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Bonjour! In prep for the Alleycat vs Trumpeter vampire build-off, I'm just researching a few schemes. Now the overall blue Aeronavale one looks good, and I have the Eurodecals sheet with markings for that. But the other one whats caught the old eye is for an Armee De L'Air scheme, nicknamed "frog" ( Gallic self referential sense of humour, je crois que non!) which looks like an overall khaki green top with a sort of blue grey underside. But does anyone have any info on the colours? The CA Vampire boxing with the French decals had this scheme - so if anyone has that - then I would love to see what the instructions called for? Cheers Jeannoirs

Got back into modelling after a 20 plus year gap. i used to build 1/72 and then 1/48 kits of modern jets, the usual mix of aircraft that interests a young aviation fan. Came back thinking of going back to 72 scale but a friend said if I wanted a quick build to have a look at the revell 1/144 range, the detail was amazing, after so long away from the modelling game here was a range and scale that was better then the 72 scale aircraft I built in the past. Anyway I've ended up really liking this scale and have a nice little stash building, the size of these kits is great both on a price level and also on a shelf space level as with two young children its at a premium So here is one of my recent builds the rafale, all comments greatly appreciated, bear in mind all my kits are brush painted (still hoping the kids get me an airbrush for Christmas)

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc MA574 'A' GC 1/7 'Provence'. Armee de L'Air, Algeria. Late 1943 I have been able to find out to much about this plane other than the WWII records show she was produced at Castle Bromwich and shipped to Casablanca and handed over to the Free French Air Force. I found one wartime Black and White photo of her and from this I have based most of the build. Her fate is unknown, but I did find one reference to her having been lost around Lyon later in the war. There also seems to be lots of references on the web to another Spitfire with the same registration, serving with a polish Squadron and it crashing in Kent. The date given was the same as the arrival date of this Spitfire in Casablanca. Was there two Spitfire Mk.IX with the same serial? Or more likely the reference to the 'Polish' one has had the serial recorded wrongly. Anyway, enough of the history and on with the model. Kit: Tamiya Scale: 1:32 Paint: Tamiya Weathering: Tamiya Decals: Kit and OH Models Extras: None, OOB Build: Photobucket Library Thanks for looking

AMX 30B French Main Battle Tank 1:35 Meng Models After dabbling with home-grown and US purchased M47 Patton tanks following WWII, and then attempting to collaborate with other nations to produce a suitable modern Main Battle Tank (MBT), France decided to go-it-alone after the nations couldn't agree on a common set of requirements (nothing new there). The result was the AMX-30, which was a non-standard solution for the time, sacrificing armour in the name of size and manoeuvrability, the thinking being that the weight of armour needed to survive a direct hit from modern weapons of the time would result in a large ponderous tank that would present an easy target. The AMX-30 weighed in at 36 tonnes, and was faster than its competition due to its lighter weight and powerful 700+hp diesel engine. Its transmission turned out to be a weak point however, so was soon upgraded to cope with the power of the engine. It was an export success, with orders from Cyprus, Qatar, Saudi and Chile amongst others, with a total of over 3,500 produced over its long life span. The new Leclerc sounded the death knell for the AMX-30 with the French army, with drawdown beginning in the late 90s. Qatari and French forces last used them in the first Gulf War, with their force placed strategically to avoid the more modern T-72s that the Iraqis had on strength. They achieved their aim, destroying several tanks, and various soft skinned vehicles during their mission. The AMX-30B was the first variant into service, but a basic AMX-30 was produced for export, along with a bridge-layer, recovery vehicle, Anti-Aircraft vehicle, and even a nuclear missile launcher, which was a curious looking beast with a rectangular missile tube that housed only the rear of the Pluton short-range missile. 30 of this type were used by the French during the cold war, and each one had a small drone that could be used to obtain up-to-date information on targets before launch. The Kit News of the AMX-30B was announced flamboyantly at Scale Model World 2012 by Meng, who as well as sponsoring a hall, arranged for an AMX-30B to be present next to their stand. The size of the beast was evident to all, and although it dominated the stand, it was evidently a compact MBT. The box is typical Meng - top-opening, satin finished and with a nice painting of the tank in front of a French flag. Inside the box is quite a lot of styrene, including seven sprues in a dark olive-green styrene, five in a dark brown styrene, the hull and upper turret parts, clear sprue, Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret, a sprue of flexible poly-caps, and a single flexible "rubber" flap that attaches to the mantlet. The usual glossy covered instruction booklet completes the package with nice clear instructions in black and white. A fold out page to the rear gives a sprue layout and painting charts. Detail is excellent throughout, as we've come to expect from Meng, and one sprue even includes a multi-purpose PE bending and track making guide that is almost unheard of in my experience. There is quite a lot of mould release agent adhering to the parts, which gives them a somewhat shiny appearance, so it would be a good idea to wash them before you begin. It's nice to see that slide-moulding has been used to give us hollow machine-gun barrels, and some complex shaped wire baskets, all of which ease the job of the modeller. Construction of a tank usually starts with the roadwheels, and this kit is no exception. This time we get poly-caps to fit within the twin wheels, and of course the rubber tyres will need painting, although you might get away with it if you're planning on doing the NATO scheme, which has an all-black lower hull and wheels. The idler wheels and drive sprockets are similarly fitted with poly-caps to ease installation later. The underside of the main hull is faceted, and has a keel-like shape, with the suspension torsion-bars exiting in armoured fairings. To the hull sides are added shock absorbers and bump-stops, as well as the bell-housing for the final drive and idler wheel plate. Then the torsion bars are threaded through their housings to the other side, where their opposite end-part is glued on, taking care not to spread glue onto the shaft. A scrap diagram shows how the parts should sit within the hull floor. Pushing on the roadwheels and installing a scattering of return rollers completes the running gear, and focus then turns toward the upper hull. The majority of the upper hull is provided in a single part, with various holes for other detail parts to install within/on. There are a pair of skins for the angled sides that hold the pioneer tools, and these simply glue to the hull, with two shallow tabs making for a firm location. The front facets of the glacis plate are then detailed with hatches, vision blocks and a bullet-splash guard for the driver's hatch, which could accommodate a driver figure if you can source one. A large portion of the rear deck is then installed with a central circular vent that drops into a corresponding hole. The rear bulkhead is made up from two parts that interlink and cover the hole in the rear, while a pair of mudguards with optional raised parts are installed at the rear of the fenders. A double-layer pair of radiators attach to the side of a recess in the rear of the deck, which later receive the large exhaust mufflers, which have hinged non-return flaps at the end of the short exit pipes which again have alternative parts should you wish to pose them open. They attach via three raised location points, and are then hemmed in by an angular brace toward the rear. Then a set of angled mesh covers are installed, which is where we first meet the ingenious folding template, part C10. The end of this chunk of styrene is perfectly The rear bulkhead is festooned with more pioneer tools, towing points, infantry telephone box, plus a choice of two different styles of rear light cluster and fire extinguisher bottle. Similar mudguards are applied to the front of the fenders, and front light-clusters are built up, with optional parts for one of the lights. A couple of antennae mast bases affix to the sloped sides, and a pair of stowage boxes with more fire extinguishers sit on the front of the fenders. A couple of protective hoops are added over the front lights, along with some towing shackles and the towing cable, which is moulded in styrene on this occasion. A couple of separate towing eyes are also included however, if you feel like making your own out of braided steel wire. The next task before building the turret is the construction of the track links into runs of track. The excellent C10 template part comes in handy again here, with a 7cm construction bed with sloped run-off to ease the construction. The tracks are designed to be workable after completion, so careful gluing is needed. The instructions advise 80 links per run, which are each made up from an inner and outer layer. The outer layer with the track pad on are placed into the template, and then the inner layer with the guide-horns is glued into place, located by three pins on each one. Once the section is done, place the last link in the first link on the template and carry on. Each outer part has three sprue gates, while the inner part has only two, so you're in for a fair amount of clean-up, although the few ejector pin marks are on the mating faces between the two parts - Good thinking on behalf of the Meng tooling designers. You are provided with 180 complete links, so have up to 20 spares if you stuff up a few. Turret construction starts with the mantlet, which has the elevation gear installed within the rear, and the movable part of the mantlet attaches to the front. Mediating the attachment are a trio of poly-caps that should also prevent "floppy-barrel" syndrome, allowing the barrel to be posed raised without resorting to glue. A scrap diagram shows how the parts align to complete the job, and the rubber mantlet cover attaches to the upper portion of the mantlet. You are advised to only use acrylic paint on the flexible rubber, as I guess enamel or lacquer would render it a mushy black mess. Remember here that some primers are lacquer based, and plan accordingly. The gun is made from two halves, split horizontally, as the underside has a number of small holes moulded in, as does the real thing. The muzzle is a separate part to obtain a hollow end, and a pair of shroud parts clamp around the rear of the barrel, split vertically. This slots through the mantlet and mates with the breech, which is a painted mixture of olive drab and white. How much of it will be seen is a question best answered during the build though. The turret top is a very attractive moulding, and makes up all but the bottom portion of the turret, due to some slide-moulding. You'll need to scrape away the hair-line seams before painting, which is easy enough with a curved blade. The mantlet slips under the front of the turret part, while the rubber shroud is lifted clear to avoid trapping it, and then the lower traps it all in place. The small gunner's hatch is added, and this can be posed open or closed using some alternative parts if you have some crew figures to put inside. A choice of blanking plates or three antenna bases plus cages, plus a set of smoke discharger units are added, then the large turret bustle and white-light/infrared searchlight are built up from their components to be added to the rear and side of the mantlet respectively. The template C10 comes in handy again for bending the bracket that attaches to the top of a cylindrical sensor, which is mirrored on the other side of the turret minus the bracket. The commander's machine gun is applied to a chunky looking mount that has a built in search-light and ammo feed, and then that and the periscope is added to the large glazed commander's cupola that slots onto the top of the turret over the cylindrical window part. The windows and sensor windows will all need washing with clear blue/green to give them the correct hue of bullet-proof glass, but most colour ranges include some clear colours these days, so that shouldn't be difficult. The final act is to add the large and delicate stowage baskets that run from the front to the back of the turret. These parts are provided as a single part each due to some fancy (slide) moulding, and with a little care should slot straight into their mounting holes. A movable cover for the sight is added to the mantlet along with a rail along the top, and the job is done. The turret twists onto the hull with the usual wings and slots, and it's over to painting. The Decals Two schemes are supplied on the small kit decal sheet, which is printed by Cartograf and sealed in its own little bag, safe from harm and moisture. As usual with AFVs, there's not much on the sheet other than number plates, a couple of stencils and unit markings. Needless to say, the decals are well printed and in good register, with minimal carrier film. The two schemes are either all over olive drab with the marking "Cassel 1677" on the side of the turret and 221 on the bustle, or a NATO green/brown/black camouflaged machine. This option has only the number plates and a couple of decals on the side of the turret, but does offer some more interesting tonal options for weathering. Conclusion It was a bit of a surprise when announced, but having seen it soon after the announcement I was pleased with what I saw. Now I've handled the parts and given it the once over, I'm sure that fans of French armour will be over the moon, and even those that haven't built any French AFVs in their life will be intrigued, even if just for the quality of the kit. It's easy to recommend this one, and I hope that some of the variants make it to market - that weird looking missile launcher option would be rather fun! Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of