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Revell have announced the PT 109 (Early 80' Elco) for release Feb/March # An improvement but it's not going to set the world on fire... I don't think JohnWS need fear the competition Kev

Dock with Stairs 1:35 Italeri The 1:35 series of Motor Torpedo Boats from Italeri have been in production for a number of years now, and the range has been expanding since the initial launch (excuse pun) of the S-100 boat some years back. While many modellers will be happy to pose their finished kits on a simple stand, some will want to place theirs in a more realistic quayside or seaborne setting. Italeri have foreseen the former with their series of modular quaysides that have been released of late. This kit is a full 30cm segment of quay with an inset staircase for ease of access to the waterline. It stands almost 9cm tall and has a width of almost 20cm. There is no water included, as that would be tricky in a modular format. The box is adorned with a superbly painted model, and is around the size of a small 1:48 fighter box. Inside are three sprues in one bag, with a length of rope in a separate bag inside the main one. I say sprues, but one is just the large top of the quay, with a cobbled surface, manhole, grid and deckside crane/railway moulded into it. The other two sprues contain the other main surfaces, accessories and smaller scenic detailing parts. Construction is simple, but take care with the angles when adjoining perpendicular surfaces. It would be wise to use a set-square or engineers' square to keep everything square. The staircase is built up first, and requires a rectangular section to be cut out of the quayside, which is marked out on the underside of the part with a heavy pre-cut line that should be easy to complete. The quay wall also needs a similar shaped section removing, which is again marked and pre-cut. These are then mated, and a pair of constructional L-profile pillars to hold the rear of the quay level. The stairs fit into the opening that was cut earlier, and a set of C-shaped capping stone parts hide the joint neatly. After main construction, the additional items and accessories can be made up, and used at will. They include two pairs of wooden mooring posts of square and round section, T-shaped and L-shaped metal mooring posts, a boarding plank, small H-shaped mooring posts and of course a flotation ring. Some scrap diagrams at the end of the instructions show some examples of uses of the rope, with various knots that are typically used on the mooring posts. There are no decals of course, and a painting guide gives advice on typical colours of the various elements of the base in Model Master, Italeri and FS shades, but as with all diorama bases, the world is your oyster for variations, depending on the colour of the stone used in the quay, the cobbles and the state of the wooden parts. Check your references, and if you aren't feeling adventurous you could do a lot worse than imitating the finished article on the box top. Conclusion It's a lovely simple kit, and when sympathetically painted should look very nice. At 30cm long however, it will need to be coupled to another kit from the range, such as the Long Dock (5612) that is also available, which will give a total dock length of just under a metre. The forthcoming Biber mini-sub may be a likely candidate for just this one section however. Because of the modular nature of the kit, there are no sides or back to the quay, so once you have built up the length that you feel works for you, you will need to box off the open sides and rear, possibly mounting it on a board in the process. The bravest amongst us will also add water around the boat with all the work that entails, and my hat goes off to those talented folks. Thinking laterally, the kit could also be used as a diorama base for armour or figures, as some kind of captured harbour scenario - Afterall, it is the same scale as the major armour scale. I could actually see my completed Neubaufahrzeug atop it, depicted at Oslo harbour during the taking of Norway perhaps? Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of