HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL SCALE MODELLERS

Here we go again, seeing out the last of the old year 2012, and looking forward to the New Year 2013 to come.

Of course, some countries are already there, including Australia, which has celebrated with the traditional Sydney Harbour firework display. Estimates reckon that no less than 1.5 million people turned up for the show. Excellent stuff!

'THUNDERBIRDS' GERRY ANDERSON DIES

Gerry Anderson, creator of a host of children's TV series, including classics such as Stingray, Thunderbirds, and Space 1999, has just died, at 83 years old.

CARS, CARS, AND MORE CARS...

Here's a selection of scale cars, fresh from the craft bench of Mat Irvine. Enjoy!

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS TO ALL SCALE MODELLERS

Best wishes to you all from the SMN Crew, and here's to some great scale modelling in 2013. We'll be showing some tasty stuff this week before model news starts again after the festive break.

2013 INCOMING FROM AIRFIX - KITS, KITS, AND MORE KITS

Airfix is going to be busy in 2013, with a spectacular release list that's guaranteed to keep model builders occupied throughout the year. Here's a taster of the more interesting stuff coming our way, highlights from the upcoming Airfix release list.

KITTY HAWK LOCKHEED F-94C STARFIRE TO 1:48 SCALE

SMN REPORT
Kitty Hawk is a newish model company, with a limited range of kits on sale. The company motto states, ‘the finest military miniatures’, so our question is, do Kitty Hawk kits match up to that promise?

REVELL THROWS IN A KIT OF LEONARDO’S BALLISTA WAR WEAPON

FIRST LOOK FROM MAT IRVINE
Here’s one more of Revell Germany’s intriguing kit series featuring the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. This one is the ballista, a potent and deadly version of the catapult.

1:24 SCALE TOYOTA 86 SPORTS CAR KIT FROM TAMIYA

FIRST LOOK FROM MAT IRVINE
Here’s one for 1:24 scale enthusiasts from Tamiya, a sports car kit of the Toyota 86.

AT LAST - AIRFIX TYPE 45 DESTROYER ON RELEASE

SMN REPORT
The long-awaited Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer is here at last. It's a big kit too, made to 1:350 scale and measuring some 436 mm (17.2 in) long when assembled.

HORNBY BRINGS BACK HUMBROL PAINTS FROM CHINA - RESTARTS PAINT PRODUCTION IN BRITAIN

SMN REPORT
The Hornby company’s model paint brand, Humbrol, known for its familiar enamel paint tinlets, has shifted some two-thirds of production back to Britain, around ten years after such operations went to China.

A TRIBUTE TO ‘THE SKY AT NIGHT’ PRESENTER, SIR PATRICK MOORE

 

An appreciation by Mat Irvine
Sir Patrick Moore, creator and presenter of ‘The Sky at Night’, a long-running BBC TV astronomy show, died yesterday, December 9, aged 89.

‘SPACE SUITS - A GUIDE FOR SCALE MODEL BUILDERS’ ON RELEASE NOW

MAT IRVINE REPORTS 

Here’s the latest in the series of ‘Space in Miniature’ black and white books from Mike Mackowski. This eighth in the series concentrates on that basic necessity for working in space, the space suit.

IS THIS THE FUTURE OF SCALE MODELLING?

Will the world of scale models follow the same path as desktop publishing? That’s the hot question now being asked, as the latest generation of 3D printers makes possible rapid prototyping of any object that’s stored in digital form.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL FORMULA ONE RACING CAR FROM TAMIYA

SMN REPORT
Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel won his third Formula One Driver’s World Championship in 2012, and you can help celebrate that milestone by building a Tamiya 1:20 scale kit of the Renault racer he drove in 2010, to become World Champ for the first time.

HAMEX 4 MODEL SHOW TODAY

Any Brit modeller with access to the Milton Keynes area should go to HaMeX 4 today. It's the kit swapmeet and model show that's really worth a look, not least for our own Mat Irvine's display of work, from Doctor Who to space probes.