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2022 Corvette C8 Coupé (07714) 1:25 Carrera Revell After WWII General Motors subsidiary Chevrolet developed a sports coupé concept into a production car following a good reception at their 1953 show, with solid sales ensuring its continuation. Each year subtle changes were made until a new generation was ready to supplant the ageing design. By generation three, referred to as C3, which was made from 1968 to 1982, the look of the car had changed substantially to a smaller, sleeker two-seater, about which Prince was probably dreaming about when he wrote Little Red Corvette, a song released in 1983. The C3 was based on their concept car, utilising many of the internal components of the C2, but replacing the engines with a slightly larger unit pushing out the same BHP, which gave additional leeway for tuning. Engine sizes and output changed as the years went by, with optional small- and big-block engines, plus a host of other options such as power windows and side exhaust options, while the introduction of unleaded fuel and catalytic converters put a bit of a crimp in their performance for a while. We’re currently on C8 at time of writing, introduced in 2020 with a rear-mid engine layout in a choice of 5.5L or 6.2L in V6 or V8 forms and a variety of outputs in each production year. Price increases came along with the new product years, reflecting “supplier cost increases”, although sales of the unusual Right-Hand Drive (RHD) variant have been strong regardless, but folks with Corvette type money are seldom affected by financial crises. In addition to the standard Coupé bodyshell, a Targa and retractable hardtop are available, offering plenty of choices to the discerning sports car enthusiast, along with many trim, and accessory options to push the price further north. The Kit This is a new tool from Revell in their more US-centric 1:25 scale, which may lose them the occasional sale in other territories, but will doubtless compensate with sales in the US where the Corvette is produced. The kit arrives in an end-opening box, and inside are eleven sprues of various sizes and a bodyshell in white styrene, two sprues of clear parts, a cruciform sprue of flexible black tyres, decal sheet, and instruction booklet printed in colour on white paper, with colour profiles on the rear for the decal option. Detail is good, the 144 parts should result in a level of realism, and the holographic GM Official product sticker on the box should help in that regard, as well as keeping you transfixed for a few seconds while you move it around admiring the apparent depth. Construction begins with the engine, starting with the combined block and transmission, which is formed from two halves, adding detail parts top and bottom to hide the seams, plus the end of the transmission, building a three-part assembly with serpentine belts moulded-in to hide the front seam. Ancillaries and drive-shafts are fitted to the sides, mounting two four-part cylinder head banks with exhaust manifolds to the diagonal surfaces of the block, putting the motor to one side while building the front axle, which consists of three-part hubs with brake-discs and callipers moulded-in, plus a steering linkage that is pushed into position without glue, leaving the glue off the centre part on each hub if you wish the wheels to remain mobile. The front arch liners have a two-part strut inserted in a recess during detail painting, and both assemblies are mounted on the floor tray along with the front axle and two swing-arm covers on the underside. The rear arches are built in a similar manner but without the linkage below the struts, installing the motor on pegs at the rear of the floor, fixing the exhaust muffler to the very rear, then mounting the hubs and arch liners over the moulded-in swing-arms and locating the drive-shafts in the rear of the hub assemblies. The split radiators are located in the front of the floor tray on lugs, forward of the front arches, making the steering column from two corrugated halves, and the underside of the air intake manifold that is laid between the twin cylinder banks, adding a two-part box to the front, which has a scrap diagram showing how the hoses mate with the engine. Heat-deflectors are installed over the manifolds, following which attention turns to the interior of the car. The two seats appear to be based upon those fitted in the GT2, and are made from front and rear parts, but you’ll need to fabricate your own belts if you feel the need. They are installed in the interior tub along with a centre console and rear detail insert, choosing the appropriate console part depending on whether you intend to build the LHD or RHD variant of the car. The decals applied to the console are identical, as are those of the floor mats and central parcel shelf stowage bin, detail painting the interior as you go. The dashboard choice requires different parts with their own instrument binnacle coaming, but uses the same decals, and three-part steering wheel with paddle shifters. The door card parts are the same for both options, swapping the decals for each side as appropriate after more detail painting. The two-part scuttle panel has holes drilled at opposite ends for Left- or Right-hand drive options, and the two wiper blades are reversed, ensuring that you remove the overflow tabs on each one before painting. Your choice of scuttle panels, door cards and dash assemblies are installed in the tub, and the purists may decide to fabricate some foot pedals if they think they’ll be seen from outside. Painting of the bodyshell is shown being completed before adding any of the detail parts, following which various trim parts, two-layer front light clusters and intake trunks are applied to the shell from the both sides, which includes the sun visors and rear-view mirror, rear window in a fairing, and a cowl that covers the dirty parts of the engine compartment. The completed cab is inserted from below, the location points noted with large red arrows on the instruction step, followed by lowering the growing assembly onto the floor tray in the next step. The rear bumper has two-layer light clusters and grilles inserted, adding twin pipes below each cluster, and a choice of square or rectangular number plates, depending on where your Corvette will live. The completed assembly is fixed to the rear of the vehicle, mirroring the number plate installation at the front whilst adding more grilles below, covering the headlights with clear lenses, and installing the windscreen from the front. An insert that is painted body colour is inserted over the rear roll-over bar, painting the verge of the rear windscreen before installing it, and adding two-part windows on both sides. The targa roof panel is also painted body colour, while the splitter under the front bumper is painted black to match many of the other trim parts such as the spoiler over the rear, and the supports for the twin door mirrors that have separate mirror parts that you’ll need to paint with your preferred chrome paint, doing the rear-view mirror at the same time. The top cover of the air intake manifold is also painted body colour, as are the wing mirror shells, adding decals to the former, and applying some decals to the right side of the engine bay during installation. Your Corvette isn’t going anywhere without wheels, which are separate pairs of different sizes, painting the rims gloss black and detailing the studs in silver. Each one has a flexible black tyre flex-fitted over the rim, applying a decal to the centre boss to complete them, gluing them into the relevant arch carefully to leave them mobile… for no reason of course, as it would be childish to brmmmm your model around your desk after completion. Markings There is only one example shown on the profiles, but you can build your ‘Vette any colour you like, but there are a number of real colours that were applicable to the 2022 variant if you intend to go for realism. Bright red appears on the profiles, and there are number plate options for several countries including Germany, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, France, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and of course America, with a Hawaiian plate that has a rainbow background. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The carbon fibre decals for the roof have a more matt carrier film however, so check your references to establish whether they’ll need a coat of gloss to finish. Conclusion A well-detailed kit of this American Muscle Car that can be seen elsewhere in the world with the appropriate steering wheel location. 1:25 isn’t too far from 1:24, so it shouldn’t put off too many buyers, as it’s an attractive car. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Arado Ar.E.555 P-Series (03790) 1:72 Carrera Revell Whilst riding high on their seemingly unstoppable campaign to take over the world, Adolf Hitler instigated an Amerika Bomber project, to produce a bomber that was capable of taking the fight across the Atlantic Ocean to bomb major cities on the Eastern Seaboard of America. They requested proposals from all the main German aircraft corporations, although at this stage they were to be paper projects only, extensions of previous discussions and developments that began even before America came into the war. Arado was working on its own jet-powered flying-wing project by 1943, while other candidates were still using propeller-driven designs for their proposals, and by 1944 their Ar.234 jet bomber had given them the kudos to be taken seriously when they produced the drawings for the E.555 in early 1944. They envisioned a series of bombers that would differ in performance and bombload, to be used for various tasks including as their proposal for the Amerika Bomber. The aircraft was initially to be powered by an advanced BMW engine that were in development, and had been since 1940, which was the BMW 018. It was an axial-flow engine with twelve-stage compressor, and three-stage turbine that was intended to produce 7,700lbft of thrust, compared to the BMW 03 that produced less than 2,000lbft. Delays in the 018 meant reverting to the 03, utilising six engines in a pack sat on top of the flying-wing would give it sufficient speed and endurance, carrying fuel for just under 3,000 miles in the expansive wing, which had a low drag coefficient to optimise fuel-economy. There were no fighters that could accompany the bombers that far away from home, so the design was given a pair of 30mm Mk.103 cannons in fixed installations in the leading edges of the wings, and two twin 20mm Mk.151 cannons in paired installations above and at the rear of the fuselage, operated by a third crew member by periscope in the pressurised cockpit. Additional fuel would have been required to reach America from Germany, a distance that had extended with the loss of France as a staging post for missions, carrying extra fuel either internally at the expense of some of the 4,000kg bomb load, or externally on pylons that would introduce extra drag to the equation. Providing they could extend the bomber’s range to reach the US, it would be a one-way trip under all circumstances, the crews bailing out after offloading their bombs, with the hope that they would be picked up from the ocean at a pre-determined point by U-boat for return to Germany. The other option would be to bail-out or land on enemy soil, risking an angry reception from the locals that had just been the victims of their attack. Considerations would also have been made for the technology falling into the hands of the Americans, which would mean a hasty scuttling of the aircraft if it landed, to deny it to the enemy. The design process continued until the end of December 1944, when a moratorium ended projects that were deemed to be fanciful considering the deteriorating war situation for the Nazis, in an unusually realistic outlook from the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM). The Kit The origin of this tooling stems from 1998, when it was well-received as a mainstream Luft’46 style project, and it has been reboxed once in the interim some twelve years ago, reaching high values on well-known auction sites once manufacturer stocks are depleted. The kit arrives in an end-opening box with an optimistic painting of a trio of E.555s over a US city, chased gamely by a pair of P-80 Shooting Stars that were starting to reach service in the closing days of WWII, but in small numbers. Inside the box are three large sprues of grey styrene, a clear sprue, decal sheet and instruction booklet that is printed in black and white in the older style. Detail is good, and would have impressed modellers in 1998 with detailed gear and bomb bays, a nicely appointed cockpit with ribbing moulded into the upper surface, and a bomb load for the central bay. Construction begins with the cockpit, which has the nose gear bay moulded into the underside, and has plenty of detail above and below. The seat bases are moulded into the cockpit floor, adding quilted backs with headrests to the rear, an instrument panel, control yoke and console in front of the crew, and another seat for the gunner facing aft. Detailed painting guides are included on this step and throughout the instructions, with letters in small flags that correspond with a chart that gives names and codes for Revell’s range of paints. Flipping the cockpit over, the nose gear leg is inserted into a hole near the front of the bay, dropping the completed assembly into the lower fuselage along with a pair of rudder pedals that are glued to the fuselage, and two equipment stacks behind the gunner’s position. The lower fuselage is then put to one side while the stabiliser fins and rudders are made from two parts each, and the engine pack is built. The tubular portion of the pack is made from upper and lower halves, fitting intakes and exhaust inserts to the open ends, taking care to align them neatly to reduce the amount of clean-up of the seams later. The upper fuselage ends abruptly in front of the gun turret, which is a three-part assembly that is glued either side of the turret ring carefully to allow it to rotate and elevate later. A clear periscope is fitted to a carrier that can be posed retracted or open according to a scrap diagram nearby, making the rear gun position by trapping the gun part between two trunnions that themselves pivot from left to right. The upper fuselage is glued to the lower, trapping the rear gun assembly in place, and adding a minimum of 16g of nose-weight in the leading-edge root of each wing, as there is no space to speak of in the nose itself. The fins and engine pack are fitted once the glue has cured and the seams are dealt with, the former sliding into slots in the trailing edges of the wings, and the latter on a short pedestal and two holes in the upper surface of the wing. The canopy has an instrument panel glued on a strip above the crew, with an optional opening crew hatch to one side, and a separate dome for the nose, gluing it onto the fuselage, and covering the remaining gap behind the gun turret with another clear part. To pose the model in-flight, the nose gear bay is a single part with a clear landing light in the forward door, but if using the landing gear, the part should be cut into three sections and fitted to the two sides and forward edge of the bay, along with a fairing off to the starboard side of the nose. The nose gear leg is completed by adding a scissor-link and pair of wheels to the strut, plus a retraction jack to the rear, then moving to the main gear bays. The bays themselves are well-detailed, especially for the age of the moulds, and they are fitted with a T-shaped strut, separate oleo-link, retraction jack, and two pairs of wheels mounted in-line one-behind-the-other. For in-flight, the bay door can be used as it arrives, but to pose the doors open on the ground, it should be cut into three parts, one fitting along the inner edge, the other two on the outer edge, glued at an angle to each other, as per the scrap diagram above that step. The bomb bay can also be posed open or closed, the closed option requiring the two bay door parts to be glued over the opening without further work, while the open option involves fitting retraction-jacks to the inner ends, then slotting them into the bay on each side, checking the diagram for correct orientation. A pitot probe is inserted under the nose, and two landing lights are added under the leading edges near the main gear bays, with an undocumented option to flip them down for a landing/taxying look. If the bomb bay is being posed open, there is a full bomb load supplied, including three SC1000 bombs that are made from two halves plus a square tail, and two larger SC2000 bombs that have circular tails, fitting the smaller bombs in the front mounts, and the larger bombs to the rear. The final task is to insert the gun barrels in the wing root leading edges, and fit an antenna on the spine behind the cockpit. Markings There are two fictional decal options to choose from, but as this was likely to be a 1948 project if it hadn’t been cancelled (and the war ending of course), so essentially you can paint it in whatever colours you like. The profiles are in black and white plus several patterns that don't scan well, so you'll have to use your imagination. From the box you can build one of the following: I/KG100 Luftwaffe 1948 Project – RLM76 with RLM75 mottle overspray Luftwaffe 1948 Project, Wing/KG200 – RLM76 with RLM75 cloud camo, and mottle on the tails Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Anyone without deep pockets will be glad to have this kit back on the shelves at a reasonable price, and the detail has survived the intervening years well. Some folks are quite violently against Luft’46 for whatever reasons, but if you’re a bit more reasonable in your outlook, it will make an impressive addition to your cabinet, with a wide variety of off-piste schemes to try out your painting skills on. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Raketenjagdpanzer Jaguar 1 (03353) 1:35 Carrera Revell Following WWII, the re-formed Bundeswehr were looking for a new tank destroyer that could utilise the recently developed guided missile systems that could be used to defeat heavily-armoured opponents from the relative safety of distance. They used the Schützenpanzer Lang HS.30 chassis as the base for the project, and chose the French designed SS.11 Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) for offensive armament, which was itself a development of an earlier missile, but with more modern electronics that gave it improved reliability. The vehicle could carry ten missiles that were deployed via two launchers, with one deployed at a time, while the other was being loaded/reloaded, protecting the crew from incoming small-calibre rounds and shrapnel. In essence, the project was truly international as the engine was a Rolls-Royce B81 that also saw service in the British Saladin armoured car amongst others, and this gave it a surprisingly good turn of speed, achieving a top speed of a little over 30mph on made-up roads, while the tracks gave it capability to plough through the roughest of terrain off-road. It entered service in the early 60s, but with fewer than a hundred examples manufactured, it was a relatively rare sight, even in Germany. Its low side profile when the missile launchers were retracted also gave it an advantage during combat, with no bulky turret with crew inside to aim at. A crew of four operated the vehicle and fired the missiles, the “gunner” having a sight that was required to guide the missile by eye, sending command inputs via an ultra-fine but tough wire that transmitted the instructions, the operator assisted by a flare built into the rear of the missile that could be seen in most cases. After launch, the missile initially had to be guided into the gunner’s field of view before it could be adequately controlled to its destination, which meant that it was far less effective at short ranges, particularly when firing at targets outside of its launch direction. Its length of service was relatively short, being replaced by the aptly-named Raketenjagdpanzer 2, which shared design features with the Marder that was being developed concurrently. Almost four hundred of these were manufactured, and they served until the early 80s, going through an upgrade in the late 70s that saw them refitted with more modern Euromissile HOT missiles, where the type picked up the Jaguar 1 suffix. This update was applied to the remaining stocks of just over 300 vehicles, which also benefitted from upgraded armour and systems to match the new weapons, plus an increase in top speed from a new diesel engine, further improving the optics with thermal vision in the 90s with the new designation Jaguar 1A3. The HOT missile was a better weapon with a lower workload for the gunner, being semi-autonomous once launched, using vectored thrust to manoeuvre, whilst retaining the wire-guided aspect of its forebear. The gunner was simply required to keep his sight on the target for the duration of flight, which was dictated by the length of wire on the spool, improving the range of the weapon, and shortening flight-time with a more powerful engine. The last of the Jaguar 1s were withdrawn in 2005, as the need for them had disappeared with the march of technology, so it was not replaced by a similar type. The Kit The origin of this kit dates to 2009, following which it has been re-released twice, including this boxing. It also shares some parts with the similar but different Kanonenjagdpanzer (KaJaPa), which bears a family resemblance to the Hetzer or a late StuG. The kit arrives in an end-opening box with a painting of the subject matter on the front, and inside are five sprues in grey styrene, two sprues of flexible black material, a length of steel wire (not pictured) that is taped to the instruction booklet, which is printed in black and white, and has a safety leaflet and the decals secreted between the pages. Detail is good for the time, and as it is an exterior kit, there is nothing inside, with two-part flexible “rubber band” tracks that appeal to some and not to others. There is a little flash on the sprues, but as it attaches mainly to the runners themselves, it shouldn’t cause any delay in the preparation of parts for assembly. Construction begins with the road wheels, which are built in pairs that are secured to their swing-arms by a separate cap, making five handed pairs per side, and if you are careful with the glue, the wheels should remain mobile on their axles. The idler wheels are perforated, but otherwise built in the same manner, while the drive sprockets are assembled from two toothed outer halves, with a spoked centre part, and a short axle through the middle that is keyed for firm location. There are also six paired return rollers that are attached to their axles by caps, fitting the whole set of running gear into place on each side, ensuring that the swing-arms are correctly oriented. The tracks are each made from two lengths of flexible black material, joining them by melting and then flaring the pegs with a hot screwdriver or similar implement, remembering not to burn yourself in the process. Closing the track runs around the drive-train involves a hot screwdriver again, then attention shifts to making the upper hull. The hull roof and glacis plate comprise two parts that link together with strong turreted connectors, adding the sides with integrated side-skirts that fix on pairs of pegs that interlock with singles, and fitting a pair of mudguards at each end of the vehicle. The bow machine gun is made from a cup that accepts the barrel stub, which is held in place by a backplate, being careful with the glue if you’d like to be able to move the barrel later, inserting it into the glacis from within. The rear bulkhead is detailed with a rack that holds two track links, rear lights, convoy shield, towing hitch, and a number plate that fits on two raised lugs that hold it vertically. The upper hull then drops over the lower and locates on three turrets each side, adding more small parts to the upper portion of the rear bulkhead, then mounting stowage boxes, an infantry telephone, and a rack that contains two Jerry cans with separate handles, plus more lights and pioneer tools. The engine deck has a mushroom vent and two louvred panels mounted on the right side, adding more tools and bases for smoke grenade launchers in the centre, with eight separate barrels fitted into recesses. The roof of the crew compartment has a commander’s cupola and hatch inserted inside a moulded-in ring of styrene vision blocks, plus two small aerial bases and a short cylindrical upstand behind the hatch, making an MG3 with mount from three parts to fit in the left side of the hatch surround. Two 75mm lengths of wire are inserted into the aerial bases after heating in a flame, although you may also consider drilling holes in the bases and gluing the wire in with super glue (CA) to avoid any burns, or the parts wandering off-course due to the viscous nature of the plastic when molten. The visible HOT missile tube is built from two halves, fitting it in the deck with a two-part hatch, but if you intend to build the model “clean” with the tube stowed away, a separate closed hatch is also included. Two more crew hatches are installed in the front of the roof, along with three vision blocks with armoured shrouds in front, plus the sighting box fixed in between. You have a choice of two styles of sight, one with a large CRT TV-style box with a door and turntable that is made from five parts, or a smaller cylindrical installation that is just four parts, including a horseshoe bullet splash deflector around the front, fitting your choice on the two holes in the roof. More detail parts are next, including wing mirrors, light clusters and cages around the glacis, plus a choice of two styles of towel-rail rack and headlamps lower down, followed by more pioneer tools on the sides of the engine deck and track grouser racks in long fittings to finish the build phase. Markings There are three decal options to choose from on the sheet, and they include two NATO camouflage options in green, brown and black, or a desert variant in sand, but as the profiles are in black and white, you’ll have to use your imagination. From the box you can build one of the following: Jaguar 1 A0A3 – Bundeswehr Panzerjägerkompanie 360, IV Zug., Kühlsheim, 1995 – NATO Camo Jaguar 1 A0A1/A2 – Bundeswehr, Panzerjägerkompanie 80, Lüneburg, 1983 – Desert Camo Jaguar 1 A0 – Österreichisches Bundesheer, Panzerabwehrbataillon 1, 1996 – NATO Camo The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion The Hetzer/StuG heritage of the type shows through in the low profile of this Cold War warrior, and while it isn’t the most modern tooling of the type, it ticks most of the boxes, and with a little care and skill should build into a creditable replica of this surprisingly long-lasting vehicle. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

HMS Beagle (05458) Darwin’s Historic Discovery Barque 1:96 Carrera Revell HMS Beagle was originally laid down in 1818 as one of the Cherokee Class of 10-gun Brig-Sloops that were designed in 1807 by Sir Henry Peake, a fleet that eventually extended to 100 vessels. The design of the Beagle was changed slightly after her plans were completed, raising the height of the bulwarks slightly, possibly to improve safety of her crew. She was launched in 1820, and lay at anchor for some time without masts or rigging until she was re-tasked and adapted to be a survey barque with three important and lengthy survey missions ahead of her. Her first voyage began in 1826 under a Captain Stokes to carry out a hydrographic survey of Tierra Del Fuego and Patagonia, accompanied by HMS Adventure, whose captain Philip Parker King was in overall command. Captain Stokes began suffering from mental issues during that mission and shot himself, dying soon after, to be replaced by his First Lieutenant, then Robert FitzRoy for the remainder of the voyage. After a brief hiatus, Captain Fitzroy returned as commander of the Beagle and in 1831 she was taken into dry dock for substantial alterations to cure an issue that plagued the Cherokee class of vessels that made them prone to capsizing under certain circumstances. Her refit was comprehensive and included a newly invented lightning conductor, a raft of chronometers, and a particularly accurate mercury-free barometer. The captain used his own money to replace the iron guns with brass cannonades on turntables to reduce the magnetic signature of the ship, something that the Admiralty had refused to fund. She left Devonport in the UK in December of 1831 with Mr Darwin onboard as part of the second expeditionary crew on a mission that would see her away from port for five years and eventually revolutionise our outlook on mankind, the world, and its other inhabitants after some early push-back, and a few who still beg to differ. She returned in 1836, and after some minor repairs was back to sea again for her third voyage in 1837, tasked with surveying much of the coast of Australia. She returned home in 1843 and lay idle until 1845 when she was re-tasked as a static coastguard watch vessel with a crew of seven and their families living aboard, ending her days sold to a private contractor in 1870 for breaking up. A sad end to a world-renowned vessel. The Kit This is a reboxing of a 1961 tooling from Carrera Revell of this classic ship, and it arrives in a medium end-opening box with a painting from one of the more recent boxings on the front. Inside are six sprues and the upper deck in brown styrene, a black sprue, plus a vacformed sheet of white styrene in a separate bag with two rolls of black cotton, one of light gold, and a short length of braided cord. The paper flag sheet, and instruction booklet that’s printed in colour complete the package. Detail is good for its age, and although the planking is rendered as raised lines, it is well done, and has an organic look to it that should come up well under paint. The shrouds are moulded in black styrene, and whilst a little overscale will make the task of completing the model an easier job for anyone not a hardened sailing ship builder, with just a little flash here and there. Construction begins with the deck, which has steps up to the quarterdeck and the fo’c’sle, with the bases of skylights and other features moulded into it. The skylight tops are separate parts, hiding the blank interiors, the rigging cleats around the bases of the masts, the bosun’s wheel on a pair of trunnions, bilge-pumps and steps between the decks, which also have decorative inserts applied with planking and balustrades at the top. The deck boat is made from hull and an insert that includes the seats for the crew, plus a pair of stowed oars and a pair of lifting eyes, one at the stern, the other at the bow, locating the finished assembly in two cradles moulded into the deck. The bowsprit is mounted in a notch in the deck, the base glued under the deck, held in place by a cross-brace for a secure join. The two halves of the hull are joined around the deck, taking care with alignment and remembering to drill some holes in the bulwarks and gun deck around the quarterdeck, using the combined detail painting guide and scrap diagrams to assist with their location. A detail insert is fitted to the stern, with railings around the three remaining sides, plus an optional two-part cannon on the main deck, and extra yard arm stowed on deck. Three sets of chains at the base of the shrouds are applied to each side of the hull, mounting it on the included pair of cradles that have a rustic wooden texture moulded into them. The bowsprit is lashed to the bow with a length of cord, adding detail parts around the beak, then making the two main anchors from two parts and using two lengths of cord to create a loop through the head ring at the centre of the stocks, and another loop just above the flukes. three lifeboats are made in the same manner as the deck boat and suspended from a pair of davits on the sides of the quarterdeck, the third over the stern, adding stowed oars across the benches of the two slung from the quarterdeck sides, and using more lengths of cord to secure them all in place. The forward and main masts are built similarly to each other, the lower section with a top platform with separate futtocks (I love that word), extending the mast upward with another length, securing the top shrouds to the crosstrees and bringing the mast up to full height with a final mast section. The mizzen mast on the quarterdeck is a smaller mast that has just two sections, plus a horizontal boom and angled gaff ready for its sail later. The masts are glued in position in the holes in the deck, adding a martingale beneath the bowsprit, then fitting the shrouds to the newly installed masts, which includes a smaller set for the mizzen mast. Once the glue has set thoroughly, three yards are mounted across the two main masts, and a rigging diagram guides you through the process, with a separate diagram for the mizzen mast, including how to secure the cord on the cleats at the base of the masts. The next few steps involve adding the vacformed sails to each of the masts in turn, after cutting them carefully from the sheet of white styrene that has been moulded with details of the sails in a realistic manner. The mizzen mast is first, secured in position by several loops along both booms. The two main masts first have rigging added to the ends of the yards in duplicate, using rigging blocks where necessary, then the three sails are cut from the sheet and secured to the yards via the same style of loops used on the mizzen mast. The two jib sails are rigged to the bowsprit and attached on the cord loops again, ensuring that the rigging lines are taut, using blocks and tying them off on the cleats at the base of the forward mast. More rigging is looped around the sides of the ship and the yards, with yet more bracing the yards and masts together, again using rigging blocks and tying them off on the cleats around the deck. Markings The Beagle wore one scheme during her second mission, and painting call-outs are made throughout the build. The final diagram on the back page of the booklet shows the ship from the side, complete with rigging and sails, and shows where the many paper flags should be fitted and their locations. It also shows the name plate that is included with the model, which has the name HMS Beagle in relief with a raised surround that should make painting it suitably contrasting colours a little easier. Conclusion The Beagle’s second mission was undoubtedly her most important due to the eventual effects it had upon our way of looking at the world around us, thanks to biologist Charles Darwin’s world-shattering Theory of Evolution of the Species through natural selection, sometimes simplified to ‘survival of the fittest’. Despite its age, the kit is well-detailed and should build into an impressive model with the application of care and some modelling skills. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Leopard 2A7V (03355) 1:72 Carrera Revell The Leopard 2 is the successor to the earlier Leopard Main Battle Tank (MBT), and was developed in the 70s, entering service just before the turn of the decade. The original had a vertical faced turret front, while later variants had improved angled armour applied to the turret front that gives the tank a more aggressive look and more importantly provides enhanced protection, with a higher probability of deflecting incoming rounds harmlessly away. It has all the technical features of a modern MBT, including stabilised main gun for accurate firing on the move, thermal imaging for night-fighting, and advanced composite armour, making it a worthy contender as one of the best tanks in the world today. The original Leopard 2 has been through several upgrades through its service life and the current production variant is the highly advanced 2A7 and 2A7V, all of which have been re-manufactured from earlier models, with the designation 2A8 being given to a tranche of newly-manufactured tanks that utilise 2A7 technology. The 2A7 is not intended to be used in a close-quarters or urban environment, and is different from its stable-mate, although both are derived from the 2A7+ demonstrator. Most of the improvements of the 2A7+ were incorporated into the 2A7V, which has extensive modular armour, advanced technology and anti-mine packages fitted to improve crew survivability. It sports the Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore gun with a longer barrel than the A5, which results in a higher muzzle velocity, thus improving penetration power over its predecessor, allowing it to reach targets at a greater range, and hit closer targets harder. It also has an armoured ammunition storage space in the turret that is engineered to blow outward in the event of a detonation of munitions, which again improves the crew survivability further. For close-in defence they can be fitted with a stabilised FLW remote weapon station instead of the usual MG3 machine gun, and appliqué armour is installed to give an arrow-head front profile to the turret, as well as several more subtle upgrades that follow on from the 2A5 and 2A6, such as all-round protection from incoming RPG rounds, a common weapon encountered in asymmetric combat such as the Middle East. Sales of the Leopard 2 have been good overseas because of its excellent reputation, and Canada, Turkey, Spain and many of the Nordic countries use it as well as many other smaller operators. The Kit This kit is based upon a tooling that was initially released by Revell in 2011, and has since been re-released several times with additional parts. The kit arrives in a deep end-opening box with a painting of a 2A7V ploughing through heavy snow in an alpine environment, and inside are a surprising eight sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a small decal sheet, and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour on matt paper and has the painting profiles on the rearmost page. The high sprue count is due to the distribution of the required parts across the sprues, leading to a relatively high number of parts that will be left on the sprues after the build, for example two turret-tops and an upper hull will be left over, plus a substantial number of detail parts. Detail is good, and it should produce a creditable replica once completed after careful painting and weathering. Construction begins with removing three strakes under the rear of the hull floor, then gluing the sides to the underside and supporting the structure by adding an internal T-shaped bulkhead within the hull at roughly the engine firewall position, adding an extra part to the right side vertical, and closing up the rear with a well-detailed bulkhead after removing the ends of the same strakes removed from the floor, and fitting an armoured panel beneath the crew compartment floor. Much of the suspension is moulded into the hull sides, adding extra parts to enhance this, then fitting the swing-arms, stub-axles and inner return rollers to the sides, then making two drive-sprockets, two paired idler wheels and fourteen pairs of road wheels to complete the running gear ready for installation of the tracks, which are moulded in two lengths per side in styrene. After gluing the four parts into two lengths, the instructions advise heating the tracks in hot water so that they will bend around the rounded ends of the runs, of course taking care not to burn or scald yourself in the process. You are advised to wrap them around the upper run first, hiding the joint on the lower run, cutting superfluous links from the tracks to keep them taut, and fixing the outer return rollers in place against the outer face of the guide-horns. A riveted appliqué panel is mounted under the glacis plate, fitting towing eyes, brackets and spare track links to the rear bulkhead, and making up two towing cables with moulded-in eyes. Once the tracks are in place, the upper hull is mated with the lower, installing the towing cables over the rear of the vehicle, followed by a four-part appliqué armour package over the glacis, with moulded-in light clusters, and a pair of mudguards at the front, plus a sensor package in the centre at the very front of the vehicle. The glacis plate has the driver’s hatch installed, more towing shackles under the front, plus more lights and their protective cages. three-part side-skirts with appliqué armour blocks are next, attention then turning toward the massive low-profile turret. The turret is started with the floor first, adding a bustle plate at the rear, and cheek panels to the front, then the barrel body is inserted into an internal mantlet block, bracketing it with side plates, the port side having the coax machine gun moulded-in. A long narrow top plate is then fitted, and the completed assembly is inserted in the lower turret on separate trunnions, using no glue on the pegs if you wish to leave the barrel mobile. The turret roof has an insert added from inside under the TV sighting box, then it is glued over the lower turret, and the side detail panels are fitted, adding appliqué armour panels to the sides of the mantlet, including an arrow-head part to the sides of the similarly-shaped mantlet armour, adding surrounds to the commander’s cupolas, inserting a trio of lifting lugs around the turret roof, and a large bustle box at the rear. The TV sighting box can be posed with the doors open or closed by either placing the single door part over the opening, or cutting it in two, positioning the two doors on either side of the box, as per the scrap diagram nearby, then mounting two aerial bases on cylindrical pedestals near the bustle, plus a sensor in front of the commander’s hatch. The rear of the bustle is enclosed by adding a panel with two racks of track grousers moulded-in, plus an L-shaped side panel on the right side, and a shallow box on the rear left of the turret roof. The smoke grenade barrels are mounted on a shallow shelf, making two pairs that fit in the space between the bustle and frontal armour, adding an MG3 mount to the gunner’s cupola, and a two-part 360° periscope to the commander's, then fitting the two-layer hatches, with a choice to pose them open or closed. A triangular railed stowage area is fitted to the roof behind the gunner’s hatch, a lid for a stowage box behind the sighting system, and a cowl over the system itself, fixing a ring around the gunner’s hatch, extra stowage boxes and grab handles around the sides of the turret, and the afore mentioned smoke grenade discharger assemblies. A fire extinguisher and long narrow box (for cleaning rods or aerials) are attached to the bustle, then the turret can be twisted into position in the ring on the hull and locked into place, deciding whether to position the travel lock flat on the engine deck, or by using a different part that you slide over the barrel first, the turret can be reversed and secured in place facing backwards for travel, fitting the muzzle portion to the end of the barrel to complete it. The final parts are two wing mirrors that can be deployed, or folded flat out of the way for battle or operations in cluttered areas. Markings There is a single option included on the small decal sheet, which is painted in a three-tone NATO camouflage that consists of wavy-edged areas of green, black and brown. From the box you can build the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion A well-appointed 1:72 kit of this effective Main Battle Tank that is amongst the best in the world. While there isn’t a plethora of decal options, almost all Europe-based Leopards would be painted in the same scheme. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Type IXC/40 German Submarine U190 (05167) 1:144 Carrera Revell The original Type IX submarine was developed before the outbreak of WWII, and once hostilities had begun, the B variant was created with a longer range that was perhaps the definitive variant, due to its level of success, although some of that could be attributed to the comparative lack of countermeasures deployed by the Allies during the early war. The third iteration, the C model was further improved with tank space for an extra forty-three tons of fuel, a third periscope removed, which was again developed into the C/40 with a small increase in range and surface speed, which was where subs of the day spent the majority of their time when not engaged in battle. Eighty-seven were built before it was replaced by the D near the end of the war, then the D/42, with only a few completed before the end of Nazi Germany’s war. U190 was laid down in autumn 1941 in Bremen, constructed by DeSchiMAG AG Weser, and completed in September of the following year, commanded by Max Wintermeyer for six war patrols that led to the sinking of two enemy vessels before he was relieved by Hans-Erwin Reith, who commanded the boat until the end of WWII, at which point she was surrendered to the Canadian Navy. She continued service with her former enemies for another two years under the designation HMCS U-190, where her first duty was a tour of many of Canada’s ports. On return, she was used as an anti-submarine trainer, working from the port of Halifax until she was paid off in 1947. She suffered an ignominious end, when she was selected to be the target of a live-fire exercise by the Royal Canadian Navy, intended to give the air arm and surface fleet a chance to train recruits that hadn’t seen active duty during WWII. The operation was barely underway, when rockets from the initial air attack were overly effective and sank the boat, giving the naval gunners that were next in line little chance to even take aim. Only the periscope remains above the waves, as it was removed before the boat’s final voyage and was installed in an officer’s club. The Kit This is a new tooling from Carrera Revell, and arrives in a long, shallow end-opening box. Inside are seven sprues and four loose parts in grey styrene, a decal sheet and instruction booklet in their current colour format, with painting guide to the rear, also in colour. Opening the box shows crisply moulded parts, especially the hull and deck parts, the latter will react well under a suitable wash to bring out the detail in the planking and other features. The ancillary parts are found on the other sprues, and of course some of them will be over-scale due to the limits of injection-moulded styrene, using the railings around the wintergarten by way of an example, where a 25mm railing would scale down to less than a fifth of a millimetre. Detail is good within those limits, and it should build into a creditable replica of this common U-boat from WWII. Construction begins with drilling out many flashed-over holes that are found inside the hull halves around midships close to the level of the deck. More are drilled in the conning tower, with close-up drawings of the locations for clarity. An insert is fitted to the starboard inner hull that will house the Schnorkel, and a tapered compartment is made to fit inside the bow from two parts, some of which will be seen if you elect to open the forward torpedo tube doors later. Three hollow bulkheads and the bow insert are glued into grooves moulded into the hull halves, and the two are glued together and left to cure, before the passive sonar sensor is made from three parts and inserted into a cut-out under the bow where the keel begins. The array has raised domes across its surface, which should be holes, so the dedicated modeller may wish to consider correcting that if they can find some reference material. The bow-planes have a fine trailing edge, and fit into grooves and holes on each side of the lower bow, adding anchors into their recesses, and torpedo tube doors in either open or closed positions, as per accompanying scrap diagrams. Two prop-shaft fairings are made from two halves each, and are fitted under the stern with shafts and supports, mounting the screws on the pins moulded into the supports. The screws are a little thick, but nothing that careful profiling of the tips can’t fix. Horizontal planes are fixed behind the screws, plus two rudders on a frame with a support in its centre. A stand is included on the sprues, and while it might not appeal to those wishing for brass or other metal pedestals, it will be useful during the build at the very least. It is made from two long side rails with a lozenge-shaped recess for a nameplate, and two trapezoid end cradles that curve on the top edge to match the keel of the sub, which has raised lines moulded into it to help make a secure fit. You can remove these if you are planning on another mounting solution, but during construction they could be useful to prevent it slipping. The deck is a three-part arrangement, comprising a large central section, a tapered aft portion, and forward section that has the cut-in section that was engineered to speed diving by reducing the amount of air trapped between the pressure hull and outer skin. The main part should be fitted along with the single-part schnorkel, using no glue on the pivot pins to allow it to be deployed or stowed as you see fit later. Before the conning tower, the guns and their mounts are created, starting with the twin 20mm anti-aircraft mounts on either side of the top wintergarten aft of the conning tower. A twin 37mm cannon is also supplied for the lower step of the wintergarten, all well-detailed with magazines and mounts, plus a splinter-shield for the 37mm mount, although this will of course be over-scale. The conning tower is moulded as two vertical halves, adding an internal floor to the top level, and lower deck to the wintergarten, fitting the upper deck on a separate platform part to obtain the correct thickness. A fairing around the periscopes is fixed to the inner port side of the conning tower, adding a smaller section to the starboard, and a set of controls to the inside front, with a shallow shelf over the controls, and a spray-guard above that, fixing a small insert into the starboard cheek of the tower. A hatch and communication tube are added along with other detail parts, including ladders between decks, ammo storage lockers, and life rings. Railings are mounted around the edges of the two decks in sections, adding extra rails to the sides of the tower walls to keep the cries of man-overboard to a minimum. The twin periscopes are built as a separate assembly, starting with a flat, circular antenna on a long U-shaped support that fits into the housing around the two scopes, gluing the halves together carefully if you wish them to remain mobile after completion. The completed assembly is glued into twin holes in the top deck of the conning tower, and is joined by more antennae, before fitting the two 20mm and the 37mm guns in place, adding two A-frames flat to the deck for one decal option. The completed tower is lowered into place on the main deck, sliding the twin bases of the periscope fairings into holes in the deck, then bracketing the tower with a set of railings along the central deck area. Four small oval parts are mounted on the pinched section of the deck as shown by a scrap diagram that provides measurements, fitting a bollard forward and aft, plus a pair of tripod posts to the aft, inserting exhaust stacks for the diesel engines into grooves in the sides of the hull. The last page of the instructions shows where the rigging should be installed, and suggests suitable methods of securing the ends, although no thread or wire is included in the box. Markings There are two decal options in this boxing, one in German service, the other in post-war Canadian service, with a change of colour between owners. From the box you can build one of the following: U-190, 33 U-Flott., CO OL Reith, North Atlantic Sea, 1945 U190, Royal Canadian Navy, Naval base Avalon, St. Johns, Canada, 1945 The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. For the pennants, it may be best to apply those decals to some form of substrate, either foil, paper or something similarly flexible and thin. Conclusion Revell have already produced this important U-boat in 1:72, and now those with a little less available space or a narrow desk will have the opportunity to build one for their cabinets. The necessarily over-scale parts should be relatively simple to replace with modelling skill or by waiting for aftermarket to come along, but the kit out of the box should please most modellers as is. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Anakin’s Podracer (05639) 1:31 Carrera Revell After the original Star Wars trilogy ended, fans were left waiting for more Star Wars for a long time, so as the new millennium approached, there was a huge buzz of excitement when the prequel trilogy was announced, around sixteen years (in our galaxy) after the Empire had been defeated (or had it?). It was to tell the story of the Old Republic and the Clone Wars, a conflict that Old Ben had discussed with Luke Skywalker at the beginning of the very first Star Wars film that we now refer to as Episode IV: A New Hope. The new film was called The Phantom Menace, which was a reference to the unforeseen plot by a certain Senator of the Republic to take control of the galaxy, as his alter-ego Darth Sidious, a Dark Lord of The Sith. We streamed (physically) into the cinema in our millions with trepidation, and if you’re anything like me, you probably almost nodded off during the opening Crawl, which droned on about trade wars and blockades, seemingly ad nauseam. The film wasn’t particularly well-received at the time, and I found it a bit of a snooze-fest myself, and let’s not discuss Jar-Jar Binks and his many irritating facets. It has since been reassessed more favourably with the benefit of hindsight, for reasons I’m not entirely convinced by. Once Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn had rescued Princess Amidala and Jar-Jar (sadly) from the Separatist forces invading Naboo near the beginning of the film, their Royal Starship ended up stranded on a backwater planet by the name of Tatooine, needing an oil-change and some spare parts, but without any credits to pay for them. They bumped into Darth Vader, sorry Anakin Skywalker, who just happened to be a master of all things technological, having constructed C-3PO from parts (how do we explain the other thousands of them throughout the saga?), and had also made himself a Podracer to take part in the extremely dangerous local racing that took place nearby. Somehow child exploitation (and slavery) was OK in the Old Republic, and Anakin agreed to race for them to generate the cash they needed to get off the planet, with a side-bet to free young Ani from slavery at the same time. After a bit of back and forth on whether he’s going to win or not – you know the drill – Ani triumphed over the nasty, cheating Sebulba, and off they went, leaving Ani’s mum and the dust-ball behind. The Kit Originally tooled in 2012, this reboxing celebrates the 25th anniversary of the release of The Phantom Menace, and the end-opening box contains extras such as a tightly-rolled poster, a set of six acrylic paint pots, a 12.5ml bottle of Contacta Professional glue, and a #2 paint brush. There is also a kit in there, consisting of four sprues of grey styrene, two sprues of clear parts, a vinyl Anakin Skywalker figure, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet printed in colour on white paper. Detail is surprisingly good, given the relatively low part-count, and and the kit’s heritage as a snap-together Easy-Kit. The sculpting of young Anakin is good (the unpainted chin-strap gives him a strange look), as is his pose, with his arms up to reach the controls that he built surprisingly too large for himself, the engine pods have detail moulded-in, plus separate intakes and nozzle parts with more detail. Construction begins with the hull of the racer, which has the cockpit tub attached to the upper half from within after it has been detail-painted. A three-view step shows painting of Anakin and his oversized helmet with chin-strap, after which his chin won’t look so large, then more steps show detail painting of the high-tech ‘handlebars’, and the instrument panel, which is shown from three directions, as earlier. The bars and panel are inserted into the cockpit, adding Ani and his seat, then two cowling parts to the sides of the ‘fenders’ at the front. The lower half of the hull has some greeblie inserts moulded-in, adding a C-shaped part into recesses, then mating the upper and lower together with a fairing fitted into holes in each side. An overhead drawing shows the complex stripes that are applied to the completed hull, consisting of five sets of blue stripes, and a red logo on the port fender. Two more diagrams show the same process from the sides, with four more decals applied over and around the stripes. Once the decals have been sealed, the coaming is glued over the instrument panel so that the windscreen can be fitted over it, extending over the ‘bonnet’. If you’re wondering why there are so many speech-marks, it’s because the hull appears to be a combination of a beach buggy and a boat, and some of the parts have little or no apparent practical purpose. The engine pods are tenuously connected to the hull by long and mobile trunks (for no apparent reason), which are made from two parts each, with a corrugated hose the main feature. The engines are initially built in halves, adding pairs of control ‘flaps’ to slots near the front that seem to be used to control the pod’s direction, along with flip-out ‘air-brakes’ further aft. The halves are joined together, trapping a bulkhead near the front, applying more decals to the engine bodies, then installing the intake with over-sized inlet cone and blades moulded-in, and exhaust bullet at the centre of a jet-engine-like exhaust that belches plasma in the movie. The engines are joined together by a single clear part that represents the crackling energy flow between them that seems to stop the two engines from heading in opposite directions. A top cowling is fixed to each engine, and the hull is joined to the engines on the five-part base, which has a solid Y-shaped platform, three clear supports, and clear cups that stabilise the engines from beneath. Four small aerials are fitted into holes in the starboard rear fender, adding two more detail parts into additional holes on the rear cowling. Markings Anakin’s Podracer appeared in just the first of the prequel trilogy of films, and as such was only seen in one scheme. If you want to go off-piste and create your own colour scheme, you’re free to go nuts, but from the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt/gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. There is a ‘The Phantom Menace’ logo decal included on the sheet that can be applied to the base, as shown on the instructions. Conclusion It might not be the most high-profile of the many Star Wars kits out there, but seeing one that’s been well done really increases its appeal. There was a completed model displayed on this very forum some time back that convinced me to spend some money on getting one for myself, so be sure to look it up for some inspiration. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator (05638) 1:120 Carrera Revell After the original Star Wars trilogy ended, fans were left waiting for more Star Wars for a long time, so as the new millennium approached, there was a huge buzz of excitement when the prequel trilogy was announced, around sixteen years (in our galaxy) after the Empire had been defeated (or had it?). It was to tell the story of the Old Republic and the Clone Wars, a conflict that Old Ben had discussed with Luke Skywalker at the beginning of the very first film that we now refer to as Episode IV: A New Hope. The new film was to be called The Phantom Menace, which was a reference to the unforeseen plot by a certain Senator of the Republic to take control of the galaxy, as his alter-ego, a Dark Lord of The Sith. We streamed into the cinema in our millions with trepidation, and if you’re anything like me, you probably almost nodded off during the opening Crawl, which droned on about trade wars and blockades. The film wasn’t particularly well-liked at the time, and I found it a bit of a snooze-fest myself, and let’s not discuss Jar-Jar Binks and his many irritating facets. It has since been reassessed with the benefit of hindsight, and is regarded more highly now, for reasons I’m not entirely convinced by. One of the best new ‘old’ ships was that of the best new character (all IMHO of course), the Sith Infiltrator, piloted by the spiky-headed, eternally angry Darth Maul, the primary overt antagonist of the film, ignoring the other more covert baddies of the movie. The ship is reminiscent of a stretched TIE Fighter, or TIE Advanced, with an elongated nose, and the same solar wings at the rear of the ship, which has a spherical cockpit area, with a terrible view over the nose. It must be a nightmare to park! It only appeared in a few scenes, but it made an impact, especially after Mr Maul hopped on a strange circular speeder bike in search of Princess Amidala and crew on the mirror-chrome Royal Starship that had escaped from Naboo during the invasion, landing with a bump on Tatooine with a blown engine and no funds to buy new parts. The Kit This kit was originally tooled as a snap-together Easy Kit in 2012, some thirteen years after the film, and I have had the experience of building one, leaving the pre-painted no-glue aspect to detail and accurize (I hate that word) it so that it looks like a proper Star Wars kit. It is now back on our shelves, twenty-five years after the release of the film, celebrating that fact, and dropping the snap-together aspect. The kit arrives in an end-opening box, and inside are four sprues of grey styrene, a single figure on a vinyl sprue, a clear part on a small sprue, a sheet of decals, a poster as seen on the box top (it’s rolled very tightly, so we haven’t photographed it), and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on white paper, with profiles for painting and decaling on the rear pages. Detail is good, but some of the ‘greeblie’ or detail areas in front of the cockpit ball are a little simplified for the purists, which I chose to upgrade back when I built mine. There are also a few sink-marks on the exterior where there are internal structures, so it would be wise to get those squared away before you begin building the kit. There is a stand included that’s fit for purpose, and this time the decal sheet includes an Episode I – The Phantom Menace logo, which I’d have loved, as I had to use a spare decal I had lying around. If you add several layers of clear gloss over the stand after decaling it, it will give the impression of being moulded into the stand. It is, as they say, the only game in town, so well worth acquiring if you feel the urge for an Infiltrator in your cabinet. As this is a Special Edition, there are a bag of six acrylic paints in small pots in the box, plus a 12.5ml bottle of Contacta Professional with a needle applicator, plus a #2 paint brush, which has been deformed a little in transit due to the lack of protective tube over the bristles. Construction begins with the figure of Darth Maul, which is shown as having legs on the instructions, but in reality he’s almost as short as he ends the film, having only short nubs of his thighs, but as they won’t be seen after applying him to the seat, it shouldn’t matter. The seat is inserted into the cockpit part along with a dome-like detail part, and a detail decal that is applied to one of the walls. The upper cockpit hemisphere has the clear insert applied from the inside, painting the interior face red to give it a shiny, translucent look. The top is fitted over the cockpit floor, putting it to one side while the two fuselage halves are detail painted, adding various decals as you see fit. Before they are joined, the greeblie area in front of the cockpit is painted, trapping it between the two halves after fitting the cockpit assembly and an intake blanking plate at the front, then fixing two more detail inserts underneath. The exhausts are a pair of vertically slatted outlets that are contoured to fit against the rear of the cockpit, and decals are supplied to give them a green hue, but if you don’t want to have to apply copious quantities of decal softener to get them to settle into the recesses, you could used one of the new fluorescent paints that are now available. The solar arrays are each a single part that are hinged from two-part centres, painting the various raised panels by following the diagrams next to the instruction steps. The solar arrays plug into the tips of the wings moulded into the fuselage, and can be posed open or closed for landing, giving sufficient ground clearance for the short gear legs. The main bays each have two doors that slot into the sides on long tabs, painting the interior a zinc-chromate colour, then building the main gear legs from cranked struts and separate feet, then adding a single leg to the rear, all slotting into place in holes moulded into the bays. To pose the model in-flight, separate bay doors are included for the closed option, and that allows the modeller to make use of the two-part stand with a half-moon base. Markings Darth Maul’s Infiltrator only wore one scheme during the film, and didn’t make an appearance in any of the other prequel films because he was at least 50% dead. From the box you can build the following: For this boxing, there are several decals that depict the various accent colours around the ship, and these will be especially useful around the cockpit ball because of the compound curves there, but if you would prefer to paint the patches, the decals could be used as templates for masking, and avoid having to use decal softener solution to bed them down. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion There’s a great deal of nostalgia for me, and the model isn’t half bad. A few extra details here and there won’t take too much effort, as I demonstrated many years ago here. Either way, it should result in a creditable replica, and if I managed it, it’s got to be easy. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Trabant 601 60th Anniversary (05630) 1:24 Carrera Revell VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in East Germany were the creators of the Trabant range of cars that began manufacture toward the end of the 1950s, and continued with upgraded variants into the 70s, with over three million made in total, plus a revival in the early 90s that was called the Trabant 1.1, which lasted less than a year before it was discontinued, bringing the total to just over 3.7 million overall. Described as a “spark plug with a roof” due to its simple construction, the bodyshell was made from a thermoplastic resin, with a galvanised floor pan, the front-wheels driven by a two-stroke engine that produced very little in the way of power, and with traditional leaf-springs for suspension. At the time it was a relatively modern design, but as the years went by, it fell further behind the competition due to the technological stagnation of East Germany under Soviet influence. In typical Eastern Europe style, the locals would work on their ‘Trabbi’ as they were called, tuning the engine and improving the ride to the limit of their abilities, and there were rally series where the tuners and drivers showed off their prowess in competition against each other. Because of the state of Soviet Union’s monopoly production style, it took the best part of a decade to receive your Trabant after ordering, and as such it was seen as something of a status-symbol, despite being slow, noisy and unreliable from the factory, whilst the resin body parts were bulked out and strengthened by recycled cotton from other industries, which must have made accident repairs interesting. With a top speed of just over 60mph in its final Soviet form, which took over 20 seconds to achieve if your two-cylinder 600cc two-stroke motor was running well, it wasn’t too useful for getting anywhere fast, if at all, with its frequent break-downs and malfunctions. The revived 1.1 ran a Volkswagen engine of the same size as its name infers, and although acceleration wasn’t improved, the top speed was raised to almost 80mph, which must have been a terrifying experience, although the leaf-springs had been replaced by struts and springs from VW by then. In 2012 an electric re-imagining of the original was proposed and demonstrated by a consortium that included Herpa Miniaturmodelle GmbH, but it doesn’t seem to have gone very far in terms of production, possibly due to its ugliness and lack of nostalgia factor for anyone outside Germany. Either way, their websites are no-longer available, which is never a good sign. The Kit Originally tooled in 1990 around the time that the Berlin wall was crumbling, the kit has been seen in several new boxings over the years, including an estate variant that’s usually badged as “universal” on the box. This boxing is a special edition marking 60 years of the Trabant, and depicts the 601 variant, which is the most common of the marks, and the last true Trabant without any Western parts in the mix. The kit arrives in a sturdy top-opening box with a captive lid, and inside is a book that has been penned in both German and English on the history of the Trabbi, which extends to eighty pages, and covers the entire history of the vehicle from before the early Type 50, through the 600 and 601 to the 1.1 in words and pictures, with a healthy section on the specialised variants and souped-up racers that were created behind the Iron Curtain. Inside the box and under the book are six sprues in grey styrene, a bag of five flexible black tyres, two clear sprues, a decal sheet, and instruction booklet that is printed in colour, and has painting and decaling instructions at the rear, also in colour. Given that this tooling is twenty-four years old, the detail is excellent, extending to the engine, interior, the boot and the engine bay, with a crisp bodyshell that is probably better made than the originals! Construction begins with the two-stroke engine, making the block from two halves, which have neat strengthening cross-hatching and cooling vanes moulded-in, making up the fan belt and dynamo that insert into the front, a backing plate to the transmission at the rear, a sump underneath, and cylinder head with two spark plugs on top. The small but well-formed engine inserts at the front of the floor pan, just in front of the inverted leaf-spring that crosses the engine bay, and a cross-brace under the engine. It is bracketed by the separate front wheel wells that form the sides of the engine bay, and have extra details moulded-in, plus a firewall bulkhead and L-shaped steering arm, mounting an intake, linkage and dash pots to the interior of the bay, followed by a three-part exhaust manifold and collector, plus more ancillary parts and assemblies to complete the detail. The front suspension under the engine is built around a sub-frame, with steering arm, pivots for the hubs, and the hubs themselves, plus simpler rear axles, totalling nine parts, with plenty of detail painting here, echoing the work done in the engine bay earlier. The wheel hubs are made from front and rear halves that trap a rotating third part between them without applying glue to it if you want the wheels be mobile later. Each hub has a flexible tyre pushed over the lips and pressed into place, gluing them carefully to the axles, and fixing a two-part exhaust system with muffler under the body, adding a T-shaped part to the rear suspension, and a pair of mudflaps behind the rear wheel arches that are moulded into the back of the floor pan. The interior of the floor is detail painted whilst adding a cluster of three pedals, handbrake and another part that looks like an arm rest, but that seems too bourgeoise for a Soviet era car. The seats have plenty of detail moulded-in, and a separate back with headrest (when most cars still didn’t have them), and a base that raises them above the floor so the driver can see over the dash, the lower half of which is a single part that has ancillary controls moulded-in, and fixes to the top of the kick panel that’s moulded into the floor pan. The back seats are akin to a sun-lounger, and have a support with two legs glued to the underside before it is placed in the space behind the front seats. The door cards have inertia-reel seatbelts fixed to their sides behind the doors, gluing them to the sides of the floor pan, setting the completed tub to one side for now. The steering column surround is built from two halves and has the stalks moulded-in, fitting the wheel to the front, and mounting it on three prongs that extend from behind the upper dash panel. A scrap diagram shows colour call-outs for more ancillary controls, plus two decals for the dials, and another decal for the radio if you are fitting it, otherwise you can remove the raised detail by filing it away. The bonnet has a ribbed underside, and while there are a few ejector-pin marks nearby, it would be worth dealing with those to be able to pose the bonnet open, as the detail inside is worth looking at. A hinge bracket is added along the bonnet’s rear, and the boot flap has two individual hinges attached to the corners, adding a lock button to a depression in the centre and detail-painting it. A fifth wheel is made from two halves without the centre, and it too has a tyre pressed over it for later use inside the boot. Installing the dash inside the bodyshell traps the bonnet in place, being careful not to get glue on the hinges, and at the rear, the boot liner does the same thing for the boot lid, with the same caveat about the hinges. The headlights are made from a sandwich of bezel, a separate reflector and clear lens, plus a clear side-light under each one, making the rear light clusters from a combined reflector/bezel and lenses that are painted with clear red and orange, adding transparent bottom lenses, and using the shiniest silver you can obtain to paint the various reflectors and backs of the side-lights. That same silver or a decal can be used to paint the rear-view mirror in the top-centre of the windscreen, and a nicely detailed grille slots into the recess between the headlamps to give the Trabbi a face. The front bumper has moulded-in over-riders that are painted a contrasting colour, and two fog-lamps that could be removed before installation if you wish, mounting a number plate holder in the centre with a decal depicting the vehicle’s registration. The rear bumper has a fog light and reversing light moulded-in with clear lenses, and two vents are inserted into the C-pillars below the roofline, fixing the back number plate into a recess in the boot, and another decal for the registration. After painting the interior of the bodyshell an appropriate colour, the six main windows and two clear wind/rain deflectors are installed from the outside, painting the rubber seals on the windows except for those in the doors. Windscreen wipers, an aerial, door handles and wing mirrors are fitted, and again two wing mirrors on a car from the 50s? My first British car from the 70s only had one. The roof is separate from the rest of the bodyshell, and it is finished off by applying trim along the suage line near the tops of the side panels, which are painted in silver and black if you have a steady hand, or you could mask them for painting, or easier still, you could apply a black decal strip to the appropriate section. Fantasy Printshop have a wide range of decal stripes if you should be wondering. The interior is slipped inside the bodyshell and glued in place, dropping the completed upper over the floor pan after painting a section of the interior of the floor that will be seen through the boot liner later. The spare tyre is placed in a slot in the floor, using no glue for some reason, and the tow bar that’s moulded into the floor pan has a ball fitted over the end, completing the build phase. Markings There is one decal option given in the profiles, painted a mid-grey with silver hubs. You can of course paint it any colour you like, and there are eight different number plates in various schemes and fonts, plus a dealer-style Trabant logo plate for front and rear of the car. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This kit of the Trabbi is of a high quality that must have been quite a head-turner back in the 1990s, although the nostalgia for this little car doesn’t extend much beyond Germany, and anyone with the U2 album Achtung Baby, which featured a Trabant with a custom paint-job by artist Thierry Noir. The addition of the book offers some reading and reference material that should result in you becoming an instant expert on this unusual vehicle. The sprues still stand up well to visual inspection by the eyes of a modern modeller, and time has also been kind to the moulds, with just a little flash in the corner of one sprue, which will be the work of moments to remove. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Dornier Do.335A-1/A-12 ‘Pfeil’ (03795) 1:48 Carrera Revell The Dornier Pfeil (Arrow) lived up to its name, as it was one of the fastest prop-driven aircraft of WWII, however it came too late to the fray to see service in significant numbers, so failed to make a difference to the outcome. Herr Dornier had used the idea of the pusher-pull props on his earlier flying boats, and when asked to design a fast bomber, he experimented with a scale Do.17 fuselage without engine nacelles, but with a prop at the front and rear, which reduced parasitic drag from the nacelles, increased roll-rate and removing the troublesome asymmetric thrust experienced when a traditional two-engined aircraft suffered engine failure. After a successful trial he began working on a bomber, but following cancellation of that project by Reichsmarshall Goering, it morphed into a heavy multi-role fighter. Capable of utilising the newest engines under development that promised increased power above the 2,000hp level, the leading engine was cowled in a similar fashion to the Ta.152, while the rear engine was buried deep inside the aft fuselage, driving the aft prop via a hollow tubular shaft to reduce weight. The aircraft is substantial due to the additional engine, but it also sits high off the ground on long tricycle gear legs to allow sufficient clearance for the large prop at the rear, which is protected by an additional downward facing fin and rudder, giving the tail a cruciform appearance. Sadly for those testing the Pfeil, this long undercarriage was a source of problems, as it was inadequate and prone to failure. Powered by two DB603 engines (the variants differed between airframes), it was capable of around 470mph with boost enabled, and had an excellent rate of climb. There are stories of it outrunning Allied fighters on the few occasions they were encountered, including the Hawker Tempest, which was no slouch itself. Recognising the capability of the 335, the Heinkel He.219 was ordered to be cancelled to concentrate effort on building this promising fighter, but as Mr Heinkel studiously ignored these instructions, only a few Pfeils had been manufactured by the time their factory was overrun by the Allies. The A series were designated for reconnaissance or fighters, both day and night, while the B series was the Zerstörer (destroyer) variant, with two MK103 cannons in the wing leading edges, and two additional fuel tanks to extend its range. Other B variants included the 2-seat night fighter with the radar operator buried in the fuselage behind the pilot, with just an astrodome to look out from, and antennae bristling from the leading edges of the wing. There were plans to uprate the engine, extend the wings, and even place jet engines at the rear, or in pods at the side of the fuselage, and there was even a mock-up done of a Zwilling (twin) that would be used for ultra-long-range reconnaissance, but due to capitulation by the Nazis, none of these esoteric variants ever saw the light of day. Despite numerous examples being taken as war prizes by the Allies, only one Arrow still exists due to their captors’ lack of long-term thinking, and this was one of the early A series that were spirited away by the Americans at the end of the war as part of Operation Paperclip. The other airframe they took had disappeared somewhere along the line, but 240102 survived and was later restored in Germany, then returned to America where it still resides, parked next to the only surviving Arado Ar.234. The Kit This tooling was made by Monogram in 1974, but don’t stop reading here, as it must have been a well-received kit at the time. It does have raised panel lines, but if those bother you it’s an easy fix with a bit of patience, some Dymo label-tape, and your favourite scribing tool, using the raised lines as a guide to help you. The kit arrives in an end-opening box with a painting of a Pfeil being harassed by a brace of Thunderbolts, and inside are four sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a comprehensive decal sheet, and an instruction booklet that’s printed in black & white on matt paper. Detail is good for the age of the tooling, and includes both engines moulded into one of the fuselage halves, which also has cockpit sidewall and rear engine bay detail moulded into both halves. There are also three reasonably detailed figures, and you have the choice of depicting your model as a single- or two-seat variant by using the appropriate insert and sundry parts, all from the one box. Strangely however, it occurred to someone in the 70s that it was a good idea to put raised copyright details and USA inside one of the main gear bays, but it’s thankfully small and could be removed quite easily if you have the right tools, or can make your own custom sanding stick. The detail moulded into the bays is acceptably well done, although the bay walls would benefit from some styrene strip to simulate ribbing. Construction begins with deciding how many seats you want to build the model with, representing either an A-1 single-seater, or an A-12 two-seater with a radar installation on the leading edges of both wings. The first physical work involves detail painting of the moulded-in engines in the port fuselage side if you plan on displaying one or both, then building the pilot’s cockpit from a tub, headrest, rear bulkhead, control column and trim-wheel, adding the instrument panel to the front with a good quantity of detail painting pointed out along the way. The completed cockpit is glued to the top of the nose gear bay, drilling out a 3.5mm hole for the gear leg later in the build, painting the detail on the interior of the bay, and adding a minimum of 20g of nose weight before closing the fuselage halves. The upper cowling on the nose has a pair of gun troughs moulded-in, and it is joined by the circular intake cowling for the annular radiator with cooling gills at the rear, and an axle in the centre for the prop. If you have elected to build the two-seat Pfeil, you need to build the second cockpit, which is ostensibly the same as the pilot’s, but minus the control column, and with a different instrument panel, which is glued into the two-seat insert, painting the cockpit, coaming and sills. Your choice of insert is applied to the fuselage along with the lower wing, which is full span, opening holes under the leading edges if you are portraying the two-seater for the radar gear. The flaps are each two parts and are held in position without glue (if you wish) by the upper wing halves, adding a landing light lens in the port leading edge, ensuring that you set the dihedral correctly while the glue cures. The elevators are each two parts, and plug into slots in the tail fin, completing the cruciform tail, save for the prop that’s added later. Two supercharger intakes are made from two halves each, one applied to the port forward cowling in the nose, which can be posed open or closed, the other on the starboard side of the centre fuselage to feed air into the rear-facing engine, which also has a trapezoid cowling on the port side that can be left open to show the moulded-in detail of the other engine if you wish. The two-seater has flame-damping exhausts fitted over the moulded-in exhaust stubs, cutting a small part away from the forward engine cowling to improve fit. You have the option of building your model in-flight or ground-side, the in-flight option being the easiest choice, as the main bays and nose gear bay are all covered by two doors, ensuring you take time to set them level with surrounding surfaces. While the model is inverted, the intake under the belly is tipped by installing the lip, taking care to align it accurately to minimise clean-up, the same process applying to the wheels-down option. Speaking of which, the nose gear leg is made with a separate oleo scissor-link and mudguard, adding a trapezoid frame to the rear, and a two-part wheel with engineered sag to the tyre, which is flex-fitted into position between the arms of the yoke. It is fitted into the nose bay and bracketed by its twin doors that run along the line of flight, both of which have detail moulded into their inner face. The main gear legs also have separate scissor-links, and a twin-leg retraction jack, adding the two-part wheel to the stub axle, which also has sag moulded-in. Both legs have a captive bay door attached to the outer face, the other smaller door mounted on the inner end of the bay, with an H-shaped retraction jack holding it at the correct angle. The two three-bladed props are each moulded as single parts, which are trapped between their spinners and back-plates, the rear spinner having a longer side profile than the other. The instructions show the props secured in place by melting the ends of the axles with a hot screwdriver tip before installing the spinners, but you may want to either glue it in place, or leave it loose for transport. The single seat cockpit is covered by a two-part canopy that can be posed open if you wish, hinging sideways to the right, with a D/F loop added to a hole in the spine behind it. The two-seater has two canopies that are both in two parts, and these too can be glued open or closed, again hinging to the right. It also carries radar antennae that are fitted into the holes opened under the wing leading edges earlier, with an extra step showing detail painting instructions for them. The last step shows the three figures and their painting instructions, which includes two mechanics and a pilot figure, the latter carrying a parachute pack slung over his left shoulder. Markings Each variant has one decal option on the sheet, which includes plenty of stencils to add detail to your model, although sadly the profiles are in black and white. From the box you can build one of the following: Dornier Do.335A-1 W.Nr. 240162 at Dornier Plant Oberpfaffenhofen, Bavaria, May 1945 Dornier Do.335A-12 W.Nr. 240114 at Dornier Plant Oberpfaffenhofen, Bavaria, May 1945 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This may be an old kit, and that’s evident from the raised panel lines and the whisps of flash here and there, but it’s still a good shape, an easy build (ignoring the possible re-scribe if you feel the urge), and will make an impressive entry in your cabinet if you build it with a little care and skill. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Hermann Marwede Search & Rescue Vessel (05812) 1:200 Carrera Revell The Hermann Marwede is the largest rescue vessel operated by the German Society for Sea Rescue or Die Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger (DGzRS) to give them their correct German name. In common with many such rescue organisations, the DGzRS receive no government funding, but instead rely on voluntary contributions, fund-raising and donations to finance the organisation. The DGzRS was founded in 1865 by amalgamating many smaller organisations under one umbrella, and celebrated its 150th Anniversary almost a decade ago. During WWII they operated under the Red Cross banner, and retained their principles of rescuing anyone in distress regardless of state or which side they fought for. They have since grown into an organisation with twenty ocean-going vessels and almost forty inshore lifeboats, stationed at fifty-five locations around the German Coastline. The organisation has rescued more than eighty-six thousand souls in peril on the sea since its founding almost 160 years ago. The Hermann Marwede was laid down in Gdańsk, Poland with an aluminium hull, and was completed by Fassmer in Berne, Germany, launching in 2003. She was named after Hermann Marwede of Bremen, who was a long-term partner in the Beck & Co. beer company, taking a turn as a director of the DGzRS during his life, and his descendants were significant contributors to her €15,000,000 funding. Displacing 410 tonnes, with a beam of 35’ and length of 151’, she is powered by a trio of marine diesel engines, each with their own shafts propellers, mounting the most powerful of the three on the centreline, totalling 6,800KW of power that can propel her at 27 knots in good weather, and only a few knots slower in rough seas. She carries a daughter boat in the stern that is secured in its own boathouse on a built-in slipway for ship-to-shore and shallow water operations and rescues. Three fire-fighting nozzles are mounted on the superstructure behind the wheelhouse, powered by one of the engines, and two can be operated remotely with substantial water output. The crew of eight have their own individual cabins, and casualties can be tended to in the hospital space that includes an operating theatre for dealing with urgent cases that can’t wait to be handled on shore. The aft deck above the slipway provides a large open area to secure rescued individuals while they await extraction, for crew training, and just forward of this area is a 20-tonne crane that can be used to launch another smaller RHIB inflatable to assist with operations. Should the need arise, the Hermann Marwede can operate for up to seven days without refuelling or resupplying, and is intended to be offshore for up to 104 days a year if the need arises. She is currently (as I type this) undertaking SAR operations in the North Sea, but her home port is in Heligoland, Germany. The Kit Originally tooled and release in 2011, this is the fourth boxing of the kit, arriving in Revell’s new design end-opening box with a dramatic painting of the vessel and her daughter boat in action on heavy seas. Inside the box are six sprues of various sizes in white styrene, a small decal sheet, and instruction booklet that is printed in black and white on cheap paper, which feels like a bit of a retrograde step when compared to most modern Revell booklets. At 1:200 scale the size of the hull is more manageable than its 1:72 stable-mate, and detail is good, although the railings and other fine parts are necessarily oversized due to the constraints of injection moulding technology. Construction begins with assembling the hull, adding two internal bulkheads and the anchor’s hawser pipe in the top of the bow. The deck consists of two levels that are linked by a vertical section and a pair of stairs that are moulded into the foredeck, with railings glued to both sides once in situ. There are many detail painting instructions for the moulded-in details on the decks, after which the hull is inverted to install the three prop-shafts with their fairings, the centre forming part of the keel, finishing by adding the screws at the rear ends, and triple rudders for full authority in the event of any engines going offline. The hull can now be placed on the stand that is included on the sprues, which is moulded as a single part, with contoured supports that brace the lower hull and keel. The daughter boat is built from two halves, fitting a folded mast and radar assembly on the wheelhouse, and detail painting the moulded-in windows, placing it in the slipway that is behind the stern door that is moulded into the stern panel, adding a safety rail around three sides, and fitting an outboard motor to the RHIB before it is installed in its supports on the port side. The boat’s housing is made from six parts that have railings and banisters moulded into the tops, fitting two support poles to the sides of the slipway, and topping the assembly off with the roof, which has a walkway leading forward. The mid-deck has a bulkhead with stair cases fixed to the rear of the foredeck, fitting the deck, side walls and sloped front, adding railings to the walkway and the level-change between the fore and aft decks, adding machinery and a thick supply pipe for the fire-fighting (Fi-Fi) gear, then building the wheelhouse from four sides and a deck, which has a cluster of searchlights and the solo hose fitted around the edges. The remote Fi-Fi stations are a single part assembly that is plugged into the deck behind the wheelhouse, with curving railings fitted around it, fixing the deck crane into its socket and resting the jib on a riser at the edge of the deck between the hoses. The mast has a Y-shaped form, with access steps moulded into the sloped legs, which has the main mast moulded into the centre, fitting twin radars on their own supports at the front, with additional searchlights, antenna and sensors mounted on the rear, again with their own supports moulded-in, following the detail painting instructions that are given during the steps. The completed assembly is mounted in sockets at the rear of the wheelhouse roof, fitting a short tapering mast on the starboard edge, and finishing the model by fitting a pair of mooring posts in the bow, and a bow pole with a section of the frontal railings moulded-in. Markings Whilst there is just one set of markings for this model, there are a separate set of profiles for the daughter boat, Verena. The profiles are in black and white, but a quick look at the box art will help immensely, as will the paint-code chart. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Hermann Marwede is a major part of the German coastal rescue service, and this 1:200 kit gives the modeller a reasonably-sized model of the vessel, with a good level of detail, and crisp-new decals. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Spähwagen Fennek (03356) 1:72 Carrera Revell The Fennek light armoured car was developed to meet a requirement of the German Bundeswehr in the 1990s, reaching prototype stage by the turn of the millennium. It was designed by a German/Dutch consortium, and began reaching service by late 2003, first with the Dutch, then the German Bundeswehr, where it fulfils the reconnaissance role in different forms, either as Tactical Air Control, Fire Support, as a Stinger weapons platform, or general reconnaissance. Germany has around 300 vehicles, while Netherlands have a larger fleet, split between different roles, able to withstand small-arms fire up to STANAG-2 level, with a spall liner further projecting the crew from injury, as evidenced by an incident where an RPG round penetrated the vehicle’s skin and blew off the roof, and while one crew member was sadly killed, the others survived with injuries. The vehicle is powered by a 240hp diesel engine with selectable four-wheel drive that permits a high top-speed on prepared roads, whilst on rough terrain tyre pressure can be adjusted by the crew to maximise grip. It is outfitted with modern electronics to play a useful part on the battlefield with a choice of armament depending on the role and the operator’s preferences. The Kit Originally released in 2004 when the type was just reaching service, this tooling was based upon the original specification, so if you intend to depict a more modern vehicle, check your references for variations. The kit arrives in a small end-opening box with a stylised painting of a Fennek in combat, and inside are two sprues of grey styrene, a narrow sheet of clear acetate, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour, and has decal profiles on the rearmost pages. This is an exterior kit, and has no detail inside, but the acetate sheet can be used as windows by cutting small lengths and gluing them behind the openings. Construction begins with the roof, drilling out a set of holes for the Dutch version, then cutting strips of acetate from the sheet according to 1:1 guides that are printed on the instruction steps. Careful cutting and gluing should give a good rendition of the windscreen panels, which are applied from the inside against a narrow lip that should create a strong enough joint if you intend to mask the screen for painting. The roof includes the vehicle’s nose, adding a bumper to the front, and fitting a bulkhead to the rear of the lower hull, again drilling out holes for the Dutch version before bringing the two halves together. Two hull sides have shallow windows along them, which again have templates for you to cut more acetate strips and glue them in place before you mount them on the hull, adding light clusters to the front wing, and a small triangular insert. Each wheel well has a representation of the hub inserted into a slot, onto which the three-part suspension is glued, mounting the wheels at the outer end once the two halves have been joined and the seams dealt with in your usual manner. Towing shackles are fitted either side of a tow bar under the nose, mounting a convoy shield, corner lifting eyes and two more towing shackles under the rear, painting the rear light clusters that are moulded into the bulkhead, and applying a decal to the convoy shield. The Dutch variant has a different fairing over the rear door, and has an aerial base fixed to the end of the triple rack of smoke grenade dischargers that they both carry on trays on the rear corners. Additionally, the Dutch have twin braces across a hatch on the aft deck, utilising the holes drilled earlier. The observation package is made from three parts that are attached to a rotating mount, which is sited over a depression in the roof, with two doors open at the sides. The package can be posed retracted by leaving the doors intact, and gluing the part over the recess. Another option depicts the package raised further above the roofline of the vehicle by adding a post beneath the separate protective box that uses the same hatch doors as before, and all options have a flat rectangular box applied to the centre of the aft deck. The driver’s hatch fits in a shell-shaped cut-out in the cab roof, with the two other crew hatches set back over the side windows, the hatch on the right having a surround and mount for the crew-served weapon, with a searchlight set to one side, a choice of Browning .50cal for the Dutch option, MG3, or 40mm Mortar cannon for the Germans with attendant ammunition boxes, the latter consisting of a figure-eight double drum magazine due to the size of the rounds. The rear deck is completed by fitting one or two aerial bases for Dutch of German vehicles respectively. Markings There are three decal options included on the sheet, all wearing a three-colour camouflage in the same pattern. From the box you can build one of the following, although the captions seem to have been scrambled on our review sample: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Fennek is a small but agile four-wheeled battlefield taxi, performing several roles for German & Dutch forces, with good detail at this scale, although some black paint on the interior will hide the lack of detail there. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

TIE Advanced x1 (01214) 1:72 Carrera Revell & Bandai Namco In the Star Wars universe, the TIE Fighter is the standard Imperial single-seater attack ship, and attrition rates during the six films and various off-shoots that it has now starred in must have been horrific! Named by the Special Effects guys during filming of Episode IV A New Hope (the original Star Wars), after the bow-tie it resembled, a cranked "special" was also designed as the personal mount of arch baddie, Lord Vader, or Darth as he’s known to his pals. They have a menacing angular design in darker colours than Rebel ships, which emphasises their alignment with the Dark Side of the Force, as does the eerie scream of their engines, which as per most Sci-Fi films, can still be heard in the vacuum of space. The Kit Before the launch of the sequel trilogy that started with The Force Awakens (TFA), Revell gained the license to create new kits for the movies in Europe and the US, while Bandai got the license for the Far East and other territories. Revell have created some kits with wider appeal for the following movies, while Bandai concentrated on sticking to a scale, bringing their Gundam talents to bear on the toolings, making ships, vehicles and some figures that would be hard to beat if you’re happy with 1:72 scale kits on your shelves. A few were done at different scales to suit the subject’s size, most are 1:72, so it’s easy to pose them side-by-side without any scale clashes. The kits are intended to be click-together without paint or glue, and some are well-suited to this method, while others such as the space craft will benefit from painting and weathering to obtain a more realistic look, and given that this was all the product of George Lucas’s fever dreams, we’ll insert the phrase “screen accurate” wherever we see “realistic. That opens up another can of worms because miniatures of differing sizes and levels of detail were used for filming, but that’s a subject left to the online Star Wars fanbois, who can be quite unpleasant if they put their minds to it, as has been witnessed in the past. This kit is a re-release of Bandai’s 1:72 offering of Darth’s personal ship, and even arrives in the same black-themed box as before with the Bandai logo on it, but with a Revell logo and specification sticker placed over the bottom-right corner of the side of the kid, giving their product code and other information in a variety of languages. After undoing the tape on the top-opening box, you will find three heat-sealed bags of parts, plus a concertina-fold instruction booklet on glossy paper with colour profiles of the model on the rear to assist with painting and decaling or stickering. Yes, stickers are provided in addition to decals, suitable for the builder who doesn’t want to paint or decal their kit, such as younger modellers that just want to have a physical representation of Darth’s TIE Fighter on their shelves. Detail is excellent, as anyone that has any of Bandai’s Star Wars models will know, and I’m typing this beneath a shelf stacked with them. The quality and engineering of the moulds is highly-intelligent, hiding seamlines where possible, and instigating a change in styrene colour with additional parts, some of which are co-moulded on the same sprue as other colours, cutting down on the sprue numbers, and even the part-count in instances such the sprues that contain the ‘solar’ wings, which are co-moulded in black and grey to create the panels, and to cut-down on space usage, the clear sprue is moulded in between the wings. Inside the three bags are two sprues of grey styrene, one sprue of co-moulded black/grey and clear, a small sprue of black, another of clear fluorescent yellow, and another sprue of a different light grey that forms the stand. The package is rounded out by the decals, stickers, and the instructions, which are printed primarily in Japanese, with the addition of English where necessary, although many of the steps are handled with glyphs and icons that transcend language. Construction begins with the cockpit, starting with the floor that has Darth’s seat base moulded-in, and has a seat back, control console and steering yoke fixed in, and a seated Darth Vader figure in glossy black to fill the space. It’s always been a mystery why, but on the sprue with the figure, there is also a silhouette cut-out of a standing Vader on a base that isn’t mentioned on the instructions at all. There it is. With the cockpit complete, it is surrounded by two half circular wall sections, with scrap diagrams showing where to place the decals in the faceted sidewalls. The ball is pressed together around the cockpit and Lord Vader, then the flat bottom is capped off with a small circular section of the outer skin, taking note of the direction of two pins moulded to the interior. The two fuselage halves are then locked around the cockpit ball from front and back, followed by the access hatch in the top, a small detail insert behind, and the clear porthole with wagon-wheel framing, for which frame decals or stickers are included if you don’t have a set of GreenStrawberry masks, or the skills to make your own. There is also an unglazed styrene windscreen for those not wanting to place glass in the canopy, as many filming miniatures were un-glazed to cut down on reflections. Two greeblies are fixed to the sides of the hatch at the root of the arms, and a pair of blaster barrels are inserted under the windscreen, capping off the underside with another circular dome that has a small hole in the centre to attach the model to the stand. If you intend not to use the stand however, there is a stepped plug to fill the hole instead. The trailing semi-circular cowling that trails the fuselage is built from top and bottom halves, adding two inserts before joining them, two more above and below the central spine, and at the rear of the spine, noting the arrangement of detailing on the visible side of the part. The cowl then slots into the rear of the fuselage/hull, pushing it securely home to minimise gaps, preparing the two cranked wings by adding the greeblie insert to the inner vertical panel, then plugging the twin blades into the corresponding holes in the fuselage to finish construction. The stand is covered on the last page of the instructions, and is made from a base, which has a curved support plugged into a hole near the centre, and at the top of the support is a two-part pivot that allows you to pose the model at any angle you wish. There are two additional parts, one that is a plug for the hole left by the support if you do not use it, and the other is a clip that allows the joining together of multiple stands by clipping their edges together. The bases have a depiction of a small are of the Death Star’s surface moulded into the top, and if using multiple stands to create a larger base, the plug may be useful if fewer supports than bases are required. The two translucent yellow lances on the sprue can be inserted into the hollow barrels of the blasters under the canopy, to depict the TIE Fighter firing its weapons. They can be added and removed at whim, although you’ll have to find somewhere to store them during periods of inactivity. Markings The model has been moulded in colours that broadly match how the ships appeared on-screen, so if you want a clean TIE advanced, you can stop there, apply decals or stickers and call it complete. If you want to add more detailed painting and some nuance to the finish however, Bandai have included some paint suggestions, and while they don’t mention a particular brand’s codes, the colours could well be from Gunze’s Mr Color range, but they could also be from many other ranges. Bandai’s decals seem to have been a bit ‘leathery’ in the past, and not very responsive to decal softening solutions in my experience, but the decals are well-printed, in good registration, and are densely printed and sharp. Conclusion Darth’s TIE is an impressive and iconic spacecraft from one of history’s best-loved movies (certainly my generation) from a time where film-making was still willing and able to take risks. The kit is stunningly well-detailed, and will build into a more-than creditable replica of a screen legend. Very highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Airbus A380 (03808) 1:288 Carrera Revell The A380 is a wide bodied super-heavy airliner from the European consortium Airbus, and its entry into service took the crown away from the venerable Boeing 747 as the largest passenger aircraft in the world. It was announced in 2021 that they will cease production due to changes in the aviation world, and as the wings are made down the road from where I live, I wonder how that will affect them. Not too badly I'd hope. It first flew in 2005 at the Airbus HQ in Toulouse, and over 200 airframes have been delivered so far with the final total nudging 300 by the time the lines close. Unfortunately for Airbus, airlines have become more interested in smaller aircraft to reduce the losses when flying at less than capacity, demanding flexibility in arranging their routes, using smaller, more efficient airliners. Emirates have been their largest customer with almost half the buy flying with them, with British Airways the second largest customer. There have been a few non-fatal incidents during its service so far, which has probably affected sales and its reputation, and despite its advanced design and capabilities, Airbus don't expect to break even on their £25bn development costs by the time production finishes. Having seen it in flight, it is a true behemoth of the skies, the huge curving wing-root and forest of landing gear making it an impressive sight. It didn't just pip the Boeing 747 past the post in terms of size – it's 40% larger than the old Jumbo Jet, but with even the 747 under threat of cessation of production, the A380 is and will remain a much rarer sight, a relic of the days of mass-transport. The Kit This kit was initially released in 2009 as a Snap-Tite kit, reboxed in 2014, and now available as a standard kit in a new end-opening box. Inside are four sprues of white styrene, a small clear sprue with one part on it, a decal sheet and instruction booklet that is printed in colour on satin-finished paper with profiles on the rearmost pages, depicting the demonstrator scheme that was worn initially by the type. Given the scale and its origins, detail is good, with engraved panel lines, recessed windows in the fuselage sides, landing gear with separate wheels, and engine pods with fans visible from the front. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is a tiny part with moulded-in seats and consoles that are pretty good for the scale. You can paint this to your own standards, then place it inside the fuselage, slipping the canopy over it, and closing the two halves around the tab at the base of the tail fin. The wings are then started by adding doors to the gear bays in the belly section of the underwing, mounting a dog-bone insert on two pegs between the bays inside. The outer panels of the wings are single thickness, while the uppers have the inner panel moulded-in, which overlap with the centre lower wing to create a strong joint, placing the fuselage in the gap between them, trapping tabs that hold the upper wing panels in position as you install it. The A380 needs many wheels to support it whilst on the ground, making two bogeys with six wheels each for the belly bays, two with four wheels in the inner wing, and a twin-wheeled nose gear leg, all of which are inserted into the underside of the model, adding closed bays that hide most of the blank space in the respective bays. Leaving the model inverted, the four high-bypass engines are built individually, as they are handed and unique to their location on the wing. Each engine is made from a forward fan that fixes to a tubular ‘body’ that has the exhaust cone moulded into the rear. This is surrounded by the two-part cowling that also has the pylon particular to that engine moulded-in. Some detail painting will be needed during assembly of course, and once complete, they are fixed to their underwing mounts, plugging into position at the correct angle to the ground. The last parts are the elevators, which slot into the sides of the tail to complete the model. Markings There is one decal option included on the sheet, which is the demonstrator with a blue tail and flash across the rear fuselage, and a large A380 logo on tail, with another on the fuselage just forward of the wings. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Even at 1:288 scale, the A380 is around the same size as a large WWII fighter, but it certainly won’t take up as much room on the cabinet shelf as a 1:144 kit, which could be useful. Detail is good for the scale, and although the gear legs and some other parts are over-scale because they must support the model’s weight, they aren’t too obvious when complete. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Smit Houston Tug Boat (05239) 1:200 Carrera Revell The Houston was a Tugboat that was launched in the late 70s at Heusden in the Netherlands, delivered to and operated by Smit Internationale until 1990, where its innovative design and advanced technology gained a reputation for being and excellent vessel. She was powered by two six-cylinder Stork Werkspoor diesel engines each with an output of 4,600hp, giving her a top speed of 14 knots, plus a lot of torque, and berths for up to 32 passenger and crew. After serving Smit for around thirteen years, she was sold to Greenpeace and underwent a change of name to MV Solo, where she remained until 1995 by which time a helipad had been retro-fitted, ending its days under the name ETV Waker until a serious engine room fire in 2009 rendered her unfit for repair after years of solid service with the Dutch coastguard as a chartered Emergency Tow Vessel (ETV). The Kit This kit was originally tooled in 2007 and released first as the Smit Houston, then as the ETV Waker with new parts added to represent the upgrades made by Greenpeace and the then-new owners. The kit arrives in a deep end-opening box, and contains three sprues of white styrene, three more in green of various sizes, a single hull part in brick red, four strips of clear acrylic sheet that should be glued behind the portholes and windows, a length of stiff black cord, two decal sheets, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on satin paper. Detail is typical of a maritime kit from Revell of this era, with external detail, a well-moulded hull that could use some improvement to the bow thruster area, and a simple stand that you can use during the build if it’s not up to your usual display standards. Construction begins with the hull, fitting two ducted screws to the rear, corresponding prop-shafts, and rudders that are mounted on the rear of the shrouded section. Two additional parts are attached either side of the bow to give it a more bulbous profile, fitting anchors to the hawsers on both sides of the bow. The stand is built early to allow the modeller to keep the hull stable and off the desk, making it from four parts that join together in a butt-joint that is strengthened slightly by location tabs and recesses between the parts. The hull is shown being painted in four bands of colour at this stage, as is the rear deck that is predominantly bright green with brown sections forward, installing it in the hull and adding small parts after painting them, then surrounding the stern with a cowling that curves inward and has four cross-braces fitted across it. A diagram shows the colours for all the railings and lights, with another diagram showing the painting of the mid-deck, which is inserted next, adding the first of the railings and superstructure, then putting more deck equipment and railings in place over the following steps, building up to the bridge after adding the foredeck, which is also very green, studded with small equipment parts, and more railings. Each successive deck is painted, has holes drilled for railings, and various pieces of equipment added, including a fire-fighting deck above the bridge that is roughly T-shaped. Twin funnels are made from three parts each and are fitted behind the bridge with a ladder and mast base linking them together, making the two masts from several parts each, the more complex assembly sited between the funnels, adding radar and other antennae to the various stations. The fore mast is glued into the fore deck along with a crane, building a lifeboat from two halves for installation on the port mid-deck with its davit, aft of the superstructure. A rigging diagram shows how the anchors and other cables should be arranged on the fo’c’sle, wrapping the ends round the capstans moulded into the fore-deck, with another drawing detailing the rigging of the two masts. Markings The Smit Houston only wore one scheme during its time with them, and a full set of profiles are included spanning three complete pages. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Houston was a well-respected tug during its time with Smit Internationale, and there’s adequate detail for most modellers, including clear backing for the portholes, and a length of waxed cord for rigging. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

T-72M1 Soviet Main Battle Tank (03357) 1:72 Carrera Revell The T-72 is the one of the most ubiquitous Main Battle Tanks in the post-war world, although it shows its age when pitted against more modern designs that have appeared in the last few decades. Since its entry into service in the early 1970s, over 20,000 examples have been manufactured, making it second only to the T-54/T-55 family in terms of units produced. Exported widely, scarcely a year has gone by when the T-72 hasn't been in action in a hotspot somewhere around the globe, which is no mean feat for a tank that was conceived as a hedge against the more ambitious project that was the complex T-64. The T-72 shares the basic design principles that are common to all post war tanks produced by the Soviet Union/Russian Federation, being compact, light and with a low profile, the T-72 has a version of the 125mm smoothbore gun found in other Eastern Bloc tanks with two-part ammunition and an auto-load system that removes the need for a fourth crew member, cutting down on space requirements inside the crew compartment, but taking up a large portion of the centre of the hull with its carousel. The first models featured a conventional cast armour turret that was improved and thickened for the T-72A, which featured cavities filled with quartz or sand and was named 'Dolly Parton' armour by NATO forces for reasons we shan’t dwell upon. Later models featured laminated armour and added Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA), both of which proved to be extremely effective against contemporary anti-tank rounds and other shaped-charge warheads. The M1 variant was an export version that was sold to Soviet Bloc members and aligned nations, with a specification broadly equivalent to that of the T-72A, and benefitting from thicker armour. The Kit This is a reboxing of a 2006 tooling of this variant of an important Soviet Main Battle Tank. It arrives in a black end-opening Revell themed box, and inside are five sprues of grey styrene, a small decal sheet, and an instruction booklet that is printed in colour on matt paper. Detail is good, and nothing seems to have affected the moulds since the last time they were used, which includes the link-and-length tracks, exterior detail and the road wheels. Construction begins with the lower hull, which has the two sides glued in place, incorporating the swing-arms and axles for the entire vehicle. Twelve pairs of road wheels are made up from individual parts, making up two idlers from two parts each, and two drive sprockets from three parts. A trio of return-rollers are inserted into their mounts on the sides of the hull, followed by the rest of the running gear, gluing them into place, then assembling the tracks. Two long track lengths are used for the upper and lower runs, adding shorter diagonals at the ends, and individual links around the idlers and drive sprockets, plus one link at either end of the lower run to soften the joint between it and the diagonal track sections. An appliqué panel is fixed to the diagonal rear of the hull on a pair of pegs with corresponding holes in the hull. The upper hull is moulded as a full-length part, adding a glacis insert with towing hooks at the front, and a set of vents at the rear, gluing the upper and lower hull parts together, ensuring the drive-sprockets face the rear. Two fuel drums are made from halves plus end-caps, and are installed at the rear on four curved brackets, mounting a couple of spare track links below them, and an unditching beam with a pair of towing hooks. Headlights with cages are fitted near the front of the glacis, along with a towing cable and a V-shaped bow deflector in front of the driver’s central hatch. Side skirts with moulded-in flexible lower sections are fitted to the fenders, adding a two-part exhaust curving down over the left side of the deck, then making the aft towing cable from three parts for installation around the rear of the engine deck, with a folded tarpaulin on the opposite side to the exhaust. The turret is roughly circular and is made from top and bottom halves, inserting the gun tube plus hollow muzzle, and two-part blast-bag into the slot in the front, and fitting the commander’s cupola with optional open rear-portion of the hatch, plus the gunner’s hatch that can also be posed open or closed. A searchlight with separate lens is mounted on the front of the cupola, a deep-wading snorkel on the left side, two multi-part stowage boxes on stand-off brackets, and several lifting hooks. The next step is building the DShK anti-aircraft machine gun from a breech with moulded-in barrel, ammo box, elevation mechanism, and what appears to be a rear-view mirror that can be fitted in two positions. It is glued to the rear of the commander’s cupola, fitting seven smoke discharger tubes on the left and four on the right of the gun’s mantlet, which slide into slots moulded into the turret armour. A searchlight is put together from two parts, plus a yoke, adding a linkage to the barrel that focuses the beam where the gun is aimed. Another small light or what appears to be a roll of comms wire are optionally mounted on the left side of the turret, locking it to the hull on the two bayonet lugs moulded into the ring. Markings There are three decal options included on the small sheet in various schemes of different operators, and from the box you can build one of the following: Nationale Volksarmee, 9. Panzerdivision, DDR, Eggesin, East Germany, 1990 Polish Army, 16th Mechanised Infantry Division, Elblang, NATO Exercise ‘Anakonda’, 2010 First batch of Ex-Polish T-72M1s, donated to Ukraine Army, Krywyj Rih, May 2022 The decals are printed in Italy with good registration, sharpness and colour density, plus a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It has been a while since this variant last hit the shelves, and with good detail for the scale, some interesting decal options and Carrera Revell’s distribution network, it should sell well. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Airbus A330-300 (03816) Lufthansa New Livery 1:144 Carrera Revell Airbus Industries began working on a larger wide-bodied passenger jet in the 1970s, naming it the A330 that would be initially available as the A330-300, taking orders toward the end of the 80s, and flying for the first time toward the end of 1992, arriving with its first customer some two years later. It is available with three choices of engines from GE, Pratt & Witney, and Rolls-Royce, all capable of carrying over 270 passengers more than 7,000 miles without refuelling. The shorter -200 series was made available soon after, with an even longer range due to its reduction in weight and carriage ability, while the -300 received an upgrade in 2010 that allowed it compete with the Boeing Dreamliner, adding 2 tonnes to its maximum take-off weight, a small increase in range, and more than a tonne more cargo. Further improvements followed as technology advanced, and there are now over 700 airframes based on the A330-300 airframe in service with many carriers. If you expand that to the rest of the A330 series, that number increases substantially, including the new A330-743L Beluga XL, which will eventually replace the original Beluga when those airframes reach the end of their lifespan. There are also standard cargo A330s, and military variants that perform transport and air-to-air refuelling tanker duties, their number increasing over time. The Kit The original boxing of this kit was released in 1992, and has been re-released with new decals on several occasions, this being the latest, depicting Lufthansa’s new livery, with a blue diagonal band wrapping around the tail and rear fuselage, and the Lufthansa logo written in large text above the passenger windows behind the cockpit. The kit arrives in a long end-opening box with a painting of the subject travelling away from us above the clouds, and inside are seven sprues in different shades of white styrene, a small clear sprue, a large sheet of decals, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on matt paper. Detail is typical of a modern airliner kit, especially the more recent engines that are included with the kit, which have finely engraved details plus delicate fan blades front and rear, and the option for a wheels-down or in-flight pose. The model is further enhanced by the new decals that include window frames, doors and use metallic inks to portray the swash-plates for the tail and other features. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is single-part tub with moulded-in seats, plus a rear bulkhead that has two doors moulded-in, which is odd. Little will be seen through the windows though, and there are no paint call-outs for this area, but the interior of the fuselage is indicated as being painted a light grey. The nose gear bay must be built before the fuselage halves can be closed, building it from a C-shaped roof and two side walls that trap a five-part gear leg in place, sliding one wheel with a long axle through the lower end, and plugging it into the hole in the back of the other wheel, leaving it free to rotate if you wish. It is glued in behind the cockpit, adding 15g of nose weight to prevent a tail-sitter, then cementing the two main gear bays into the mid-fuselage, after which the fuselage halves can be closed, inserting the belly panel during closure, and deciding whether you need to open the hole under the rear for the clear anti tail-sitting rod, which is a strange time to do this as you have the opportunity to insert nose-weight. Maybe a dot of paint could be applied on the outside of the fuselage to mark the location in case it is needed later. The cut-outs in the belly are filled with three inserts, adding a pair of antennae behind them, then fixing a close-fitting part around the nose gear leg, which has an engraved line down the centre to depict the two doors. The open parts of the doors are fitted vertically to each side of the strut, adding two swept antennae to the rear of the bay. The wings are built from upper and lower parts, adding four flap actuator fairings to the underside, the innermost one on each wing made from two parts, taking care to arrange them correctly. They are slotted into the root fairings on each side of the fuselage and glued in position, ensuring to obtain the correct dihedral until the glue is cured. The engines hung under the wings are next on the list, building the inner structure from two halves with the engine rear trapped inside, adding an internal trunk around the fan section, then putting the two front fan stages into the centre. More trunking is fitted in front of the fan section, creating the intake tunnel, then the external cowling halves with moulded-in pylon are closed around it, completing the assembly. A tiny sensor is provided that attaches to the outer cowling at an angle, as shown in a scrap diagram nearby, which also shows the flat lower portion of the otherwise circular intake, which is designed to allow adequate clearance from the runway. The engines are handed, and are attached via pegs to slots under the wings, adding wingtip finlets that help improve fuel economy on long flights. To build the model in-flight, the landing gear steps are skipped, and alternative gear bay door parts are inserted in their place. The gear-down option requires making two handed gear legs from T-shaped struts, adding two brake fixtures on each side that are linked by a bar, inserting the twin wheels into two axles, one of which has a long axle while the other has a hole in the back, avoiding gluing the axles if you wish to leave them mobile. Three additional retraction jacks are added to each gear leg before they are installed in their respective bays, gluing two bay doors to the outer face of the struts. The elevators are each made from two parts, and it might be worth considering leaving them loose until after decaling to make applying the swash-plate decals easier, as the elevator pegs pass through them. The model is completed by inserting the windscreen at the front, adding a pair of antennae to the spine, and gluing a cap on the tip of the tail. The last step shows the use of the clear rod that is a prop in the event of a tail-sitter due to insufficient nose weight, or the forgetting of same. Markings There is one decal option provided on the large sheet, and the paint code for the Lufthansa blue tail is a mixture of two Revell codes, which could prove tricky and inconsistent if you’re not used to mixing paint, or don’t use Revell acrylic paints. A little research turned up a Revell Lufthansa Blue with a code of #36350 in their Aqua range that seems to be widely available in the UK at least, which begs the question “why suggest a mix?”. Revell’s enamel range also has a suitable shade in their range, #32350 Lufthansa Blue, but not everyone will use enamels due to their comparative toxicity and long drying time. Someone is bound to pop up with some alternative suggestions from other acrylic brands however, so worry not. From the box you can build the following: Decals are designed by DACO Products and printed by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. There is a note on the profiles that advise that a decal (#22) matches the outline of the door moulded into the kit, while a more accurately sized door decal has been included (#23) for those wishing to use it after sanding away the incorrectly sized door. The same note is applicable to the opposite side, using decals #16 and #17. Another note states that an EU flag was applied to aircraft from early 2020 onward, which is typical of the high level of research carried out by DACO. Conclusion The A330-300 is a large aircraft even at 1:144, and this model depicts it well, ably assisted by the decals and more recent parts. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Star Wars: Mandalorian – Speeder Bike (06786) 1:12 Carrera Revell We’ve probably all heard of Star Wars, the three trilogies, the spin-off films and now under the auspices of the massive Disney corporation, we are being treated to some television series on their streaming service Disney+ that are bringing back some of the magic that perhaps had been lost, or at least dulled over the years under the helmsmanship of J J Abrams. The Mandalorian series reached our screens in 2019, right around the time the Covid-19 pandemic first hit, and it has helped keep us Star Wars fans entertained for three seasons now, with a fourth in the offing for 2024, hopefully. It has brought us new characters into the much-loved Star Wars universe such as the Mandalorian, Din Djarin himself, Grogu the baby Yoda, and it has reintroduced the previously reviled but nevertheless popular Boba Fett, who seems to have mellowed and become more well-rounded during his short time being digested in the Sarlacc Pit, and had his own series on the strength of his cameo performance in season 2, as has Anakin Skywalker’s former Padawan (pre-lava bath), Ahsoka, who now has her own spin-off. Even Luke Skywalker has made a brief appearance at the end of season 2, heavily de-aged using CGI and an actor with a similar physique to his younger self to fit in with the show’s timeline of being set just after Return of the Jedi. Speeder Bikes of various designs have made several appearances in the new show, some more familiar than others, but all taking a similar form that was established by the original Speeder Bikes that Han and Leia encountered in the forests of Endor toward the climax of Return of the Jedi. Imperials like to standardise their gear, and have a specialised force called Scout Troopers, who have lighter armour than their Stormtrooper colleagues, riding 74-Z speeder bike that don’t need wheels thanks to Repulsorlift technology. Two Scout Troopers on slightly revised post-Empire white bikes snatched little Grogu after he was dropped by Kuiil (Nick Nolte) when he was ambushed and killed on the planet Nevarro. The Kit This is a new tooling from Revell, who hold the Star Wars licensing rights in Europe and the US, creating new kits and reboxing kits from Bandai, who have the rights for other territories in the Far East. The kit arrives in an end-opening box that has a group of Mandalorians peering over the top right corner of the art work, including Din Djarin as we now know him. Inside are three sprues and a base plate in white styrene, one sprue in black, another larger sprue in grey, and a small clear sprue that contains two supports for the model when complete. The instruction booklet is printed in colour, and has profiles for painting and decaling on the rear pages, with a decal sheet and safety leaflet tucked inside. Detail is good, but this is definitely a Revell tooling, as the rider figure isn’t an articulated action-figure, and the bike is built in a very different way to the Bandai kit, which I have on a shelf above my desk. Construction begins with the Scout Trooper figure, who has an articulated head, the mechanism for which is built from two halves that are then trapped within the two-part helmet sides with separate top dome, plus an insert for the ‘mask’ and a separate lens part that sits inside the helmet’s cowl, so that it can be painted separately if you wish to achieve a neat demarcation. Each of his arms is made from two halves, as is the torso, which has the upper legs moulded-in. The arms are trapped between the torso halves during closure, and the head is pushed onto the ball-joint at the top, fitting rear cuirass armour and waist cummerbund at the rear, adding the prominent hump with control panel to the cuirass, and a two-part belt with ribbed tubing below. Front armour and two-part cummerbund are added to the front, fixing pouches and belts around his waist, linking the front and rear belt sections with a pair of two-part assemblies. Additional armour is added to pegs on the upper arms, elbows, and knees, with a few decals applied after painting, then the legs are extended by adding two-part boot-tops to each one, putting a holster for the two-part pistol on the outer face of the right boot. The feet are separate parts, and are first fitted to the foot pegs before they’re installed at the end of the trooper’s legs. Supports for the foot pegs are built from two C-shaped parts that are spaced apart by short bars, painting and setting this assembly aside until later. The forward empennage is moulded as a single detailed part, and is shown for painting purposes initially. Before adding another assembly to the front that holds the diagonal steering(?) vanes, building it from three parts, and locking it in place with a plate from below, then fixing the vanes to the rods, and applying some small decals to all the vanes, after painting of course. A cylindrical intake assembly is next, built from four parts and installed under the left half of the main chassis member, linking it with pipes and corrugated tubing, adding more hoses to the opposite chassis half, and bringing them together with a ribbed plate inserted into a gap in the underside. Twin semi-circular exhausts are found on the rear bulkhead, adding detailing parts to each one, and a quartet of nozzles into the centre, again setting it aside for later installation. A rectangular plate has a probe and link wire fitted to it that is used to cover the workings at the base of the forward empennage painted earlier once it has been mated with the chassis, adding another part underneath. The bodyshell of the bike is almost fully moulded as one part, shown again for overall painting, plus detail painting and decaling of the control panel in front of the rider, which has a small panel inserted to the left side. Although it’s not immediately clear from the drawing, the chassis is inverted to add cowlings to the sides of the engine bulges, slotting the bulkhead made earlier into the rear, and adding a pair of vanes that clip into place without glue at the bottom to remain mobile, and while the model is still inverted, the bodywork is mated with the chassis, telling you to drill out two holes in the rear for ‘Version B’, which is doesn’t mention again until over the page. Version B has the Scout’s bag attached behind him on the aft deck, while Version A has baby Grogu in a different bag slung round the rider’s shoulders. The bike is flipped right-side up, and the rider is attached on a slot in the moulded-in seat, and his foot pegs are attached to the supports that were made earlier, which click into position on two friction-fit clips beneath the chassis. The rider’s hands have the grips moulded-in, which need to be attached to the model, first using a pair of flimsy styrene wires that slip into holes in the cowling and at the outer ends of the grips, and firming up the assembly with sturdy two-part arms on each side. If you are modelling Version A, a nicely moulded Grogu is made from two halves, and once painted is trapped between the two haves of the bag, locating him on a pair of pegs in the rear, which has two closure tabs glued onto the top flap, and is held in place by the shoulder strap that is wrapped around the trooper, and attaches to the bag on two pegs, locating it on the rider’s hip. Version B has the single-part bag fitted on the back of the bike on the holes drilled earlier, and no Grogu. There’s no excuse not to use him, unless you’re going retro and building a Jedi variant. To display the model hovering on its repulsors as it does in the show, a rectangular stand is included, which has rocks and sand textures moulded in, and two clear supports that are inserted into the holes near the front and back. The bike and rider rest on the two flat topped supports, which have small raised edges to reduce the likelihood of it falling off for any reason. Markings Unlike the Return of the Jedi speeder bikes, these post-Empire examples have white bodywork, but the riders are ostensibly the same as before, although everything is a little more careworn and beaten up now that the endless resources the Empire once commanded have evaporated. The decal designers have borne this in mind, and most of the decal sheet consists of decals of scratches and scuffs in grey that you can apply if you wish. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This is a good representation of the Imperial Speeder Bike, with the option of painting and depicting it as it appeared in RotJ, or in its more recent appearance in The Mandalorian. Use Grogu at your whim, but make sure you paint his cute little face well. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Ford Mustang 60 Years (05647) 1:24 Carrera Revell Ford’s Pony Car was first introduced in 1964, and immediately struck a chord with the American car-buying public, claiming a place in motoring history as it did so. The lineage became known as ‘Pony Cars’, which extends all the way to today with the seventh generation, as at time of writing. The progenitor was a much simpler car from a simpler time when the upper working and expanding middle-classes were relieved of their excess money by their innate desire to drive something sleek and fast. There were two variants at launch, including hardtop and a drop-top cabriolet, and they were joined by the Fastback later in ‘64. Ford’s chief engineer Donald N. Frey was responsible for the project, which began in ’62 and was chivvied along at board-level to ensure that the plug wasn’t pulled by the penny-pinchers with no imagination. The result was a relatively light, powerful four-seater with a price limit to keep the more ambitious designers in check, using the Ford Falcon chassis as a base to keep costs down, and after a competition between the various Ford in-house design departments, the Ford design was chosen, as it appealed to men and women, adding a little European flair to the bodyshell, whilst keeping it palatable for home audiences. It also got a new badge, dropping the Cougar project name, taking on the Mustang name, and adopting the prancing horse that’s now legendary. The first Mustangs were given 1965 VIN numbers, and this led their fans to call them the 64 ½ Mustang, running with various engine sizes from 2.8L to 4.7L, three-speed manual and automatic gearboxes, plus a four-speed manual box. From outset its appeal was obvious, receiving 22,000 pre-orders, and selling almost 1.3 million cars in the first two years. The original Pony Car and its descendants have changed the way Americans view their cars immensely over the years, and I wouldn’t mind one of the new ones myself, if I had a few shekels to spare, as they’re now officially available in the UK. The Kit This is a reboxing with new decals of the 1985 tooling by Revell, which is backed up by the raised lettering on the underside of the interior tub of the model. The kit arrives in an end-opening box, and inside are five sprues and the bodyshell in white styrene, another sprue that has been chrome-plated over white styrene, a small clear sprue, decal sheet, and instruction booklet that is printed in colour with profiles for the decal option to the rear. This is a special boxing that depicts a single car for its 60th anniversary, which is an amazing length of time for a car and its name to continue in production. It is an old kit, but has good detail, and time has been kind to the moulds, including a full engine, underside details and the interior, plus of course the revised bodyshell and other parts that make this a convertible. As it’s a special edition, there are six thumb-pots of acrylic paint in various colours, a 12.5g bottle of Revell Contacta Professional cement, and a #2 Revell paintbrush with a thick coating of starch keeping the bristles safe from harm, which worked well in this instance. Construction begins with the engine, two parts for the block and integrated transmission, adding multi-part detail inserts top and bottom, fitting two cylinder-heads and their rocker-covers, then accessorising it with alternator/generator, serpentine belt, fan and manifolds, exhausting four cylinders per bank. The under-tray of the vehicle is then outfitted with the front axle with suspension moulded-in, twin exhausts that exit at the rear, and the rear axle, which has extremely ‘hi-tech’ leaf-springs and the drive-shaft moulded-in, then has a pair of dampers fixed between them and the chassis to reduce rebound, installing the engine between the chassis rails at the front, joining the down-pipes from the manifolds to the exhausts, and the drive-shaft to the transmission. The interior is begun by applying six dial decals to the instrument binnacle, and another decal for the boss in the centre of the wheel. The two binnacle components are glued into position, fitting the steering column with moulded-in stalks, and the steering wheel, adding a cranked shifter to the centre console, and creating two front seats from two parts each. The dash and console are installed first, adding the seats on their twin pegs next, before installing the interior and the windscreen with rear-view mirror into the bodyshell, which most modellers will have painted by now. While the bodyshell is inverted, a pair of coil-over shocks are fitted into the front suspension towers, trapping them in position with the floorpan, after painting the struts red and the coils black, taking care to get the lines nice and straight. The instructions turn to the road wheels, inserting the two hubs from each side of the flexible black tyres, applying white rings around the outer faces of the tyres, and gluing the knock-on/knock-off retainers to the outer centre of the four hubs, which are all chromed. The vehicle’s front panel has the radiator core glued to it, adding a window to the soft-top, and a pair of chromed rear-light clusters and boot button to the rear, painting the lights with translucent red and orange as appropriate. The lower valance and bumper with moulded-in over-riders are attached under the boot lid, adding side-lights in chrome outboard of the over-riders. The radiator panel is slotted into the engine bay, adding a strut-brace between the strut towers, and fixing two ancillaries to the left bay wall, applying a decal to one of them. The face of the car has a pair of chrome light reflectors and clear lenses with mesh moulded-in, fitting the chromed radiator grille, and those go-faster stripes on the panel under the radiator, then doing the same to the front skirt, and mounting the bumper and side-lights beneath it. The bonnet has some detail moulded into the underside, but you’ll need to remove the ejector-pin marks in between them, applying the two go-faster stripes after painting, and fitting the air-box and radiator feeder-pipe into the engine bay, and painting the battery filler plugs orange, as batteries weren’t sealed back then, and needed a regular top-up with deionised water. The bonnet can be slipped into position without glue to leave it mobile, but you’ll need to scratch-build your own stay if you want to prop it open, or you can close it over the bay, dropping the pivots into two recesses in the bonnet sides. A two-part wing mirror is added to the driver’s door, but you have the luxury of a door handle on each door, and chromed intake trims are applied to the scalloped area on the rear panel. You have a choice of fitting a stowed roof that is a single C-shaped part, or the deployed roof made earlier, slotting the four wheels into the arches with or without glue, depending on your likelihood of driving it around when no-one’s looking. Markings There is just one decal option included on the sheet, which contains many double white stripes that are applied over the front and rear of the car. The other decals include logos, number plates, and the white rings around each of the tyres, as previously mentioned. You can of course paint the car any colour you like, but the instructions show it in a handsome blue with a white roof, which is covered by the pots of paint included in the box. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Whilst this isn’t the newest kit on the block, the detail is good, as are the decals, and it’s the original Mustang, which is appealing in itself. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Tiger I Vs T-34/85 (05655) Conflict of Nations Series I 1:72 Carrera Revell The Tiger tank was part of Hitler's obsession for bigger, heavier and stronger, which drove him to extraordinary and dizzying heights of impracticality at times, but in this case served him reasonably well. The goal was to mount the extremely powerful and accurate 88mm cannon used in the Flak 36 in a tank with sufficient armour to withstand any artillery round then-fielded by the enemy. This series of objectives were achieved, but at the cost of reliability and a prodigious thirst for fuel. It also made for some nervous bridge-crossings, as the finished article weighed in at almost 60 tonnes, which was too much for many smaller bridges of the day. A deep-water fording kit was created to get around that issue, allowing the tanks to ford streams and smaller rivers where the bridges or culverts wouldn’t take their weight. When it first reached the front it caused panic and heavy losses for the Allies, being capable of almost everything it was designed to do, including knocking out tanks long before the enemy's guns were able to get within range. Even when the Allies could get their own guns into range, it wasn't until they got much closer, almost to point-blank range, that they had any measurable chance of crippling or destroying the mighty Tiger, especially during frontal engagements, where a shot might just ricochet off harmlessly. The Tiger underwent constant changes throughout production to improve performance, fix problems, simplify and cheapen construction, but these are generally lumped together into early, middle or late productions for the sake of the remaining sanity of us modellers. The T-34 was Stalin's mainstay medium tank that was produced in huge numbers by sometimes crude and expedient methods, to be thrown into the fray against the numerically inferior German tanks on the Eastern Front, sometimes even before the paint was fully dry. The designers combined several important advances in design such as sloped frontal armour, wide tracks to spread the ground load, and the ability to cope with the harsh Russian winters without freezing to a halt, which was a problem that affected the Germans badly after the initial 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 cramped 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 three-man turret, giving even the Tiger pause for thought. The Kit This is a new boxing of two Revell kits in a special edition that includes a diorama backdrop printed on some of the surfaces, two kits, six thumb-pots of acrylic paint, a bottle of Contacta cement with a precision applicator tube, and a #2 paint brush. The book that gives the box serious weight is perfect-bound with a predominantly black cover, and the usual colour instruction booklet is provided, with the decals for both models on one sheet slipped inside. These aren’t the simplified easy-click kits we’ve seen from Revell under the World of Tanks banner, but is the 1997 tooling of the Tiger, and their T-34/85 from 2002, and while they are relatively long-in-the-tooth, the detail still holds up to scrutiny for the scale. The book is written by Alexander Lüdeke, and extends to 80 pages of dual-language text, German in black, and English in blue, with plenty of photographs that include dual-language captions, several charts, diagrams and drawings that should prove entertaining. Many of the photos are black & white due to their age, but there are some modern and contemporary photos in colour scattered throughout the book, which covers both the tanks and how they were used in battle against each other during WWII. The package is of high quality, utilising thick card for the exterior, and the kits are both hidden under pull-up areas of the interior, which holds the paints, glue and brush in situ centrally during shipping and storage, with the book resting on the interior card and the instructions between them. Tiger I This kit consists of four sprues of grey styrene of varying sizes, and includes link-and-length tracks, individual wheels, and detailed exterior. Construction begins with the lower hull, which is made from the floor and two sides initially, adding the interleaved wheels to the moulded-in axles after painting the rubber tyres and hubs the main colour, building the drive sprockets and idler wheels from two parts each, fitting them on the ends of the wheel runs. The tracks are link-and-length as mentioned, consisting of long flat sections and shorter sections for the diagonals under the front and rear, and two sections across the top run to create the contour of the sag behind the drive sprocket. Individual links are used around the ends of the track runs, using six at the front and five at the rear. The rear of the hull is a broad T-shaped part that has chunky exhaust stacks and Feifel air-filters applied, covering the exhausts with a faceted shroud with louvres at the top that this reviewer hasn’t seen before. A jack is sited under the right double-filter box, installing the bulkhead in the rear of the hull and inserting two towing shackles on the torch-cut ends of the hull sides. The upper hull with engine deck insert are added next, fixing two more towing shackles to the ends of the sides, then linking up the filters with two pairs of snaking hoses, adding mudguards to both ends of the fenders. Skirts are glued to the sides of the hull, and the top deck has two towing cables (A must for the unreliable Tiger), and a choice of two styles of headlamps, one on each side of the hull. Some detail painting is undertaken on the moulded-in tools at the front, although this can be left until later if you’re not ready to apply paint yet. The turret sides are two parts that are joined together around the mantlet, removing a flashed-over hole for the shell-ejection port at the rear right, then sliding the barrel into the shroud that’s moulded into the mantlet. If you’re going for more accuracy, you can drill out the tip of the barrel, carefully opening the flash-hider with a drill that will allow the imaginary shells to leave the barrel. If you leave the mantlet unglued, the barrel can be left to elevate, unless you’d prefer to fix it in position for posterity. The turret roof needs three holes drilling in the top, fitting it over the sides and adding a mushroom vent near the rear, plus a one-part stowage box on the back. The commander’s cupola fills the hole in the roof, with an option of opening or closing the hatch, then fitting triple-barrel smoke dischargers to slots near the front of the turret, then filling the holes on the sides with spare track links, or filling them with putty if you prefer. A small tapering part is installed on the two holes in front of the moulded-in gunner’s hatch, fitting it to the body using the bayonet lugs moulded into the ring. The final parts are an additional towing cable on the left side of the hull, and six spare links in sets of three on each side of the vertical glacis plate. Markings There are two decal options on the sheet, both with a dark yellow (dunkelgelb) base coat that has either brown and green camouflage or a brown splinter pattern. From the box you can build one of the following: Battle of Berlin – April/May 1945 Panzer-Division Müncheberg Battle on Ostfront – 1944 Panzergrenadier-Division Großdeutschland Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. T-34/85 This kit is moulded on three sprues of grey styrene, and includes similar detail levels to the Tiger kit, and has link-and-length tracks with good detail moulded into the parts. Construction begins with the road wheels, which are paired, as are the idlers and drive sprockets, installing them on the hull sides that are separate at this stage. The link-and-length tracks are fitted around the road wheels, using longer lengths on the underside, a three-part assembly on the top, and short diagonal lengths under the ends. Seven individual links are used around the front, with another five at the rear to complete the track runs. The completed hull sides are applied to the blank sides of the hull, fitting towing shackles to the rear bulkhead before fitting it, and closing the hull by gluing the upper to the lower, before adding details such as the bow-mounted machine gun, additional towing shackles, spare track links on the glacis, exhausts and armoured protectors at the rear, towing cables on the left side, followed by four curved supports on the right hull, and another two on the left, accepting three four-part fuel tanks that were often seen on Soviet tanks of the era. Grab-rails are mounted on the engine deck and hull sides, three stacks of grousers, a couple of stowage boxes, headlight and two-man saw are also festooned around the hull. The turret upper is moulded as an almost complete part, adding a pair of inserts to the lower cheeks, then trapping the mantlet between it and the lower turret without using glue to leave it mobile. A cylindrical cupola has a choice of open or closed hatches, with another flush hatch for the gunner, and three grab-rails are inserted into holes around the three sides of the turret, finishing off by rotating it to lock in place on the bayonet lugs moulded into the ring. Markings Two decal options are included, both in Russian green, one with substantial white edging and a cross on the turret, the other with a lower-profile marking set that consists of one white decal on each side of the turret. From the box you can build one of the following: Battle of Berlin April/May 1945 – 95th Tank Brigade, 9th Tank Corps Battle of Ostfront 1944 – Unknown Unit, 3rd Belorussian Front Conclusion Two good kits of important players in WWII, especially on the Eastern Front, and the book should prove interesting to anyone with a grasp of English or German and tanks. The price might hold it back from selling well initially however, but that should reduce as time goes by when reality sets in. Recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

The Mandalorian N-1 Starfighter (06787) 1:24 Carrera Revell We’ve all heard of Star Wars, the three trilogies, the spin-off films and now under the auspices of the massive Disney corporation, we are being treated to some television series on their streaming service Disney+ that are bringing back some of the magic that perhaps had been lost, or at least dulled over the years under the helmsmanship of J J Abrams. The Mandalorian series reached our screens in 2019, right around the time the Covid-19 pandemic first hit, and it has helped keep us Star Wars fans entertained for three seasons now, with a fourth in the offing for 2024, hopefully. It has brought us new characters into the much-loved Star Wars universe such as the Mandalorian, Din Djarin himself, Grogu the baby Yoda, and it has reintroduced the previously reviled but nevertheless popular Boba Fett, who seems to have mellowed and become more well-rounded during his short time being digested in the Sarlacc Pit, and has now got his own series on the strength of his cameo performance in season 2, as has former Padawan of pre-lava bath Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka. Even Luke Skywalker has made a brief appearance at the end of season 2, heavily de-aged using CGI and an actor with a similar physique to his younger self to fit in with the show’s timeline of being set just after Return of the Jedi. At the end of Season 2, the original ship that carried Din Djarin around the universe, the Razor Crest, was obliterated by Mof Gideon’s cruiser, in a scene that had my jaw genuinely dropping, mostly with sadness. Mando made it off the planet and back to Tatooine with some help from Boba Fett where he met up again with Peli Motto, who with some help from her fold-up droids and those light-fingered Jawas, fixed them up with a heavily modified Naboo N-1 starfighter that had a special feature that gives it a remarkable turn of speed when activated. As Din isn’t all that fond of droids, the Astromech socket was removed to make space for little Grogu to sit while they travel, with a clear dome keeping the cold of space at bay, whilst giving him a bird’s eye view of the space outside the canopy. The Kit This is a new tooling from Carrera Revell, who hold the license to produce kits of the Star Wars franchise outside the Far East, although the manufacturer in the Far East seems to have become rather quite of late. The kit arrives in a large end-opening box with a painting of the N-1 in combat over some Star Wars landscape, and inside the box are eight sprues of grey styrene, a sprue of clear parts, decal sheet, and the instructions, which are printed in colour on matt finished paper. Detail is good, as this is a large kit, and much of it is moulded into the seventy-seven parts inside the box, including crew figures of the Mandolorian and Grogu (baby Yoda). A stand is also provided in crystal clear styrene, although you may wish to decorate the base with some kind of landscaping material. Construction begins by making up two engine structures from halves, adding a compressor face to the front, and a toroidal bulkhead to the rear, plus inserting L-shaped hoses joining the engine to the bulkhead, with plenty of detail painting to be done in between stages. Two detail inserts are fabricated from panels with half of two cylindrical shapes moulded-in, thickened with additional halves and more detail painting to be done. The engines are installed in the tip fairings of the wings after painting the interior, and the detail inserts are applied to the undersides, putting the finished assemblies to one side for a time. Din Djarin is supplied as a seated figure, his body and legs made from front and back halves, adding a two-part head and detail decals to his torso, and deciding whether you wish to pose Grogu in the cockpit on Mando’s knee, or in his observation blister behind. To place him in the cockpit, leave the tab on Mando’s right thigh, mounting the single-part Grogu onto it and applying decals for his eyes and the upper folds of his ears. If you wish to pose Grogu in the blister, cut off the tab and make good the knee before painting and decaling Mando. Din’s arms are separate, and have flight control handgrips moulded-in, with more detail painting and decals applied in various areas on his forearm and shoulder pauldrons, plus two tiny extra decals on his helmet’s ear fairings. The ship’s cabin is moulded into a large insert that also includes detail that will be seen around it, so detail painting is a must before you proceed. The sidewalls are separate, and these too are detailed with decals after painting, as is the rear bulkhead, adding them all to their tabs within the cockpit area once completed. The instrument panel and coaming are moulded as one, applying five decals to the panel and coaming before it and Mando are inserted, gluing some lozenge-shaped cut decals to the soles of his feet, possibly to represent foot pedals – I’m not entirely sure, as it’s not a place I’ve thought to look while watching the show. Mando and the panel are then dropped into position in the cockpit, each with their own location sockets and tabs. The fuselage upper is a large part, and must be partly painted inside before it is utilised, especially around the lips where greeblies and details will be seen. The two upper wings and the engine nacelles are placed into the lower wings by use of several turrets and pins, adding a curved fairing around the roots, which locates on tabs with pins and holes on the underside. The N-1’s skeletal tail fairing is clipped into the upper fuselage on a similar tab and pin, with detail painting shown, and a scrap diagram showing the relationship between the parts. If you plan on inserting Grogu into the viewing blister, he is supplied again and a two-part head and body assembly, using the same decals for the other figure, but as there are two sets, you could simply build both for giggles, or use one in a different situation. He attaches to the floor of his area on two pins, then is inserted with Grogu or a deeper turret without him from the inside of the upper hull, as is the main canopy, which is crystal clear, and locates on a pair of tabs from inside without glue so that it can slide back and forth into position. The cockpit assembly is fitted over it from within, locking the canopy into position, so make sure everything is properly finished before you mate these two assemblies. The N-1 is a cut-down ‘roadster’ of a ship, and has areas without panels covering the equipment within, either for weight-saving or aesthetic purposes, and two of these can be found in the nose just in front of the cockpit, inserting two bays on tabs into the upper hull once detail painting is complete. The two engine nacelles are covered with framework where some panels were removed, allowing the viewer to see the engines within, while some moulded-in details are also painted to give further impression of layered detail. If you have fitted Grogu, his clear blister snaps into position over him and the floor, but if you have decided to put him in the cockpit with Mando, there is a tapered head of an Astromech droid with a couple of decals applied to fill the space. A two-part set of greeblies with a circular ‘air-box’ on top is fitted to a depression in front of the main canopy, wrapping a grille decal around the air-box in two parts, with a little more detail painting pointed out between it and the canopy. The engine nacelles have tapered tips with a long tail, which is made from two halves and is fitted to a tapering cylindrical part, then is in-turn fitted behind the engines, with a short tapering intake with stator blades moulded-into the front. Two auxiliary intakes mounted above and below the main intake are painting black to imply greater depth. Over the nose, a pair of blaster cannons are inserted into troughs in the skin, with a proton torpedo launcher barrel moulded under the nose. Under the tapering tail, a hyperdrive capable engine fairing is built from a two-part tube with fairing, and a set of exhaust petals are detail painted in various shades, painting the skeletal tail fairing at the same time. This ‘stinger’ is further extended by the addition of a beam and framework underneath, plus some silver/black stripe decals. All that is left to build is the stand, which is made from four clear parts, comprising three supports and a raised plate into which they plug, with shaped tips to provide additional stability to the model. Markings The N-1 is a unique creation, and although it was based upon the Naboo Starfighters of the prequel era there is only one decal option suitable, unless you’re doing your own paint scheme. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This builds into a large well-detailed model, and while it won’t match scale with most other Star Wars kits you have, it is easy to build, and should build into a creditable replica of this new ship. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Dassault Mirage 2000C (03813) 1:48 Carrera Revell The Mirage family of fighter aircraft began in the late 1950s as a brainchild of Marcel Dassault, using the delta wing format and having no horizontal tail surfaces. The Mirage 2000 is the final mainstream (ignoring the Mirage 4000, which did not see service) 4th generation development of the general concept before adoption of the Rafale by the French Air Force in 2000. The C in the title for the fighter stands for Chasseur or Hunter. As well as two internal 30mm DEFA cannon the aircraft is armed in the air-to-air role with Matra R550 Magic, Matra Super 530D, and MBDA MICRA Missiles. In addition to the Mirage C there is a two-seat B model trainer, N model that has Nuclear Strike capability, and D model Ground attack version, all of which saw service with the French Air Force. Mirage 2000 aircraft have also been sold to Egypt, India, Peru, The UEA, Greece, Tiawan, Brazil, and Qatar, many of which are still in use, although at time of writing, Greece retired theirs a couple of years ago. The Kit This is a reboxing by Carrera Revell of a Monogram kit that was first issued in 1982, and was later upgraded with some weapons, most notably the Exocet missiles, and a one-piece lower wing. The kit arrives in a shallow end-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front, and inside there are four sprues in grey styrene that don’t have the modern runners around the edges to protect the parts from damage or accidental removal during handling. There is also a small clear sprue, a wide decal sheet and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on matt paper, with painting and decaling instructions on the rear pages. Detail is reasonable for the era, although the panel lines on the underside of the wings are engraved because of their later tooling date, while the rest are raised, which might make a little extra work for the modeller if the urge takes them it rescribe the rest. There is a little flash here and there, but much of it is on the sprues, although a little is also present on the parts, but flash is easily removed, and is preferable to short-shot parts on any day of the week. The clear parts are in good shape, although my sample had a little light scuffing on the canopy that could be sanded and polished away with little effort. Construction begins with the cockpit tub, adding the instrument panel in the front, building the Martin-Baker Mk.10 seat from three parts, and adding decal seatbelts before installing it in the sloped rear of the cockpit along with the control column. There is also a crew figure that is moulded mostly in one part, with a separate right arm for the control column that should allow it to be positioned accurately on the control column. The pilot’s back is hollow to help reduce the likelihood of sink-marks on the figure, and to assist in a close fit to the seat or waving to someone if you prefer. The fuselage halves have sidewall detail moulded into their inner surfaces, and these should be painted before the cockpit tub is glued to the starboard side, and the walls of the nose gear bay beneath are inserted underneath and into the port side, so that the fuselage can be closed and the seamlines dealt with in your preferred manner. The clear windscreen and HUD glass parts are fitted to the front of the cockpit opening, then the assembly is put to one side while the wings are built. The lower wing is moulded as a single full-span part that also has portions of the lower fuselage moulded-in, gluing the upper wings over the top, and then unusually moving on to the making of the main landing gear before it is joined to the fuselage. Each gear leg comprises a single strut with retraction jack added, and two-part wheels glued to the stub axle at the lower end, fitting the captive bay doors next to the strut on the outer edge of the bay. It’s probably wise to skip ahead and join the fuselage to the wings before doing this, but the instructions blunder on with the weaponry next, making a large three-part finned fuel tank for under the centreline, a couple of Exocet missiles on custom pylons, and a pair of Magic A2A missile on their own pylons on the outer stations. This is where the two assemblies are joined in the instructions, and good luck dealing with any seamlines without knocking any of the weapons or gear legs off if you followed the instructions! The single SNECMA M53-P2 engine is not depicted, but the afterburner ring is trapped between a tapering length of trunking and exhaust petals, which slides into the rear of the fuselage under the tail once completed, and to avoid any possibility of see-through effect, the four holes in the trunking ‘plant pot’ would be best filled with styrene sheet or something similar. At the intake end, the blanked off fronts of the nacelles either side of the cockpit have a two-part intake with shock-cone on the inner face, and a strake added at an angle to the horizontal on the outer surface, with a scrap diagram helping you get the angle right. If you followed the instructions, your Mirage is lying nose down on the table at this stage, which is about to be rectified by the addition of nose gear, which is moulded as a single strut and retraction jack, which has a pair of trapezoidal landing lights added, one on each side of the strut, and two single part wheels, one on each side of the short cross-axle. This plugs into sockets in the shallow bay, then it’s a case of adding the various probes and sensors around the model, one on each side of the fin, two at an angle in front of the windscreen, plus another in the centre, and the pitot probe at the very tip of the nose cone. The final act is to decide whether you want to pose the canopy open or closed by gluing the tab at the rear of the part into a slot behind the cockpit at an angle or otherwise. Markings There are two decal options on the wide sheet, both wearing the same basic scheme, but one with special markings to set it apart from its in-service colleague. From the box you can build one of the following: Mirage 2000C/RDM EC 1/2 ‘Cigognes’ Dijon, France, 1994 Mirage 2000C/RD EC 5/330 ‘Côte D’Argent’, Centre D’Experimentations Aeriennes Militaires EM AA Monte-de-Marsan, Tigermeet 1996, Beja, Portugal Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s not the newest kit in the world, and you might want to consider rescribing the raised panel lines if you’re so inclined, but there are some good decal options to make this old kit more appealing. Recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Leopard 2A6M+ (03342) 1:35 Carrera Revell The Leopard 2 is the successor to the earlier Leopard Main Battle Tank (MBT), and was developed in the 70s, entering service just before the turn of the decade. The initial design had a vertical faced turret front, while later editions had improved angled armour applied to the turret front that gives the tank a more aggressive look and provides much better protection from an increased likelihood of deflecting incoming rounds away. It has all the technical features of a modern MBT, including stabilised main gun for firing on the move, thermal imaging, and advanced composite armour, making it a world-class contender as one of the best tanks on the market. The original Leopard 2 variant entered service in 1979, but has been through several upgrades through its service life and the current production variant is the highly advanced 2A7+, with the 2A8 waiting in the wings. The 2A6 is still a powerful battlefield resource however, and likely to be so for some considerable time. It sports the Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore gun with the barrel extended over the A5, which results in a higher muzzle velocity that improves its penetration power over its predecessor, allowing it to reach targets at a greater range and hit harder. It also has an armoured ammunition storage space in the turret that is engineered to blow outward in the event of a detonation of munitions, which again improves the crew survivability further. For close-in defence they are fitted with an MG3 machine gun, and the armour is installed to give it an arrow-head front profile to the turret, as well as several more subtle upgrades that follow on from the 2A5. Sales of the Leopard 2 have been good overseas because of its reputation, and Canada, Turkey, Spain and many Nordic countries use it as well as many other smaller operators. The 2A6M is a mine-protected variant for use in asymmetric combat and in the likelihood that IEDs or mines have been planted to destroy the heavy armour before it can roll over their lightly protected positions. These were upgraded in the mid-2010s to the 2A7 standard, but due to monetary constraints only fifty vehicles were converted, only using the + designation until the completion of the programme in 2017. The upgrades involved new comms systems that include a field telephone on the rear bulkhead, replacement of the potentially dangerous Halon fire extinguishing system with a more environmentally friendly chemical system, as well as new sights for the commander and gunner, bringing them up to modern standards. The Kit This is a new boxing of Revell's 2012 tooling of this type, as evidenced by the raised copyright lettering on the inside of the floor pan. It arrives in an end-opening box, with a painting of the Leopard wearing European camouflage while another big cat, the Eurocopter Tiger flies behind it. Inside are eight sprues in grey styrene, in a welcome move away from the green Revell used to use in their AFV kits. There are also four sprues of flexible black plastic, plus four runs of track in the same material, and a clear sheet of acetate (not pictured – it’s invisible) that is marked as "window sheet" on the instructions. A short length of wire (not pictured) is taped to the instruction booklet, and the ends are quite sharp, so avoid stabbing yourself like I once did some years back. The decal sheet is hidden away in the centre of the booklet, and is protected by a sheet of thin greaseproof paper, as is the clear acetate. The kit is clearly a modern heritage, and has some nice detail on the outer hull, including patches of anti-slip coating on the main surfaces. The large circular cooling fans on the rear decking are particularly nicely done as separate parts, and should look well once painted. The odd splitting of the track could cause some issues however, as each track is made up from two halves that must be glued together before they can be fitted to the tank, but won’t react to normal styrene glue, so would be best done with super glue or epoxy glue, which would require the joint to remain relatively straight, so positioning them in the middle of the top and bottom track runs would be beneficial. Construction begins with the hull, which is built up from separate sides, held in alignment by two perforated bulkheads that sit in slots in the floor plan. An insert is added to the right rear side, completing the lower hull by fixing the rear bulkhead in place. The upper hull is mated with the lower, fitting a hatch on the right side, and one of the two circular cooling vents on the engine deck. Suspension details such as bump-stops, swing-arms with stub axles detail the hull sides, after which seven road wheel pairs are slipped over the axles on each side, and four return rollers per side. The idler wheels are smaller than the road wheels, and the drive sprockets are built from two separate toothed parts each. An appliqué armour panel is added to the underside of the tank, which improves its mine resistance, although unusually it doesn’t have an angled keel to deflect the blast like most other anti-mine packages. As mentioned earlier, the tracks are of the rubber-band type with nice detail, and if you can live with the curving of the links around the drive sprockets and idler wheels they should suffice. Each length is made from two sections, which have a generous four-link overlap and two pins on each link to strengthen the join. You are instructed to glue them with ordinary plastic adhesive, and you are recommended to clamp them together and wait until they are properly cured before handling them, but you’ll be in for a long wait, as I tested liquid glue and it had no melting effect. The pins are flush to the track pads on the outer face, so filling or hiding them under the fenders and against the ground would be advisable once you have attached them to the vehicle. The rear bulkhead of the vehicle has a large radiator grille running along the full width, which is a little shallow, but with some black paint in the recesses, should suffice for most modellers. A couple of turnbuckles are glued to the lower edge, and under the ends hang the two flexible mudguards that are made from the same plastic as the tracks, and the field telephone box with handle in the centre. Two other panels are fixed to either side, one with a bracket that receives the convoy light shield, applying a decal or painting the white cross by hand if you prefer. Three towing shackles and the rear light clusters finish the rear of the vehicle for now, installing the flexible towing cables with styrene eyes later. A set of pioneer tools are added to the rear deck, gluing barrel cleaning rods to the front deck, and the afore-mentioned towing ropes are fitted. If you're not happy with a mould-line running down your tow-ropes, now would be the time to replace it with some braided wire or cord, using the kit parts as a length template. Moving to the glacis plate, spare track links on a palette with the front hazard lights are installed, along with the usual shackles and headlights, followed by the driver’s hatch, which has detail inserts fixed front and rear. The fenders are integral to the top hull, and only the side-skirts need to be added. These are made from two basic parts on each side with tapering forward sections, and overlaying thicker appliqué armour over the front two road wheel stations and idler, plus the rear sections that locate on a long guiding tab moulded into the back of the parts. The turret is a complex shape, and the base is made up from three parts, onto which the main gun is built up with a block in place of the breech. The barrel is supplied in two halves, split vertically lengthwise, and it has some nice moulded-in detail, so take care aligning the parts and again when cleaning up the seam. The barrel is tipped with a hollow muzzle, but this is a little shallow, so might be better drilled out once the glue is dry. The mantlet section that raises with the gun is built up around the base of the barrel in three parts, and this is then added to the lower turret, being locked in place by a pair of trunnions that permit the barrel to raise and lower. The top of the turret is a large part with only one two-layer panel in the rear right added along with the sighting system's lenses that are installed from inside. This is mated to the bottom of the turret, after which the side panels and bustle are added to complete the main part of the turret's construction. The angled panels that bolster the armour of the turret's arrow-head front are installed next, and here there are were some quite significant sink-marks in previous boxings that seem to have been almost totally eradicated in this boxing. A bustle stowage box is created from a four-sided part with separate roof, glued to the rear of the turret, then the roof of the turret is festooned with various small parts, including antenna bases, armoured surrounds over the vision blocks, the new sight in front of the commander’s cupola, which utilises two parts cut from the clear sheet for its lenses front and rear. Another sighting turret is installed behind and to the left of the commander’s cupola, and the TV sensor box at the front is outfitted with its doors, which you can pose open by cutting the part in half and gluing it to the outer edges of the box. Lifting eyes and two crew access hatches are made and installed in open or closed positions, fixing the gunner's MG3 to the edge of his hatch. Triangular mesh baskets are made from four parts each and installed on the angled rear corners of the bustle, and these styrene parts would be prime candidates for replacement by aftermarket mesh to give a more realistic appearance. The smoke grenade launchers are fitted to each side of the turret just forward of the baskets, and these are made up from individual barrels attached to a rail with supports moulded in. To create the aerials, the instructions tell you to cut and heat up one end of two 75mm lengths of wire before plunging them into the aerial mounts that were added earlier in the build. Whether super-glue would be a less hazardous option is up to you. Just be careful you don't stab or burn yourself at any stage. It hurts. The turret can then be added to the hull by twisting it into place to lock the bayonet lugs under the turret-ring flange. A pair of rear-view mirrors are added to the front of the tank, and the last part of the build is to decide whether to lock the barrel to the rear for transport, or leave it free with the transport-lock stowed between the two large fan grilles, one of which has been left off until this point, possibly to ensure that the base of the travel-lock that is moulded into the grille is correctly lined up. Markings There are two decal options included on the sheet, both of which are painted in NATO green, brown and black camouflage. You can build one of the following from the box: PzBtl 104, Pfreimd, 2018 PzBtl 414, Bergen-Lohheide, 2019 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Leopard 2 is an impressive and capable tank, and this kit should build up into a good rendition of it with a little care and attention to detail. Whether you want to replace the tracks or not depends on your priorities and budget, but the flexible tracks included are well-detailed for their type. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Moonraker Space Shuttle Gift Set (05665) James Bond 007 Moonraker – Roger Moore 1:144 Carrera Revell After the success of Star Wars (where’s he going with this?), the Sci-Fi themed Moonraker was bumped up the schedule of Bond films to ride the huge wave of Science Fiction movies that followed during the next decade. Released in 1979, and after a slow start it went on to be the most successful 007 film until 1995’s Goldeneye. The film’s premise was based upon the fictional manufacturer of the Space Shuttle, Drax Industries pinching a shuttle whilst it was on loan to the British to give 007 the impetus to go gallivanting around the world and beyond to track down the shuttle, then upon finding out that Hugo Drax intended to kill almost everyone on earth to start his master race in the rubble, shipping the intended progenitors to his space station on a fleet of Space Shuttles that he had built in secret. Why did he need to steal one? Because one of his developed a serious fault during production, of course! Mr Bond and his new friend Miss Goodhead end up closely escaping incineration and take the last of the fleet of shuttles up to the space station, causing chaos when they get there, switching off the cloaking device that resulted in the US Marines coming up in their own shuttle that just happened to be ready in order to engage in a massive laser fight in their space suits outside the station. The station was destroyed along with the poisonous chemical that was intended to kill everyone, although Drax escaped into custody, whilst Mr Bond took possession of Moonraker 5, getting caught up to his usual tricks when M called to congratulate him on a successful mission, even though he’d spent most of the film being captured and lurching from one disaster to another, including a boat race through Venice. The Moonraker Shuttles were simply re-badged NASA Space Shuttle models, and although the shuttle had yet to leave the earth’s atmosphere, its design had already been established, and Enterprise had been seen since in publicity during the mid-70s. The Shuttle needs little in the way of introduction, flying from 1981 to 2011, carrying out 135 missions, but with two sad losses. The Challenger exploding during lift-off due to faulty O-rings on the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), the Columbia being lost due to damage to its wing leading edge on lift-off, that led to its break-up on return to earth during the difficult re-entry phase, bringing two painful reminders that human space exploration is a dangerous exploit. All crew members were lost in both instances, and will never be forgotten. The Kit The kit originated in 1978, and the initial boxing shows the simplified layout of the heat-resistant black tiles that it uses to deflect the hot plasma of re-entry. It was reboxed in 1979 as a Moonraker edition with Roger Moore in a silver space suit prominently on the cover, and has been reboxed numerous times in the intervening decades as the NASA shuttle. The kit arrives in a modest end-opening box, and inside are four sprues of white styrene, a clear sprue, two sheets of decals, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour, with profiles for painting and decaling on the rear pages. There is also an A3 poster inside the booklet, a thumbnail of which can be seen on the box top, plus a set of six thumb-pots of acrylic paint, a 12.5ml bottle of Contacta Professional glue with needle applicator, and a #2 paintbrush. Detail is as you would expect from a kit of this age, and you must bear in mind that it was designed and tooled before the operational shuttles were built and flown, so there may be some minor issues with shape and detail when compared to an operational shuttle, but as the film was made in 1978 for release the next year, it should be close. Where this kit benefits from previous incarnations is in the decals, which includes a full sheet of decals that depict the heat-resistant tiles on the underside, which although they started life as a black shade, they gradually weathered out to a chalky grey, and newer replacement tiles appeared much darker by comparison. Construction begins by putting together the two layers of the rear-mounted elevator, then trapping it between the two fuselage halves, which also traps the clear windscreen, and if you are mounting it on the supplied base, a slot in the floor of the model will need to be opened, clearing the flash from the pre-formed shape. Bulkheads are installed at each end of the payload bay, sliding a faceted interior into position, locating on raised guides moulded into the bulkheads. If you are posing the bay doors open, there is a generic payload package supplied that consists of an equipment palette, a cylindrical laboratory, a telescope unit in a suspension frame, and an airlock that permits translation from the crew compartment into the pressurised lab. This is mounted on a base and installed in the floor of the payload bay before the bay doors are made. The outer doors are each single parts, with a two-part interior layer to depict the solar panels that are used to produce additional power to supplement the batteries once the bay is opened. They can be flex-fitted into the bays, but if you wish to portray a more accurate rendition of the Moonraker, the doors could be glued closed to give a flush finish, which can be seen on the filming miniatures along with a substantial amount of shading of the panel edges that seems to have been applied all over the ship. The Orbital Manoeuvring System hardware is enclosed in a large cowling on either side of the fin, adding a small part to the overhanging end, and creating the Reaction Control System nozzles on an additional fairing that is made from two parts and is mounted on the rear of the OMS fairing. The OMS nozzles are made from two halves each, and are installed at the rear of the cowlings, fitting the main engine nozzles on the rear bulkhead on keyed notches, detail painting the RCS nozzles to add depth to the assembly. Each wing is made from top and bottom halves, and these fit into fairings at the bottom of the fuselage halves, with the outlines of the white insulation blankets depicted as raised lines in the central portion where tiles weren’t needed or practical. Inverting the model shows three shallow gear bay depressions, which you can either cover with closed bay doors for in-flight, trimming them to improve fit, but if you intend posing your model in landing configuration, the nose gear is inserted into a hole in the rear of the bay, adding a retraction jack to the front, and fixing twin wheels to the stub axle at the bottom. The bay door is cut in half and glued one half to each side of the bay. The main gear legs are similarly constructed, but with a different shaped leg, and the bay doors are fitted to the outer edge of the bay without cutting. The last option other than mounting the model on the stand is to install the three-part Canadarm to the side of the payload bay, and an optional spaceman on a long tether than can jiggle around supported by the tether as if he is floating in space. If you elected to open the slot under the belly and close the bay doors, the two-part clear stand can be used for an in-flight/space option, and the base has a simplified earth engraved into it that you can paint blue and green to give the impression of the model being in a very high orbit if you squint. If you forgot to open the slot, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to see it, as our sample had the flashing almost disappear due to the age of the tooling. If you don’t wish to use the stand, a piece of scrap styrene sheet glued to the inner face of the hole and a little filler will soon sort that out. Markings There were six Moonraker shuttles in the film, numbered 1 to 6, with No.5 being the laser-equipped ship that destroyed the poison-filled globes near the end of the film. You can depict any of the shuttles, thanks to the additional tail numbers included on the decal sheet. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Most of the tile decals are provided on a separate sheet from the colourful orange-themed Drax Industries branding, and those for the underside are a variety of grey shades with only a few replacement tiles in black. Those on the upper surface of the elevator and the nose sides around the forward RCS control nozzles are printed in black however, and the contrast with the underside decals that cover the curve of the fuselage might be too much for some. Similarly, the forward RCS nozzles also have black tiles around them, and the OMS cowlings have a few black tiles supplied for the hot-spots on the leading edges, which weren’t present on the filming miniatures, or the USS Enterprise. You may consider leaving those on the sheet for accuracy’s sake, and Google a few photos of the filming miniatures to ensure everything is shaped and shaded correctly. The filming miniatures also have large areas of white tiles drawn on, adding more visual interest, as well as the differential shading of the larger panels, as previously mentioned. Conclusion After the initial flurry of Space Shuttle kits in most scales during the 70s and early 80s, there has been only one kit in this scale that is more recent, and that isn’t readily available or cheap. Revell’s kit is a nice uncomplicated model of the type, and can be readily adapted to the film’s eponymous vehicle, so it makes sense to rebox it as part of their James Bond link-up. Purists may wish to get some aftermarket main engine nozzles for a bit more real-life accuracy, although the kit parts are actually pretty close to the cone-shaped stepped nozzles the miniatures used, so it will still build up into a fun depiction of this movie hero. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Aston Martin DB5 007 Goldfinger (05653) Easy-Click System 1:24 Carrera Revell Aston Martin’s Grand Tourer, the DB5 rose to prominence above almost anything they had produced to that date or since, when it won a starring role in the James Bond film Goldfinger, driven by Sean Connery as the eponymous hero, fitted with guns, oil-slick dispensers, bullet-screen and an ejector seat to name but a few of the gadgets used. Like all of Jimmy’s cars, it ended up in a tangled heap, crashed into a building, and JB in the hands of the bad guys, which is a surprisingly common outcome for such a supposedly accomplished spy, although he always manages to escape. Developed from its predecessor the DB4, the DB5 was so named after the owner of the company David Brown. The engine was a light-weight aluminium straight-six block with three carburettors that propelled it to over 140mph thanks to its 280bhp output that was sent to the rear wheels via a 5-speed gearbox that was bought in from a third-party to solve previous problems that their home-grown box had encountered, although a four-speed box was used in early editions. It was also available with a 3-speed automatic box, but who’d want that unless they had leg issues? Like modern Astons, it was lavishly appointed, with leather trim, thick luxurious carpeting, and traditional chrome wire-wheels with knock-on/off nuts. The magnesium alloy body had two doors, and could seat two comfortably, with additional space for children or adults with no legs, and luggage in the boot. It was initially launched in 1963, and the production run included a small number of custom-built cabriolets, some of which had more powerful Vantage engines, and at the very end of production some were kitted out with the upcoming DB6’s engine. During its last year of production in 1965 they released the Vantage option with an extra 40+bhp of power squeezed out of the engine thanks to improved carburettors and more aggressively profiled camshafts, with only 65 being made before the DB6 replaced it in their line-up. The DB6 was an evolution of its forerunner, with improved aerodynamics and luxury, developing into a closer representation of the later DB series cars that we’re probably familiar with from our childhood and beyond. The Kit This is a new tool Easy-Click System kit from Revell, designed to be built by novices or experts alike, requiring no glue unless you feel the urge, and including a set of five thumb-pots of acrylic paint and a two-ended paint brush. You also receive a folded A3 poster of the box art without the trappings required for the packaging, which you can hang on the wall if you wish. Inside the end-opening box are four sprues in black styrene, three sprues and the bodyshell in muted silver, one in dark grey, two chromed sprues, a clear sprue, four flexible black tyres, decal sheet, sticker sheet, and instruction booklet that is printed in colour, and has the painting and markings guide on the rear pages. Though this is a snap-together kit and comes with both decals or stickers for the younger audience, detail is good for a kerbside model, and it includes some of the gadgets that Mr Connery used in the movie, such as the bullet-screen, ejection seat opening in the roof, and the extendible axles that tore the side out of the baddie’s car during a frenetic chase. Construction begins with the floor pan, which has a silver insert that depicts the underside of the engine and transmission using two parts, over which the suspension struts are added, pivoting the front axles with moulded-in brake disks and their connecting arm, then layering a sub-frame over it before moving on to the rear axle. The back axle is bulked out with an insert in the centre that creates the differential housing, fitting suspension struts and dampers into the rear of the floor pan. The twin down-pipes from the engine are placed side-by-side along the centre of the floor pan, then attention turns to the interior. The front seats are each made from an L-shaped part with pencil quilting that has a rear panel inserted, while the dashboard has the steering column and wheel inserted into the right side, adding eight decals or stickers to the dials, and another to the centre of the steering wheel and centre console. The interior floor is a grey part that receives the rest of the internal assemblies, starting with the gear stick, which has a choice of standard or 007 variants with the cap open displaying the red button. A choice of centre armrest with alternative open rest that has gadget buttons in it is made next, then the driver’s foot pedals are snapped into the right footwell, popping the front and rear seats in behind. The door cards are both fitted with inner handle, while the driver’s side has another secret pocket that can be fitted open to display more gadgets. They have a decal applied, and are clipped into the sides of the floor, held vertically by the dash that is installed at the same time. The completed interior is inserted into the bodyshell after adding a rear-view mirror above the windscreen, and if you’re going for realism, there are quite a few ejection-pin marks around the perimeter of the roof liner that you may wish to hide with filler. A black inner wheel well insert is added forward of the interior while the body is inverted, and at the rear, three clear lenses are clipped into the corners to create the light clusters, painting the lenses the appropriate clear colour. Naturally, there are alternate bottom lenses depicted flipped open to display the barrels of the rear machine guns. The front and rear number plate holders are built with a rotating prism held inside a frame, adding the bumper and boot handle at the rear, plus slide-out over-riders that are held in place by a pair of washers inside. The front bumper is installed after the bodyshell and floor pan are mated, fitting a front valance to the rear of the bumper, and adding the same kind of slide-out over-riders either side of the rotating number plate holder before fixing them under the front of the vehicle, and slotting the distinctive chromed Aston Martin grille into the centre. Side lights or machine guns are fitted into the front wings, and the headlight lenses are too, once the inner lens and chromed reflector are fixed into the recess. The wheel hubs are built from three layers, the rear of the hub in black, and the wire wheels in chrome, trapping a top-hat washer in the centre that friction-fits on the axles. The flexible tyres are slipped over the hubs and attached to the model, one per corner as you’d expect. The windscreen is carefully inserted from outside, helping it along by inserting your index finger (other fingers are available) through the ejection seat hatch to ensure it doesn’t fall inside. The rear screen can be inserted similarly, adding the side windows from the outside. It’s worth noting that the side windows are supplied as a single part, including both the door window and the quarter-light, and locating on a pair of tabs that clip into the sills of the bodyshell. External chromed door handles and the wing detail inserts are applied to the exterior side, and you have a choice of installing standard knock-off wheel nuts, or the 007 weaponised versions that project from the centre of the wheel on a tubular support, by using different chromed parts. More chromed parts follow, including the aerial base, a pair of windscreen wipers, and wing mirrors, not forgetting the hatch through which your unfortunate front seat passenger would be ejected should the need arise. You can pose it closed by using the part, or leave it off to show off the interior better. The last standard parts are the twin exhausts that have the back box moulded in, clipping to the end of the down-pipes under the body. The 007 specific gear is finalised by sliding the bullet screen behind the rear window, which slots into the rear bodywork, and can be fitted with a decal or sticker that portrays some bullet damage for a little movie frivolity. Next to the exhausts, a black tube is inserted into a hole in the valance, and if memory serves, this is the oil dispenser. It’s a while since I’ve seen Goldfinger. Markings This is a special edition, so there is only one option on the decal sheet, although there are alternative number plate options for those rotating plate holders. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. It’s not clear who printed the stickers, but they seem well-done and fit for purpose. Conclusion Sean Connery played a colder and cooler Bond (controversial!) than his replacement, and the DB5 cemented its place in motoring and movie history by appearing in Goldfinger. It’s a good-looking model of the car, and should provide some fun for the novice and expert alike, choosing which of the gadgets to deploy on your model. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or