Sommaire pour October 2019 de FineScale Modeler

Sometimes one of our how-to stories commands a bit more attention as the detail is so fine and the information so good that we simply must pump up the page count. That’s the case with James Green’s story this issue where he finishes and drastically improves a classic old Monogram Wildcat kit. Originally, this kit was released in 1961 and is woefully short on detail while also featuring major raised panel lines. James corrects a number of inaccuracies, while adding missing panel lines, enhancing cockpit detail and he does it all in creating a handsome wheels-up version of this popular U.S. Navy fighter. We hope you get some useful tips from James’ Wildcat build. Speaking of detail, we also wrap up Ron Poniatowski’s great how-to series on building America’s first…

Besides the physical deconstruction necessary to model a destroyed vehicle, much work needs to be done with painting and weathering to replicate the effects of fires and explosions. Such was the case when Dustin Dias of Wellsburg, West Virginia, spent eight months replicating a disemboweled Panzer IV photographed north of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Once the parts were primed, Dustin began painting with Ammo by Mig Jimenez acrylics mixed with Ammo thinner. He used an Iwata Eclipse-HP-BCS powered by a mini compressor with tank. “I find that compressors with tanks tend to be more forgiving because they allow continuous air flow without jittering,” he says. After painting the inside of the hull, engine bay, and components with rotbraun (AMIG0014), crèmeweiss (AMIG0017), gray base (AMIG0908), or satin black…

In the first part of this project (September 2019 FSM), I modified the hull of Takom’s 1/16 scale FT tank to account for differences in the American M1917 Six-Ton Light Tank. The changes included new armor around the driver, flipping the engine and exhaust, and relocating plenty of rivets. Now I could focus on the suspension and turret. Suspension At first glance, the M1917’s suspension is almost identical to the FT. The most noticeable differences are the adjustment mechanism for the compensating idler and the idler itself, but there are a few other changes I needed to add. On the FT, the side plates of the suspension units are reinforced with angle iron riveted to the top and bottom edges. The M1917 incorporates a wide U-beam with shallow flanges, so…

Over the years, several branches of the U.S. military have had several versions of the Gulfstream biz-jet in their inventories to shuttle VIPs and command staff. The latest is the C-37, a version of the Gulfstream G-550. As biz-jets go, the Gulftreams are just a notch down from converted airliners. They’re big, fast, and transport passengers comfortably in the stratosphere. And they’re pretty, too! I was impressed at the size of Amodel’s C-37 — it’s just a bit smaller than a B-17. The Ukrainian manufacturer has announced multiple versions of the basic kit, so the fuselage in six parts — forward, center, and rear halves — to accommodate those variations. There’s a good cockpit with separate seats, control columns, rudder pedals, and bulkheads. Small parts need a lot of cleanup…

Following up its 1/72 scale U.S. M1070 heavy equipment transport, Takom released another great small-scale tank transporter, the Russian MAZ-537G with ChMZAP-5247G trailer. Produced between 1959 and 1990, this combination has moved everything, including tanks, rockets, and tractors, and served in Chernobyl, Iran, and Afghanistan among other locations. Given so many options for modeling and painting this kit should be a welcome fit in many collections. Construction began with the main tractor frame and transmission. Small parts were tight and crisp; Takom continues to impress me with this kind of molding, finding the perfect balance between a lower parts count and separate details. The frame and cab built quickly and without issue. I liked that Takom molds each door and window as a single unit, keeping the doors and windows…

The Italian army often mounted outdated guns on Italian and captured trucks for increased mobility in the vast North African desert. This kit, one of three Italian truck kits recently released by IBG, is a good example, with a Skoda 100/17 howitzer in the modified bed of a Lancia 3Ro NM. (The Polish manufacturer has also released troop and cargo versions of the 3Ro.) To make room for the gun, the sides of the bed and the cab’s roof and windshield were cut down, and ammo lockers were added. Most of the parts are molded in light gray plastic with two light lenses molded in clear. The styrene is on the brittle side and I damaged several parts handling the trees or removing small delicate parts from the large sprue…

Many of us have older kits in our stash that we haven’t built simply because there is always a newer, better engineered kit of the same subject available that is far easier to build. But I contend that there is still a lot of modeling satisfaction to be had in that old plastic! Take Monogram’s “authentic quarter-inch-scale” Wildcat, first released in 1961: Its outline and shape are correct, but it lacks detail and has heavy, raised panel lines and rivets covering it that lack scale fidelity. It also suffers from the toy-like working features such as the folding wings and rolling wheels. And other than a pilot and instrument panel decal, there is no cockpit interior to speak of. So, to take advantage of this old kit’s strengths, I decided…

First produced from the Beechcraft Model 18 airliner back in 1937, the little Beech Expeditor was in continuous production until 1969 with more than 4,500 being supplied to the military. It took on a number of roles and was given a bewildering array of designations to go with. In fact, the Model 18 in its multiple versions had well over 30 military variants. Although there are none left in U.S. military service today, there are nearly 300 still on the FAA register in the U.S. alone and worldwide the figure is close to double that. Not bad for a machine first flown in 1937! Revell’s 1/48 scale C-45F (No. 03966), a re-box of ICM’s kit, suits the aircraft’s diminutive size. There’s a lot to love but also some areas that…

I find a display more interesting if it tells a story. Helicopters offer a wide range of options, but how to display a flying helo in a static display? That’s exactly what I wanted to do in my North Pacific rescue scene. Creating a U.S. Coast Guard Jayhawk in a dramatic rescue took shape after watching the 2006 movie, The Guardian. I found pictures of this great Coast Guard search and rescue helo in its red-and-white hig-hvisibility scheme on a gray northern pacific background and they were stunning. That’s exactly what I wanted to show. So, I chose the 1/72 scale HH-60J (No. 87235) from HobbyBoss as my centerpiece. From the beginning, the focus was on how to make a static helo appear to fly. Motorizing the kit was not…

Just as the German army updated the Ferdinand tank destroyer based on experiences from the Battle of Kursk, Zvezda has updated its 1/35 scale Ferdinand to produce the Elefant. New in this kit are a bow machine gun, commander’s cupola, and Zimmerit provided here as decals. Other kit features include clear vision blocks: a one-piece gun barrel; posable hatches; link-and-length tracks; and markings for two vehicles. The chassis builds from several parts. Gaps showed up at each side of the upper transmission piece, but the fenders covered them. The road wheels come in two styles, so be careful to get the correct ones in the right places. I painted and weathered the lower hull along with the road wheels. Each track run came up about half a link short and…

Nicknamed “Wimpy” after a famous contemporary British comic strip character, the Vickers Wellington was anything but wimpy, relying on a unique geodetic structure for immense strength. The Wellington served as the backbone of Royal Air Force Bomber Command from the beginning of World War II until the Lancaster and Halifax heavies pushed it to second-line service. Airfix’s new 1/72 scale Wellington portrays the early-war Mk.IA or Mk.IC, but unused parts and flashed over holes point to future versions. The kit includes markings options for one “A” and one “C” version. The instructions are very clear about build options and which parts are needed for each version, and helpfully point out up to 15 parts that may be left off as they will be nearly invisible on the finished model. Build…

Sturdy and agile, the Bücker Bü 131 became the primary trainer for the Luftwaffe and it served with “virtually all” the Luftwaffe’s primary flying schools during the World War II, as well as with night harassment units. The Revell kit, a reboxed ICM offering, features two bags of gray finely molded plastic and a small bag of clear parts, a colorful instruction manual, and decals to mark two aircraft. Overall the kit is beautifully molded and construction progresses smoothly. I had no fit issues what so ever. The thin cockpit framing can break during removal from the large attachment points. My only complaint was the ejector-pin marks in the middle of the seats. The clear instrument panels add realism, but the decal dials were out of register. Fortunately, they are…

Damaged Phantom diorama You asked for diorama build photos: This is my decades-old 1/48 scale Iranian F-4E diorama. Using the news photo (left) I started building this in early 1981 using Monogram’s Phantom II (No. 5800). It wasn’t until progress had been made that the (center) news photo of the nose appeared. I removed the nose from an Esci F-4E Phantom II (No. C-4041U) for my diorama. The figure comes from a Monogram Devastator; I reworked it with putty. The fuselage edges were thinned and I used foil from wine bottles for the crumpled aircraft skin. I created concrete panels with a hobby knife cutting into artist mat board, then airbrushed the color and stains. – Joe Nottingham, Beaumont, Calif. Learning at shows I recently went to a local model…

NATO first deployed the MGM-31 Pershing intermediate range ballistic missile to Europe in 1960 as part of its nuclear force. Both the missile and launcher underwent upgrades 1969 and ’70: the former to the 1a, and the latter to the M757A1. Martin Marietta Corp. manufactured the Pershing, and its prototype and tooling department made a 1/32 scale plastic model kit of the missile and its launcher. The model, once assembled, was meant to be posable, allowing the builder to show the missile stowed or ready for launch. Marked EPL-1 and dated for 1973, it’s a rare find, and one that I couldn’t pass up. The parts suffered from sink and ejector-pin marks, and many had their part numbers prominently molded on. On the plus side, the instructions called out the…

The Blenheim first flew in 1935 and entered service as a light bomber that was as fast or faster than contemporary biplane fighters. The Mk.IF was a fighter conversion primarily used at night, establishing the intercept and interdiction tactics mastered by its offspring, the Beaufighter. Options include open or closed cowl flaps, raised or lowered landing gear, and posable flaps. Crisp recessed panel lines and rivets detail the airframe and raised instruments detail the cockpit. Bombs, racks and what looks like a strike camera indicate that a bomber version is on the way. Decals are provided for a plane in dark earth and dark green over black, and a night fighter in overall black. The 20-pages of instructions start with the cockpit, although you may want to skip ahead to…

There has never been a better time to be a modeler of Russian aviation! We have seen kits of quite a lot of the prominent aircraft used by the Russian air force over the last few years, some of which have been stunning. The Yak-130 is a two-seat, twin-engine, light-attack jet currently in service with Russian forces and several of Russia’s client states. Zvezda plastic is somewhat softer than that of most kit manufacturers. This does have an influence on how the kit parts are handled, especially the 13 clear plastic parts. I found it very easy to clip the parts from their respective gates, and carefully slice off the remaining excess, with little concern for the part fracturing since the plastic is not at all brittle, and actually slices…

Like something out of the Ark, but it was a superb supply dropper,” said Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Freer, describing Blackburn’s Beverley. A thing of beauty, well…no, but a design of practicality, the transport could carry 30 paratroops in the tail boom who bailed out of a belly hatch just forward of the tail, and 40 on its main deck who exited side doors. MikroMir’s Beverley features recessed panel lines, a nice flight deck, main deck interior detail, and the option of open or closed rear clamshell doors. A fret of 11 photo-etched metal (PE) parts and a set of masks are included. Flash on the larger parts was easily removed but it proved more of a hindrance on small ones. The fuselage halves lack locating…