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.

PARACHUTE FLOATS TO EARTH - LATEST LEONARDO FROM REVELL

SMN Report from Mat Irvine:

Here we see the latest in the innovative Revell series, depicting the machines and inventions of the Renaissance artist and inventor, Leonardo da Vinci.

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.

2012 INCOMING - MORE FROM ITALERI

SMN report:

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the Eurozone’s finances, the fact is that outfits like Italeri are still producing good stuff, and it looks like 2012 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for modelmakers. Here’s the latest batch of goodies from that sun-kissed land of pizza, pasta, luscious ladies, and (oh yes) model kits.

LEONARDO DA VINCI ‘AERIAL SCREW’ HELICOPTER FROM DOYUSHA

Mr J and Mat Irvine discuss:

More Leonardo da Vinci in this video, with a look at a working model Aerial Screw. That’s another term for Leonardo’s helicopter design, and Doyusha has made an interesting kit of it as you’ll see. There’s also a glimpse inside Mat Irvine’s fascinating Model Museum. 

Summation

The Doyusha kit is a neat kit with historical interest, and is roughly to one of the recognized model scales into the bargain, so if you like models with working action, it’s a kit that’s definitely recommended.

Kits from Japan

The kit was supplied by Hobby Link Japan, whose fascinating site you can visit here. There are lots of summer bargains to be had the moment, including Dragon, Hasegawa, Tamiya, and much more.

LEONARDO, F-16i, K9 THUNDER - HOT KITS FROM ACADEMY

SMN report:

The Italeri versions of Academy’s Leonardo da Vinci kits are proving successful, so what’s happening with Academy’s own productions? Well, there are plenty more on release, though as usual with these multi-market products, there are subtle changes in presentation, depending on where they are being sold.

Da Vinci series

Academy’s kits go under the simple title, ‘Da Vinci Machines Series’, rather than Italeri’s splendidly romantic ‘The Marvellous Machines’. Also, Academy bundles the da Vinci kits into a loose grouping called Educational Kits, which is fair enough, especially as these include rockets and robots - tasty stuff indeed.

LEONARDO DA VINCI MULTI-CANNON GUNSHIP

Mat Irvine looks at an Italeri history kit:

Interest in the works of Leonardo da Vinci continues with the arrival of yet another kit of his inventions. This latest from Italeri in 'The Marvellous Machines' series, markets a kit originated by South Korea's Academy Plastic Model Co, and is one of the best-known Leonardo designs. Here it is termed the Multi-Cannon Gunship, though it's perhaps more generally considered as a very early tank design.

LEONARDO DA VINCI AUTOMOBILE 'SELF-PROPELLING CART' KIT FROM ITALERI

Mat Irvine inspects

Here is another model in the growing range of Leonardo da Vinci designs, a 1:12 scale (or thereabouts) kit originated by Academy in South Korea, but made and marketed in Europe by the Italian firm Italeri.

The kit models Leonardo’s idea for a mechanical self-propelled cart, which would be, I suppose - if it had ever been built - the first example of a perfectly feasible ‘automobile’, predating Karl Benz’s three-wheeler by some 400 years.

LEONARDO DA VINCI LIVES ON WITH THE REVELL ‘AERIAL SCREW’ KIT - A RENAISSANCE-ERA HELICOPTER DESIGN

Mat Irvine inspects an interesting mixed media kit

In the middle of 2010, Scale Model News carried a report on one of the new kits from Italeri, originated by Academy, that explore the technological design marvels from the pen of that Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci. At the time it was said that this literally was a rebirth of interest as you would be getting models from not one, but three different kit companies. Two would use conventional plastic - as does the Academy/Italeri - but Revell planned kits that would use materials that Leonardo would certainly be familiar with - wood, cloth, and cord.

LEONARDO DA VINCI MODELS FROM ITALERI

Mat Irvine reports
Things often seem to go in cycles... in the 1970s, AMT, a company better known for its automotive and Star Trek models,  issued three kits based on the designs of that true Renaissance Man, the Italian artist and inventor, Leonardo da Vinci. The AMT kits were interesting in their own way, but soon disappeared from the catalogues, and a rumoured three more never materialised.

New Leonardo kits
But now - several decades on - the subject has gone full circle, with not one but three kit companies announcing new kits of Leonardo’s devices. Revell-Germany has announced a series of, appropriately enough, wooden kits for release later this year, while Japan’s Doyusha is issuing a series in plastic. But first to arrive - in the UK at least - are a pair of Italeri kits, reboxed from a set originated by Academy of South Korea.

Working boat
The Paddle Boat, also known as the Self-Propelled Boat, was a Leonardo idea that was an ancestor of the 19th paddle steamers. The kit actually works, with paddles that rotate, powered by a pre-assembled clockwork motor. It’s a ‘snap-kit’ that needs no glue, and components are pre-coloured in a brown ‘wood’ shade.

Perhaps the nicest thing about the kit - and this echoes ‘educational’ kits of old - is that you get a comprehensive full-colour illustrated booklet. It’s printed in English, German, French and Italian, and shows Leonardo sketches, other boat designs he created, and various models built for museum displays.

An early automobile design?

Italeri’s other currently available Leonardo kit is the 'Self Propelling Cart', a da Vinci design that predated the first working automobile by hundreds of years. With two more Leonardos in the works, all in all it’s a highly appropriate series from Italy’s premier model company.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1  Box top.
2  Comprehensive booklet.
3  Components of the kit, with the clockwork motor at lower centre.
4  The back of the box is almost as comprehensive as the supplied booklet. It shows the three other models - Self-Propelling Cart, Mechanical Lion, and the Multi-Cannon Gunship, Leonardo’s tank design.

Kit kindly supplied by Italeri’s UK importer Hobbyco. You can visit the site here.

Visit Italeri here.