REVELL VITRUVIAN MAN - FAMOUS FELLA, SIMPLE KIT

Mat Irvine reports:

Apart from the Mona Lisa, the Vitruvian Man pen-and-ink sketch is probably Leonardo’s da Vinci’s most famous image, and something of an international trademark. And it’s now the subject for Revell’s latest Leonardo kit, the only model in the series that represents a more metaphysical side, rather than his designs and inventions.

SUPER PERSHING - THE FIRST ALLIED TANK TO BEAT THE GERMAN KING TIGER

SMN report on the Tamiya T26-E4

As World War II was drawing to an end, the M26 Pershing was coming into service in Europe, and was the first US tank that could take on powerful German armour such as the Tiger I and Panther on reasonably even terms. Tamiya’s 1:35 scale kit represents the T26-E4, a developed version of the Pershing, armed with a long-barrel 90mm main gun with enough power to throw armour-piercing shells punching through the front plate of even the ultimate German tank, the King Tiger.

1:48 SCALE SWORDFISH FLOATPLANE AND JAGDTIGER TANK DESTROYER FROM TAMIYA

David Jefferis reports
The modelmasters at Tamiya are excelling themselves these days, and for 1:48 scale model fans, here are some items heading our way that are well up to scratch.

Tamiya Fairey Swordfish
The first is an absolutely jaw-dropping Fairey Swordfish floatplane, to add to the existing 1:48 examples in the Tamiya lineup. This one seems to have outperformed everything else that the company has produced along these lines. The 250 mm (9.8 in) long British World War II naval aircraft is packed with detail that includes excellent crew figures, a centreline torpedo, hardpoints for underwing stores, and a pair of beaching trolleys for those shapely floats. There’s also a metal-etch fret set available for adding the rigging neatly, though the less than super-dextrous (aka DJ) may be best to leave that alone.

Tamiya Jagdtiger
Matching the Swordfish for scale is a German Jagdtiger heavy tank, with a length of 219 mm (8.6 in). The kit includes three figures, though these are torsos only - it’s likely that keen AFV fans will want to add some ‘whole body’ German troops for a realistic diorama look. It’s fair to say that AFVs can suffer a bit detailwise at 1:48 scale; nevertheless Tamiya has really gone to town on this one, with the lumps and bumps of the metal casting around the nose and gun mantle very finely reproduced. Tamiya has always made a point of crawling over real examples to make sure kits are accurate, and we’d say this has to be true of this little gem.

Heavy hitter
A note on the Jagdtiger itself, strictly speaking a tank destroyer. It was the heaviest AFV of World War II, tipping the scales at nearly 72 tonnes and carrying a crew of six (yes, six!). A late-war entrant, the Jagdtiger saw service on both the Western and Eastern fronts, from 1944 until the war's end. Despite the massive 128 mm (5 in) gun and 250 mm (9.8 in) armour, its story was as much about technical problems and lack of fuel as knocking out Allied tanks.

Both kits will reward the experienced modelmaker with museum-quality replicas - recommended.

The Tamiya Swordfish floatplane hasn’t arrived in the stores yet, but the exotic transparent version is well worth a look here.

And there’s a range of Tamiya AFV kits here. (Yes please, we'd like the lot).

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1  Tamiya Swordfish.
2  Photo-etch fret for the plane.
3  Matching scale Jagdtiger tank.
3  View inside a real Jagdtiger's engine bay, this one on display at the UK's excellent Bovington Tank Museum.
Model pictures courtesy Tamiya; engine bay photograph by Hohum.

RUSSIAN 1:35 SCALE BT-7 TANK FROM TAMIYA

SMN report
Russian BT tanks (from the words Bystrokhodny Tank, meaning ‘fast tank’, leading to the nickname ‘Betka’) were produced from 1932 to 1941. They were lightly armoured, but had a powerful main gun, decent speed, and fair mobility. The sloping front armour was a major protective innovation, and was a feature that would be incorporated into many later tanks, including the famed T-34.

Combat career
Early BTs first saw combat in the Spanish Civil War, but in the World War II tank battles of 1940 and 1941, German armour was massively superior. The bottom picture shows just one of the thousands of BT tanks that were destroyed or abandoned in the face of overwhelming firepower.

What’s in the Tamiya BT-7 kit?
It’s the 14-tonne BT-7 that is the subject of this beautifully crafted 1:35 scale Tamiya kit. When assembled, Tamiya’s model has a length of 161 mm (6.3 in) and includes a pair of figures, commander and crewman. A pity another figure wasn’t included though, as the BT-7 normally had a crew of three.

Metal parts
Engine cover and radiators are well served however, as these are photo-etched parts, with all the fine precision this implies. Another metal component is the tow chain dangling between the headlights, two items which feature clear lens covers. Markings for five different vehicles are included, and the first BT-7 kit production run also has a nicely-printed photo leaflet included which provides useful photo references. All in all, the BT-7 is well up to the usual high standards for 1:35 scale military subjects from Tamiya.

See the Tamiya BT-7 kit here.

View oodles of Tamiya militaria here (we want the lot, but there’s not enough room at SMN Towers, sad to say).

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1-2  BT-7 boxtop art, and three-view diagram

3-5  Views of the completed Tamiya BT-7.
6  BT-7 tank destroyed in action by German forces, July 1941.
Pictures courtesy German Federal Archive, Tamiya.

KING TIGER FROM MARK 1 TANKS

The US Sherman tank we showed in the last post is no longer available from Mark 1 Tanks... but this 1:6 scale King Tiger certainly is.

The K-T's hull measures 1.2 m (48 in) long, and with the gun trained forward you can add a further half-metre (20 in) to that. The monster RC machine tips the scales at a hernia-inducing 90kg (199 lb) but, just like the real thing, the wide tracks spread the weight, so it can cruise over soft ground with ease.

Visit Mark 1 Tanks here.