Military In Scale 08/2011

Whenever I plan a new project, the one thing that can get in the way of me actually making a start, is the time that I imagine the whole thing will take to finish. Sometimes I will open a box, look at the hundreds of parts that lie within and think to myself that it will just take too long to complete! I move on to what I see as a simpler project and so the pattern repeats until I actually decide that all of my projects seem to take forever and then actually make a start! Of course, the truth is, that modelling is a hobby in which you simply have to put in the time to reap the reward of a fine model at the end of the journey. If you think that you can build up the necessary skills to be able to build and paint nice models without putting in the hours, you'd probably be better off doing something else! And yet there are times when all of us crave a simple, short project and then find ourselves bogged-down with one that is anything but...

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Military In Scale 07/2011

If there is a theme running through this issue, it is that you don't always have to rely on kits or the after-market to provide you with what you need to get a job done. Sometimes, you can build what you need from scratch and make something truly original along the way! Historically, our great hobby began with building models from scratch, using raw materials to create a reasonable facsimile of a full sized object, machine, or structure. Of course, over the years, this has been made more and more redundant, the advent of kits and smaller accessory sets helping to recreate almost everything that you could ever need. But of course, there are always holes in the lists of available replicas, holes that will only ever be plugged by those willing to dive in and build something for themselves - just as we can see in this issue. Amongst the features published this month that concern themselves with kit-built projects (Alan Firbank's Sea Vixen and Dai Williams' Snow Tiger), we have a number of items that include scratch-built models to a greater or lesser degree. Per Olav Lund's 'Ragnarok' includes a stunningly rendered bridge that he's assembled from little more than Styrofoam, Plasticard and details from the spares box.

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Military In Scale 06/2011

Dragon has released a number of fine Panzer III tanks in 1/35 scale before, including the recent Ausf.E (Item No.6631) and Ausf.F (Item No.6632). Now, Dragon has produced the very first Panzer III Smart Kit, and what a stunning creation it is. The Smart Kit depicts an Ausf.H variant, the first Panzer III version to be fitted with a 5 cm Kw.K L/42 cannon. An order for 759 Ausf.H tanks was placed in January 1939, but as it turned out, only 308 were produced up till April 1941 before the Ausf.J entered production. To accommodate the bigger gun, the tank turret was redesigned and a turret basket added to the rear. Furthermore, additional armour plates were bolted to the rear, glacis and front superstructure of the hull. Mechanically the tank received a new transmission with redesigned sprocket and idler wheels. This 1/35 scale Smart Kit has a great many brand new parts. For starters the lower hull, rear plate, glacis plate and front superstructure plate are all newly tooled. Add to this a new mantlet with 35 mm thick armour, and a new vision block.

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Military In Scale 05/2011

Many of you will recall that in the last few years, Historex Agents have been giving away a small range of Napoleonic 1/15th scale resin busts from the Historex offshoot, Nemrod, with every purchase over £35. Having seen them, I, being a total Napoleonic nut of course wanted them but couldn't really afford to spend that much on other kits. So I resorted to a subterfuge. As I am lucky enough to spend a lot of my time writing kit reviews, many of them supplied by the said firm, I approached Lynn Sangster and, well, to put it bluntly, I begged! I'm sure that the tear that also accompanied this abject begging went some way toward him relenting and allowing me to have a sample of each one. I now have eight of the original giveaway busts, all painted, and recently two more arrived in time for Euromilitaire. However, at last and due to popular demand, Historex NCO of France decided to put them on the general market and they can be purchased for a very modest £8.75 each. Not bad, eh?

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