside the satin finished box are eight sprues and a lower hull in sand coloured styrene, four in a dark brown colour, three small sprues of clear styrene, two sheets of PE, five short runs of poly-caps, a decal sheet, and the glossy instruction booklet with painting guide to the rear on colour stock. If you have any Meng kits, you'll know what to expect in terms of detail, with some very finely moulded parts and some slide-moulding evident on a lot of the sprues. The tracks look to be quite complex, but there has been effort expended to simplify things, which I'll detail later. The clear parts are separately bagged, and have a further layer of self-cling film wrapped around them for additional protection, all of which gives a quality feel to the overall package. Choose your preferred decal option early, as this will affect some of your parts choices during the build, as only one option is suitable for a TUSK II machine with the curved ERA blocks. I consider that a bit of a shame, as from the four options it would have been sensible to have at least a 50/50 split to avoid everyone building the same example. After the four language history of the Abrams, construction begins with the running gear, as you'd expect. Each of the paired road wheels have a polycap trapped inside, as do the drive sprockets, which are also two-part assemblies. "Where are the idler wheels?" you might ask. They're the same as a road-wheels, which makes repair easier both in the workshop and on the field. The torsion-bar suspension is made up from styrene parts and inserted through the hull into cups on the opposite side of the hull, to be joined by the final drive housing and a number of stand-off struts for the side skirts that will be installed later. The wheels just push onto their axles and can be removed for painting at your whim, and at this stage the shallow keel armour is installed before the hull is flipped over to accept the upper parts. A couple of holes need drilling before the upper hull can be mated with the lower, and these have been thoughtfully marked with the version that they apply too, as have other holes that need work during the build. The upper hull is just a kinked plate with the turret ring cut out due to the low profile of the Abrams, with a number of PE grilles added to the engine deck to the rear. Various assemblies are built up to be added to the hull, such as the light clusters, driver's hatch, engine exhaust grilles, battery hatch and a quantity of lifting or towing eyes. Work then begins on the frames that hold the ERA blocks, which extend the full length of the side skirts, with the one-piece blocks sitting on shallow rails, and if you choose the TUSK II variant, covered over with the curved outer panels. The front of the ERA run is fitted with an angled sheet that has a couple of crew foot-steps cut in to aid access on the real thing. They are fitted to the hull sides once you have completed the tracks and installed them. Speaking of tracks, the ones provided in the kit are styrene and of the individual link type, which can remain workable if you are prepared tyo forego most of the glue. This adds a little complexity and increased parts count to the build, but with a little patience, you will be rewarded with a very realistic looking track-run. The supplied jig and carefully laid out parts allow you to make up five links at a time without scattering small parts everywhere, with the track-pins first glued to the guide-horns whilst still on their sprues. Ten bottom track pad halves are then laid out on the jig, and the pin/horn combo is placed on top after releasing the now dry horns from their runners. The inner parts of the track pads are then added, after which you can release the track-pins from their sprues, as there are two friction-fit pins that hold the inner and outer track-pads together. Be careful after construction, as any side-force on the pads could result in the pin ends popping off, as happened to me on my first test. You can see the broken bits in the picture, as well as the jig and a completed 5-link run. The majority of time was spent cleaning up the sprue gates, and take care when cutting the pads, as they have a tendency to burst if you cut them too closely, leaving you with a messy joint to clean up. Another tip is to ensure that when linking all the lengths together, you arrange the clean ends with the hollow track-pin ends on the same side, as these can then be placed on the outside of the runs, as the pads are omni-directional. Repeat that process until you have two runs of 81 links and you're done. Of course I'm being glib about it, but it's surprising how quickly these things get done if you go with the flow and stop being frustrated by the repetition. The turret is next in the queue, and again a few variant specific holes are drilled in the upper, while the simple gun pivot is added to the lower with polycaps supplying friction damping on any barrel movement and allowing it to be posed at will. The big blow-off ammo storage doors, radio masts and lots of conduits, bases for the crew-served weapons are added, and the gun barrel are made up, the latter being split vertically with a hollow muzzle and a key in the rear to prevent the fume extractor bulge ending up the wrong way. The mantlet has a dust cover that you are told to tape from inside to allow it to move during elevation, but I would consider using glue to hold the tape in place, in case old age takes its toll on the adhesive. The mantlet pushes into a large socket in the pivoting base, and the sides of the turret are adorned with a large pair of stowage boxes and smaller boxes of extra cartridges for the smoke dischargers. The simple loader's hatch as clear vision blocks, as does the commander's more complex cupola, and the TV box on the right of the turret roof, and the CITV (not the children's channel) on the front left. The smoke dischargers with covers or cartridges installed are fitted, as is the coax M2 derivative machine gun, the TV housing, the CITV turret, and the armoured conduit to the CITV. More stowage area is supplied in the form of tubular framed bins on the left and right, with more to the rear, part of which is taken up by the air conditioning unit. An additional basket can be added to the rear of the bustle, and all of these have PE mesh floors. Under the turret lower the extra armoured conduits for the AC and other hardware are scabbed onto the surface, showing how much the Abrams has changed since its early days with sleek slab sides. The commander's cupola is almost a turret in itself, having full field vision in the shape of an octagonal set of clear vision blocks set into a styrene frame. A wash of clear blue/green will give them the correct bullet-proof hue, and don't forget to mask them before it gets too cluttered. The vision blocks are dropped onto a gun-ring and the bullet-proof panels that protect the commander are built up around it, sitting on top of the vision blocks without impeding their view. The M2 machine gun is fitted to a triangular bracket with a glazed shield preventing bullets or shrapnel sneaking past the gap. The loader's shields are slightly less impressive, and his gun is an L249 derivative, but he benefits from the protection of the commander's cupola on one side. The turret is also protected by ERA blocks in the TUSK II kit, which attach to a lightened frame and are attached to the turret toward the front, leaving the bustle exposed to a great extent. The TUSK kit included IFF panels and tow cables, which sling under the side stoage boxes. Meng even include some common accessories that are seen on the Abrams, including additional ammo, spare road wheels and drive sprockets, which can be useful in the event of an IED strike. The aforementioned exhaust deflector panel is also provided, and because of the extreme heat it endures, the panels soon become rusty and even deformed. Markings Four decal options are provided out of the box on a relatively small sheet, and as already mentioned, only one option is for the TUSK II equipped Abrams. Hopefully that will be rectified by decal companies in due course. From the box you can build one of the following: M1A12 SEP TUSK II 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, US Army, Iraq, July 2008. M1A12 SEP TUSK I commander's vehicle, E Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, US Army, Iraq, 2011. M1A12 SEP TUSK I 3rd Squadron, 2rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, US Army FOB Hammer, Iraq 5th May, 2011. M1A12 SEP TUSK I "Ghetto Blaster II" 68th Armoured Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, US Army Iraq. As the TUSK kits are used in desert conditions, all the tanks are painted in sand colour, with very little adornment, save for a few kill markings and some "noseart" in black and white. The colour call-outs are given in the new Meng/AK Interactive numbers, which should be available as you read this. In case you haven't seen them, Meng are releasing sets pertaining to their kits in conjunction with AK Interactive, and we'll try to bring you some news and reviews of this in due course. 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 Superb. I became familiar with the Abrams after building one after I got into AFV modelling, and have a couple of the TUSK aftermarket sets that might not see action now. This is a lovely kit with plenty of detail that can be completed by anyone with a modicum of skill and a few kits under their belt. The tracks may put a few off, but patience, as always is a virtue. It is well priced considering what's in the box, and no more than the old Dragon kits were a couple of years ago without any of the TUSK parts in their boxes. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

French VBL Armoured Car 1:35 HobbyBoss The VBL is France's answer to the light armoured car, which was quite forward-looking, as it was designed in the 80s with mine protection as one of the prime requirements along with efficiency, 4-wheel drive, NBC and small arms resistance. It was also engineered to amphibious and although it is by no means quick in the water, it still crosses rivers better than a HUMVEE if the bridge is out! As it is light, it is both fuel efficient and capable of being air dropped into the field, which makes it a very useful vehicle. Introduced in the 90s it has gone on to see service in many hot zones both in France's former colonies as well as with the UN banner on its doors. A surprising number of derivatives and variants have been created to fulfil different subsections of the light armoured car role, which is facilitated by a number of different body shells, plus a lengthened chassis. VBL stands for Véhicule Blindé Léger, which translates directly to light armoured car, and it is made in France by Panhard, a company with experience in this market and now owned by automotive giant Renault. The Kit A new tool from HobbyBoss' prolific armour stable, and arrives in one of their standard tight-lidded corrugated cardboard boxes. Inside are six sprues in an olive styrene, plus three separately moulded parts in the same colour, nestling inside a card divide with four "rubber" tyres, a small decal sheet, two identical clear sprues, and a simple Photo-Etch (PE) sheet. The instruction booklet is standard black & white fare, as is the two sided colour and decal instruction sheet on glossy paper. Detail in the box is excellent, with very complex mouldings of the upper and lower hull halves, the former having a nice texture on the anti-skid panels. Sliding moulds have been used throughout to improve detail, and you get a full crew-cab interior within the box, with the area forward of the firewall empty due to it being fully enclosed under access panels. These are supplied as separate parts however, so you could put your own power pack in there if you were minded. The lower hull is first out of the box along with the wheels, which have two-part hubs and rubbery black tyres, and a good representation of the steering, suspension and drivetrain, much of which is covered by an armoured shroud at the rear. The wheels glue onto axle stubs, and the interior is then started, adding seats, driver controls, equipment fit in the forward cab initially, then moving back to the rear with more equipment in the roof space and on the small floor area. The exterior of the upper hull is closed up with access hatches, although any of them could be left open if you wished, with the caveat of the engine bay, which as mentioned earlier is bereft of detail. Pioneer tools, spare fuel cans and the roof-mounted machine-gun ring are then added, which is all done before joining the two halves, but would be best done after for ease and lack of broken fine parts. once they are joined up however, the two large side crew doors are detailed, glazed and added to the apertures in the sides, with another at the rear that is decked out with more gear. The rear light-clusters sit below the floorline, and are mounted in wedge-shaped boxes with clear lenses of each light, needing just a coat of clear paint of the appropriate shade. Markings There are four markings options in the box, and as usual HB don't tell you much about them. In this case they tell you nothing at all, so I’ll provide you with some visuals instead. The decals are anonymously printed, and seem to have good register, colour density and sharpness, although the 4 in the orange circle looks a little too far over from an aesthetic point of view, but may mimic the real marking for all I know! Conclusion It's nice to see something unusual, and HB are prone to producing that from time-to-time. If you fancy something a little different from the modern Allied inventory, or have a fondness for French hardware, this should be right up your street. AMMO have coincidentally just release a paint set for Modern French Armour (A.MIG 7151) that might come in very handy if you use acrylics. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Kamov KA-27 Helix 1:48 Hobby Boss First flying in the early 1970s, the Helix is a maritime helicopter with two contra-rotating rotors, which removes the need for a tail rotor, a feature that be quite lethal on a busy deck. It also helps to keep the size of the aircraft down, especially when the main rotors are folded. Its compact design and contra-rotating rotors make it a powerful lifting platform that is capable of carrying five tonnes, as well as being easy to fly with precision in difficult situations. As well as being in service with the Russian Navy, it has been an export success with many former Soviet allies, and some have made their way into the civil market. In military service they are capable anti-submarine helicopters, and carry a torpedo or a sonobuoy pack over 500 nautical miles at up to 168mph. it is also available as an assault transport under the KA-29 designation, with a powerful 30mm cannon and machine gun added along with hard-points for additional munitions. The Kit This is a brand new tooling from Hobby Boss, and should please anyone that has a thing about Russian helos, or just likes something a little bit left of field. It arrives in the usual box with a painting of a Helix dangling as dipping sonar underneath. Inside the box is split into two sections by a card divider that is glued to the lower carton. A couple of sprues are also wrapped in foam paper to keep them safe and secure, and the rest of the sprues are either bagged individually, or in pairs to keep the chances of chaffing to a minimum. There are nine sprues in mid grey styrene, one very delicate sprue in clear, a small Photo-Etch (PE) brass sheet containing some grilles, and a short metal strut. A small sheet of decals, instruction booklet and separate glossy painting guide in full colour. Detail is very nice, with restrained surface detail on the outer skin, very deeply engraved instrument panel, equipment racks and rotor detail. They have included a metal drive-shaft for the rotors as well as a gearbox so that when you turn one rotor, the other rotates in the opposite direction, just like the real thing. A busy interior is of course a must for a helicopter with a big side-opening door, and a big goldfish bowl on the front of the fuselage, so it's a good job it has one! It's the interior that is built up first on a large round-ended floor panel onto which you apply triangular rear stowage racks, a boxed in area with more racks on the opposite side that creates a narrow central walkway, and finally a cockpit that extends aft somewhat to accommodate the systems operator behind the two pilots. All the instrument panels are deeply engraved and have decals supplied to detail them, but you will need plenty of decal softener to get them to settle into the hills and valleys of the panels. The crew seats have been slide-moulded to obtain detail on the sides and an undercut on the front of the seats, with a seam running down the centres of the back that is easy to deal with. There are separate cushions fitted to each seat before they install on their mounts, with one in the rear, one behind the main cockpit and two up front for the pilots together with their instrument panels, drop-in centre console and separate collective and cyclic sticks. The rotor heads are next, with one being made up for the top rotor that has its connecting rods underneath, and the lower rotor having the rods on the top. The two are joined together on a geared drum that permits the two rotors to contra-rotate if you manage to keep the glue and paint out of the works. Sure, it's gimmicky and being made from styrene it won't last long if you use it a lot or try to motorise it, but a nice fun feature nonetheless. The mechanism attaches to the top of the cabin roof, onto which is installed the overhead console and decal for the cockpit. This then sits on a ledge within the fuselage halves, where it is joined by the lower portion of the cabin before the fuselage is closed up. There's no detail on the ceiling, but at least there is one, which can act as your blank canvas if you feel motivated to add extra detail. A faceted metal rod is supplied as the drive-shaft, which goes fully through the lower rotor and lodges in a socket in the lower gear and upper rotor head. This both gives the assembly some strength, as well as allowing the lower rotor to spin on its larger styrene "nut" moulded into the top of the gearbox. The rotors themselves are installed as the last act of the build, which makes sense from a practical point of view, and each one is made up from one part with sag moulded into it, starting from about the right point on the rotor where the aerofoil shaped part of the blade begins, and a small balance weight just before. The twin intakes over the cabin are a complex shape, which is why the top portion with a shallow valley between the two intakes is a separate part. The intake mesh and lips are added to the front once these are installed. The nose of a Helix is covered in glazing, which is replicated in lovely thin clear parts comprising the main nose glazing, plus blown side windows that have frosted areas that become the door skins. Painting the interior of these parts would add a bit more realism to them by achieving the correct colour for the interior as well as covering up the glossy inside of the parts. More window inserts are added to the fuselage before closing up, and to the large side door before it is added. A huge array of exterior parts are required for a bit of detail, which includes the two large oval exhausts, various domes and sensor blisters, antennae, grab-rails and PE vents on the fuselage sides. Its tiny sponsons are added toward the rear of the fuselage, and the substantial main gear legs are built up from four parts each plus a single wheel. The nose gear comprises a pair of "castor" wheels on a short yoke, and all wheels are built from two halves split circumferentially. Rescue gear and flotation devices are added to the sides, and the stubby H-tail is built up with separate rudders and leading edge slats, plus an actuating arm on the short horizontal planes. These mate with the fuselage using the usual slot and tab arrangement, and have bracing rods underneath each one. Markings There are two options available to the modeller from the box, and both are in a light bluish grey, as is to be expected in this age of grey military aircraft. There's plenty of scope for weathering with these aircraft, and if you wanted to go off the decal sheet, there are plenty of other colour options available. From the box you can build one of the following: Russian Navy, Ka-27PL, 42 Yellow RF-34177 – Yellow 42 on engine nacelles, Russian star on the tails. Ukraine Navy, Ka-27PL, 20 Yellow cn. 5235003517202 – Yellow 20 on engine nacelles, Ukrainian roundel on the tails. Decals are printed anonymously on an odd blue paper that has a sort of "wholemeal" patina, and the density of the yellow is a concern on some of the smaller decals because they don't appear to have a white under-printing, or the yellow extends past the sides. Some of the writing is a little indistinct, but as it's in Cyrillic, it's not a major concern. The decals overall aren't very inspiring, either in choice of subject, or execution. Conclusion This is a nice kit of a rather unusual and compact helicopter, and while it is perhaps a little on the high side for a kit of this size, there is plenty to commend it, and it won't take up much room in your cabinet when built. I have heard concerns expressed that the details on the fuselage are incorrect, but having done a little research they appear to be about right on the pictures I have studied, although perhaps fractions of a millimetre off in places? With a lump off the RRP, and with a more interesting decal sheet, you can have a lot of fun with this kit, and the super-detailers can add to the interior that is already present. Also, don't forget the fun you'll have twiddling the rotor blades! Review sample courtesy of

Messerschmitt Me.410B-2/U2/R4 1:48 Meng via Creative Models The Aggressively styled two-engined Me-410 Hornisse started life as the Me-210, designed as a replacement for the Bf-110, and was instigated before WWII started, although its protracted gestation is hardly surprising when you consider the problems that presented themselves before it could be turned into an even remotely successful heavy fighter/bomber. The 210 suffered from some unpleasant handling characteristics, and garnered such a poor reputation that when design for the substantial changes needed to fix these problems (initially designated the 210D) was underway, the decision was made to rename it the 410. The 410 utilised an improved DB603A engine, lengthened fuselage to improve the centre of gravity, and amended wing planform to give the wing a constant sweep-back at the front to bring the aerodynamic centre further forward. Coupled with leading-edge slats that had been removed from the initial 210 design, the result was an aircraft that was significantly more pleasant to fly, had a respectable top speed and could carry a substantial war-load. On entering service in 1943, the initial success as a night bomber over the UK was most definitely not a portent of things to come. The 410 was a day late and a dollar short, so to speak, and no sooner had it reached the front-line and started attacking the bomber streams, than the Allies darkened the skies with fast, manoeuvrable single-engined fighters such as the Spitfire and Mustang, which could easily out-fly the 410. Pitched into battle alone, they were easy prey to the Allied fighters, and the balance was only slightly shifted by the introduction of Br.109 and Fw.190 escorts. The heavy losses eventually resulted in the removal of the 410 from front-line service to duties closer to home, and some limited use as a high-level reconnaissance aircraft. Due to its relatively short career, the marks did not progress beyond the B model, although high altitude C and D models were planned. The 410 was quite innovative in its weapons carriage though, and had a nose-mounted weapons bay, which could house a palette of munitions, either bombs, cannon, cameras or the 50mm Bordkanone that was used to attack the daylight bomber raids. Due to the upgraded engines, a pair of bomb shackles had to be added to the inner wing undersides, as the 410 could carry more weight than its bomb bay could contain. The twin remote controlled "barbettes" on each side of the mid fuselage were also of note. They were controlled by the rear gunner using a traditional pistol-grip, and could traverse up and down, but also could flip out sideways to fire at an enemy behind and to one side. Movement and aiming was all done by controls attached to the pistol grip, and must have surprised more than one potential assailant. After the war, numerous of these interesting aircraft were taken as war prizes by the Allies, but sadly only two full airframes exist today, one in RAF Cosford in a fully-restored state, which until the 1980s was capable of ground-running, the other awaiting preservation in the UK at the National Air & Space Museum. The Kit Meng's initial releases of this lovely kit were some time ago now, and this boxing marks the third variant that they have extracted from the moulds, which has been achieved by using a small "accessory" sprue with the various non-common parts, and one of two windscreen parts on a smaller clear sprue that is separate from the main glazing. We reviewed the original release in 2013 when it arrived, and you can see that here, with the later bomber variant here reviewed later that year. My impression of the kit hasn't changed in the intervening years, and it still stacks up well either as a stand-alone kit, or by comparison with the old and inaccurate Monogram kit. This variant carried a pair of larger 13mm MG131 machine guns for additional destructive power, while the expected speed increase due to new engines didn't materialise after the project was cancelled. As a result it still languished behind other types in terms of speed and couldn't achieve its full potential. It was also able to carry two 20mm MG151 cannons in a gondola under the belly, giving it a highly concentrated offensive armament that would make short work of any target which came into range. The internal armament parts remain unchanged, as little other than the barrel muzzles will be seen once the model is complete, and construction follows the same lines as before with only the two gun packs differing from the earlier boxings. The MG131s are inserted into the bomb bay area under the nose in a tubular "pod", with their barrels protruding from the nose, and the pod covering the redundant MG17s in the centre of the bay. As before the bay can be posed open or closed using the same parts, as can the large canopy. Additional armament is included in the shape of 210mm Werfer-Granate 21 rockets, which were also used by ground troops in the Nebelwerfer 42 that I built recently. These were carried under the wings in tubes that were canted upwards at the front to counter ballistic drop as these heavy projectiles sped to their preset aiming point in the bomber stream, with a 30m destructive sphere on detonation. It's fortunate for the Allied bombers that they weren't terribly accurate. The highlights of the kit are a well-detailed cockpit with intricately shaped glazing and accurate framework, plus a pair of nicely done DB603 engines in the engine nacelles. The gun/bomb bay is also well stocked with parts, and with the addition of a number of Photo-Etch (PE) parts throughout, the whole kit reeks of quality tooling. Markings There are three markings options in this boxing, all of which share the same camouflage scheme, which is a soft splinter of RLM74/75 with mottle on the fuselage sides, over RLM76. It seems that the paint call-outs and their arrows have been omitted from this printing of the instruction booklet, but as it is in colour, it shouldn't be too tricky to decide the correct colours to use. From the box you can build one of the following: I./ZG 26 Luftwaffe West Europe 1944 coded 3U+AA – white tail band and black/white spiral spinners. I./ZG 76 Luftwaffe Czechoslovakia 1944 coded 2M8+- – Yellow tail band and black spinners. 9./ZG 1 Luftwaffe Germany 1944 coded 6U+NT – black/white spiral spinners. As always, the decals have been printed by Cartograf, and have their usual standard of register, sharpness and colour density, and you'll be pleased to hear that the spinner spirals are provided as white decals, and there are plenty of stencils to add visual interest to the skin of the aircraft. Conclusion Another winner from the Meng stable, although a bit of variation in schemes would have been nice. In fairness however, there were very few airframes of any variant of the Hornisse, so choice is limited. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Merkava IIID LIC Late 1:35 Meng Models The Merkava "chariot" is a main battle tank used by the Israel Defence Forces. The tank began development in 1973 and entered official service in 1978. Four main variants of the tank have been deployed. It was first used extensively in the 1982 Lebanon War. The name "Merkava" was derived from the IDF's initial development program name. Design criteria include rapid repair of battle damage, survivability, cost-effectiveness and off-road performance. Following the model of contemporary self-propelled howitzers, the turret assembly is located closer to the rear than in most main battle tanks. With the engine in front, this layout is intended to grant additional protection against a frontal attack, especially for the personnel in the main hull, such as the driver. It also creates more space in the rear of the tank that allows increased storage capacity and a rear entrance to the main crew compartment allowing easy access under enemy fire. This allows the tank to be used as a platform for medical disembarkation, a forward command and control station, and an infantry fighting vehicle. The rear entrance's clamshell-style doors provide overhead protection when off- and on-loading cargo and personnel. It was reportedly decided shortly before the beginning of the 2006 Lebanon War that the Merkava line would be discontinued within four years. However, on November 7, 2006, Haaretz reported that an Israeli General Staff assessment had ruled of the Merkava Mark IV that "if properly deployed, the tank can provide its crew with better protection than in the past," and deferred the decision on discontinuing the line. On August 16, 2013, Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon announced the decision to resume production of the Merkava main battle tank for the IDF Armoured Corps. The Merkava IID LIC Late is a combination of the IIID, with BAZ systems fitted so includes the addition of the locally developed IMI 120mm gun. This gun and a larger 1,200 horsepower (890 kW) diesel engine increased the total weight of the tank to 65 tonnes (143,000 lb), but the larger engine increased the maximum cruising speed to 60 km/h (37 mph). The turret was re-engineered for movement independent of the tank chassis, allowing it to track a target regardless of the tank's movement. Many other changes were made, including:- External two-way telephone for secure communications between the tank crew and dismounted infantry, Upgraded ammunition storage containers to minimize ammunition cook-off, Addition of laser designators, Incorporation of the Kasag modular armour system, designed for rapid replacement and repair in the battlefield and for quick upgrading as new designs and sophisticated materials become available, Creation of the Mark IIIB, with unspecified armour upgrades. The BAZ modifications included further updates and additional systems including:- Upgraded fire-control system components, from Electro Optics Industries (EL-OP) and Elbit, provides the tank with the ability to engage moving targets while on the move (an automatic target tracker), NBC protection systems, Locally developed central air-conditioning system, Added improvements in ballistic protection, The Mark IIID has removable modular composite armour on the chassis and turret. The Merkava IIID LIC’s have been further updated for urban warfare. The LIC designation stands for "Low intensity conflict", underlining its emphasis on counter-insurgency, street-to-street inner-city asymmetrical type warfare of the 21st century. The Merkava is equipped with a turret 12.7 mm calibre coaxial machine gun, which enables the crew to lay down fairly heavy cover fire without using the main gun (which is relatively ineffective against individual enemy combatants). Like the new remote-operated weapon station, the coaxial machine-gun is fired from inside the tank without exposing the crew to small-arms fire and snipers. The most sensitive areas of a tank, its optics, exhaust ports and ventilators, are all protected by a newly developed high-strength metal mesh, to prevent the possibility of explosives charges being planted there. Rubber whip pole-markers with LED tips and a driver's rear-facing camera have been installed to improve navigation and manoeuvrability in an urban environment by day or by night. The Model This is another updated release, form the original IIID that was released back in 2012. This includes new parts that add all the updated equipment carried by the LIC variant. The kit comes in a very attractive and sturdy box, with an artists impression of the tank somewhere in the desert. Inside there are twelve sprues and six separate parts in a medium to dark grey styrene, 220 separate track links, a small sheet of etched brass, a length of string, a short length of brass wire, twenty poly caps, and the smallish decal sheet. As usual with Meng kits the mouldings are superb, with great detail and no sign of imperfections or flash. Having said that I have found a couple of the track links that have been short shot, but hopefully there will still be enough to make up the two lengths of track without needing to use them all. This release is sort of a special edition as it includes a nice little booklet on the Merkava with some great pictures of the tank in the field. This has been produce by Desert Eagle and will come in very handy for the build. Construction begins with the assembly of the road wheels, each of five parts, return rollers, idlers and sprockets. All, with the exception of the return rollers, wheels are fitted with the poly caps which allow a friction fit onto the suspension arms and axles. The gearbox covers, bump stops, mud scrapers, shocker absorbers and idler wheel axles are attached to the lower hull. The wheels are then attached, as are the suspension springs, which do look really good considering they have bee moulded from plastic. The large rear door is assembled from fourteen parts and can be posed open should you wish. This is then attached to the rear hull, along with the fuel tank hatches, fuel filler caps, and the two prominent stowage baskets. With the hull upside down, the belly armour can be attached, along with the eight parts that go to make up the support arms. The upper forward hull section is fitted out with the driver viewing ports and the exhaust louvre, before being turned the right side up and having further detail added in the form of the front mudguards, engine decking, headlights, viewing port covers and several hand rails, tie down points and other fixings. There are two styles of drivers hatch to choose from, which are then fitted with the opening system before being glued into position. The rear mounted telephone box, lights and mudguards are attached, followed by the side skirt support brackets. The tracks are then assembled, each from 106 links, and fitted, the upper hull can be attached to the lower, after which, the two side skirts are attached. The engine exhaust grille is now added, as are the various covers and guards that are affixed around the hull. The main gun is made up from twelve parts, with only the front and rear sections requiring any sanding to get rid of the seams. This assembly is then fitted to the lower turret section, along with the rear panel, which has been detailed with spare track links, and two aerial base, and their respective aerials. The ball and chains are moulded in styrene and actually look quite good, but for those who need extra realism, there are aftermarket sets of individual balls and lengths of chain. The three sections that make up the shot trap protection are fitted to the large basket that is fitted to the rear of the turret. The three armoured section of the upper turret are joined together and the whole assembly is fitted to the lower turret, along with the forward armoured section, more aerial bases and numerous other fittings. The commanders cupola and gunners hatches are assembled then fitted into position, followed by the multitude of sensor boxes and their covers, plus the smoke dischargers, forward mounted 50 cal heavy machine gun, panoramic sight, and the two MAG machine guns, on for the gunner and one for the commander. The turret is then mounted onto the hull with the two towing cables, completing the build. Decals The smallish, well printed decal sheet provides markings for two vehicles, both of which are in the standard overall sand grey used by the Israeli Army. Merkava 111D LIC, Tank “Gimel” ©, 2nd (Wolves) Company, 2nd Storm Battalion, 188 Lightning Brigade, Gaza, Operation Protective Edge, 2014 Merkava 111D LIC, Tank 11 “Gimel (11C), 2nd Storm Battalion, 188 Lightning Brigade, Israel-Lebanon Border, 2015 The decals are well printed, with good register, colour density and crisp demarcations, as we have come to expect when they are printed by Cartograf. Conclusion The Merkava has always been an interesting tank, and the continued upgrades keep it well in the front line. As usual Meng have produced a fabulous product which should build into a great looking model. It will certainly look good in any collection, particularly if you are building a series of the different Merkava types currently released. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Paratroopers WWII 1:35 Masterbox via Creative Models The Fallschirmjäger were an elite fighting force who were usually delivered to the battlefield via parachute, and were involved in some of the most daring raids of WWII. They dressed differently than the mainstream military with long camouflaged smocks and narrow brimmed "potty" helmets with a more robust closure system to stand up to the rigors of a parachute drop. The also used some different weapons, with the emphasis on compactness and lightweight, such as the FG42, which was advanced for its time but suffered from muzzle-climb due to its light weight. This figure set contains four figures in varying poses, and each one is broken down into separate legs, torso, arms and heads, plus various equipment and armament choices. The heads are complete, although they lack hair in order to get the helmet to sit snugly upon them, so if you want to leave the helmet off, you'll need to add a little hair, and remove the moulded in chin-straps. Sculpting is first rate, and the joints have been placed to minimise their impact on the detail, running down seamlines wherever possible. A little clean-up will be necessary on the mould seams however, but with a tool such as the Hobby Elements Sanders chucked into your Dremel, this won't take too long. The troopers with three-quarter smocks have their coat-tails moulded into their legs, except for one that has a quadrant moulded separately to depict it flapping during movement. Two figures are posed in the act of walking, with one kneeling and raising his rifle in anticipation of action, while the final figure is in the prone position looking down the sights of his MP40. Poses are naturalistic, and all they need is a ruined street corner to complete a realistic looking diorama. As usual with figure box sets, the instructions are simply painted figures with the part numbers and paint colours pointed out on the back of the box. The part numbers are then shown against a picture of the sprue, which on the box is sand coloured, but inside is a mid grey. The paint call-outs are given in Vallejo and Lifecolor, which are two of the more popular acrylic paints for brush painting, but it's easy to convert using modern web resources such as this one. The smock's camo pattern may cause some a little pause for thought, but with modern washes even an unshaded camo can look realistic. Conclusion Master Box do good figures, and this is a fine example of their craft. Don't let the prospect of having to paint the camo put you off, as this set is too good to miss out on. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Modern IDF Individual Load Carrying Equipment (SPS-020) 1:35 Meng Models Released in conjunction with the IDF Infantry set reviewed here, this high-quality resin set contains a large quantity of pressure cast resin parts on small casting blocks that would be useful as stowage on a vehicle, or to add individuality to a figure that you might be using to portray modern IDF troops. The set arrives in a small black box, and inside are individually packaged resin parts, as follows (from left to right, top row first in the picture): 1 x daysack 2 x large daysack 1 x kit bag 1 x go-bag 3 x load-carrying harnesses 1 x cummerbund belt in C-shape 1 x helmet with cover 1 x "camelbak" drinking reservoir pouch 2 x cummerbund belt in laid out shape 2 x daysack straps All the items have MOLLE loops as you'd expect from modern combat gear, and are of the highest quality in terms of casting and sculpting. The harnesses are designed to mount on the back of a figure, allowing a daysack to be glued in place, mating with the large back-pad, and the triangular bottom strap location points. The helmet in its cover is suitable for gluing to the rear of one of the large daysacks (the one on the left in the picture), where the retention strap mates with the strap on the helmet part, and the bottom keys in with the top edge of bottom compartment. You can see the collapsed helmet pouch on the right-most sack under the main compartment. The separate harnesses mount to the smaller sack, allowing it to be posed lying flat on the ground or on a vehicle, but they could also be adapted to fit the drink pouch with a little alteration of the mating surfaces. A very useful set for either figures or stowage, which will need very little clean-up, and a wash in warm soapy water to remove any lingering mould-release agent. Review sample courtesy of

Me.262B-1a/U1 1:48 HobbyBoss The Schwalbe had the distinction of being the first jet engine fighter to see active service, and was respected by the Allies due to its speed and manoeuvrability, care of the advanced axial-flow engines that burned brightly, but not for very long. It came too late with too few airframes entering service due to delays with the engines, and the German high-command's insistence that every aircraft should have a myriad of variants sporting different configurations that brought with them further delays and confusion. The B-1 variant was a two-seater trainer that was hastily adapted to a night fighter for the defence of the Reich and given the U1 designation to differentiate. It was fitted with the FuG 218 Neptun radar, plus the "Antler" eight-dipole antenna array on the nose. The Kit HobbyBoss have a wide range of single-seater 262s, and are now working their way through the two-seater range, plus some of the oddities that were either proposed or were actually in work when the war ended. If you have seen any of the preceeding kits, you'll be familiar with much of the kit already, as it has been tooled from the outset to be a modular "system" to maximise use. Inside the box are nine sprues in mid-grey styrene, two in clear, a metal nose-weight, a sheet of decals, instruction booklet in portrait A4, and a separate double-sided A4 painting & marking guide. The most notable difference of course is the doubled-up cockpit, which has two seats and instrument panels, with decals for both. The side consoles have separate instrument skins, and the tubular cockpit "tub" also forms part of the main gear bays, sitting in a cradle that forms the fore and aft bulkheads of the bay. The nightfighter was well armed with a quartet of 30mm Mk.108 cannon in the nose that could decimate anything in its sights. The gun bay sits atop the nose gear bay, which you can either install the metal part, or the lighter but slightly crisper styrene part if you prefer. The bay, four cannons and their ammo feeds fit to the top, and at the front the stubs for the forward antennae project from the circular front bulkhead. You can fit the nose gear leg at this point, or leave it off until later, and this has the option of smooth or treaded tyres, both of which are two-parts each. The fuselage parts are complete with a lengthened cockpit aperture, and have a number of parts fitted within that will be vaguely seen from the removable hatch on the starboard side. If you're closing the hatch however, leaving these parts out will reduce the need for nose weight fractionally. The fuselage is then closed up around the cockpit and nose gear/gun bays, and set aside while the wings are built up. The cockpit is completed later by the addition of additional equipment between the cockpits for the radar operator, and a sloped rear deck. The engine nacelles have detailed fans at the front and exhaust bullets to the rear, and for no apparent reason, also have ribbing detail (perhaps for strength?) one their inner skins. With two of these built up, the full-width lower ing and split upper are joined together, some additional main gear bay detail added, and the fuselage then the engines are fitted to their respective slots. The nose cone is added, and the cannon bay doors can be fitted in opened or closed positions, while the forward panel that contains their troughs is fixed closed. If you're either brave or foolhardy, the front antennae can be fitted at this stage, but I'd leave them off, and consider some Master replacements in hardy brass. Under the aircraft the cannon shell ejector chute panels are added, remembering to make holes for the drop-tanks if you will be fitting them. The main gear legs have separate oleo scissor-links, and two captive bay doors each, with the third inner door fitting to the centre between the two bays. The bay door for the nose gear has a long retraction jack that clips into the side of the bay wall. As often happens with HB kits, you get a stack of extras, which in this case includes the aforementioned drop-tanks, plus a tray of unguided rockets for under each wing. Additionally, a pair of rocket (RATO) packs are also included for under the rear of the fuselage, which were sometimes used to assist a heavily laden Schwalbe to take off quickly. Markings There are two decal options from the box, both of which have black undersides and RLM76 uppers, differing mainly in the style of squiggle camouflage that they wear. From the box you can build one of the following: W.Nr.111980 10/NJG 11 Kommando Welter 12 – smoke rings and stripes in RLM81/83. W.Nr.110494 piloted by Lt. Herbert Altner – RLM75 mottle. The decals are printed in-house and are in good register with adequate sharpness and colour density. There are some rather noticeable steps in the diagonal sides of the Swastika however, which is incidentally printed in parts to avoid issues, so you might wish to use your own if you will be applying them to your finished model. Conclusion Another well-done 262 to add to HB's stable. Detail is good, as is the choice of weapons/equipment fit, and other than a slight improvement needed in the decal printing, it's well-rounded kit. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

IDF APC Puma 1:35 HobbyBoss The Puma is based on the Israeli version of the British Centurion tank, but vastly altered so as to be almost unrecognisable. Instead of a turret it has a flat armoured "blockhouse", additional armour packages and three crew stations with FN machine-guns, one of which can be operated remotely, and a larger crew hatch behind them. They can be used as personnel carriers with a crew of up to eight, but are most commonly seen as Armoured Engineering vehicles, sometimes fitted with mine clearance rollers, explosive mine clearance rocket systems or dozer blades. Their heavy weight and relatively high speed make them ideal for clearing roadblocks, and their armour makes for a survivable platform that has seen extensive use since introduction in the early 90s. Recently, developments have been ongoing to use the vehicles as mine and IED clearance, which will require the fitting of additional equipment. The Kit This is a new tooling from HobbyBoss and fits in with their Achzarit and Merkava kits. It arrives in a standard sized box with a painting of the subject on top, and inside you will find eleven sprues and two hull parts in olive drab styrene, four in brown, a clear sprue, twenty-four roadwheel tyres in flexible black styrene, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet, instruction sheet and a separate painting and marking guide. Construction begins with the two types of road wheels, twelve of each in pairs, which is at variance with the instructions telling you to make twelve of each type. The separate flexible tyres can be slipped over the already painted hubs to ease painting, but do ensure you position them with the flange to the outside before gluing them in place. All the road wheels have a central cap added, as do the two idler wheels, while the drive sprockets do not. They are set aside while the suspension arms, dampers and bump-stops are added to the narrow lower hull, and are added in pairs of pairs to their axles along with a number of return rollers of various sizes. The front and rear bulkheads have inserts with additional detail, including towing loops and spare track-links, plus a large towing hitch under the rear end. The tracks of the individual link type, and are supplied on the brown sprues with 106 links required for each track run. The usual method of gluing them with liquid glue and then wrapping them around the sprockets should do the trick, packing them with anything handy to achieve the correct degree of sag. The fenders are festooned with additional equipment and stowage, and have separate end-caps to the front with cross-braces to strengthen them laterally. These fit into slots in the side of the lower hull, after which the upper hull gains focus. The remote turret is built up first with a clear TV camera port, with the other two crew-served machine-guns next, followed by sundry equipment and antenna bases for the flat blockhouse area. The crew hatches have separate detailed hinge mechanisms, and these fit in place in either open or closed positions along with the weapons on their mounts. This is then fitted in position on the upper hull panel, which also has the driver's hatch with vision blocks situated just forward of the blockhouse in a recessed area. A large stowage basket is constructed from sets of tubular rails, and is glued to the centre of the engine deck on the only space without cooling grilles. With the addition of a pair of additional towing hooks on the glacis, the upper hull and lower are now joined, and the side-skirts can be added on their T-shaped brackets that mount on lugs moulded into the sides of the upper hull. A ladder is attached to the starboard side as a final act, although it appears to have no visible means of support. Markings All Pumas are painted a base coat of Sinai Grey, and differ only by their unit markings and personalisations. There are a total of eleven decal options, as evidenced by the relatively large decal sheet, but as I don't profess to understand Hebrew, it would be difficult for me to comment further. The decals are printed in-house and are have good register, colour density and sharpness, except for a numeral 2 near the right of the sheet that has some very feint stepping on the (near) verticals. The sheet consists of the unit markings applied to the side-skirts, plus three completed number plates and two more that you can complete yourself with the additional digits provided. Oddly, a set of black half-circle decals are included for the crew-steps on the rear of the fenders, but as these are actually cut-out from the fender parts, their inclusion doesn't make much sense on the face of it. Conclusion A nicely detailed kit that just cries out for a crew and lots of stowage in that big basket. They are often seen with anti-slip coatings applied to the horizontal areas where the crew are likely to step, so it may be worthwhile applying some Cast-A-Coat or finely ground pumice to these areas, being careful to check your references first for the correct locations. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Me.262A-1a/U1 1:48 Hobby Boss The Schwalbe had the distinction of being the first jet engine fighter to see active service, and was respected by the Allies due to its speed and manoeuvrability, care of the advanced axial-flow engines that burned brightly, but not for very long. It came too late with too few airframes entering service due to delays with the engines, and the German high-command's insistence that every aircraft should have a myriad of variants sporting different configurations that brought with them further delays and confusion. The A-1a/U1 was the heavy armament Zerstörer or destroyer, with six cannon mounted in the nose, two of which were 20mm MG151s, two more 30mm MK.103, and the final two 30mm MK.108. Only a single prototype was constructed before war's end, but had it seen service it would have packed a phenomenal punch, especially as the armament was all concentrated in the nose, thanks to some careful arrangement of components, and a little additional fairing. The Kit If you've seen any of the other Hobby Boss kits of the 262, or indeed any kit of the 262, there will be much that you recognise here, and on opening the box you will see that there is again a highly modular configuration of the sprues to extract the maximum permutations from the toolings. Good, says I, as you just can't have too many Swallows IMHO! There are two sprues containing fuselage halves, three larger sprues, and seven smaller sprues in a medium grey styrene, two small clear sprues, a white metal nose weight, and a medium sized decal sheet. The instructions are A4 portrait in black and white on plain paper, stapled into a booklet, while the painting and decaling instructions are printed on one side of a piece of glossy paper. It was one prototype airframe, or one of three if you believe some sources over others, so wore limited schemes. One thing I noticed about the boxart is that it doesn't represent the kit in the box, which has two protruding cannon and two more faired in cannon bulges in the nose. The boxart has faired over upper troughs, and a pair of bomb carriers under the nose, none of which is in the box. Not to worry though… the stuff in the box is correct for the nomenclature. Construction begins with the cockpit tub, which is well detailed and provided with instrument decals for the main panel, plus the side consoles, all of which have clear backgrounds so you don't have to match paint with the rest of the cockpit. The cannon bay is next, and again there is a lot of detail packed into this area, in the shape of six cannons and their ammo feeds. The larger 30mm cannons are fitted to the rear of the bay, which sits on top of the metal nose weight, which also forms the walls of the nose gear bay. The gear leg is shown fitted at this time, along with a retraction jack and bay door, and you can choose between a simple smooth tyre or a heavily treaded one to suit yourself. A quantity of internal parts of the aircraft, such as radio gear and other equipment are placed within the two fuselage halves, which can be seen through a small hatch in the side of the fuselage if you care to leave it open. The fuselage halves are painted RLM02 inside, then closed up around the cockpit and nose gear bays. The engines and wings are built up next, with the engine nacelles split vertically with single mouldings for the front and rear fairings, plus depictions of the front and rear faces of the Jumo 004 engines. The wings are full-width on the lower, and separate port and starboard on the upper, with some main wheel bay detail added to the gap between them before the fuselage is added along with the engines, tail, separate rudder, and the cannon bay covers, which includes optional open panels and props that sit on a central brace. The nose cone has fairings moulded in for the 20mm cannons, and the larger 30mm cannons have barrel parts, the lower of which have perforated muzzle-brakes moulded onto them, although none of the barrels have hollow muzzles. It would be well worth getting a set of brass barrels for these, as they're somewhat a focal point of this variant of the 262. A three-part windscreen and canopy is added over the cockpit, with the windscreen including a small portion of the upper fuselage, making for a nicely faired in look to the screen once complete. Main construction finishes with the main gear legs, which have separate oleo-scissor links, retraction jacks and two bay doors each, with another opening into the centreline. Two cannon shell-chute panels are added to the underside of the nose, as is the remaining nose gear cover, and that's the aircraft finished. As a bonus, a set of Ruhrstahl Ru 344 X-4 wire-guided missiles are included in the box, taking up two of the small sprues, and covered with some protective wrap. Although eventually cancelled, the X-4 was destined to be carried by the 262 and Do.335, but problems with guidance and the pilot splitting his attention between flying his own aircraft and a missile some hundreds of metres distant led to its cancellation before it was ever carried by the Schwalbe. These are constructed by adding stabilising wings to the body, which already has two wings moulded in, and adding a tail section. The missile is then added to a two-part pylon that mounts on the wing via two holes drilled before the wings are closed up. A task to remember if you're planning on using them. Additionally, a pair of tubular RATO pods are also included, which fit close to the fuselage centreline, just aft of the main landing gear bays. Even the advanced Jumo engines were slow to spool up or down, so the additional thrust of a pair of rocket motors would be useful to get a heavily laden 262 off the ground quickly. Markings As already mentioned, there was only one prototype of this variant (depending on who you ask that could be three airframes), so your options are limited if you intend to stick to real-world scenarios. Hobby Boss have opted for a hypothetical scheme however, as some of the prototype schemes can be a bit samey, I suppose. From the box you can build: Einsatzkommando Schenk (E-51)3.,KG/51 'Eddleweiss', red 5. RLM82/83 spinter camo on the topsides, with faded and mottled sides, over an RLM76 underside. Red 5 on the front cowling, and bisected Swastikas on the tail. The decals are printed in-house, and include plenty of stencils and walkway decals, although the red dotted lines aren't used in the scheme above. Print quality is good, as is registration, but the whites of the various crosses appear a little translucent. Sourcing alternatives might be a wise idea once you've satisfied yourself of their quality. Conclusion Hobby Boss to a nice line in 262s at an attractive price, and this one is no exception, with perhaps the caveats of the scheme and decals to watch out for. Detail is good throughout, and it is well-engineered, with the built-in nose weight especially welcome. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of