Search the Community

This is the fine 1/72 Mig 21 “Battle Damage” reboxed by Lindberg. The original kit was produced by IMC in the 1960s. Its trick feature was that you could build the kit with molded “battle damage”. I needed a quick fix for building something so did this in a weekend. The build process is here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234973002-mig-21-battle-damage;-a-weekend-build/. I only did this kit to play with the battle damage feature. There was not any considerations to how accurate a kit this is, what needed to be done to correct it; the sole purpose was to play with painting the battle damage and having fun. Here are the results If you want to revisit the days when you just brought a kit home to get it built and play with it in the same afternoon, this is the kit for you. It was a blast. As always, all comments are welcome.

I was looking for a quick, satisfying build fix in between trying to clear out my shelf of doom kits and I found this little beauty. This will be another actual weekend build. It is the 1/72 Mig 21 reissue from Lindberg. The original mold is from the 1960s molds by a company called IMC. I thought about doing this for the Lesser Known Air Force Group Build as an Iraq version, but that country was already taken. So what sets this kit apart from regular models is the thrill of reproducing “battle damage” in the form of alternative plastic parts. The parts count is low and the shape is suspect. Looks like my kind of escape build therapy. Here is the interior Yep that’s right, the entire interior is wrapped up in this poor hapless, semi-shapeless representation of a seat with a pilot in it. That’s all you get, nothing more. I will try painting this, but even that will be a chore as the detail on this is awful. On with the build. Here is the first build step, putting the fuselage and nose piece together. Next are the wings and tail planes And that is all you have to do to get this ready for painting. These construction steps took me all of 15 minutes, most of that cleanup of the parts and surfaces to be joined. I plan on doing the Iraq version. Off to the painting box and the underside is painted a light blue. Next up, the upper two colors in tan and brown. The brown is sprayed first And then after the brown is masked off the tan is applied. And the real reason for this kit, the battle damage areas are tackled. The damage areas are first given a base coat of metallic silver Then the silver receives its first wash to bring out the detail It was at this point I decided to get creative; not necessarily a good thing. Since I noticed there is battle damage to the wing top and bottom, I decided, what I thought was most logically, that the wing damage would have gone through the wing and I needed to create openings in the wing to more accurately show the damage. It started off great. Then I looked on the underside. Yeah, not so great. It seems the damage on the top wing does not line up with the damage on the bottom wing and not in a logical fashion. In other words, even if you assume the damage went through the wing at an angle, the angle is just way too off from top to bottom to drill. On two of the top holes I only drilled down through the top wing, but stopped before I hit the bottom wing. I think I will do that on the bottom also. Hopefully it will look like holes in the wing. Next up the entire kit surface received some weathering to bring out panel lines and details. The bottom was first The top received its wash And then it was removed to show this Now the side details will be picked out as to different shades of metal and to show where the engine and frame is exposed. To the exposed engine panel, I added a blue wash to reflect the heat fatigue. Next, washes and pastels then are used to create a smoky, fire aftermath feel. All that is left are the hangy down parts to finish. The front spike, wheels, covers and missile rails are installed. The attachment points for the landing gear are laughable. My first go around resulted in the starboard gear collapsing. I then redid the legs, added some bracing wire, redid the attachment holes and applied an abundance of superglue and now the landing gear will support the kit. Next up was the interior. This is the best I can do with painting the blob that is the figure. And the massively complex and highly detailed interior is placed in the kit. Whew!! That was tough. The canopy is then attached closed, of course, and now this kit is finished An RFI in better light will be done today as the weather has improved. As always, all comments are welcome.

Hey everyone, While I'm normally a wings and rotor man myself, I decided to take the plunge (sorry) with a submarine kit for a Sub-GB elsewhere. I got this kit as a present from a hobby shop owner when it closed down... I know, I know....you can stop sniggering down the back there. About as accurate as........the most unaccurate kit you've ever seen. Behold the many, many sprues of flash and yes, those "detailed instructions" ! And that essential weapon for submarine warfare.......no torpedo tubes! To be honest, this was probably not the best choice for my first watery floaty kit. You could call it sub-par. But like a mutt of a family pet dog that you can't bear to get rid of, I think I'll just try to build it and maybe add some basic detail like railings........perhaps cut it down to waterline and put her to sea. Hope I haven't upset the ship/sub-builders here too much by unleashing this horror on you all! All the best and thanks for looking (and laughing) Dermot

Tyrannosaurus Rex 1:24 (approx) Lindberg T.Rex is perhaps one of the most widely known dinosaurs, and has been the star of many a movie over the years, from Ray Harryhausen to Steven Spielberg's offerings. For some reason it stirs the interest of little boys and adults like, and although it has now been dethroned as "king of the lizards" by the Spinosaurus and others, it still holds our interest. Perhaps it is because it was found in the western lands that now make up North America, right where Hollywood is found? Who knows. T.Rex was a meat eating dinosaur that we now believe might have hunted in packs, and may even have had feathers. It was a voracious killer though, and a plume of feathers probably didn't diminish the fear it inspired in other dinosaurs when it was prowling nearby. It feasted on whatever it fancied for lunch that day from Triceratops, juvenile Sauropods or Parasaurolophus, a duck-billed herbivore. It was the largest predator in its habitat, at the peak of the Cretaceous period, just before the extinction even that toppled the dinosaurs from their dominance of the earth. The Kit Arriving in a large clamshell top-opening box, with a curious card insert wrapped around the hinge side of the box, you can tell upon opening that this is an older tooling, with large heavily moulded parts that fit together roughly, leaving seams that will need attention. There are eighteen parts in mid-grey styrene, plus a flat base with a peg that fits into the bottom of one of the feet. Each leg is made up from a left and right half, with a peg on the bottom for the single part foot, and the dew-claw fitting into a recess on the side of the leg. The spindly forearms are two parts each, and are unfortunately posed in a rather comical "look at me!" wavey-arm position that will be tricky to fit without some surgery. These fit into keyed sockets on the body, which is another two-part assembly with large sockets for the legs on either side. The tail is made up from two parts too, and slots onto a large peg at the base of the body. The head is perhaps the tour-de-force of the kit, with a "top" part that includes the top of the head and the back of the neck, into which you glue the top teeth and roof of the mouth. Here there is a nasty ejector pin mark right in the roof of the mouth, but a few seconds with a spherical burr chucked into your Dremel, and it will disappear. The lower jaw and front of neck also receives the lower mouth and tongue, after which the two halves can be joined to create a fairly convincing mouth and head. The top of the head has been moulded using multi-part moulds, which has left a criss-cross of seams across the surface, but again, these can be scraped away with the edge of a blade, then sanded and fettled until they blend into the surroundings. Once complete the head and neck are added to the top of the body, and your T.rex is complete! Once the build is complete, you still have a lot of work ahead of you dealing with the seams and join lines, some of which are quite pronounced. Careful clamping and fettling of the parts before joining can help to reduce the gaps, but there are going to be plenty that will need putty, and that should appeal to the budding sculptors amongst us. I would suggest Milliput or Magic Sculp as your weapon of choice, as both give you plenty of working time and can be tooled with the aid of water to obtain a smooth finish. Because of the rough finish of the skin, you shouldn't have to work too hard with the seams, and a thin coat of liquid glue over your work will help to blend in your efforts. Conclusion The stance of the model is fairly modern, with the tail in the air, being used to balance the body, which is held relatively horizontal. As already mentioned, the forearms are a little cartoonish in pose, as can be seen from the box art, which is a photo of a completed model. The texture of the skin is good throughout most of the body, with the "quilted" stomach area being the only major exception, dating the model to an earlier age. A modern tooling would perhaps be a little skinnier and more athletic looking, but if you were to fix the arms and paint it in a more modern style, it should look quite impressive, especially as it is over half a metre from nose to tip of his tail, and 21cm tall. My estimate of the scale at the top of this review is based upon the length of the largest example found so far, so can only be an approximation. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for

IJN Submarine I-53 Lindberg 1:72 I-153 (ex-I-53) was a Kaidai-class submarine (KD3 Type) of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She was laid down 1 April 1924 at Kure Naval Arsenal as submarine No. 64, launched 5 August 1925, completed 30 March 1927. She was renumbered I-53 on 1 November 1924. During the war she sank Dutch merchant ship Mösi on 27 February 1942, sank RMS City of Manchester on 28 February 1942 and sank unknown merchant vessel on 27 February 1942. On 20 May 1942 The I-53 renumbered again as I-153. Sometime during 1943/44 she was modified by having an enlarged casing fitted fore and aft to allow the carriage of Kaiten suicide torpedoes. This necessitated the removal of the main gun and the breakwaters around it. She was decommissioned on 20 November 1945 and scuttled in Iyo Nada on May 1946. Lindberg originally released this kit in 2008, unfortunately to much derision. The bow was wrong, the sail structure was wrong and the Kaiten were wrong. Yet, since receiving this kit for review, Dave Wardle and myself have been researching why and how it was so inaccurate. What we eventually deduced, thanks mainly to Dave remembering that the Japanese renumbered their submarines a number of times, was that the kit does indeed look like it should but the number is wrong. The few available photographs on the net only show the submarine in it's pre-conversion guise, but does show a downturned bow and a similar bridge structure. The rest of the deck, including the step and thin walkway would disappear when the extended casing was added. The horn radar and it's mounting are missing in the kit, but this could be down to it being used for training and a light fitted in the radars place. So, if you buy this kit, and start building it, keep in mind you are building I-153 not I-53. As for the Kaiten, well they too look pretty accurate in accordance to photos and line drawings seen on the next when compared to the later versions. The kit itself arrives in a large are very sturdy top opening cardboard box with a picture of the sub on the top. On opening, you realise just how big this thing is going to be. The hull is split longitudinally as per a lot of maritime kits, but it is also split laterally amidships. Dry fitting on front and one rear section shows exactly how big this will be, measuring out at a total of 58.5” or 1485mm long. The plastic is quite hard and rigid so there won’t be any requirement to add any bulkheads etc to those already provided. On top of the black styrene parts, there are also some black vinyl strapping sections for the Kaiten tied downs, some thread and a fair number of screws. Initial fit appears to be pretty good although there is a fair amount of flash and areas that have been trimmed off by the company that will need cleaning up. Details are generally oversized in appearance and will need to be reduced. There is plenty of scope for scratch building and refining the exaggerated details, but if you’re not up to this than just give them a light sanding to reduce their prominence and you should get a decent result. The hydrophone arrays on either side of the bows would be better if they were removed completely and replaced with suitably thin circles of brass or other such material. The model should build fairly easily, partly due to the screwed together nature of the large hull sections and other details. The drain holes all along the bottom and lower sides of the hull could be opened up and a brass mesh fitted followed by a backplate of sheet styrene. The free flooding holes on the hull are deep enough to be kept as they are, unless of course you really want to go to town and construct the pressure hull, then they can be opened up fully. The build begins with the fitting of the bow tube doors to each front hull followed by the tube openings themselves which are screwed to the insides of the hull. The foreward and aft sections of each hull are then screwed and glued to make one full hull half and the two main deck sections joined and fitted to one side of the hull, (although it might be prudent to leave this until the hull parts are joined together). Each half of the hull is then screwed and glued together after which there are separate panels to fit over each area of the hull in which the screw holes are visible, a very neat solution which also alleviated much filling and sanding. On the underside on each hull a bilge keel is attached. The construction then moves on to the assembly of the foreplanes, lower and upper rudders, sternplanes and the fitting to their respective positions. The various plane and propeller guards are also fitted at this time, but they appear rather thick and it may be better to make them out of a suitable diameter brass rod instead. The propeller shaft skegs are now attached along with the shafts and propellers. Moving the deck, there are a number of gratings to be attached both fore and aft, along with mooring bollards and cleats. The large deck hatches are also fitted, unfortunately they do seem impossibly large for this scale, but without further research I couldn’t ascertain whether they were really this big. The build then moves onto the island/tower. The construction starts with several sub-assemblies including the lower conning position and its large clear window section, the three piece periscope tower, onto which a lookout position is fitted, made up of three ladder rungs, platform and railings, plus the two periscopes. The tower itself is a large single piece moulding and the above sub-assemblies are attached, as are two large lookout binocular stations, foremast and a strange mast like structure with a number of aerials fitted. On the conning position roof a two piece DF loop aerial is fitted and aft of the periscopes the distinctive snorkel, made up of two halves with separate intake and exhaust grilles is fitted. The main railings on either side of the tower are attached as is the ensign staff right aft. The instructions call for the rigging to be attached at this point but, again, it may be best to leave it till last. The completed tower can now be fixed to its position on the main deck. With the submarine essentially complete it time to build its external war load of five Kaiten. Each is built up from two halves, upper and lower this time, with the entrance hatch, upper and lower rear fins and the contra-rotating props. Each Kaiten is mounted onto two cradle blocks affixed to the deck with the vinyl straps glued to one side, wrapped over the Kaiten and fixed to the other. It’s possible to build the Kaiten strapped to their blocks and yet still be removable to aid painting and weathering of the main submarine. Decals The small sheet of decals includes the submarines number, which will need some careful repainting to add a 1 in front of it. Alternatively the modeller could replace the numbers with large Rising Sun flags which the subs used occasionally use. There are also several kill markings and some other spurious markings which I can’t quite make out. There is also a single self adhesive ensign, which, if fixed to something like tin foil could be made into a fluttering or certainly something rather less stiff. Conclusion The bad press this kit got when it was first released was perhaps justified with respect it looked very little like the submarine it purported to be. Dave and I may not be right in our theory, but it does make for a good case in why the model looks the way it does. If Eduard re-release their etch set for this then it can be built into an impressive and very imposing model otherwise it’s out with the styrene and brass to do it yourself. Oh, and remember to give yourself plenty of time to do the weathering, if I haven’t said this before, this is a BIG model. Good luck. Recommended with some slight reservations. Review sample courtesy of

Dodge L-700 Tractor Unit with Chrome tanker or Box Van Trailer 1:25 Plastic kit from Lindberg Models The Dodge L700 is a medium duty truck manufactured by Dodge trucks in the USA using components from there A100 light duty trucks. The L-700 was available with either a Dodge, or Cummins V8 engine. The L-700 had a smaller sibling , the L-600, that was outwardly similar but designed to pull smaller weights, this had the option of straight 6 diesel of a V8 Gas engine. The Dodge L-700 was available as a tractor with a very short 89inch wheelbase, and a steering angle of 50o for great manoeuvrability in towns and cities, where this truck was designed to live and work. The L-700, and L-600 could also be specified with a longer rigid chassis up to 192inch wheelbase and the Dodge had various bodies, and pulled a variety of trailers. Lindberg have now re-issued the Dodge L-700 in 1:25, this is an old kit but a welcome re-issue.A couple of versions of this kit have arrived on the review bench and as they are very similar I will start by looking at the cab and tractor as they are the same in both boxes. The cab comes as a single part cast in white plastic, the doors are separate to the shell to allow them to be posed open. The cab has some reinforcing bars cast across the door apertures to help the cab hold its shape, take care when removing so not to damage the frame, the cab is nicely done and captures the complex shapes on the cab. The doors are moulded on a different sprue, and they have separate interior door cards. A quick check shows them to be an OK fit, will need some work but I don’t think it will be too hard to get them in and straight. The parts on both kits are nicely cast with very little flash anywhere. I will guess Lindberg have cleaned up the moulds for this re-issue. The interior and floor are cast with the big wheel arches, there is some nice engraved detail on the cab floor showing the rubber footwall covering and some rivet detail on the cab floor and wheel arches. There is no detail on the underside and this is a shame as the Dodge L-700 is a tilt-cab, and on this kit the cab can be tilted to show off the V8 engine. No doubt the detailers will go to town here, Ill add some foil for the heat and noise shields and a few wires and cables under here. The cab interior parts include the basic dashboard as found in this truck, there isn’t allot of detail on the part but in reality the real truck is basic, there are 3 seats that have some nice engraved detail to simulate the stitching in the covers. Some careful painting will bring the interior to life, and I would add some scale cab junk to be viewed through the big windows. Also found on this sprue is the engine parts. This is a small V8 diesel engine, the truck had the option of 2 engines and I’m not sure what is depicted in the kit, but a quick search will pop up some images of either engine to allow you to detail and paint the parts to depict your choice of power. The parts are well moulded with a fair amount of detail on the parts, some extra cables and wires will bring it to life when painted. Also seen in the sprues above is the rear axle, the Dodge has a choice of a single or 2 speed axle, and my guess is a twin speed example is tooled on this build again there is good detail with the rough cast housing and some bolt details on the parts. The chassis is made up from 2 rails that look very short for a tractor unit in this scale, but a quick calculation and looking at side on shots of the real deal on the net show them to be correct as it is a very stubby tractor, and I guess this makes it more use in an urban setting. The chassis is made up from the 2 rails and 5 cross members so you will need to take care to get it all straight and true so you build isn’t twisted. The truck is suspended on 4 multi-leaf springs and 2 axles, the two speed rear axle is described above, and the front axle that is supplied can be build working so move the steering lock. Personally I pose the wheels turned a bit then glue solid for strength. Fuel tanks, air tanks and the exhaust are in 2 parts each so will need gluing sanding and filling before painting and adding to the chassis. A pair of large rear spray flaps is included, they are quite thick and have the IPC logo cast on the parts so I will remove them from the mounting and replace with some thin plastic painted black. The wheels are the trilex style, popular at the time in the States, and they have nice detail on the parts with some bolts in the appropriate places. Also on this sprue is the internal door cards for the cab, again basic as is the real truck with some winder handles for the opening door windows and rivet detail on the parts. There is a clear sprue for the cab glass and lights, they are packed in their own bags and don’t look too thick. A small chrome sprue covers the shiny bits for the cab, the bowls for the headlamps come on this chrome sprue and they include the bezels for the lamps and these are a big feature on the Dodge cab. The cabs bumper is also chromed along with the regulation cab roof marker lights along with wipers, and handles for the cab outside. The chrome is nice and not too heavy but along with many others Ill strip and re-do this anyway. A bag of rubber tyres are enclosed, 14 are included for the tractor and trailer. There is some flash on the tyres that will need a swipe with a knife or sandpaper, nothing too major though. The detail is nice, I would say a little heavy on the sidewalls but as I rub the rubber with some sandpaper to dull and weather it a bit and I’m sure this will subdue this. This now concludes the parts for the tractor units for both kits as I said you get all the above plastic in both boxing. I will now look at the trailer parts from the two kits. Trailer parts Chassis The chassis and running gear is also the same in both kits, both trailers run on two axles sitting on multi-leaf springs. The tanker version does have some basic detail on how to convert to a single axle trailer, but as I said this is basic detail and not complete! The parts are again cast in white plastic and there is some minor flash on some of the parts, You start by making a small chassis frame that holds the suspension and axles. A single air tank need gluing together and adding before the suspension and axles. I would pop some wire in to simulate the airlines for the braking system, and also some cables for the electrical wiring on the trailer. The axles include the hobs and brake chambers, I’d drill and plumb these to the air tank to give extra detail on these parts. The wheels are the trilex style to match the tractor unit with the same rubber tyres shown above. You have optional long or short landing legs so you can hook it to your tractor (short legs) or have it as a solo model (Long legs) Tanker The first trailer I will look at is the chrome tanker, this can be built as the long version shown on the box, or a shorter single axle version. As I said the instructions on how to achieve this is sporadic and you will need to take care and take your time if doing this conversion. The tank comes in 4 main parts, 2 upper and two lower with a joint both horizontally along the tank, and vertically in the centre. The parts are designed to hide this with overlaps on the parts. To build a short tank you need to forward upper and lower parts and in the upper section you need to cut a hole for the manhole, this is shown on the underside with an engraved circle to follow with your knife. There is a lot of chrome with the rear locker, hose lockers and ladders all being chrome. It wouldn’t be hard to strip and re-paint either as a lower spec painted trailer of using your choice of chrome paints. Box Trailer. The second trailer on the review bench is a box van style. This is very 70s in style with its vertical beading on the side walls and the twin axle design. The body is supported by the same chassis and running gear as seen above on the tanker so I won’t go over this again. The body is split across the middle with the roof, floor and sides split needing a centre support part. You start by building the chassis and running gear, adding these to the 2 floor parts to create a flat bed, there is some basic detail on the floor, and if you add a small headboard you could leave it as an open flat trailer. The rear doors and frame is build next, the doors and be left to swing on the hinges if wanted to allow you to open and close them to show the inside of the trailer. The sides, back door section and front bulkhead are then added to the floor using the central support to hide and reinforce the joints, take care to keep it square and straight before adding the two roof sections. In this kit you get a couple of scale wood pallets for the load, they come in a light brown and are made up from slats of plastic glued together, painted and weathered they will look good with their fine engrave wood grain surface. You don’t need to worry about making them too square or straight either! A small decal sheet includes some logos for the box van, the Lindberg logo for the two sides and rear along with some US flag and the ‘Made in the USA’ legend under the flags. Conclusion A very welcome re-issue of some classic kits, they will need some work to get tighter being older mouldings, but them where a popular little truck and this can be converted to other L-700s and even the smaller L-600 trucks. Look forward to getting it on the build bench. UK distributors for