INCOMING - ‘SKYFALL’ JAMES BOND HELICOPTER FROM ITALERI

SMN REPORT

Here’s a well-timed kit release, a movie tie-in that’s bang up to the minute. It’s a variation on Italeri’s existing AW-101 kit to 1:72 scale, modded slightly to represent the triple-engined beast shown in the latest James Bond movie Skyfall.

ELVIS LIVES! TAMIYA POSTER CAMPAIGN RECKONS SO, ANYWAY

SMN report:

We mostly associate Tamiya with top-line traditional plastic kits - and quite rightly, for they are superb products, as we recently showed with the newly-released 1:32 scale P-51D Mustang. But Tamiya doesn’t stand still, and the company recently paid the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Vietnam to create an ad campaign based around the catchline, ‘Tamiya Put It Together’. 

REVELL CLASSIC KIT - PATROL TORPEDO BOAT PT-167

Mat Irvine inspects:

The US Patrol Torpedo Boat is a kit that has appeared in various forms over the years, including one branded under the ‘McHale’s Navy’ name, from the US TV series that ran from 1962-1966. This new Classic Kits release features another boat, PT-167, and a bonus is that it comes in 1:72 standard model scale, matching similar water-borne craft from Airfix. When assembled, PT-167 is 334 mm (13.15 in) long, a size that’s suitable for display on virtually any shelf or desk.

THE USS JOHN F. KENNEDY AIRCRAFT CARRIER, LAUNCHED 42 YEARS AGO TODAY

On May 27 1967, Jackie and Caroline Kennedy christened the new carrier, some four years after John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas. The ship (aka ‘Big John’) was basically a Kitty Hawk-class design, but with conventional engines instead of a nuclear power plant. The JFK went on to serve for almost four decades, before being finally decommissioned in 2007.

For model builders, aircraft carriers represent a particular challenge, involving making and painting tiny aircraft as well as the ship. US supercarriers like the JFK had different types likely to be parked on deck, from fighters to helicopters.

But there is a short-cut for collectors rather than builders, and that’s to buy a ready-built model, and here the auction site eBay has come to the rescue. There are several 1:800 scale JFKs for sale at a Buy-It-Now price of $159.00 USD (£100.00 GBP), which gets you a 15 inch (381 mm) long model, complete with aircraft on deck, and mounted on a wooden plinth with a brass name plaque. It looks good at that price.

Visit the eBay JFK here.