SUPER SWEDE - SAAB SEA GRIPEN CARRIER-BASED CANARD ATTACK JET

SMN report

Back in March Eurofighter released details of its proposed navalised Typhoon jet, and it looked really interesting, both as a concept and as an opportunity for a kit-bash. Now we’ve come across a similar proposal from Saab, with its single-engine Gripen multi-role fighter-attacker jet. Like the carrier-based Typhoon-N, Sea Gripen would not need a catapult for takeoff, instead being able to launch using a ski-jump - so it makes another, cheaper, competitor to the Lockheed Martin F-35, currently on order by the UK Royal Navy. The Gripen is designed to use rough strips - or at least, sections of Swedish highway - as wartime runways, so the lightweight aircraft seems to have the hard-working basics for seaborne ops already built in. 

LIBYA LATEST - NATO ATTACK HELICOPTERS TO ENTER COMBAT ZONE

SMN report

It’s something of a helicopter time at the moment - the stealth machines used in the bin Laden raid, a possible European-issue NH90 stealth-design, and now the news that British Army WAH-64D Apache AH1s have been ordered into North Africa, operating from the amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean, in joint operations with French Eurocopter Tigers. 

British Army Apache at RAF Fairford.

SCI-FI SALE IN JAPAN - ONLY A FEW DAYS TO GO

David Jefferis reports

The excellent HobbyLink Japan webstore is offering good deals on kits and ready-builts featuring the Ma.K (Maschinen Krieger) sci-fi universe, first created back in the 1980s by Japanese artist Kow Yokoyama.

2012 LONDON OLYMPICS TAXI TIE-IN FROM CORGI

SMN report

Here’s one for the keen London Olympics 2012  collectibles lover, a 40-strong range of London taxis, each one decorated with graphics representing a different sport. The taxis are small, about 1:64 scale, and are very basic in appearance and detail - you get wheels, windows, a simple interior, but that’s about it apart from painted lights, grille, and an attractive mini-box. 

Olympics 2012

The appeal is in the Olympic connection, which is fair enough, but it does rather raise the question:  why is it that ‘popular attraction’ collectible models are, almost without exception, produced down to a price, rather than being a life-affirming ‘best they can be’? Pocket money purchases and casual buying are probably the answers to the question, but how nice it would be if a few more items of tourist tat were tourist treasures instead.

AUDI R8 SPYDER - REVELL TEST SHOTS OF THE UPCOMING 1:24 SCALE KIT

SMN report

These pictures show a Revell’s-eye-view of its Audi R8 Spyder, a kit that’s due out this summer. To 1:24 scale, the model measures some 184 mm (7.25 in) long, with a component-count of 110. To judge from the test shots, the detail looks up to scratch, with a particularly well sorted engine under that lift-up cover. The cockpit too shows care and attention, with a steering wheel that has the correct flattened underside, and general layout that follows the real thing reasonably accurately.

For super-detail fans, we’ve included some official Audi promo pix, so you can add the extras that could turn a decent kit into a show-stopper. We’re not sure if it’ll be possible to reproduce that beautiful coloured stitching on the leather though - now there’s a challenge!

BIN LADEN STEALTH AGAIN - THIS TIME A SCIMITAR-BLADE MH-47 CHINOOK

SMN report

The expert Italian aviation team of David Cenciotti and Ugo Crisponi have got together again to visualise a type of helicopter that Cenciotti thinks could also have taken part in the bin Laden raid in Pakistan.

Modifications to the Chinook

Like Crisponi’s visual of the MH-60, this Stealth-Chinook depicts many similar features of such a machine, including smoothed and faceted nose and air intakes, but the Chinook's signature fuselage sponsons are shown here modified with a similar treatment. The rotor heads have discs to cover the complex connection assemblies, and the blades themselves are spectacular hooked scimitars. 

Good starting point for a stealthy build.

EUROCARS FROM OTTOMOBILE ARRIVING JUNE

David Jefferis looks at a model car quartet

Here are four new 1:18 scale resin-based models from the French OttOmobile company, all to 1:18 scale. They are all well up to OttO’s usual standards, even if the subjects are hardly mainstream, especially to anyone (like me) more attracted to the speed and power of Mustangs, Ferraris or Batmobiles. However, that’s OttO’s successful philosophy: producing subjects that mainstream manufacturers won’t touch. They are all the same price at 39 Euro, and don’t forget that OttO’s pre-order system means models are often sold out soon after they have been announced.

SHIZUOKA HOBBY SHOW 2011 STARS

SMN report

The Shizuoka ‘Hobby City’ Hobby Show finished earlier this week, and there were many reveals of tempting new stuff. However, yesterday’s look at the new Dragon Type 95 tank kit allowed us to focus on this Chinese company and its wide-ranging product list.

Fine detail from Dragon

Dragon has looked into various technologies for its new products, including slide moulds, which allow more accurate reproduction of fine detail than standard two-piece moulds. The technique works by creating injection moulds that have built-in moving sections, the ‘slide’ of the name. These are inserted into the mould to form components, then removed for extraction. 

SMALL BUT PERFECTLY FORMED - 1:72 SCALE HA-GO LIGHT TANK FROM DRAGON

SMN report

The Chinese model company Dragon continues to add subjects to its wide-ranging list of AFV kits. This time, it’s a ‘model aircraft’ 1:72 scale Type 95 Ha-Go light tank, as manufactured by Mitsubishi and used in the 1942 Philippines campaign.

Type 95 tank, preserved at the US Army Ordnance Museum.

PARTWORK UPDATE - BATMAN, GREEN LANTERN, OTHER TASTY STUFF

SMN report

Here’s an update on the continuing Batman Automobilia series, now into its fifth 1:43 scale vehicle, the Gangbusters-style retromobile from the 1940s, and a very neat model it is too. All the Batmobiles are presented in the same stackable clear plastic oval boxes, which make them look very presentable indeed, though as this writer is in pre-housemove clearance mode, storage issues put any thoughts of a collection into cold storage! The accompanying magazines are pretty good too - the picture above, from the launch issue, shows the attention to detail that has gone into this production.

The Eaglemoss website reveals details of Batmobiles four and five.

Predictably enough, the first three Batmobiles were the hot items, but for a keen Bat-fan, this is the opportunity for something like completeness in one aspect of your Batman collection.

CAN’T MAKE WONDERFEST? SAVE MONEY INSTEAD!

SMN report

The folks at Fantastic Plastic are visiting the WonderFest international hobby event this weekend, and have a sale on to mark their escape from the office. Up to 30 percent savings are in place, and if you like to model interesting, unusual, or simply bizarre aerospace and sci-fi subjects, then FP is the place to visit.

Competed model, ready for takeoff.

FORGET THE FRIED CHICKEN - KENTUCKY’S ‘WONDERFEST’ EXPO IS THE PLACE FOR SCI-FI MODEL MAKERS

SMN report

Labelled as a “weekend of fun for movie and model fans”, the annual WonderFest international hobby event celebrates its 22nd year this weekend. In the words of the organizers: “WonderFest is THE annual expo for model and toy collectors of s-f, horror and comics subjects - especially plastic kits and garage kits.”

Just four of the names appearing at WonderFest Expo. 

BIN LADEN RAID STEALTH HELICOPTER - DOES NATO HAVE A ‘GADDAFI GRABBER’ READY TO FLY?

SMN report

After news of the secret US stealth chopper that crashed during the bin Laden raid, and the previous NATO bombing of Colonel Gaddafi’s villa in Tripoli, Libya, it struck us that maybe - just maybe - there might be a European-issue stealth helo flying quiet and unseen through the night skies. We had a close look at likely candidates and reckon that the NH90 military helicopter fits the bill pretty well. It has a composite fuselage, a fairly stealthy faceted fuselage, retractable landing gear, and enough room to carry a fully-equipped SAS snatch team.

Revell 1:72 scale NH90 kit box.

REVELL GERMANY ANNOUNCES START OF SCALE 2011 COMPETITION

SMN report

Details of this year’s prestigious ‘Scale 2011’ competition are coming through from Revell Germany. In the company’s words: “And now the moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived! This is the start of announcement for this year’s ‘Scale Award’. We again search the best model of the year. The winner can look forward to the coveted ‘Scale 2011’ trophy! For the first time this year the announcement of the competition is split up into two categories - adults and teens. Teens in the meaning of the announcement are all participant aged 16 years and younger. The same rules of competition for both categories.”

P-51D Mustang from the Scale 2010 competition.

BIN LADEN RAID STEALTH HELICOPTER - SLEEK CONCEPT REVEALED

SMN report

Those news pictures of the crashed US stealth helicopter have certainly got the aerospace community hotted up with curiosity - and us model fans too. And now the respected Italian aviation writer David Cenciotti has linked up with skilled graphic artist Ugo Crisponi to show what a full-on stealth MH-60K could look like. The visualization, compared above with a standard machine, looks highly convincing and shows a sleek machine that's loaded with stealth features.

AIRFIX VOSTOK ROCKET PART 2 - IS WHITE RIGHT?

Airfix Vostok launchers built up, with empty tanks (left) and full ones (right).

Mat Irvine solves a question of colour

Last time (article here) I pointed out that whatever colour Vostok space launchers really were, they were not white. However photos have often made them appear partially white, so what was going on?

Super-cold liquid
The truth is that the ‘white’ in published pictures was correct, but it was not paint - instead, it was actually frost. This is because Vostok’s rocket motors used cryogenic fuels, or to be totally accurate, a cryogenic oxidizer in the form of LOX, or liquid oxygen (the ‘fuel’ was the far more mundane liquid kerosene). LOX is cold - very cold** - and once the rocket is fuelled, it chills water vapour in the atmosphere immediately outside the tanks, and ice forms on the metal skin - which of course shows up white!

A real Vostok, almost certainly Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok 1. Note the icing.

BIN LADEN RAID STEALTH HELICOPTER - AN OPPORTUNITY FOR KEEN KIT-BASHERS

SMN report

The May 2 helicopter raid that led to the killing of Al Qaeda’s Osama Bin Laden also revealed a reduced-radar signature ‘stealth’ modification to the Sikorsky MH-60K Blackhawks used by the mission's crack Special-Ops team. One of the helos crashed during the assault, and was blown up with explosives, but remains of the tail section survived for photographers to capture some teaser images.

The shallow dish covers the radar-visible rotor head mechanism.

SHIZUOKA HOBBY SHOW CELEBRATES ITS 50th ANNIVERSARY NEXT WEEK

SMN report

We are delighted to report that Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami have not put a stop to the Shizuoka Hobby Show, which is gearing up to mark its 50th year in 2011. Shizuoka is a city of some 750,000 people, in Honshu, Japan’s main island, and styles itself as Japan’s ‘Hobby City’.

On show at Shizuoka

The show runs from 12-15 May, and hobby companies big and small will be there, packing their stands with new products. A galaxy of names will include Aoshima, Bandai, Doyusha, Finemolds, Hasegawa, Tamiya, as well as many others. 

WUNDERLAND AIRPORT OPENS IN HAMBURG, GERMANY

SMN report

The world's largest model airport opened yesterday at the Miniatur Wunderland model rail attraction in Hamburg, Germany. Miniatur Wunderland is the world's largest H0 scale model rail landscape, and its airport has finally opened to operations, after six years of design and construction.

Early days in the airport's development.

NEW REVELL HEINKEL He 111 - PICTURE GALLERY RELEASED

SMN report
Revell's 1:32 scale Heinkel He111 looks an attractive build, as these newly released pictures of an assembled and painted kit show. And answering the question posed the last time we looked at this kit, yes 1:32 scale does seem to be the new 1:48, at least in terms of offering that bit more detail and size. All we need now is some backup with figures and equipment to make large-scale dioramas a real pleasure to build.