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  1. Unimog S404 German Military Radio Truck (35137) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd Unimog was the brand-name used by Mercedes for their truck, tractor and commercial vehicle range that began post WWII as an agricultural brand, initially built by another company for them whilst using their engines. The range broadened in the late 40s and early 50s to include trucks, of which the 404 series was one, entering production in 1955. It is a small (1.5 tonne) 4x4 truck that was driven by a 2.2 litre M180 straight-6 Mercedes engine and has impressive off-road performance due to a change that had been required by a customer, the French Army, who wanted the spare tyre to be stored clear of the load compartment. The designers altered the shape of the rear chassis rails to allow the wheel to sit under the floor, the downward sweep giving the chassis extra flexibility that smoothed the ride on rough surfaces, assisted by coil springs, rather than traditional leaf springs. The four-wheel drive system could be disengaged on smoother ground, leaving just the rear wheels engaged, thereby saving fuel and wear on the front drive-shafts, and generally improving performance all round. The 404 series was the most numerous of the Unimog line, and was available as a short or long-wheelbase chassis, with the shorter option phased out at the beginning of the 70s, while the longer wheelbase continued on for another decade before it too was retired. The nascent West German Bundeswehr were a major customer, buying substantial quantities of the S404 as a workhorse for their forces, taking on many roles in their service. A total of over 62,000 S404s were made over its lengthy production run, with many of them still on and off the roads to this day due to their rugged engineering. The Kit This is a rebox with additional sprues of a new tooling from Ukrainian company ICM of this Bundeswehr pillar of their transport arm. It arrives in a top-opening box with a captive lid on the lower tray, and inside are seven sprues of grey styrene, two clear sprues, five flexible black tyres, a decal sheet and a glossy printed instruction booklet with colour profiles on the rear pages. Detail is excellent throughout, and includes a full chassis and engine, plus the bodywork and new load area, all crisply moulded as we’ve come to expect from ICM. The grille of the vehicle is especially well-done, as are the coil springs on each corner, and the wheels are very neat with multi-part hubs. Construction begins with the ladder chassis, which is joined together with a series of cylindrical cross-members, plus front and rear beams, the latter braced by diagonal stiffeners to strengthen the area around the towing eye at the rear. The suspension is next, adding an insert to the opposite side of each spring to avoid sink-marks, but care must be taken to align them neatly to minimise clean-up afterwards. Triangular supports for the fuel tanks are added on each side, then attention turns to the six-cylinder Mercedes motor. Beginning with the two-part cylinder block and gearbox, the basic structure is augmented by ancillaries, fan, pulleys and drive-shaft for the front wheels, after which the engine is mated to the chassis and has the long exhaust system installed, adding a muffler insert around the half-way point, and siting another drive-shaft adjacent. Two stamped fuel tanks are each made from top and bottom halves, with the forward one having a filler tube and cap glued to the side, sitting on the out-riggers that were fitted to the chassis earlier. The front axle is made up from five parts to capture the complex shape of the assembly, to be installed between the suspension mounts and mated to the forward drive-shaft, plus the stub axles for the front wheels. A stowage box is made for the opposite side of the chassis from the fuel tanks, then the rear axle is built with similar detail and part count, fitting between the suspension and having larger circular stub-axles that have the drum brakes moulded-in. The front wheels have separate drum brakes, and both front and rear axles are braced with damping struts, while the front axle has a steering arm linking the two wheels together, with more parts connecting it to the steering column. With the chassis inverted, the front bumper and its sump guard are fixed to the front, and a curved convoy shield-light on the rear cross-member, plus another pair of diagonal bracing struts for the rear axles. Each wheel is made up from a two-part hub that goes together much like a real steel hub, but without the heat of welding, around the flexible black tyres. The front and rear hubs are of different design, so take care inserting them in the correct location. Lastly, the chassis is completed by adding the radiator and its frame at the front of the vehicle. The cab is the first section of the bodywork to be made, starting with the floor, adding foot pedals, shaped metalwork around the gearbox cut-out, sidewalls and the internal wheel wells below the floor level. Several additional parts are glued beneath the floor for later mounting, then the lower cab is built up on the floor, including the front with recessed headlight reflectors; bonnet surround, dashboard with decal, plus various trim panels. The floor is then lowered onto the chassis with four arrows showing where it should meet with the floor, taking care with the radiator. Once in place, the bonnet and more interior trim is installed along with a bunch of stalks between the seat positions. The seats are made from the sprung frame to which the two cushions are fixed, much like the real thing, then they’re mounted inside the cab, followed closely by the two crew doors, which have handles on both sides, and pockets on the interior, and can be posed open or closed. More grab-handles, controls and other small parts are fixed around the dash, and the windscreen frame with two glazing panels are put in place, with a highly detailed steering wheel that has the individual finger ‘bumps’ on the underside, and for your ease, it’s probably better to put the wheel in before the windscreen is fixed in place. The cab is finished off by adding the canvas top, which starts with an L-shaped top and rear, to which a small rectangular window and two side sections are added, dropped over the cab when the glue is dry and the seams have been dealt with along with the side windows that consist of the frame with two glazing panels in each one. Later, the recessed headlight reflectors should be painted with the brightest metallic you can find before they are covered by the clear lenses and their protective cages, joined slightly outboard by combined side-light/indicator lenses, a choice of two styles of door mirrors, and a pair of windscreen wipers to keep the screen clear. The load bed begins with a flat rectangular floor, several supports and two lateral beams that takes the weight of the bed once complete. The sides of the load area are covered with raised and recessed detail, and comprise four parts, one for each side, with windows and optional grilles added from the inside. The roof has moulded-in hatches, which are covered by a tubular framework with cross-braces. A quartet of clear lights are fitted to the corners of the roof, adding twin V-shaped tubes closer into each corner, with a mushroom vent near the front. A set of poles are glued to the side in a rack, handles are added to the recessed areas of the doors, with a frame fixed to the front of the load box to carry the turbo-heater that is built from halves as a clasped case and a tubular assembly with a grille at the intake end. Underneath is a rack for a nicely detailed jerry can, several stowage boxes and optional racks or steps, and the spare wheel on a dropped C-shaped mount, built in the same manner as the road wheels. A plate holder is hung under the rear, also holding the rear lights for that side, with another less substantial part on the opposite side. On the left-hand back door of the load area, a large extending antenna is located, with a winder handle for deployment, and the roof can either be fitted with four fixed antennae on the corners between the V-tubes, or smaller lights can be inserted into the holes if you wish. Markings You might guess that some of the decal options are green, but there are two in NATO camouflage that is so typical of how many of us will remember the Unimog in West German service. From the box you can build one of these four: S404 Radio Truck, 5th Signal Battalion, 5th Tank Division, Dietz, early 70s S404 Radio Truck, 74th Fighter Sqn., Germany, 70s S404 Radio Truck, 77th Artillery Regiment, 7th Panzer Division, Trutzige Sachsen Exercise, Northern Germany, 1985 S404 Radio Truck, 12th Air Defence Regiment, Hardheim, 1991 The decals are printed by ICM’s usual partners, and consist of dials, number plates, stencils and a few other small decals, with good register, sharpness and solid colours. If you don't think you have the correct paint shades in stock for this kit, there is a new Acrylic Paint Set from ICM specifically designed for this model, our review of which we can see here. Conclusion The Unimogs were ubiquitous in Cold War West German army service, so there ought to be a good market for a modern tooling of the type, with some variants already released, and more probably on the way in due course. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  2. ICM is to release new tool 1/72nd Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally kits. - ref. 72203 - Mitsubishi Ki-21-Ib "Sally" - released https://icm.com.ua/aviation/ki-21-ib-sally-3/ - ref. 72204 - Mitsubishi Ki-21-Ic "Sally" - release expected in 2023 https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ICM72204 - ref. 72205 - Mitsubishi Ki-21-Ia "Sally" - released https://icm.com.ua/aviation/ki-21-ia-sally-japanese-heavy-bomber/ - ref. 72206 - Mitsubishi Ki-21-Ia "Sally" - released https://icm.com.ua/aviation/ki-21-ia-rtaf/ V.P.
  3. It's been a while since the last post I made on the workshop but I finally managed to complete the model of the Fiat CR.42 "Falco" and presents the machine CR. 42 Falco, 83 So., 18 Gruppo, 56 Stormo C.T., Ursel, Belgium, November 1940.I added extras from EDUARD, YAHU MODELS and CMK to the model. I also did the riveting based on the drawings posted in KAGERO. Enjoy watching. You can also see something in the cabin. A close-up of the engine. And a close-up of the riveting.
  4. Hello! Here is another model that landed in my workshop, the first one because in such a large for me scale 1:32. And the hero that landed in the workshop is Fiat CR.42 "Falco" in the already mentioned scale 1:32 from the company ICM. 32020. In the box we find 6 frames of grey plastic and one transparent, a decal and a manual with two variants of camouflage. On the frames the manufacturer has placed a whole range of accessories for building various versions of the "Falco", which is included in the ICM offer. Returning to the mouldings, ICM has included different surfaces on the model, so where the surface is covered with sheet metal it is smooth, and where it is covered with canvas, apart from the realistic reflection of the canvas deflection it also has a different surface texture corresponding to that of the canvas. ICM has also included in the instructions a template for making masks for the windshield, but I will write about it later when I am at that stage of building the Fiat. ICM has also released a very nice supplement not only for "Falco" in the form of a set of Italian pilot figures, which will also fit other models of Italian aviation. I'm going to use following extras while building my model: Eduard 33979 Eduard 33271 seatbelts. Yahu models YMA3267 instrument panel CMK 5141 main wheels - ordered and waiting for delivery. KAGERO TOPDRAWINGS 102 Fiat CR.42
  5. AH-1G Cobra Late Prod. (53031) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The AH-1 Cobra was the first dedicated production Gunship or Attack Helicopter to see US service as a new type of weapons platform. During the Vietnam war the US Army began to see the need for armed helicopter to escort its (mostly) unarmed UH-1 Hueys into combat. Fortunately, Bell Helicopters had been independently investigating helicopter gunships as early as the late 1950s, so in 1962 Bell was able to display a mock up concept to the US Army, featuring a 20mm gun pod, and a ball turret mounted grenade launcher. It was felt by the Army to be lightweight, under-powered and unsuitable. Following this the US Army launched and Advanced Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS) competition, which gave rise to the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne heavy attack helicopter that proved to be too technologically advanced and therefore risky for its time, eventually being cancelled in 1972 after 10 years of development (some things never change). Despite the failure of the AAFSS programme, Bell stuck with its idea of a smaller, lighter gunship and invested its own money developing the AH-1 further. They used as many of the proven components they could from the UH-1 platform, adding these to a newly designed slender fuselage that had a minimal frontal profile, making it harder to hit. When The US Army later asked for plans for an interim gunship for use in Vietnam, Bell was in a fortunate position to be able to offer the ready-made AH-1, or the Bell 209 as it was called internally. Given the work Bell had already done, the programme was completed in a relatively rapid eight months and won the evaluation battle against the competition. In 1966 the US Army signed an initial contract for 110 aircraft. Some slight modifications were made to the production airframes, replacing the heavy armoured glass canopy with Plexiglas to improve performance. Wider rotor blades were fitted and the original retracting skids were replaced by simple fixed units. The G model was the initial 1966 production model gunship for the US Army, with one 1,400shp (1,000 kW) Avco Lycoming T53-13 turboshaft. Bell built over 1,100 AH-1Gs between 1967 and 1973, and the Cobras would go on to fly over a million operational hours in Vietnam, losing approximately 300 to combat shoot-downs and accidents during the war. The U.S. Marine Corps would use AH-1G Cobra in Vietnam for a short period before acquiring more damage resilient twin-engined AH-1J Cobras. The M-35 Gun System was a single M195 20mm cannon (a short-barrelled version of the six-barrel M61A1 Vulcan) on the port inboard pylon of the AH-1G, with 950 rounds of ammunition stored in boxes faired to the side of the aircraft. The system was primarily pilot controlled, but featured dual controls so it could be either pilot or gunner controlled by an M73 sight. The AH-1 went on to serve the US Army until it was replaced by the AH-64 Apache, the last one leaving active service in 1999. The Kit This is a new tool along the same lines as their recent 1:48 and 1:32 toolings, but with the scale tweaked to 1:35 to match the rash of 1:35 helicopter kits we’ve had lately, some from ICM themselves. The kit arrives in a reasonable-sized top-opening box, with a captive inner flap on the bottom tray, and inside are five sprues of grey styrene, a clear sprue, decal sheet and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour on glossy paper in A4 portrait format, with colour profiles on the rear pages for the decal options. Detail is crisp throughout, including engraved panel lines, plus recessed and raised details, all of which should result in a highly detailed model without pressing need for aftermarket, unless you’re one of those who really must have at least some, and I’m not ashamed to admit that some of the time I’m one of those folks. Construction begins with the armoured crew seats, each made from five parts, the shell for which differs between them. The completed seats and control column plus pedals (mustn’t say rudder pedals, or the helo boys will have kittens!) are all inserted into the nicely appointed cockpit tub, adding ancillary stick and a quadrant to the side consoles in the front cockpit, and a collective in the rear cockpit that is similarly mounted on the side console. The rear instrument panel is inserted into a coaming with a box on top, and a decal is applied over the moulded-in dials to add detail, the same is applied to the front cockpit, although without any box on top. A complete change of pace is then made, assembling the rotor base, some of which is visible once installed, especially if you leave the hatches open, so be sure to make a good job of aligning the circular sections in between the bulkheads and louvres, which takes up more than a page of the instructions, and as you can imagine, it must be fitted between the fuselage halves during closure. A few holes are drilled into the rotor cowling, and some small parts are inserted from inside, plus the tail fin halves are mated with a long overlap for strength, and surprisingly, you are instructed to install the tail rotor, locking it in place with a washer, and inserting the actuator crown into depressions in the outer side. The rotor base, insert behind it and a blank bulkhead in front are glued into the port fuselage half, with another quilted bulkhead in front, and the cockpit assembly in the nose, adding insulation and armour panels in the sidewalls during closure of the fuselage halves. The base of the exhaust is inserted in the rear of the rotor cowling, adding a beacon with clear part on the top, and optional appliqué armour to the exterior of the cockpit if applicable, whilst gluing the nose and the separate cone, with a probe competing the front. As with many chopper kits, the underside is a separate insert, and while it is inverted, there are a couple of small parts such as an antenna, skid wire, and two fairings on the lower side of the rotor/engine cowling, one of which is optional depending on which decal scheme you have chosen. A further insert and fairing is added to the front of the underside behind the gun turret, which is built up next from a cylindrical fairing, a 7.62 mm Minigun and M129 40mm grenade launcher, each attaching to different inserts in the turret. The instructions advise leaving the turret loose if you have chosen a shark-mouthed decal option to make the task a little easier, which seems entirely sensible. A drop-down searchlight is placed in a recess behind the turret, and a pair of loops have holes waiting for them on either side of the underside. The Cobra’s winglets are where the external weapons are stored, and these are built up from top and bottom halves, with a three-part combined tip and shackle on each one, plus another three-part pylon mid-span. Each pylon receives an insert with anti-sway braces, then they are inserted into depressions in the side of the fuselage, with a choice of exhaust ring lip, or the upward facing extended lip, which is made from two halves. Two decal options have an additional 20mm minigun under the port winglet, with ammunition storage in panniers on each side of the fuselage, linked together by a shallow feeder that inserts into a slot in each one, and into the breech of the weapon via the rear of its nearest panier. The gun itself is moulded in two halves, with additional details on the sides, a rendition of the muzzles applied to the front, and a mounting adaptor to allow it to fit onto the pylon. Another pair of eyes are installed under the winglet roots on each side for three of the decal options, fitting a tiny clear light on the wingtips before inserting the stabiliser fins to each side of the boom. The skids are each a single part, and join to the sides of the fuselage on long pegs for strength, one on each side of course. The narrow cockpit has a similarly narrow canopy, starting with gluing the combined roof and windscreen part in place, then adding the individual panes to the sides, with stays included if you wish to pose them open to expose the detail within. The turboshaft engine can be exposed by choosing different parts for the cover, with the same option being available on both sides, adding hinges or inserts depending on which option you choose. Creating the twin rotor blades involves building each one from two halves, aligning them on small ribs and thereby avoiding sink marks from the parts being too thick. The rotor head itself is a well-detailed assembly that is made from top and bottom halves, and has extra detail fitted before it is joined together, trapping the blades in position, then applying actuators to each one that joins to an lifter-ring moulded into the rotor shaft with an additional layer supported by a pair of tapered links. Then it’s just a simple matter of lowering the rotor assembly down into the hole in the top of the fuselage and deciding whether to glue it in place or not, and if so, at what angle to the line of flight. The model itself is finished, but there is a choice of additional weaponry, should you so desire. Three different rocket pods are included, as is a gun pod, just in case three miniguns isn’t quite enough firepower. 2 x M200 19-tube Rocket Launcher 2 x SUU-11A 7.62mm Minigun Pod 2 x M260 7-tube Rocket Launcher 2 x XM-158 7-tube FFAR Rocket Launcher The tubular rocket pods are built in halves, plus end caps with details moulded into the caps, while the bare XM-158 pack is made from two halves, plus a semi-cylindrical mounting plate, and end caps. The gun pod is again made from two halves, with a muzzle insert in the tapered front. Markings There are five decal options on the sheet included with the kit, all wearing US Dark Green overall, with the differences in fixtures and fittings as well as the personal markings of the aircraft separating them. From the box you can build one of the following: 68-15532, Company D, 229th AHB, Quan Loi, 1971 67-15578, 165th AHC, ‘Bushwhackers’ Platoon, Vinh Long, 1971 67-15738, 129th AHC, An Son, Summer, 1972 68-15054, Troop F, 8th Cav Regiment, Chu Lai, Autumn, 1972 70-16000, 3rd Sqn., 8th Cavalry Division, Mainz-Finthen, Autumn, 1973 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The instrument decals for the crew panels are printed predominantly in white on a black background, so little in the way of colour-matching will be required. Conclusion If you’re a 1:35 AFV or helicopter modeller, or even a wider aircraft modeller that has taken up the recently burgeoning 1:35 scale outpouring, this kit will be a boon. It has plenty of detail, a choice of decal options, and should build up into a good replica of this early attack helicopter. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  6. Leyland Retriever General Service – Early (35602) 1:35 ICM via Hannants The British Army remembered the usefulness of mechanising transport that it learned from WWI, so when war became likely British companies such as Leyland were tasked with creating a modern truck chassis to be used in the forthcoming conflict. The Retriever was a six-wheeler chassis that could be outfitted with truck bodies, cranes, or even command wagon bodies such as that used by Monty during his campaigns in Europe and the Middle East, which now resides in the Imperial War Museum. It was a flexible type, and thanks to its 6-litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine outputting over 70hp, it could carry a healthy 3 tonne load almost 200 miles before refuelling. Around 6,500 were made in total before the end of WWII, and many were put to good use after their military service in civilian use. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from ICM, and the first of a series of kits using the same chassis, which already includes the later General Service (GS) cargo body that will be with us soon. This is the Early type GS Cargo, and arrives in ICM’s usual top opening box with captive inner lid. Inside are seven sprues in grey styrene, a small clear sprue, seven flexible plastic tyres, a postage-sized fret of Photo-Etch (PE) and a similarly small decal sheet that is found within the glossy instruction booklet with colour painting guide on the rear pages. Detail is crisp, and slide-moulds have been used to add detail to the chassis rails, with the steering wheel having a delightfully crisp set of finger grips on the inside of its circumference. Construction begins with the ladder chassis, adding cross-rails, front suspension and the mounting point for the powered double rear axle, after which the Leyland engine is made up from a substantial number of parts along with the four-speed (and reverse) transmission and ancillaries. With the block mounted between the chassis rails at the front, the exhaust downpipe and muffler are installed from below, with a scrap diagram showing the location of the downpipe once in place. The rear axles are mounted either end of a pair of large leaf-springs that pivot around the centre, and these are joined to the motor with drive-shafts as they are slotted into the springs from above, then a number of linkages are inserted in two stages to complete the bogie. The front wheels are free-wheeling, and have brake drums at either end of the steering rack, which is then joined to the underside of the front springs and again linked to the chassis and steering wheel by rods. The rear hubs have their brake drums added to the backs of them before they have their well-moulded tyres slipped over the rim, while the front wheels have a flat back that joins to the drums already on the axle. Finally, the spare is fitted onto a two-part hub and fixed to a bracket with a turnbuckle holding it in place, then it is further attached to a larger set of bracketry for stowing between the cab and load bed. The cab starts with the firewall to which the instrument binnacle is added on the right (correct) side, then the floor halves are installed, with the driver’s controls attached to the right hand footwell. The delicately moulded steering wheel and column with brace are slid in through the small hole in the footwell, and the engine cover is constructed from a fixed central section and two L-shaped inspection panels that allow maintenance without removing the whole cab. What initially looks like a pair of stowage boxes at the rear of the cab are in fact the crew seats, which have short back “rests” on the rear bulkhead that is joined by a pair of short sidewalls. A pair of mudguards are attached underneath the floor, then the lower cab is glued to the chassis over the engine compartment, with the radiator assembled from styrene with a PE grille and a pair of PE name badges top and bottom. With the chassis flipped over, the outlet for the exhaust is slipped through a bracket and joined to the back of the muffler, then it’s time to make up the fuel tank, which has separate end caps, and twin mounting brackets that allow it to fit onto the space between the cab and load area alongside the spare wheel. This kit is the cargo version and has a flatbed built up with low sides, bench seats and loading gate at the rear. Underneath the bed are two longitudinal beams with cross-braces slotting into the engraved grooves along its length. To each outer side of the beams are stowage boxes and diagonal mudguards, after which the sub-assembly can be mated with the chassis, then a pair of running boards are attached on brackets between the wheels. The crew are protected by a canvas roof that has sides and back fitted before it is joined to the cab, leaving the front and sides open to the atmosphere – lucky drivers! The front is fitted out with two headlamps with clear lenses, and an odd “shelf” on the left side of the radiator, then side-lights are installed outboard and a hand-crank is slotted into the front of the radiator at the bottom. The wagon has a canvas cover in real life, but in the model you get the frame, which consists of four lateral inverted U-shaped supports and seven longitudinal ribs that slot into the grooves moulded into the hoops. That’s the model finished, unless you want to add two small supports to the front of the roof, which are shown in a drawing at the end of the instructions. These aren’t supplied, but can be made from styrene rod or wire quite easily if your references show they were fitted to your example. Markings It’s a truck in the British Army, so it’s going to be green. They also didn’t wear much in the way of decoration other than number plates and the occasional unit markings. From the box you can build one of the following: Europe 1945 Europe 1944 Decals are by ICM’s usual printers, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion ICM have been filling a lot of gaps in the British WWII softskin range, and this will likely be very welcome, finding a place in a lot of stashes. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  7. OT-34/76 WWII Soviet Flame Tank (35354) 1:35 ICM via Hannants Ltd The T-34 was Stalin's mainstay medium tank that was produced in incredible volume by extremely crude methods, and thrown into the fray against the numerically inferior German tanks on the Eastern Front. The designers combined a number of important advances in design such as sloped frontal armour, wide tracks to spread the load, and the ability to cope with the harsh Russian winters without grinding to a halt, which was a problem that affected the Germans badly after the successes in the summer of Operation Barbarossa. The part count and cost of the tank was continuously reduced during production, with plants turning out up to 1,300 per month at the height of WWII. The initial welded turret was replaced by a cast turret with more room, and later the 76mm gun was replaced by a more powerful 85mm main gun in the T-34/85 with an enlarged turret, giving even the Tiger pause for thought. The flame variant depicted in this model mounts an internal ATO-41 flame thrower that is fed from the tanks at the rear, and would doubtless put the fear of whatever deity the opponents were fond of, as all soldiers are very easily dismayed by the appearance of a flame thrower of any type, never mind one that also sports a 76mm gun and thanks to the heavy armour can’t easily be destroyed like the man portable devices could. The Kit The model arrives in a top opening box with ICM's usual captive inner lid with painting of the tank and gun in a combat situation, blasting an unseen opponent with a stream of flaming jellified fuel. Inside the box are six sprues in green styrene plus two hull parts in the same colour, four lengths of black flexible plastic rubbery tracks and two towing cables still on their sprues in the same material, a small sheet of decals and an instruction booklet that has colour profiles at the rear. Detail is good throughout, and the new sprue provides the parts for the replacement for the bow machine gun. Construction begins with the fitting of the engine cover onto the rear decking and the missing bow machine gun’s armoured fairing. The two intake covers are then assembled and also fitted to the rear deck. Four plates that are fitted to the underside of the rear decking to blank them off, with the large radiator panel fitting over the aft portion of the deck, then having the rear bulkhead detailed and attached. An adaptor is attached to the outside of the bow machine gun opening, then the flame throwing gun is inserted from within, having some nice detail moulded into it. The driver’s hatch is made up from two parts plus a couple of smaller covers before being glued into position. The rear bulkhead is a flat panel to which the armoured exhaust covers are fixed, with the tips of the exhausts glued within, then the assembly is added to the back of the upper hull, ledging on ridges inside the hull. Inside the lower hull the eight Christie suspension boxes are fitted and the driver’s controls sit justified to the front left, whilst the rear mudguards are fitted to the rear. The final drive housings and five stub axles on their swing arms are glued to the hull sides as are the idler wheel axles at the very front of the hull. Two comfortable-looking seats for the driver and machine gunner are made up and slotted into place, then the two hull halves can be joined together. The road wheels are made up from pairs with moulded-in tyres, while the idler wheels are bare, as are the drive sprockets, all of which are fitted to their respective axles. Towing hooks are attached front and rear, then grab handles, stowage rails and smaller lifting eyes are added to the upper deck, then it’s time for the tracks. These rubbery plastic tracks are moulded in black, and are made up from two halves that are glued together with epoxy or super glue (standard liquid glue doesn't work), then draped around the road wheels to complete the run. If you are looking at making them more realistic, painting them is a great start, and you can also glue some sections to the road wheels to give them the correct sag. This isn’t an interior kit, but you get a fairly detailed breech and coax machine gun, which fits to the back of the pivot that is hidden behind the mantlet once they have been attached to the hull, leaving the pivot unglued to maintain movement after completion. The lower turret with integrated ring is glued to the upper, and if you check your references, you’ll see that some were an absolute mess, so be careful not to make things too tidy! The mantlet and tip of the coax MG fit over the front and are joined by a 3-part mantlet cover with the barrel halves glued together then threaded through. Hinges, hatches, mantlet rain-cover, vision ports, lifting eyes and stowage rails are all scattered over the surface of the turret, which incidentally has an improved cast texture moulded-in, in case you didn’t spot it. Speaking personally, I would wash it with some liquid glue to soften the texture a little and give it a more irregular height in places. Final assembly includes two boxy additional fuel tanks at the rear for the flame thrower, spare track links, pioneer tool boxes and aerial base, plus a folded tarpaulin, headlight, horn, the two flexible towing cables and a large saw attached before the model can be sent for painting. The towing cables are suffering from a little flash, and as the instructions give you an alternative of using your own braided cable and plastic towing eyes, this is probably your best option. Markings There are three markings options in the box and they’re all Russian Green. From the box you can build one of the following: 509th Independent Flamethrower Tank Battalion, Summer 1943 509th Independent Flamethrower Tank Battalion with different markings, Summer 1943 Factory Test vehicle, 1943 The decals are printed in-house, colour density and sharpness for the sheet is good. Conclusion A nice alternative to the usual T-34 that are probably ten-a-penny out there. With a few extra parts ICM have made this kit much more interesting to us, and a lot scarier for any 1:35 scale German figures in the cabinet. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  8. Type G4 Partisanenwagen with MG34 (72473) 1:72 ICM via Hannants Ltd Like many long-standing German companies, Mercedes isn’t overly keen on being linked to their work on vehicles used by the Nazis during WWII, particularly those used to transport their leader, for obvious reasons. This huge touring car was developed by Mercedes on their W31 platform that was notable not only because of its size, but also the fact that it had a third axle at the rear, with both rear axles driven by a 5 litre V8 engine that could lock out the differential for maximum traction, and used a four-speed gear box, some of which were synchromesh – a luxury feature at the time. It was complex and expensive to manufacture, so only a small number reached the German military, and these were soon co-opted into use by the SS and senior members of the party. By 1938 a larger engine was installed, and it was this later model that was used by Adolf Hitler during parades and other such high-profile appearances. Only 30 of the last variant were made, with production finishing in 1939 as war broke out. They were used throughout the war by the Nazis, and thanks to their cost and cachet, the Wehrmacht never saw sign of them for their use. Their seven-seat passenger compartment was luxurious by comparison to other vehicles of the era, and the drop-down hood was ideal for their use as a VIP transport, although Hitler’s cars were fitted with additional armour and bullet-resistant glass, further slowing its top speed thanks to the extra weight. It was capable of driving on all terrain, depending on whether the correct tyres were fitted, but this also limited its top speed to just over 40mph. How fast the armoured variants were(n’t), you can probably imagine. The VIP examples had rear-view searchlights installed to blind anyone aggressively chasing the vehicle, and a pair of MG34 machine gun mounts could be installed, although the passengers probably wouldn’t have appreciated the hot brass raining on them in the event of an ambush, but it’s better than being killed. These were used as convoy protection from ambush by Partisans, hence the name. The Kit This is a reboxing with new parts of ICM’s 2015 kit of this six-wheeled monster, which has been reboxed a few times since its original release, and is now with us in the Partisanenwagen guise, complete with a pair of MG34 machine guns mounts in the passenger compartment. Inside the box are four sprues in grey styrene, a small sprue of clear parts, three short metal rods, two sprues of black flexible plastic tyres, and the instruction booklet with a page of colour profiles on the glossy back cover in full colour. Construction begins with the bodyshell sides that are joined together at the rear, and spaced out with the rear seats and the windscreen, after which the floor is clipped into place from below on two clips on the integral rear fenders, after drilling a hole for the machine gun mount on the right side of the floor. The radiator and bonnet/hood cover up the nose, then the chassis with integral front fenders is detailed with a simplified V8 engine with block, cylinder head, transmission, and interlinking drive-shafts between the two back axles. The exhaust is separate and is inserted after the two halves of the vehicle are joined together, allowing the flexible manifolds to mate to the side of the cowling. The rear suspension has two inverted leaf-springs per side, one above and below the central pivot, with a pair of metal axles slotted through. It attaches to the chassis and has a pair of thick covers slotted over the top once it is in place. The front axle has separate stub axles moulded into the suspension units, and are joined together by a length of I-beam, with steering linkages added before you start adding the wheels. The rears are of one type, with the fronts having separate numbered hubs, so take care when fitting them, as pulling them off too many times may weaken the friction fit. The passenger compartment is decked out with a full set of driver controls plus two rows of additional seats with grab-handles for easy mounting and dismounting the vehicle. With the steering wheel mounted on the left, the sun visors are fitted, and the side windows are applied to the sills of the vehicle as single parts per side. Two spare tyres are attached to the engine cowling on turn-buckles, with the large trunk on the rear plus light clusters and numberplate holder, then a folded-away canvas roof covering the top of the rear, with added depiction of the folded framework further forward. Add the lights and short flag-poles to the front fenders, numberplate holder under the radiator, and you’re left with the two MG34s that are on separate mounts, which have moulded-in folded bipod and separate drum mag, plus a concertina-style guide fitted to direct the spent brass downward and away from the passengers as far as possible. The longer mount installs in the hole in the floor you drilled earlier, and the shorter mount is fitted to the rear on the left by drilling another 0.8mm hole just inside the fabric hood. Markings There is only one option offered for this kit, and that is panzer grey. It’s not going to light any fires in terms of originality, but that’s the colour they were, unless you wanted to do something fanciful. From the box you can build this big lump: There are no decals in this boxing, so if you plan on depicting a specific vehicle you’ll need to obtain plates and flags as appropriate. Conclusion A welcome re-release of a brute of a car that was used extensively by the Nazis, despite the small numbers. If you get a few, you could depict a convoy of them on their way to or from an arm-lifting engagement with Mr Hitler sat in one of them. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  9. Ki-21-Ia RTAF Thailand’s Heavy Bomber (72206) 1:72 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The Sally, as she was known by the Allies during WWII was a heavy bomber designed by Mitsubishi as a replacement for the Ki-20, in competition with Nakajima, who although they lost out on the design of the aircraft, were given the contract for the power plants, as their HA-5 engines were found to be superior to Mitsubishi’s offering originally installed. A small number of airframes were also built by Nakajima too, with a total of just over 2,000 built between them. It first flew in 1936 and was intended for long-range bombing missions against Soviet and Chinese opponents, first entering service in 1938 in operations against China. Initial experience showed that the design was lacking in some respects, extending to the crucial oxygen system that was found to be unreliable. The Ib was intended to address most of the issues, including the lack of armament and changes to the flying surfaces. It also had a remote tail gun installation, and could mount an additional fuel tank for extreme range missions. The type was pretty much obsolete by 1940, and mounting losses prompted the type’s withdrawal from front line service, and sale of some of the airframes to friendly nations. Uses were still found for the type with the Japanese forces however, and the remaining aircraft were used until the end of the war as cargo transports, trainers, troop transports and communications hacks. The later variants had improved engine performance with Mitsubishi units, some with alterations to the greenhouse behind the cockpit, which was changed to a turret on some, and removed entirely on transport variants. When the seemingly unconnected fall of France happened in Europe, Thailand approached the US to buy aircraft to assist them in reclaiming territory in French Indochina, but were rebuffed, as America felt that it could destabilise the area. Japan on the other hand was more than happy to oblige, sending several dozen aircraft of various types for their use, among which were nine Ki-21-Ia bombers that were used in action, and later reassigned to training and transport uses when their obsolescence was acknowledged. The Kit This is a reboxing of a brand-new tool from ICM, who continue to produce new kits despite the difficult circumstances in their home country. The kit arrives in a shallow top-opening box that has a captive top flap on the bottom tray. Inside are six sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue in a separate bag, decal sheet and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour with decal profiles on the back pages. Detail is well up to modern standards, and extends to ribbing on the interior of the fuselage, full representation of the engines and a nice cockpit, plus a set of crystal-clear glazing parts. Construction begins with the fuselage halves, which have the separate tail section added to the rear, a lozenge-shaped detail insert to make the wing root recess flush, and the side windows, plus an equipment insert in the cockpit area, and a line of trunking that extends from the trailing edge of the wing to the tail. The cockpit floor is a long part, with a recessed front end for the flight crew, detailed by adding the rudder pedals for the pilot, and the two seats, which both have separate seat cushions. The twin ‘bow tie’ yoked control columns are inserted into the floor in front of the seats, and near the rear of the floor are two large tanks that attach on pins. The assembly is inserted into the starboard side of the fuselage, and a bulkhead is fixed just in front of the crew steps under the mid-fuselage greenhouse. The front bulkhead has a small circular seat glued to the side of the fuselage and additional details with instrument decals, a clear chin insert with an instrument panel, gun mount and a rack of bottles added to it during installation, with a choice of two types of machine gun for the belly window that has two spare mags nearby. The port fuselage is prepared with tail fin, wing insert and windows, plus ammo cans and forward fuselage details, more racks of oxygen bottles and a side-mounted machine gun that requires cutting out the centre of one window insert. The fuselage can be closed around the cockpit after adding the main instrument panel, which has a centre throttle quadrant and dial decals added beforehand. The mid-upper gunner’s suspended seat is also inserted into holes, but can probably be inserted after gluing the fuselage halves together by flexing the support struts. His twin machine guns are added to a mount on a bracket, with a pair of magazines on top, after which it is fitted into the insert that is then glued into the opening in the fuselage behind the main canopy. The main canopy and upper gunner’s greenhouse canopy are fixed on top of the fuselage along with the nose glazing, which has a choice of two types of machine gun inserted from the inside. Completion of the tail begins by adding the elevator fins from the sprue, which have separate flying surfaces and rudder panel, then the wings are prepared by inserting a two-part bay in each one before joining the upper and lower halves together, adding the ailerons and landing lights in the leading edges. They are then glued onto the wing root fairings on the fuselage, which have a lip to improve fit and joint strength. The wheels are installed under the wings before the engines and lower cowling are made up, starting with the tail-wheel in its yoke, and then adding the two-part wheels to the H-frame main gear, which has a support frame fitted to the front, and a long yoke with mudguard that links the strut lower to the back of the bay. Four small parts are fixed to the wing inside the bays, and the lower cowlings are made up out of two halves plus a round bulkhead, and a pair of intakes top and bottom, then sliding the lower nacelle over the completed wheels and mating the edges with the recessed lip of the lower wing. The engines are built-up on bulkheads with the cooling gills moulded-in, a separate exhaust stack underneath, and a depiction of both cylinder banks, plus the front bell-housing with push-rods, hiding the prop axle inside without glue so that the props can spin later. The finished engines are covered by two cowling halves and a separate lip, gluing them to the front of the nacelles and finishing them off by adding the three-bladed prop and separate spinner. The model is completed by installing an antenna post and D/F loop over the canopy, and a curious-looking cranked pitot probe in the leading edge of the port wing. Markings There are four options on the decal sheet, all in various schemes, with some colourful unit markings. From the box you can build one of the following: Kong Bin Noi 6 (6th Wing), Spring 1941 Foong Bin Thing Rabut 62 (62nd Bomber Sqn.) three markings alternatives, probably 1942 and 1945 No.6, Don Muang Airfield, 1945 No.9, Don Muang Airfield, 1945 Decals are by ICM’s usual partner, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. As is common with ICM kits, there is a page of the instruction booklet devoted to the masking of the canopy, using the printed shapes on the right of the page and the diagrams on the left to create your own masks if you wish. It goes up to 130 thanks to the extensive greenhouse glazing. Conclusion A nicely detailed new boxing of this short-lived (in front line service at least) heavy bomber, which should put older toolings from other manufacturers out to pasture. Highly recommended Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  10. Soviet Military Airfield 1980s (DS7203) 1:72 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War might of the 1980s was exemplified by the Mig-29, of which there were many examples of this new technology on airbases across their territory, serviced by crews and vehicles so that they were ready to fend off the supposed attacks from the NATO ‘horde’, who were just as terrified of the Soviet horde and nuclear Armageddon, coincidentally. The Mikoyan MiG-29, NATO reporting name 'Fulcrum', is an air superiority fighter designed and built in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. As with many other frontline aircraft of that period such as the Su-27, F-16, F-15 and Panavia Tornado, it was produced in significant numbers and is still in fairly widespread service with air arms around the world today. The MiG-29 was developed as a lighter, cheaper aircraft when compared to the visually similar Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. As with the Su-27, the engines are spaced widely apart, with the area between the engines being used to generate lift and improve manoeuvrability. The MiG-29 is powered by two Klimov RD-33 Turbofans, each of which can generate over 18,000lb of thrust in reheat. The aircraft is designed to make use of rough airstrips, with engine air intakes that can be closed completely when on the ground, allowing air to be drawn through louvers on the upper surfaces of the blended wing roots. Armament includes a combination of Vympel R-27 medium-range air-to-air missiles and R-73 or R-60 short-range air-to-air missiles, as well as a GSh-30-1 30mm cannon. The MiG-29S, also known as the Fulcrum C, features a number of improvements over the Fulcrum A, including the addition of the L-203BE Gardenyia-1 Electronic Countermeasures System in a prominent dorsal hump, improved avionics and control systems. The Kit This set includes four kits, one of the Mig-29 9-13, a ZiL-131 Command Vehicle, and another Zil-based vehicle the APA-50M, an airfield mobile electrical unit, plus a bag of PAG-14 pre-cast concrete plates that are used to quickly create a flat, textured surface on an airfield that can accommodate fast jets as well as heavy transport types. The set arrives in a medium top-opening box, with a captive lid on the lower tray, and inside each kit is individually bagged, with a printed orange label showing the original product code. Detail is good, and the quantity of modelling fun packed into the box is great value. The instructions have been gathered within a card folder, each with the decals hidden within, protected by a sheet of absorbent paper. The decals are by ICM’s usual partner, and have good register, sharpness and colour density. Mig-29 9-13 Fulcrum (72141) This is a reboxing of ICM’s 2008 tooling of this classic Cold War Soviet-era jet, but with new decals appropriate for the subject matter. The kit arrives in a stylishly appointed top-opening box with captive inner lid, and inside are three sprues of medium grey styrene, a small clear sprue, two sheets of decals and the instruction booklet, which shares the same design as the box lid, and has spot-colour throughout, including full colour profiles on the back page. Detail is on par for the era of its original release, with engraved panel lines, raised and recessed detail where appropriate, cockpit and gear bay detail, and a complement of weapons and fuel tanks, the latter remain unused. Construction begins with the cockpit, which has an ejector pin mark in the middle of the floor that will be covered by the ejection seat, but should be cut flush to ensure everything fits properly. A control column and instrument panel with raised and recessed detail moulded-in completes the cockpit, although the Zvezda K-36 seat could do with a little additional work, including adding the tubular housings for the ejection stabilisation beams that sit at each side of the headbox. The cockpit inserts into the upper fuselage from below, after which it can be closed up ready for the other components. There aren’t many stages to the instruction booklet, and we see the wings, elevators and stabilisers added at the same time as the two-part canopy. Two inset diagrams show the twin engine nacelles being made up with integral FOD guards before they too are joined to the underside of the fuselage, with the exhausts also made up from inner and outer parts in more inset diagrams. The included weapons also have inset diagrams, and you can make up two each of R-27 Alamo, R-60 Aphid and R-72 Archer air-to-air missiles, but bear in mind that the weapons sprue has a little flash, so some clean-up might be needed. Each missile has its own pylon, and the larger R-27s have separate fins perpendicular to the seamline. They are all shown inserted into the holes in the wing undersides at the same times as the main and nose gear, which have separate wheels and retraction jacks, plus gear bay doors and a clear landing light in each main gear well. The nose gear bay has three doors, and at the tip of the nose a pitot probe will poke out your eye if you look too closely. Markings There are two decal options included on the sheet, but with greyscale profiles, it’s difficult to imagine the look of the options without referring to the colour charts. From the sheet you can build one of the following: MiG-29 “9-13” type, 733 IAP (Fighter Regiment) of Russian Air Force, Damgarten (Germany), 1994 MiG-29 “9-13” type, 40th Fighter Wing of Ukrainian Air Defence, 2000 APA-50M (ZiL-131) Airfield Mobile Electric Unit (72815) This range of kits was originally started by little-known company Omega-K as a truck with canvas tilt in the 90s, before the tooling was taken over at the turn of the millennium by ICM, since when it has been re-released many times and with various alterations to the basic kit and its chassis. This boxing arrives in a relatively small top-opening box that has a captive lid to the lower tray, and inside are five sprues and two loose cab parts in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a small decal sheet and the instruction manual, with colour profiles on the rear pages showing the decal options. Even though its base kit is of a certain age, the detail is excellent throughout, and small amounts of flash are easily removed to expose that detail. Construction begins with the one-piece ladder chassis, which first has two supports removed from each side that are marked in red for your ease. The underside of the engine, transfer box, drive-shafts and various tanks are installed around the ladder, then the twin axles at the rear and single front axle are both inserted below the rails on leaf-spring suspension with the axles interlinked by numerous drive-shaft elements, and a steering link for the front. Underneath, the twin exhaust pipes merge into a muffler then make their way out to the rear as a single pipe, near to a large towing hitch. The six road wheels are all moulded in two halves with chevron tread, and have a separate hub cap for extra detail, with just the seam to clean up in the middle, conveniently located at the centre of the tread pattern. If you want to add some weighting to them, a quick swipe with a coarse sanding stick should do the trick, after which you can glue the wheels with the flat-spot at the bottom. The cab is a really nice crisp moulding that has a little flash here and there, but it’s well worth the effort to remove it, after which the cab floor with various controls and the wheels are inserted from below, then the crystal-clear windows, windscreen and headlamps are inserted to the front, with cages finely moulded, although suffering a little flash that will take care to remove, but again it’s worth the effort. Door mirrors, a small spotlight and a fire extinguisher on the rear corner finish off the detailing of the cab, after which the load box is begun. The floor panel is bracketed by a front and end bulkhead before the sides are added, then two narrow sections of roof, and an upstand with separate roof and curved sides are attached to the centre section, giving the roof a stepped surface. A pair of rails are glued to the edges of the lower roof section, quickly finishing it off, then the three subassemblies can be mated by fixing the cab and body to the chassis, whilst adding the chunky front bumper iron, a section of treadplate between the outer sections behind the bumper, and adding a couple of towing/tie-down hooks to either side of the radiator. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, with two green examples, and one in bright yellow for a little variation. From the box you can build one of the following: 738th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Zaporozhye, 1982 Unknown Military Unit, Soviet Armed Forces, 1980s Civil Aviation of the USSR, 1980s ZiL-131 Command Vehicle (72812) This is another Omega-K based kit that started life as a ZiL-131 truck with canvas tilt in the 90s, taken over at the turn of the millennium by ICM and developed from there. It is a variant of the truck reviewed above, so most of the sprues are the same in both bags, adding new parts in grey styrene for the box body, and a small additional clear sprue for the windows. Construction begins with the one-piece ladder chassis and cab, which are built in the exact same manner as above, so we’ll skip over those. The command cab is a slide-moulded part with five sides, just needing the floor adding, then detailing with vents in the roof, hand-rails at the edges, a spare tyres, ladder and other small parts, then it can be mounted on the chassis, finishing it off with mud guards, number plate holders, fuel tank and front bumper iron. Markings There are two decal options on this sheet, generic vehicles with and without camouflage. From the sheet you can build one of the following: Standard painting scheme of ZiL-131 vehicles Camouflage painting scheme of ZiL-131 vehicles PAG-14 Airfield Plates (72214) There are thirty-two of these plates in the bag, each one measuring 82mm x 28mm, and no instructions are needed, as they simply lay in serried rows next to each other. The diamond pattern engraved into the surface stops short of the edge all around, and there are small cut-outs equally spaced around the corners where the real thing has a hole with a bare rod spanning the gap that permits lifting cranes access to put them into position next to each other without having to move around them later. The purist may want to cut away the holes and add some rod, but most of us would just pop a little grass into the area, as they filled up with greenery quickly in the summer, or ice in the winter. They should be painted a grubby concrete colour, with plenty of scope for adding dirt or ice in the engraved diamond pattern, and you can create an area of approximately 14cm x 17cm with just ten of them, so 32 should supply enough to situate all the other components of the set with ease. Conclusion A great value set that brings together four linked elements to create the ingredients for a diorama, with little else needed other than your usual modelling tools and a piece of base-board to mount the PAG-14 on. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  11. American Civil War Confederate Infantry Acrylic Paint Set (3034) ICM via H G Hannants Ltd ICM have recently released their own brand of acrylic paints on the market, and are creating some kit specific sets to go with their major releases, of which this is one. The set arrives in a cardboard box with six screw-capped bottles inside, each containing 12ml of paint. The bottles are clear Polypropylene, and are capped with cylindrical white plastic tops with knurled sides, and a one-time security seal that you break on first opening. A label on the side gives you basic information about the colour and code, a little information regarding application in English and Ukrainian and a bar-code. This set provides the major colours to assist you in painting your Confederate soldiers from ICM themselves, as they have released a few sets of figures recently, and you will find the following colours in the box: 1075 Grey Blue 1076 Deep Sky Blue 1036 Neutral Grey 1055 Deck Tan 1020 Bronze 2002 Satin Varnish The paint is thick in the bottle, with plenty of headroom between the surface of the paint and the lip of the neck for stirring or thinning. I drop a glass stirring ball into each bottle, and they take a few seconds to disappear beneath the surface, indicating their viscosity. On the rear of the pack is an example of the usage of these colours using the kit mentioned above, and it depicts the figures from one of the Confederate sets that we have reviewed on the forum. You can find them all here in a custom search, in case you don’t yet have figures to go with the paint you’ve just put in your basket. During testing, I used Ultimate Acrylic Thinners to dilute the paint to spray through my Gunze PS770 airbrush, which has a 0.18 needle chucked in. The paint dilutes well once it has been mixed thoroughly, and sprays well through my airbrush, which has a smaller than usual needle that is a good test of the finesse of the pigment grind of any brand, some of which don’t spray very well though anything less than a 0.3mm needle. There were no problems with blockages at all, and the coverage was excellent after my usual ad hoc dilution method, which was probably nowhere near the 40-60% thinners or water that’s suggested on the pack. Apart from the varnish, the other paints all dry to a matt finish. In past tests, the Satin Varnish worked very well diluted with water, sprayed over the spoons that were also partially taped up to perform two functions at once. The satin patina that resulted is exactly what was expected, and the tape lifted no paint at all, despite my best efforts to do so. Bear in mind that the spoons were prepped by a buff with a very fine sanding sponge to give them the best chance of adhesion. Using a brush, the colours cover well two coats with minimal brush marks visible. Conclusion The paints were excellent through the airbrush with nothing in the way of drama during the testing process, including the metallics and Satin Varnish. The solid colours also brushed out very well with a little thinning, as did the varnish. There is a little less paint in the bottles than some brands, but a shade more than others, so it’s about average. That is more than offset by the very reasonable price they’re asking for the set, even at RRP. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Currently on back-order, however. Review sample courtesy of
  12. Well calling this one done 2nd build of the year might even catch up with @Faraway at this rate This is the new ICM kit of the Kriegsfichkutter or an armoured trawler got three of these at the SCOT Nats the other weekend and built the basic kit up in just 28 minutes. At 7cm long it is small and basic but I have had some fun trying to detail it with bits of spare PE and adding some crew from Tamiya and Starling Models a simple base to display and to try and get me some more inspiration for building all those stalled kits waiting on the shelf of Doom. WIP https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235125131-kfk-kriegsfischkutter/ As a comparison for size @ArnoldAmbrose had asked me to place it near something in a similar scale well here is the Revell Tirpitz in the same scale which when built will include one of the other kits in a diorama at Kaafjord, Stay Safe beefy
  13. He.111H-8 Paravane (48267) 1:488 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd Creation of the He.111 was initially shrouded in secrecy, disguised as a civilian transport in the mid-30s, but once Nazi Germany came out of the closet and disregarded the Versailles agreement, it immediately became clear that they were rearming in a major way. The early civilian and military variants had a more traditional stepped canopy, and there is a famous piece of film that is used and reused in documentaries showing a D or "Dora" variant dropping bombs during the Spanish Civil War as part of the Condor Legion, which was Hitler's proving ground for his new designs and Blitzkreig tactics. Various revisions followed until the P, which introduced the now-iconic stepless fully glazed cockpit, which improved both aerodynamics and the pilot's situational awareness. The P series saw limited action in WWII as it was replaced by the more competent H variant, substituting Junkers Jumo 211 engines, detuned to give it the throbbing beat that was to be heard over Britain almost until the end of the war. The H-3 had an improved version of the engine and increased numbers of machine guns for self-defence. As is often the case with wartime development, the end of the Battle of Britain saw the introduction of the H-4 with better engines and external bomb racks. The H-8 also had improvements in design, usually created from rebuilt H-3s or H-5s. The Jumo 211 A-3 engine gave it increased performance, and the internal bomb bay was removed to make way for additional fuel carriage that helped to either extend its range or the ability to carry a heavier load under the fuselage or wings. The fitting of the paravane balloon cutting equipment took some of this range away, but this was countered during low-level raids by the reduced likelihood of being downed by barrage balloons. The paravane equipment didn’t stay in service long however, as low-level raids still suffered heavy casualties from ground-fire and night fighters. The Kit This is an adaptation of the (relatively) newly-tooled range of 111s from ICM which we reviewed recently, adding the components for the Paravane equipment to their existing tooling, different from their similarly equipped Ju.88 Paravane that we reviewed recently here. ICM have improved the quality of their products substantially over recent years, and this extends to all their products that we have seen during this time. The kit arrives in a top-opening box with a captive lid on the lower tray, and inside are eleven sprues in medium grey styrene, two in crystal clear styrene, a line-drawn instruction booklet in spot colour, and a decal sheet that can be found ensconced within the booklet, protected by a sheet of grease-proof paper. On opening the bags, it is very apparent that this is a thoroughly modern tooling, with lots of lovely details, crisp moulding, and some very clever engineering on display. This version includes the Paravane parts, as you might expect. Construction starts with the two wing spar parts, which are separated by the gear bay roof assemblies and a walkway part. Additional detail is added to the bulkheads along with the fuselage walkways and a smaller bulkhead toward the tail, with the lower portion of the mid-upper "turret" ring attached to the floor. The cockpit floor is then assembled with rudder pedals, instrument panels with decals, seat and control linkages, slotting into the front spar once finished. An additional seat and the overhead instrument panel with decal are installed later in the build. As a prelude to closing the fuselage, the tail wheel is fitted together, which has the wheel separate and consists of five parts. Preparation of the fuselage halves involves adding the inserts into the wing roots and making good the join; inserting the paired side windows; adding ammo can racks; sideways pointing machine guns; radio panel; the pilot's control column, and more glazing in the ventral gondola. The spar/cockpit assembly is then slotted into the starboard fuselage half and the port side is added along with some glue and the extra seat mentioned earlier. For this boxing, there are two choices for the rearmost tip of the fuselage, one of which involve cutting the moulded-in section from the rest of it after closure. The alternative it split horizontally into two halves, has a small clear tail-light added, and a remote-controlled rear machine gun barrel fixed into a trough above it. The rudder is separate and fits to the fin with actuators, then the missing fuselage panels between the spars are added, which of course will need painting and fettling in if you're bothered about the "endoscope brigade". The mid-upper insert is designed to cater for different gun installations, and has a crisp serrated ring moulded-in, with controls, gun ring and bracing struts added inside and outside before it is installed into the fuselage opening, closing off much of the rear fuselage. There is no bomb bay interior to this kit, but the side walls are included and add a little structural strength to the assembly before being closed in by the insert that has two raised bomb crutches directly where the bay doors would have been. At this point the wings are begun, with the first diagrams showing where the holes for the Paravane parts should be drilled, with arrowed lines giving the measurements from datum points that will assist you, starting with the lower wings, with the uppers done later before they are applied. With that done, the lower wing surfaces are added to the fuselage/spar assembly first. The ailerons are separate, and are built up before the uppers are added, as are the elevators, and the two engines, which are provided in their entirety, along with much of the ancillary equipment and engine mounts. The completed Jumo 211s are fitted to the front of the spars and depending on whether you want to display them or not, and then enclosed by cowling panels, radiators and the intake/outlet ramps. The bottom cowlings can be split to reveal the engine detail, which is a good way of showing off the detail without ruining the lines of the aircraft. The upper wings and ailerons are fitted, the remaining cowling panels with the exhausts are added, with the latter having a decent indent at the tip to simulate being hollow, and finally the nose glazing, which has a machine-gun and the aforementioned overhead instrument panel, which is moulded in clear styrene and is provided with a decal for the instruments and an upward firing machine gun with flexible dump bag for spent rounds. The nose "cone" is a separate clear part, and it too is fitted with a machine gun with a choice of single or twin drum mags and dump bag for the spent brass. Another two MGs are fitted to the front and rear glazing on the gondola, and the mid-upper gun is added to the turret ring, along with the protective clear shroud at the front. A different nose cone is provided if using the heavier armament and a different underside blister noses is included. A choice of parts for the front glazing of the gondola and a choice of open or closed upper turret is also included. The main wheels are each built up from two halves, and placed between the twin legs that have the main retraction jacks moulded in, and secured with cross-braces between the two legs. An additional ram is fitted within the bay, attached to the rear cross-brace, and the gear bay doors fit to the bay sides with large tabs. The props are made up from a single part with two-part spinner and back plate, which fit onto the engine's output shaft through the vented front of the cowlings. As the bomb load was stored externally for this variant, they must be made up before fitting, starting with the two halves that have two fins moulded-in, the other two fins on a single part that slots in from behind perpendicular to the joint. Additional stabilising cross-braces are fixed in small depressions at the rear tips of the fins, then they are mounted on the underside with the addition of a pair of sway-braces inserted into lateral grooves in the raised portions. You can opt to install smaller bombs on the model, and these build up identically to the larger 1,000kg units. The paravane parts are last to be added, assuming you didn’t forget to drill the holes for them earlier. There are four wing-mounted supports for the cutting blade and a larger central support under the nose, each wing A-frame attaching above and below the wing. All five supporting the two symmetrical blade sections that meet up in the centre and insert into recesses in the leading edges of the wingtips. This and the other delicate parts are best left off until main painting is complete, but that’s for you to decide. Markings There are three markings options in this boxing, all of which are early war green splinter on top over blue grey undersides for the first two options, and black for the third. From the box you can build one of the following: Unknown Unit, 1941 IV./KG27 ‘Boelcke’, France, 1941 9./KG55 ‘Greif’, France, spring 1941 The decals are up to ICM's usual standard and although they're not marked by any manufacturer name, they have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Another impressive Heinkel He.111 from ICM with plenty of detail from the box, crystal clear parts and good quality decals. If you want a different-looking ‘einkel, then this will be right up your alley. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  14. To Be Ahead, To Save The Life – Sappers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (35753) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd It has been more than a year now since Ukraine was invaded, an action that the aggressor disingenuously still persists in describing as a “special military operation”. Ukraine’s response has been resolute and impressive, and with the assistance of their Western Allies, they have recovered much of the land that was lost in the initial stages, but due to the seeding of the territory taken by the invader with mines, their troops have had to clear a path for their own soldiers or risk massed death or serious injury. Sappers are a brave breed, and Ukraine’s Sappers must put their training into practice on live munitions every day that are singularly unforgiving of mistakes. Add to that the possibility of stay-behind snipers, ambushes and booby-traps, and their job is incredibly difficult and dangerous. They still go out every day to do it despite the risks, which is incredible. The Kit This figure set is a new tooling from Ukrainian company ICM, and depicts a team of three Sappers with their sniffer dog. It arrives in a shallow top-opening box with a captive lid on the lower tray, and contains a single sprue of grey styrene, a double-sided colour-printed instruction sheet plus a leaflet advertising their range of acrylic paints, and as luck would have it, they do a set specifically tailored to Ukrainian army figures, which we reviewed some time ago here. The human figures are all in different poses, one wrangling the dog, which appears to be a German Shepherd, although it’s difficult to tell with the goggles and Peltor ear defenders she’s wearing, plus the bullet-proof vest/harness she has on for protection from snipers and shrapnel. The handler is wearing the usual helmet and combat vest, with his AK shouldered on its sling, and various pouches about his person. The other standing figure is detecting mines with his electronic detector held out in front, the coil hovering just above the ground. His other hand is balancing a simple spike on a pole that is used to search for objects in the ground the old-fashioned way, and like his colleague he is wearing similar garb that includes knee-pads. The final figure is kneeling, wearing the same gear as his comrades, excavating something suspicious with an entrenching tool, which is a short shovel to us civilians. The parts for each figure are found in their own areas of the sprue for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from ICM’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the various parts of the model. If you don’t much relish the task of painting digital camouflage on your figures, you can pick up a set of Ukrainian camouflage decals from eBay, which I did immediately on receipt of the first set we reviewed, noticing on receipt that it had been made in conjunction with our good friends at Dora Wings! Conclusion An excellent candidate for a modern-day diorama, and the detail is excellent, just needing the modeller to add a lead for the hound, and a length of fine wire to complete the detector rig. Very highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  15. OV-10A Bronco US Attack Aircraft (72185) 1:72 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The Bronco was conceived as a light attack, long loiter aircraft of modest size, enabling it to operate from roads close to the combat zone. As so often seems the case, the final design turned out to be much larger and heavier due to the requirements of the avionics and ejection seats, thus limiting its use to conventional airfields. The twin boom aircraft first flew in 1965 and was destined to serve with the US Navy, Air Force and Marines as a replacement for the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog & O-2 Skymaster. The Marines were the first to take the OV-10 into service as a forward air controller platform operating both night and day missions. Whilst the Bronco is best known for its operations in Vietnam, it also served in further conflicts as late as the Gulf War before being retired from US service in 1995. The USAF received Broncos in 1968 and deployed the aircraft in the Forward Air Control (FAC) role, using smoke laying methods initially, and later using laser targeting designators. Eventually it carried its own ground attack armament including rockets, machine guns and bombs that gave it the capability of Light Attack Aircraft, and made it a daunting prospect for the enemy to see overhead. Seven export contracts were signed with other foreign operators including Germany, Columbia and Indonesia, the very last of which will be leaving service in the near future after long tenure. The Kit You may think your eyes are deceiving you, but you read that correctly. This is a brand-new tooling from those lovely people at ICM, the same people that recently brought the fruits of their research to their new tooling of this aircraft in the larger 1:48 scale, a scale that is very dear to my heart. Now the 1:72 folks get their turn, and we can’t say fairer than that. We’ll leave the 1:32 people out of the discussion, as their wishes were granted several years ago. Using their research to tool this new 1:72 kit isn’t as straight-forward as hitting the ‘shrinko’ button on the injection moulding machines, so a lot of additional work has gone into developing it, so let’s first give credit where it is due. The kit arrives in a shallow top-opening box with a captive flap on the lower tray, and inside are four sprues of grey styrene, a rectangular sprue of clear parts, a large decal sheet, and glossy-covered instruction booklet that has spot colour throughout, and profiles of the four decal options on the back pages. The level of detail on the sprues is excellent, and almost identical in terms of content as the larger kit that is close by, differing mostly in terms of sprue-count due to the comparative size of the parts, as more can be fitted on one sprue in this scale. Construction begins with the rear seat, which is made from six parts, and is inserted into the back of the cockpit floor in front of the aft bulkhead, which has moulded-in equipment boxes on the top shelf. Side consoles, control column and throttle quadrants are added, then the bulkhead between the seats is made up with rudder pedals on a cross-brace under the coaming. A choice of instrument panels is then cemented to the coaming, with a decal and its own coaming moulded into the top of the part, slotting it into the space between positions. The front seat is built using the same four parts in the initial step, but with three different parts on the back that have two “ears” behind the headbox. A control column and individual rudder pedals are added to the floor, then the side consoles are fitted either side of the seat. The front bulkhead has three detail parts for the nose gear bay glued to the rear, then it is put into the front of the cockpit, to be joined by detailed tops to the side consoles. The pilot’s panel has a decal applied, as it is inserted under the coaming, which has a shallow box glued into the top, allowing it to be fitted into the front of the cockpit. The cockpit is flipped over to add a pair of sidewalls with moulded-in bay doors for the nose gear bay, the top section of the nose gear strut, and a retraction jack, then the lower fuselage skin is glued in place, locating on a raised square behind the bay. The nose sides have moulded-in cockpit sidewalls with plenty of detail, adding a document box to the port side, and painting them according to the colour call-outs that appear throughout the instructions. A nose weight of just 5 grams is suggested to be placed in the space above the nose bay before you close the two halves around the cockpit. A circular light is inserted under the moulded-in probe at the tip of the nose, and a strake is fitted under the rear, building up the two winglets from top and bottom halves, plus an insert that depicts the gun openings, and a tip to finish them off. They glue into the fuselage in shaped recesses on either side, and four raised turrets are added either side of the strake, with a small bay door fitted to the retraction jack in the nose bay. The nose wheel is made from two halves and is slipped between the legs of the yoke that is glued onto the upper nose strut along with a linkage, joined by a pair of gun barrels in each winglet. The upper wing is a full-span part, and has a long spar that doubles as the back of the flap bays fitted in a recess with locating ribs helping with location. The lower outer wing panels each have 1mm holes drilled in them if you are installing the underwing pylons, then they are added to the upper wing along with the inner panels, leaving space for the engine nacelles and fuselage nacelle that will be fitted later. The four flap sections are built in mirrored pairs from three parts each, and the ailerons have two small parts added to the top and bottom before all six flying surfaces are glued into the rear of the wing, fitting an actuator to the inner edge of the ailerons, a GPS hump on the wing over the fuselage, and two intake parts above where the engines will be built shortly. First, the wings are mated to the fuselage nacelle from above, and the windscreen part with a clear instrument fitted to the top framing is fitted over the coaming. The top of the canopy joins the windscreen to the top of the fuselage, then the two side glazing panels are fixed to the remaining gaps in the side, again with no in-built option to pose either entryway open. That’s going to be a job for the aftermarket folks again. The two engine nacelles and their booms are built in mirror image, starting with drilling two holes in both sides, adding the main bay doors and an instrument box, then building the main gear legs onto the forward bay roof from several parts, fixing the main roof and aft bulkhead before they are trapped between the two nacelle halves, finishing off the front with the intake fairing and a two-part shaft that is linked to the back of the spinner, leaving the prop movable if you go easy with the glue. The lower nacelle skin fits on a pair of ribs, and two optional U-antennae are inserted into the holes drilled earlier, fitting the two-part exhausts for the turbo-prop engines, an auxiliary intake and the rudder panel as the last step. Once both booms are complete, they are offered up to the wing underside, remembering to add the three-part elevator panel between the two tail fins. The Bronco had dive brakes that popped-up sideways from inside the wing, and these can be depicted deployed or left off if you prefer, adding a pair of three-part props with spinners to the front of each nacelle. A windscreen wiper blade is added to the windscreen, two small blisters are inserted into depressions in the top of the nacelles, and a horn balance is installed on the top and bottom of the elevator, adding a blade antenna to the starboard nacelle behind the gear bay. The main wheels are each two parts, and are glued to the swing-arm at the bottom of the main gear legs, adding a lateral towel-rail antenna behind the nose gear bay, and another small antenna at the rear of the port nacelle. The optional wing pylons are two-parts each, and fit under the wings on the holes you drilled earlier for two of the decal options. Weapons There is a substantial range of munitions supplied on the sprues, as follows: 2 x LAU-33 Rocket Pod 2 x Mk.81 Snakeye Iron Bomb 2 x Mk.81 Lowdrag Iron Bomb 2 x LAU-69A Rocket Pod 2 x LAU-68 Rocket Pod 2 x Mk.82 Snakeye Iron Bomb 2 x Mk.82 Lowdrag Iron Bomb 2 x Mk.77 Incendiary Bomb 2 x LAU-10A Rocket Pod 1 x 150 gal. Fuel Tank Each weapon is well-detailed, all made from two halves, adding end caps to the tubular rocket pods, fuses of two lengths to the iron bombs, and even rocket tips on the LAU-10A. There is a full range of stencils supplied for the various weapons on the decal sheet, with diagrams to the sides of the four pages of profiles. An additional page in the instructions shows the correct location for the various weapons, and which are compatible with the mounting points under the wings and fuselage. Markings There are four options on the decal sheet, two in olive green, two in grey schemes, with white upper surfaces to the wings and elevator on the first option. From the box you can build one of the following: 155427 Marine Observation Sqn. 2 (VMNO-2), Marble Mountain Air Facility, Vietnam, 1969 155495 Light Attack Sqn. 4 (VAL-4) Black Ponies, Binh Thuy, 1969 67-14649 20th Tactical Air Support Sqn., Da Nang, 1972 155472 4th Light Attack Sqn. Black Ponies, Bin Thuy, 1972 The instruction booklet on our example has a typo on decal option 4, which differs between the Ukrainian and English translation – someone pasted the wrong option in English, it seems - it's far too easy to do with modern tech if I'm honest. A quick photo of the Ukrainian text on my phone and a the translate feature gave us the text we’ve reproduced above. Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It appears that this is the first new tooling of this type in the new millennium, and benefits from the advances in injection moulding technology and CAD rendering that give the modeller a thoroughly modern, well detailed kit of the Bronco that is complete with a host of weapons, ready to delight and amaze. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  16. My first build will be this ICM kit - I do love a twin boomer! Not too many parts in the kit, though they do look quite nicely moulded (lots on fine detail) Scalemates reckons it's a fairly recent moulding (2016), let's hope it all fits together well. The instructions seem clear enough and the decals should hopefully be fine (look a bit thick but not too many of them). I have a couple of aftermarket bits - some window masks to make my life easy with all that glazing and so PE to make my life hard! I'll be doing one of the in-box schemes, not sure which yet.
  17. Fire Trucks Acrylic Paint Set (3031) ICM via H G Hannants Ltd ICM have recently released their own brand of acrylic paints on the market, and are creating some kit specific sets to go with their major releases, of which this is one. The set arrives in a cardboard box with six screw-capped bottles inside, each containing 12ml of paint. The bottles are clear Polypropylene, and are capped with cylindrical tops with knurled sides, and a one-time security seal that you break on first opening. A label on the side gives you basic information about the colour and code, a little information regarding application in English and Ukrainian and a bar-code. This set provides the major colours to assist you in painting your AR-2 (KamAZ 43105) Hose Fire Truck (35003) from ICM themselves, and anything else big, red and prone to squirting water at fires. You will find the following colours in the box: 1001 White 1007 Deep Red 1039 Rubber Black 1023 Aluminium 1060 Middle Stone 1012 Clear Blue The paint is thick in the bottle, with plenty of headroom between the surface of the paint and the lip of the neck. I dropped a glass stirring ball into each bottle, and they took a few seconds to disappear beneath the surface, indicating their viscosity. On the rear of the pack is an example of the usage of these colours using the kit mentioned above, and also depicts the ICM fire truck mentioned above in its Odesa guise during 2015. During testing, I used Ultimate Acrylic Thinners to dilute the paint to spray through my Gunze PS770 airbrush, which has a 0.18 needle chucked in. The paint dilutes well once it has been mixed thoroughly, and sprays well through my airbrush, which has a smaller than usual needle that is a good test of the finesse of the pigment grind of any brand, some of which don’t spray very well though anything less than a 0.3mm needle. There were no problems with blockages at all, and the coverage was excellent after my usual ad hoc dilution method, which was probably nowhere near the 40-60% thinners or water that’s suggested on the pack. Apart from the varnish, the other paints all dry to a matt finish. In past tests, the Satin Varnish worked very well diluted with water, sprayed over the spoons that were also partially taped up to perform two functions at once. The satin patina that resulted is exactly what was expected, and the tape lifted no paint at all, despite my best efforts to do so. Bear in mind that the spoons were prepped by a buff with a very fine sanding sponge to give them the best chance of adhesion. Using a brush, the colours cover well two coats with minimal brush marks visible. Conclusion The paints were excellent through the airbrush with nothing in the way of drama during the testing process, including the Oily Steel and Satin Varnish. The solid colours also brushed out very well, as did the varnishes. There is a little less paint in the bottles than some brands, but a shade more than others, so it’s about average. That is more than offset by the very reasonable price they’re asking for the set, even at RRP. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Currently on back-order, however. Review sample courtesy of
  18. This kit was given to me as a birthday present by my girlfriend several years ago (she is a big fan of the GOT books & TV show). I typically build 1/35 amour though & have zero experience with painting figures, so it has been sitting at the back of the stash since. I'm in the mood for something quick & simple so I thought I'd finally give this kit a try & hopefully learn some new skills too. The kit is quite simple with just a single sprue & a base, I expect it will only take few a hours to build & then a few days to paint. So knowing me I should be finished some time next year... 😅
  19. Type 320 (W142) Cabriolet (35540) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd In the 30s, Mercedes replaced their 290 chassis with the longer 320 in 1937, offering a standard or longer chassis variant, the latter being the basis for the top-of-the-range Cabriolet body format. The extra length gave the vehicle a sleeker, more sporty appearance, which coupled with a raked radiator grille, lack of light bar, and the canvas roof made it all the more streamlined in appearance. Under the bonnet was a 3.2 litre straight-six side-valved petrol engine that produced 78hp and a top speed over 120km/h or 75mph. Power was delivered via a four-speed manual gearbox with synchromesh on all forward gears, which was a luxury at the time. In military service as a staff car, the 320 was fitted with a shrouded convoy light on the left wing, and could also have a short mast on the same wing to display the occupant’s allegiances, battalion etc., with a spare tyre on both sides, which was a common fitment even in civilian service. In 1938 an updated model was introduced, with displacement bored out to 3.4 litres and adding overdrive to shorten the journey to top speed, although the documented HP wasn’t increased, possibly due to de-tuning of the engine to accommodate inferior fuel quality that was beginning to become a necessity as Germany geared up for war. The Kit This is a reboxing of a partial retool that was based upon the hard-top version released by ICM in 2016, depicted with a retracted hood that makes it look its most stylish. It arrives in a top-opening box with the usual captive lid on the lower tray, and inside are two large sprues and a smaller one in grey styrene, three pairs of black flexible tyres on small sprues, a clear sprue, decal sheet, and instruction booklet, where you’ll find the decals tucked away. The instructions are printed on glossy paper in colour, with profiles on the rear pages to help with painting and decaling. Detail is excellent, and extends to a full engine and transmission, plus a very crisp interior, as well as a very natural depiction of the stowed roof. Construction begins with the engine, the block and transmission being made from two halves with the sump and cylinder head added from above and below. The air box and exhaust manifold along with the down pipe are made and attached to the right side of the motor, adding the dynamo and other ancillaries to the left side, the serpentine belts and pulleys to the front with the fan, and more hoses and the distributor pot on the top. The chassis rails are each made from two parts to achieve the correct length, adding short outriggers to the outsides, and a large cross-member at the rear of the chassis that holds the rails in the correct tapering attitude, as well as having moulded-in details of the rear differential on the lower side. Two more cross-members support the frame, adding the differential, axle and drive-shaft down the centreline, and the front suspension arms with their leaf-spring and coils, plus twin coils and other parts installed over the top of the rear axle. The rear wheels are created by inserting the two sides of the hubs into the holes in the tyres so they can be slipped onto the ends of the axles, adding a two-part fuel tank in the rear at the same time. The motor and bumper are fixed in the front, and joined by a pair of wing supports and the radiator, which plugs into the pipes leading to and from the engine, then the floor pan can be lowered onto the chassis, including the rear panel below the boot in-between the moulded-in rear wings. Before turning the vehicle right-side-up, the single part exhaust and two mufflers are inserted, attaching to the end of the down pipe and a tab just in front of the rear axle. Inside the cab, the pedals, gear lever and hand brake are all installed in the left footwell and transmission tunnel, followed by the firewall that has the windscreen frame moulded-in, fitting the two-pane glazing and the dashboard before it is inserted into the space between the cab and engine bay, adding a few knobs and decals before you do. A dash pot is popped into the engine side of the firewall, and the long steering column is threaded through into the cab with the lower end buried deep in the engine bay. Both front and rear seats are bench-type, and their bottom cushions are each made from a main part with a rear edge that has a recess to accommodate the transmission tunnel moulded-in, fitting into the cab on paired pegs, and are joined by the rear cushions that have their backs glued into place before fitting. The body sides are next, inserting door cards before they are latched on pegs to the floor pan, fitting the boot panel and a two-part steering wheel, then the radiator grille that is stabilised by an X- brace that fits into holes in the firewall. The side windows front and rear attach to the sides via pegs, and the bonnet covers the engine, but with a bit of surgery it could be posed open. The two spare tyres are made in a similar three-part arrangement as the others, and are locked in place in recesses in the front wings by brackets running between the tyres and body. The windscreen has a rear-view mirror and two sun visors fitted to the top interior, and two wiper arms are added to holes in the outside near the centre of each pane at the bottom, dotting lights, handles, indicators and the convoy light around the front of the vehicle as appropriate, including a three-pointed star motif on the top of the radiator. At the rear are tiny light clusters and twin handles for the boot, fixing the rear bumper to the rear panel. The canvas hood is made from a top and bottom half, with two sides finishing it off, and the metal outer framework installed after it is glued to the rear of the vehicle. The shape and creasing of the assembly is very natural-looking, and should give a realistic impression of the hood once it has been painted. Markings There are four decal options, and you’d be forgiven for thinking any colour as long as it’s black, but you’d be wrong, because there are grey and blue options too. From the box you can build one of the following: France, 1940 Unknown Luftwaffe Unit, 1940 Eastern Front, 1943 Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, probably 1943 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A sleek Merc for the transport of the upper echelons around the countryside, with plenty of detail that should allow a realistic replica of the type to be made. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  20. Hi folk's thought I would go with this one as it was a Christmas present from my eldest,lovely kit on the sprue hope it builds as good as it looks and not an aircraft we see much of so just a bit different.
  21. WWII German Tank Crew Acrylic Paint Set (3032) ICM via H G Hannants Ltd ICM have recently released their own brand of acrylic paints on the market, and are creating some kit specific sets to go with their major releases, of which this is one. The set arrives in a cardboard box with six screw-capped bottles inside, each containing 12ml of paint. The bottles are clear Polypropylene, and are capped with cylindrical tops with knurled sides, and a one-time security seal that you break on first opening. A label on the side gives you basic information about the colour and code, a little information regarding application in English and Ukrainian and a bar-code. This set provides the major colours to assist you in painting your new Bergepanther with crew set entitled ‘Prost!’ that we reviewed here from ICM themselves, and you will find the following colours in the box: 1024 Silver 1004 Intense Pink 1002 Black 1036 Neutral Grey 1070 German Field Grey 2001 Matt Varnish The paint is thick in the bottle, with plenty of headroom between the surface of the paint and the lip of the neck. I dropped a glass stirring ball into each bottle, and they took a few seconds to disappear beneath the surface, indicating their viscosity. On the rear of the pack is an example of the usage of these colours using the kit mentioned above, and depicts the mutt, although it doesn’t have any arrows sticking out of him. The pink that’s in the bottle is perhaps a little old-fashioned and unrealistic, but after mixing with some other shades to tone it down, it should act as a base to build up the flesh tones of the figures. During testing, I used Ultimate Acrylic Thinners to dilute the paint to spray through my Gunze PS770 airbrush, which has a 0.18 needle chucked in. The paint dilutes well once it has been mixed thoroughly, and sprays well through my airbrush, which has a smaller than usual needle that is a good test of the finesse of the pigment grind of any brand, some of which don’t spray very well though anything less than a 0.3mm needle. There were no problems with blockages at all, and the coverage was excellent after my usual ad hoc dilution method, which was probably nowhere near the 40-60% thinners or water that’s suggested on the pack. Apart from the varnish, the other paints all dry to a matt finish. In past tests, the Satin Varnish worked very well diluted with water, sprayed over the spoons that were also partially taped up to perform two functions at once. The satin patina that resulted is exactly what was expected, and the tape lifted no paint at all, despite my best efforts to do so. Bear in mind that the spoons were prepped by a buff with a very fine sanding sponge to give them the best chance of adhesion. Using a brush, the colours cover well two coats with minimal brush marks visible. Conclusion The paints were excellent through the airbrush with nothing in the way of drama during the testing process, including the Oily Steel and Satin Varnish. The solid colours also brushed out very well, as did the varnish. There is a little less paint in the bottles than some brands, but a shade more than others, so it’s about average. That is more than offset by the very reasonable price they’re asking for the set, even at RRP. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  22. Hi All, So this is my first work in progress, posting is a little daunting but not as much as seeing if I can get pictures to appear correctly. Also I may not be updating quickly, I have a four year old and a four month old so time of an evening is unpredictable at best. (Admins if I'm not posting enough let me know.) So this is my second build since picking up the hobby again, my first was Zvezda's Dreadnought which I learned a lot from, I may stick a few pics in the ready for inspection if for no other reason that to record my progress. I took the view that was effectively an experiment and hopefully I'll put the lessons in to practice. So here is hopefully picture 1; This build is also an experiment as I'm trying to set it up for possible future RC conversion. Given the kit was a steal at £12 off evil bay if it all goes wrong it's not the end of the world. So part one, I've had a look over the parts for any glaring issues and it all looks pretty good aside needing a bit of a scrub to remove some smoke staining (again it was £12 so I cant complain). ICM give you a full 1/350 scale deck and profile plan which is a nice touch. I'm told that these kits have issues with some parts from different sister ships ending up on the wrong corresponding kit, given you can find pictures of the same ship on the net but with different names it doesn't lead to a lot of confidence. So with that said I'm going to take the scientific approach of guessing where I need to. The moulding looks very crisp to me and there are some impressive fine plastic parts. I'm planning on a largely OOB build with additions of Barrels from Aber and some railing from MK1 (this will be my first venture into the world of photoetch and upgrading the masts. First issue I've found is as much as its crisply moulded in places the deck doesn't actually fit! minorly disappointing having been spoiled by Zvezda with Dreadnought where the fit was so good I could have got away without any kind of glue on a lot of bits. oh I slapped a bit of primer on the lower hull. Post more tomorrow, Sam
  23. Hi folk's,now the Spitfire is well into my comfort zone,what isn't is a kit with some scathing reviews and known issue's and as I've just looked closely at the sprues I can confirm this is not a shake and bake kit with a fair bit of flash and a little short molding on one of the wing's,add to that a fair few failed builds over the years have involved painting D-Day markings but maybe as my expectations are low thing's might work out.Place marker for now I don't intend a start for a week or two.Got this one for £12 delivered.
  24. WWII Training Biplanes Bu.131D, DH.82A & PT-17 (32039) 1:32 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd Pilots need practice to make perfect, and even today with all the immersive simulators we have access to, there comes a time when you need to grab a control column and put your feet into a pair of rudder pedals. It makes sense to give the novice pilot a docile, mild-mannered aircraft to take out initially, usually with a second cockpit for the instructor to offer advice and correction when necessary, or to take over control if the novice became confused or let the aircraft get away from him and into danger. Before WWII the majority of training aircraft were biplanes, and in the run-up to conflict air forces chose types that were suitably placid, and these became standard ab initio trainers. In the UK it was the De Havilland Tiger Moth, while the US had the PT-17 Stearman, and in Germany, the Bücker Bü-131. The Boxed Set This compact box contains all three trainers in 1:32 scale, all of which fit inside the small volume of the box, the lower tray having the usual captive top flap that we expect from ICM. Inside are a total of ten sprues in grey styrene spread over three re-sealable bags, with a further three small clear sprues, three decal sheets and three instruction booklets, one for each kit. Detail is good throughout, as all the kits are pretty recent and were well-received when they first arrived. The Tiger Moth The de Havilland Tiger Moth was one of the most important and most widely produced trainer aircraft to have seen service with the RAF. It was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland himself in the 1930s and was based on the Gypsy Moth, suitably redesigned to meet Air Ministry Specification 13/31. In comparison to its predecessor, the Tiger Moth's wings were swept and repositioned, and the cockpits were redesigned to make escape easier. The airframe was also strengthened and the engine exhaust system was redesigned. The Tiger Moth entered service with the RAF in 1932 and remained in service until well after the war. Over 8,000 examples were completed and the type also served with the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force as well as a great many other military and civilian operators. In service it proved itself to be ideally suited to its role; easy enough to fly, but challenging enough to weed out the weaker students. It was also cheap and easy to maintain. Further variants would be the DH.82C fitted with an enclosed hood for cold weather operations in Canada; and the Queen Bee which was an unmanned radio-controlled target drone that resulted in a thinning of the herd of surviving airframes. Always popular with civilian users, many Tiger Moths found their way into private ownership after the War, with many maintained in flying condition to this day. This is a reboxing of the recent tool from ICM that was first released in 2020, so it’s a thoroughly modern model. There are four sprues in grey styrene plus one of clear parts, decal sheet and instruction booklet with colour profiles on the rear pages. The detail is excellent as we’ve come to expect from ICM, and providing you aren’t phobic about rigging, should make a straight-forward build. Construction begins with drilling holes in the two fuselage halves, using holes that are pre-thinned from the inside to ease the way. The fuselage halves are then detailed with throttle quadrants, instrument panels with dial decals, and the bulkheads between the two seating areas. At this time there are a couple more 0.3mm holes drilled in the top cowling in front of the cockpit to insert more rigging wires, which you’ll need to supply yourself, along with more threaded through the holes in the fuselage sides that you drilled earlier. Helpfully, the instructions tell you the length of wire that you should plan for, although I’d be tempted to use the numbers as a minimum value, just in case. You can always cut some off, but adding some on is much more of a skill. With that the fuselage is closed, a firewall is inserted into the front, and an elevator inserted onto a rectangular peg in the rear of the fuselage, with the wider strakes that are fitted to the decal options, followed by the standard rudder fin, which has the tail skid moulded into the bottom. There is a good representation of the four-cylinder Gypsy Major engine that outputs less power than my perfectly normal family car, which makes one stop and think for a second. The block is in two halves that trap the conical drive-shaft inside, exhaust manifold, mounts and other ancillaries, with a baffle on one side, after which it can be glued into the firewall at the front of the fuselage, and have the cowling parts installed along with the open or closed access doors for the crew, small intake on the starboard cowling, and bumper-strips on the forward edge of each cockpit aperture. The lucky crew have a three-faceted windscreen placed in recesses in front of them to keep the bugs out of their teeth, then we move onto the wings. The wings are full-width parts, and the lower wing is made first, drilling rigging holes in the top surface, and leaving off the underside of this and the topside of the upper wing until after the rigging is complete. Whilst that might work for some, I’d be a little wary of gluing big parts such as the wings together after painting, although that’s just my opinion. You may have noticed there were no more cockpit details made up earlier, which is because the rest of the cockpit is built on the lower wing centre, as that’s where you will find the cockpit floor. A narrow control assembly is made first with rudder bars and control columns in duplicate, fitting into the cockpit floor on eight small rectangular slots, then joined by the aft seat, and the weird front seat that is moulded as a deep depression into the bulkhead between the two. The lower wing (upper only) is then mated with the fuselage, completing the cockpit at the same time. The interplane struts are individual parts in the outer wings, with two Z-shaped cabane struts fixed high on the fuselage sides just in front of the cockpit. More rigging holes are drilled into the lower half of the upper wing before joining it to the struts and adding the ribbed fuel tank to the centre of the upper wing. The next two diagrams show the location of the rigging using red lines, dotting them where they pass out of sight, and numbering them in a dot-to-dot fashion. After completion of rigging, the upper-upper and lower-lower wing halves are glued in place, hiding any messy rigging knots that you might have left. It does make for a clean job of the rigging, but I’m no expert at rigging. The upper wing has a pair of slats added to the leading edge, and ailerons to the lower trailing edge, then it’s time to make the landing gear. The wheels of the Tiger Moth are moulded in two halves, and slide over the axle-ends of a single complex W-shaped (ish) strut, which once it is in place is buttressed by four support struts that prevent the gear collapsing on landing. A little L-shaped tube glues to the underside of the fuselage while it’s upside down, and actuators are added under the ailerons, plus a couple of support struts are fitted between the elevators and fuselage, which also have triangular actuators added to small slots that are mirrored on the rudder, with more rigging added there later. The prop is a single part that snugs into the tapered drive-shaft, and after completion of the final rigging to the tail, a further diagram has a set of shapes printed that you can use to pattern your own masks for the two canopies if you don’t want to spend extra money on a masking set. I like these, but haven’t used them yet, and would suggest reducing the tape’s stickiness by applying it to a clean surface first, to avoid tearing or marring the paper when you remove it. Markings There are two decal options for this kit, one in silver, the other in the more traditional camouflage over yellow that most people would think of. From the box you can build one of the following: No.3 Flight Training Sqn, RAF Grantham 1938 No.25 (Polish) Elementary Flight Training School, Summer 1944 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The Stearman The Stearman Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1927 by Lloyd Stearman. then in 1929 it was sold to The United Transport & Aircraft Corporation, which would then split in 1934 due to US Antitrust legislation with Boing which had been a part of becoming its own business again. Stearman then became a subsidiary of Boeing. At about this time they designed what would become their most famous aircraft, the Model 75 Kaydet. The new aircraft was a conventional tail wheeled biplane with an exposed radial engine and fixed main gear. The aircraft was selected as the basic primary trainer for the USAAF and the USN, as well as for the Royal Canadian Air Force. In USAAF Service it would be designated the PT-13 with a Lycoming R-680 engine, The PT-17 with a Continental R-670-5 engine, and as PT-18 with a Jacobs R-755 engine. Canadian PT-27 aircraft were USAAF PT-17s supplied under Lend/Lease and renamed. In total over 10,000 airframes were built, with many were sold off post war, and a great many of these still survive today as a much-loved simple and docile private aircraft. This is a reboxing of the recent Stearman PT-17 Kaydet kit, and consists of four sprues in grey styrene and another small sprue of clear parts, plus the decal sheet and instruction booklet. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is mostly empty space with a tubular framework holding all the instruments and controls. The sidewall frames are detailed, as is the floor with a pair of linked control columns, then they are joined together and held perpendicular to each other by a triangular cross-brace. The two seats are each a single part with a ladder frame added at the rear, and they slip in between the sides, strengthening the assembly further, then the fuselage is prepared for closure and the insertion of the cockpit assembly. Just a fire extinguisher is added to the port sidewall, which has ribbed detail moulded-in, then the two halves are closed around the tail-wheel, which has a separate wheel part slipped over the axle. An insert with riveted panelling is placed under the fuselage between the wheel struts, which are incidentally moulded into the two fuselage halves, then the cockpit assembly can be pushed in from the front and secured on pins, allowing the ribbing to be seen through the framework. The upper fuselage deck is separate and has the two instrument panels and back rests glued to the underside before it is fixed in place over the cockpit, closing the fuselage. Another shorter insert fits under the front of the fuselage with another added to the port side, and the firewall closing the front. The landing gear strut ends are simple affairs with separate scissor-links that slot into the legs after adding the two-part wheels, and are covered over by inner panels that are glued to the moulded-in legs. Your model can now stand on its own three wheels for the first time. The flying surfaces are begun by joining the two halves of the elevator fins together, and fixing the flying surfaces to the rear, with the ability to pose them deflected if you wish. They fit into slots in the sides of the tail fin, which then receive a single thickness rudder with separate actuator. Both main wings are supplied as full span assemblies, with separate tops and ailerons on the lower wing only. A pair of clear wingtip lights are inserted into the upper wings, then the four cabane struts and two Z-shaped interplane struts are glued in place and the wing is then lowered onto the model, taking care to keep everything correctly aligned. The Continental R-670-5 7-cylinder radial engine of the Stearman is barely any more powerful than the Tiger Moth, and its six exhaust stacks are assembled on the firewall at the front of the fuselage, followed by the intake trunking and push-rods, then adding the carburettor underneath. The cylinder bank is made up from two halves, adding a short prop shaft from inside the front half that is covered over by a circular part to prevent it from falling out of position. The rear portion is glued into place, and a vertical housing is inserted between the bottom two cylinders, after which it can be fixed to the fuselage with a choice of two props, each with two blades. The narrower prop is a ground adjustable steel McCauley unit, while the thicker one is wooden fixed-pitch Sensenich unit. The last page of the instructions detail rigging of the model, spanning three steps that show the wires marked in red over a line-drawn diagram. To the side is a drawing that shows the shape of masks that you can make yourself to help you keep the clear parts from getting marred by paint during the build. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, two of which are bright and distinctly yellow in tone, while the third is an all-over aluminium airframe. From the box you can build one of the following: PT-17 USAAF, 63rd AAF FTD, Douglas, Georgia 1942 PT-17, WAASPs, Avenger Feild, Texas, 1943 N2S-3 USN, Unit not known 1943 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Bücker Bü-131D The Bu 131 was designed by Carl Bucker and Anders Anderssen after Bucker Flugzeugbau was established in Germany in 1932, and was to be the last biplane built in Germany. The aircraft is a conventional two seat trainer with a tubular steel fuselage, wooden wings, and all exterior surfaces fabric covered with a doped finish, powered by a Hirth HM60R engine. The aircraft was, praised for its handling characteristics, and still stacks up well against even modern aircraft. The aircraft was in use before and during WWII as the primary trainer for the Luftwaffe, and was also selected in this role by the Japanese Army where it was designated as the Kokusai Ki-86, The Japanese Navy called it the Kyushu K9W, and the Spanish Air Force flew CASA built aircraft. CASA continued manufacturing the aircraft well into the 1960s, and additional licensed production also took place in Switzerland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. A further 21 aircraft were produced in 1994 in Spain using the CASA jigs, and is still being produced today by Air Res Aviation in Poland. The Kit This kit was initially released in 2018, so is the oldest of the three by a short margin, although it is still a very modern tooling from ICM with good detail. It has a relatively low parts count and only two sprues in grey styrene, plus one clear sprue, but that’s due to it being a very simple aircraft. The decal sheet can be found inside the instruction booklet that has colour profiles on the back pages. Construction begins with the lower wing, which is of conventional construction with a single part lower and split upper surfaces. The centre of the wing will also form the floor for the front cockpit, and a section of framing is placed over it once the wing is assembled. The ailerons are each separate parts and can be added at this stage before moving onto the fuselage, which has the steel tube framework added to the cockpit sidewalls in both halves, built side-by-side with the engine that is made up with a high part count and including bearers. The fuselage is closed and the elevator fins are joined under the fixed rudder fin after adding curved hinges under each side. The fuselage is then mated to the lower wing, and the coamings and instrument panels with decals for both cockpits are made up for installation after adding the linked control columns and a seat in the rear cockpit. The rear coaming/panel assembly is inserted between the cockpits, and a bulkhead is fixed to the fuselage behind the rear seat, allowing you to fit the front seat, a pair of rudder pedals and the metal cowling panels to the sides of the engine compartment, followed by the top cowling and a firewall bulkhead closing off the area. The crew access doors are shown installed in the closed position on both sides of the cockpits, although there’s nothing preventing you from posing them open if you wish. The motor is affixed to the holes in the firewall on pins at the end of its four bearer arms, and the top cowling is applied over it, adding the front fairing and two-bladed prop to the front. The lower cowlings have exhaust outlets glued to the bottom of them, and they are both installed around the engine as the two windscreens keeping the bugs out of the crew’s teeth are fitted using a suitable non-fogging glue. The upper wing is comprised of two full-span parts that have ribbing moulded-in, as well as separate ailerons and a full set of Z-shaped cabane and straight interplane struts. The completed wing assembly is shown being placed on the model from above as the rudder is fitted, and it would be sensible to add the wing while the glue is still soft to allow accurate alignment of the two wings over each other. The elevator surfaces are both single thickness, and attach to their fins to complete the empennage. The main gear legs are fixed, and are based around an A-frame with multiple cross-rails and an axle on the bottom end to which the two-part wheels are attached, then they are braced by a peculiarly shaped cross-brace with outriggers, adding exhaust stubs under the nose, actuators to the elevators and rudder, and tail-wheel with moulded fairing under the tail. A rigging diagram is provided in the instructions, picking out the wires in red, but it is always a good idea to check your references when creating rigging from just two profile views. Markings There are four options on the decal sheet, however the swastikas are not present, so the modeller will have to source them elsewhere if their locality permits it. From the box you can build one of the following: 2./JG54, Russia, March 1942 2./JG54, Russia, Summer 1942 Stab III/NJG 1, Germany 1943 Training Unit Bad Aibling, Germany 1944 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Three well-known and regarded biplane trainers that are depicted by modern kits in 1:32 scale, arriving in one relatively small box that will help you to kid yourself that there’s very little growth of your stash. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
  25. Fierce Battle - American Civil War (DS3519) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The American Civil War was triggered partly by disagreements over the future of slavery in America, and the fact that the Northern or Union states had abolished it, while the South or Confederate states wanted to retain the status quo and keep their slaves, who were a source of very cheap labour by seceding from the union. It began in April 1861 and lasted for a gruelling four years, at the end of which General Lee signed the surrender almost exactly on the four-year anniversary. By that time much of the infrastructure of the Southern US was in ruins, although some Confederate soldiers carried on fighting until later that year. Some four million slaves were released, with their rights established during the following Reconstruction era, although progress on true equality is still ongoing. The Boxed Set This is a reissue of four separate figure kits and multiple instances of weapons sprues in one box, totalling sixteen figures, eight on each side. Each figure set is separately bagged inside the box with a single sprue for the figures and two identical weapons sprues, plus the four instruction sheets that are securely stashed in a white card folder. As always with ICM, the sculpting is excellent, especially the faces, moulding is clean, with excellent natural poses and drape of materials. Parts breakdown is sensible and generally along the seamlines of garments, with separate arms, heads, torso, legs and various types of hats. The equivalent of modern-day webbing is also present on the sprues, looking quite ungainly by comparison, as do the massive flint-lock rifles, made even longer and less suitable for close quarters engagements by their bayonets. The weapons are on the two smaller sprues, along with pouches, water bottles, mugs, loose bayonets, holstered and loose pistols, swords in and out of scabbards, and even a trumpet for rudimentary battlefield communications. Each set includes a combined sprue diagram and instruction sheet for reference during building and painting that shows the finished figures as drawings with part numbers in black and paint codes in red boxes. The paint table on the opposite side translates to codes for ICM’s new paint system, but also gives numbers for Revell and Tamiya brands. American Civil War Union Infantry Set #1 (35020) This four figure set depicts two soldiers aiming, one kneeling, the other upright, with a third reloading his musket with the buttstock on the ground, and he appears to be biting the top off a powder packet before tipping it down the barrel, ready to tamp it down. The fourth unfortunate has just been shot, and is in the throes of recoiling, losing grip on his rifle as he falls. Either that or he’s doing a dramatic air-guitar riff using his rifle in place of a guitar, but that seems unlikely. American Civil War Confederate Infantry Set #2 (35021) The four figures in this set are in fighting poses, an officer firing his pistol with his unsheathed sword in his off-hand, while another kneels to fire with a bedroll wrapped around his torso. A third ‘reb’ is reloading his musket while standing engrossed in the process, and the last figure also has a bedroll round his torso, and is probably picking a target with his rifle gripped loosely in both hands. The two bedroll wearers have wide-brimmed hats, while the others have a peaked cap that is typical of the soldiers of the day on both sides, just in different colours. American Civil War Union Infantry Set #2 (35023) This set depicts a squad of four Union soldiers in action, during what appears to be a close-combat engagement, with weapons drawn and aggressive stances. One man is using the bayonet at the end of his rifle, another is running forward with bayonet out in front of him, while a third is about to use the butt of his presumably empty revolver as a cosh against some unfortunate, although he has a sword languishing in a scabbard at his waist. The fourth soldier is shouting and leaning forward with his rifle raised, as if he is about to bring it up to take aim or run headlong toward the enemy. American Civil War Confederate Infantry Set #2 (35024) This set, like those preceding it, contains parts for four soldiers of the Confederate army, who generally wore a grey tunic and pants, as opposed to the blue tunics of the Union. The figures are shown in battle, striking various close-combat action poses. One man is wearing his bedroll diagonally across his chest and is bringing the bayonet of his rifle down over his head in a stabbing motion, possibly over a barrier, another is carrying out a similar action but with his butt-stock, while the third uniformed soldier is running forward with his bayoneted rifle held to the front. The fourth soldier in a wide-brimmed hat is not in uniform, but is wearing civilian clothes and has a bedroll worn bandolier-style across his torso, defending himself with his rifle braced in both hands diagonally across his body. Conclusion All sixteen figures are well-sculpted with realistic poses and fabric drape to their clothes. They would be perfect for a skirmish, or with more figures could just as easily be used in part of a massed attack, as occurred regularly in the set-piece battles of the war. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of
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