Wednesday, December 31, 2008

FineScale Modeler 03 2002


When Keith Kowalski was 12, he got his start in modeling by building Aurora figure models. He hasn't stopped building yet, and now he's internationally recognized for his fine quality figure models. The Ft. Lauderdale, Florida police officer has been painting excellent military miniatures for about 30 years. For over a decade, Keith has regularly competed and sold his work in figure shows in Atlanta, Georgia. He and his work have been featured in modeling; books and magazines from around the world. He has won several gold and silver awards, and in 1993 he won a gold medal tor his display at the first World Exposition Show held in Washington, hosted by several international figure modeling groups. Though he paints in most of the standard mediums, Keith has found that working with oils and flat enamels gives him the most flexibility He also experiments with other paints and with mixed media.


Model Magazine International 144


TMMI was present at the recent IPMS Nationals held at the Anaheim Marriott hotel, Orange County, California, and is so often the case with model shows, there were a few key model releases announced at the event. We'll try to bring you a more detailed report in the next issue, but for now, here's a quick run-down of some of the highlights. Amongst the mountains of 1:48 Bf110 kits being sold like the proverbial hot-cakes, Eduard showed parts of their forthcoming F6F-3/F6F-5 Hellcat in 1:48 (due Feb '08). listed a comprehensive series of 1:48 F-4 Phantom IIs in the pipeline, a series of 1:32 Messerschmitt Bf109E models and MiG21s in 1:48 - so some great new items for aircraft modellers on the way. Also shown on the Stevens International stand was Bronco's 1:35 Staghound, which looked extremely good, and Italeri has their Staghound on show too, which looked equally interesting. Hasegawa announced plans for a 1:72 B-24D Liberator, and Revell showed sprues from their all-new 1:72 Lancaster (which is not Hasegawa's release), and Special Hobby had on display a built-up example of their 1:32 Bell P-39D Airacobra, again all splendid news for modellers of aviation subjects. Hobby Link Japan were selling the Fine Molds 1:72 Y-Wing kits like they were going out of fashion, and of course we couldn't resist, so there'll be a preview in a forthcoming issue. So it's good news from the USA as far as new releases go, more news as we get it!