Sommaire pour September 2017 de FineScale Modeler

Floyd Werner describes Eduard’s 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.IXc as probably “the best kit he’s ever built.” Adding Eduard’s aftermarket Brassin cockpit and engine improved the kit’s already good detail without overly complicating construction. In no time at all, the model was ready for painting. After applying the kit’s precut masks to the canopy, he wiped the model with Testors Plastic Prep and sprayed the clear parts with interior green to match the cockpit. Alclad II Gray Primer and Microfiller revealed a couple of trouble spots to be fixed; a final coat provided a smooth foundation for the camouflage. “It is the perfect primer,” he says. “Covers and dries quickly; it’s the only one I use.” To make the underside more visually interesting and start weathering the top, he pre-shaded with…

“Fangs of Death” – Motto of 439 Squadron The McDonnell Douglas CF-18 entered Canadian Forces service in 1982 with 410 Squadron, and it remains Canada’s front-line fighter. Over the decades, the aircraft has gone through several upgrades to keep it current and able to operate alongside other NATO and foreign air forces. However, its days are numbered as the Canadian government goes through the process of determining what Canada’s next fighter aircraft will be. So, it seems an appropriate time to add a model of this aircraft to my display case. I chose Academy’s 1/72 scale CF-18A for this build, and added interest with a selection of aftermarket resin details and decals. Because the model would wear the Hornet’s initial Canadian livery, a bit of plastic surgery was indicated to…

LUIZ ROELS RIO de JANEIRO, BRAZIL Given Revell’s 1963-vintage 1/570 scale Bismarck by his brother-in-law, Luiz wanted to build it for him as a gift. Luiz cited www.kbismarck.com for his research, “which provided photos and colorful line drawings with six different paint schemes. The chosen one was from March to May 1941 in the Baltic Sea”. He built the kit from the box except for sanding off molded features to fit scale anchor chains. The rigging is .1mm fishing line, and the paper flags were printed on his inkjet printer. Painting with Tamiya colors, he followed instructions from Tamiya’s 1/350 scale Bismarck. “Since I don’t have steady hands anymore, everything had to be airbrushed, even the tiny details,” he says. “That meant an extensive masking job, a true nightmare that demanded…

Zoukei-Mura’s initial Phantom has nice, crisp moldings. Features include optional clear parts — one-piece for a closed canopy and multipart for open — and a nice selection of stores, with four Sidewinder and four Sparrow air-to-air missiles, a centerline fuel tank, and two tanks for the outboard hardpoints. I wish the last had been molded separate from the pylons, as many Navy F-4Js in Vietnam omitted the tanks in favor of more weapons. And, for the first time in this scale, this kit provides accurate intake trunks. The easy-to-build ejection seats look good, but no seat belts were provided. The cockpit and nose gear share walls and went together without issue. Check the instrument panels: The kit provides two styles for both front and rear cockpits, probably for a future…

By the time Valentines entered combat in 1942 in North Africa, the infantry tank, with its crew of three, small gun, and relatively slow speed, was obsolete. However, the Allies’ need to field tanks overrode its shortcomings, and Valentines served British and Soviet armies through 1944. Molded in tan plastic, Tamiya’s all-new Valentine features link-and-length tracks, two figures, and options for Soviet or British versions. The lower hull builds from several parts. Tamiya provides a precise fit and solid structure, with interlocking joins and internal braces. Just follow the assembly sequence noted in the instructions. The trouble-free fit of the many parts in the upper hull impressed me; Tamiya did a great job of capturing the Valentine’s unique shape. The periscopes are separate, but they aren’t clear; careful painting is…

This 1/350 scale, full-hull model of the French navy’s Dunkerque is a fascinating subject. Described in Jane’s Fighting Ships as one of the most elegant battleships ever built, her cruise liner look belied that she was accorded the era’s heaviest percentage of armor protection (36.8) combined with a 31-knot speed. Laid down in 1932, Dunkerque sailed the Atlantic early in World War II in search of raiders (including the Graf Spee). The Vichy French political situation on July 3, 1940, predicated an attack on the French fleet by its former allies at Mers-el- Kébir. Heavily damaged by 15-inch shells, she was beached and, three months later, torpedoed and depth-charged, yet sailed to Toulon, where she was scuttled Nov. 27, 1942, as the German army arrived to take over the fleet.…

According to the kit’s historical notes, German scientists attached to a mysterious branch of the SS developed an electromagnetic engine that could be used to power flying machines at great speeds. Those aircraft included the Haunebu series of flying saucers that may have been testflown before the end of World War II. Now I can’t speak for the veracity of those claims, but I can say that Squadron’s 1/72 scale kit of the Haunebu II Dornier Stratosphären Flugzeug is a blast to build and even more fun to paint. Although grounded in the reality of Luftwaffe color and camouflage aesthetics, the subject’s convergence with science fiction means you can finish it any way you think looks cool. The major body parts feature engraved panel lines and raised rivets. No flash…

3,000 The maximum range, in meters, of the HJ-73C antitank guided missile T he ZLC-2000 is the Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) airborne forces. It features a one-man turret with a 30mm cannon, a 7.62 coaxial machine gun, and an HJ-73C antitank guided missile (ATGM) launcher with three missiles. It can be air-dropped using multiple parachutes, but this means that the armor is very thin to make the vehicle as light as possible. HobbyBoss’ 1/35 scale kit has a low parts count and comes together quickly. Although there is no interior, the detail is pretty good; I replaced solid molded grab handles with styrene rod. When it came time to paint, I decided to create the standard three-tone camouflage. On previous models, I found that…

Phoenix — 1/48 scale “That’s my design,” Randy says. “It’s a deep-space recon ship. The wing pods have huge fuel tanks and vertical thrusters. I’m redesigning it to make a military version of it. The original patterns were done with Plexiglas for the wings. The main hull, the curved part with the windows, is vacuum-formed. The master was carved out of high-density foam, then vacuum-formed with heavy plastic so I could cut out the windows and everything. But now that I’m producing it, the model that people can buy is all resin except for the windows; those are vacuum- formed. The vacuumformed styrene is ⅛ inch thick. Then I beefed it up from there, because if it’s too thin when you try to use it for molding, the molds can…

South Africa produced weapons to circumvent an arms embargo placed against it in 1977 by the United Nations. One of the vehicles developed was a mine-resistant, wheeled, selfpropelled 155mm howitzer known as the G6 Rhino. Takom’s Rhino is molded in light gray plastic with just a few ejector-pin marks in need of filling and minor mold seams. Vision blocks, light lenses, and windows for the driver’s compartment are clear. Two photo-etch (PE) frets are included. Overall, fit is good — I only needed filler where I got careless. The six large tires are molded in vinyl with good tread and sidewall placards. Minor flash on the lip of each tire was easily removed with a sharp knife. The plastic is brittle — some of the more delicate parts broke on…

Russia’s battle tank T-14 Armata (Object 148) is so new it is still undergoing state testing. One of the main features of the T-14 is the fully unmanned turret. The crew of three is all in an armored capsule in the front of the hull. Zvezda’s new kit is a relatively fast build, with many details hidden inside the tank. The large box may seem imposing, but there are just a bit more than 400 parts and they almost seem to fall together. The build starts with the turret, building from the main turret walls inward. Though unmanned, the turret has plenty of detail. Small hatches and smoke launchers festoon the walls. I found it easier to treat this like an airplane cockpit, painting the subassemblies before gluing them in…

Gecco’s Tales from the Apocalypse kit series fits together to tell a story of a fight for survival as zombies roam around a city. The first three-kit series, called Day 1, 11:50 am on the freeway, includes a heroine, a truck driver, and a traffic guard. The packaging looks like the vintage VHS boxes seen in video stores, complete with labels, wear, and fading. The atmospheric design continues on the instructions, which are printed like a newspaper and tell part of the story. Unfortunately, they don’t give step-by-step directions, but photos of the completed figure and an exploded view of the parts help. Each kit contains parts individually packaged in sealed pouches. The beautifully molded parts have no flash or ejector-pin marks, and the mold seams are nearly invisible. I…

T he T-55 has outlasted its rivals by many years, with the T-55 still in use from Sierra Leone to Vietnam. Revell Germany’s kit features a color instruction sheet for two versions — the basic and one of the upgrades with antiradiation armor — plus markings for four vehicles: one Soviet, two Warsaw Pact, and one Vietnamese. Linkand- length tracks have the sag molded in. You need to decide on version/country before you start to build. I chose the Vietnam People’s Army version seen in Pleiku in 2015. Assembly starts with the multipiece hull bottom. Fit problems here were due to holes in the road wheels being undersized for the axles. But when I opened up the wheel, it wobbled because the inner detail does not support the axle. My…

Photo-etch on demand? Q I’ve been looking for some time for a 1/96 scale brass photo-etched AN/SPS-40 radar antenna, but the scale apparently isn’t popular enough for manufacturers to make them. I was wondering with all the new technology if some small manufacturer might make a couple of copies. I have a 2-D layout and a variety of pictures but am not anxious to try photo-etching on my own. – Gary Geithmann Franklin, Tenn. A Gary, if you are unwilling to get into photoetching at home, I will guess you are not interested in getting that far into graphic design, either — the CAD files you would need to supply for a custom job would be a pretty deep scoop unless you are a graphics artist. Even at that, most…

Spotlight Academy strikes hard with new Eagle Hot on the heels of its 1/72 scale F-4J and F-18F, Academy has produced a newtool F-15E (No. 12550). Unlike the previous smallscale aircraft, the Strike Eagle is not molded in multicolored plastic and doesn’t include stickers in addition to waterslide decals. However it shares push-together engineering and outstanding detail and options with the Phantom and Super Hornet. Fine recessed panel lines and rivets mark the airframe surfaces. In the cockpit, raised controls and dials detail the instrument panels and side consoles with decals providing switches and MFD screens. Full-length intakes start with detailed ramps and end with fans; at the other end the exhausts have jetpipes and simplified nozzles without the turkey feathers. What’s a Strike Eagle without ordnance? The kit features…

A lthough not celebrated like the famous T-34, the T-26 light infantry tank played a critical role in the Soviet army from the early 1930s through World War II. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the USSR had more T-26s in its inventory than any other tank. HobbyBoss’ 1/35 scale T-26 Model 1938 (No. 82497) looks right and has plenty of detail, but the complex suspension is fragile with fine features that are easily broken or lost during cleanup. I added fishing sinkers inside of the hull to keep the wheels flat on the Friulmodel metal tracks (No. ATL-45) I used in place of the kit’s individual-link plastic tracks. I added extra bolts to the hull and fender mounts, and used sheet styrene in place of incorrect…

W hen Hasegawa launched its range of 1/32 scale Bf 109Gs more than 15 years ago, it spurred a revolution of large-scale modeling the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the 1970s. The kits were straightforward, had no real vices, and fit well. Soon after Hasegawa’s initial release, Revell issued a G-4 version under the Monogram Pro Modeler brand. If you like a buttoned-up look with no arduous engine build and a relatively simple but adequate cockpit, then this is the kit for you. It comprises 128 parts, including two resin wheels. I built it almost straight from the box, replacing only the spinner (from Revell Germany’s new 1/32 scale Bf 109G-6). All paints and finishes are Testors products.…

T he F-35, America’s newest jet fighter, has been plagued by development issues and cost overruns, and critics claim it is overweight and basically useless. However, others closer to the program, whose opinions I trust, believe in the Lightning II’s capabilities. Only time will really tell. A couple of years ago, I was fortunate to see F-35s landing at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., and they certainly looked purposeful then. Italeri’s large-scale kit replicates the F-35A,the land-based conventional takeoff and landing variant. The kit features yellow- tinted clear parts, photo-etched (PE) details, self-adhesive masks for many of the zigzag panel edges, and Cartograf decals for six aircraft from five countries — U.S., Italy, Netherlands, Israel, and Australia. Options abound: posable canopy, wheel-well doors, weapons bays, and inflight refueling receptacle. Weapons…

I have waited for a decent 1/48 scale MiG-25 for a long time — other kit manufactures have tried but missed the mark, in my opinion. So when I heard ICM was releasing an all-new MiG-25RBT, my hopes were high. The model is molded in a light gray styrene that I found was slightly flexible and soft. Panel lines are very finely engraved and consistent, and the trailing edges are some of the finest I have ever seen. Parts break was slightly unconventional. The fuselage had multiple sections, including vertical stabilizers molded to the rear fuselage pieces. ICM cleverly included several fuselage bulkheads to help stabilize all those sections during construction. The kit has full-length intake trunks, but the engine compressor faces look small when compared to the massive MiG-25…

Panda Hobby’s lovely new T-14 Armata really packs in the details of this modern Russian battle tank. The kit, molded in green plastic, features many nice touches, such as photoetched (PE) grilles and some of the best plastic workable tracks I’ve built. Don’t let the high part count (1,145) scare you: Panda’s T-14 builds easily The main tank has just 351 parts, while the rest are tracks parts; if you aren’t making them workable, they build quickly. It also helps that more then half of the tracks are covered by the tank’s side skirts, so you don’t really have to build the full length of tracks. It’s your choice. Things start quickly. The hull is a bathtub style and builds fast, as there is no interior and no fit issues.…

Until a year ago, the only 1/48 scale Defiant was the twodecade- old Classic Airframes mixed-media kit. However, Airfix, and now Trumpeter, have released new kits. The kit has 76 plastic parts, with petite recessed panel lines and rivets — a whole lot of rivets — and a small fret of photoetched (PE) brass. No seat belts are provided. Cockpit detail is clean and crisp, yet sparse for this scale. I was impressed with the dovetail locators that attach the sides and floor. The instrument panel has raised dials and bezels with decal gauges that fit perfectly. The airframe components built quickly and needed filler only for the fuselage seams. There are two holes on each horizontal stabilizer that appear to have no purpose, so I filled them with Vallejo…