Quad-City Scale Modeler Society’s
Newsletter for February 2007

The meeting minutes:

Well folks, considering the temperature and snow we had a good turnout at the meeting. I was in Detroit and Anniston Alabama this month so I’m getting to the newsletter really late. Hope fully this won’t get to be a regular problem. On the subject of being out of town a lot, I will probably miss the February meeting due to a trip to Camp Dodge from 9-11 February. Mike, please take the notes and send me the write up for the newsletter. To start out with, we did something different at this meeting. Ed Wahl brought a big pile of kits for the first club “$20 challenge”. The premise is simple; you pick a kit from the pile, give Ed $20 and get entered on the challenge sheet. Next December you bring the built model back for the meeting. If you build it, you get your $20 back, plus you got a kit. If you don’t build it, well, you just got a decent deal on a kit……

We had a visitor at the meeting this month, Pete Hudik, from IPMS Richmond, teaches at the Army Logistics Management College, where I was working on my Masters. I had him for a class and told him that if he was ever up in the QC teaching a course to stop by. Shawn gave a presentation on figure painting during the meeting; I copied a few notes and printed them below. We also had chapter elections. Bob Horton was reelected as chapter contact, I was reelected as President and Mike Vinson was confirmed as Secretary/Treasurer. The club voted to pay for his IPMS National membership this year. We also had a little show and tell action going on as well. I got a call this week from Fred Lue, he is looking for a Lindberg LCI. Please contact him at 309 792-8777 if you can hook him up. Plan on doing a little bring and build for the next meeting to get something done for our show and the Regional. The newsletter is a little light this month because I didn’t get that much material this month from the wrecking crew and I didn’t get a chance to do some additional prices I was working on due to my schedule. As usual, I make my plea for more newsletter articles. In fact, I didn’t get a chance to finish the newsletter until the Saturday before the meeting so my apologies to Mike for getting it to him several days late. And now on to the good stuff.

Figure Painting with Shawn Drovesky

The first thing you need to do is know your subject, a good artist observes and watches natural lighting. I recommend you use good lighting when you paint figures, I use a combination of regular and fluorescent lights and try to get the lighting to mimic that one would see in a contest room. Once the figure is assembled and ready to paint, I drill a hole in one foot of the figure and super glue a piece of wire in to pin the figure to a clump of clay while I’m painting it. I use modeling clay as it lasts longer than Styrofoam blocks. I start with the dark colors and work out; I also usually use a black primer, unless it’s a lighter color and then I use red oxide as a primer, or grey for a white color. I use Krylon paints from Walmart or K-Mart as my primer. I also usually paint in batches and get a little assembly line action going. Before you move on after priming, you need to spend some time making sure that all of your joints are cleaned up. If you see some problem areas, you can fill and sand, then repaint wit primer and recheck. The paint I use is acrylic Ceramcoat paints from Ben Franklin or Hobby Lobby, they dry quickly and are very easy to brush right out of the bottle. They come in a wide variety of colors, and I also mix my own colors when necessary. They do require thinning for washes. I don’t use oils personally, as I don’t like how long they take to dry. To digress for a moment, I use sable or camel hair brushes; if you want to get good results you need good brushes. For dry brushing I use brushes that I cut down close to the ferrule. I also use paper towels to wipe the paint off of the brush when preparing to dry brush. Anyway, back to the figures. Eyes are a bitch, you could make all of you figures passed out, but that’s not cool. I use a Shep Paine technique for the eyes; don’t use white paint as that will give you the “pop eye” look I use a shade several tones lighter than the skin tones to paint my eyes, I paint the iris as a dark vertical line, then use red brown to outline the eye, then the eye lids are done by painting a crescent. I use a small dot of pinkish red to the corners of the eyes on larger figures. Also, eyes are shiny, so I use fingernail polish for my large figures as well. For the eyebrows, I don’t use black or red as they are very hard to do as a dark and a highlight unless it’s a large figure. For my flesh tones I use red oxide as a base color. I use Ceramcoat colors right from the bottles as my flesh tone shades, there are so many different colors I usually don’t have to mix my own. When you get ready to paint the face, take a look at your own face in a mirror to see where the highlights and shadows are. The lips are a shade or two darker than the skin tone with a little brown mixed in. For blending, I use dry brushing rather than blending with oils for the reason I mentioned earlier. I will put together a list of the colors I use for my flesh tones and bring that to an upcoming meeting. I don’t use washes too much when painting figures, unless the figure is wearing chain mail, or I may use a wash of blue on white cloaks. I highlight black cloaks with light gray. I plan to have some follow on sessions, so if you have questions, let me know.

Show and tell:

We had some interesting stuff on the tables, an unbuilt Revell 1/72 scale GATO class sub. This kit has a lot of plastic in it. A 1/32 Roden SE 5A along with a pile of new Dragon armor kits such as the Panther G “smart kit”, Puma and M4A3 105mm. Ronbo bought the new Dragon 1/32 P-51 at Major’s right before the meeting that has tones of detail as well as some PE and wiring for the landing gear, he also brought in a 1/20 Tamiya Renault RE 30B Formula I he is building for the Regional.

Brian brought in an NX-01 Enterprise that he had displayed at MVR hobby. It’s a very impressive kit with multiple metal panels. It took him two weeks just to mask the paint job. He used a Sharpie pen to highlight the panel lines.

Glen W. brought in two unbuilt kits, the Enterprise NX-01 and Polar Lights NCC-1701A that will be over three feet long when done.

Mikey brought in a Plano tackle box that he uses to keep all his modeling tools in. This has an amazing amount of space, the trays fold up and out when the lid is opened. It can carry all his building stuff; he bought it at Dick’s Sporting Goods.

The Dates:

February 10: Chapter meeting. Bring and build

March 10: Chapter meeting

March 31: Quad Cities Show. Clarion Hotel, 5202 Brady Street, Davenport, IA.

April 14: Chapter meeting. Road trip to Des Moines?

April 14: IPMS Plastic Surgeons 14th Annual  Plastic Surgeons Model Contest. Contact:  Greg Metge gmgha@mchsi.com 3635 E.P.True Parkway West Des Moines, IA 50265 our website http://www.ipmsplastic/ surgeons.com

May 12: Chapter meeting

June 9: No chapter meeting! We will be at the Regional!

June 8-9: Region V Regional, Knights of Columbus Hall 401 West Main Street, Ottawa, IL 61350 Contact: Steve Stohr: 815-434-7279, 2615 Cherie Lane, Ottawa, IL 61350 thestohrs@aol.com

Some industry News:

RC2 has announced that they will be discontinuing ERTL and AMT products to focus on their children’s toy lines. Big surprise there.

Military Wisdom:

Some of these you’ve seen before, but what the heck – I need filler.

"A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit."

- Army's magazine of preventive maintenance.
"When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend. - U.S. Marine Corps

"If the enemy is in range, so are you." - Infantry Journal
"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed." - U.S. Air Force Manual

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons." - General Macarthur

"Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo." - Infantry Journal

"Tracers work both ways." - U.S. Army Ordnance
"Don't ever be the first, don't ever be the last, and don't ever volunteer to do anything." - U.S. Navy Swabbie

"Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid." - David Hackworth

"Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once."
"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do." - Unknown Marine Recruit

"Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you." - Your Buddies

"If you see a bomb technician running, follow him." – EOD Tech
"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."
"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."

"Without ammunition, the USAF would be just another expensive flying club."

"Never trade luck for skill."
The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" And "Oh S...!"

"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."

"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime." - Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."
"You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal."

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks "What happened?"

The pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!" - Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)

M4A2 Tarawa

Dragon Models 1/35 6062

MSRP - $41.50

Courtesy of IPMS Tacoma

WOW….That was my first impression on opening the box. The first thing you see is a 5x7 card holding etched brass, decals, metal tow cable, clear parts, and the track. Then as you pull out the out wrapped styrene sprues, the wows keep coming. Dragon’s M4A2 “Tarawa” is sure to please even the pickiest of Sherman enthusiasts. I am sure there are those out there in modeldom that will find flaws. I once knew a fellow model builder that cut the AFV Club M730 Chaparral in half length wise because he said it wasn’t wide enough. To me, if it looks like a Sherman then it is. This baby looks like a Sherman plus. The model comes packed in the standard Dragon sturdy cardboard box. The box art shows 2 M4A2’s advancing on an inland beachhead. The sides are covered with the neat features included in the neat and there are many. The box contains 5 sprues of light gray styrene parts, the lower hull, and transmission cover. The gray styrene totals 305 parts, of which 63 aren’t used. That is not counting the sprue containing the rivet heads (more on that later). You also get a sprue of 20 clear parts, of which eight aren’t used. These are the periscopes, lights, and searchlights. The etched brass set contains 42 pieces including rivet heads. You get a metal tow cable, 2 beautifully molded T54E1 steel chevron vinyl track, and a nicely done decal sheet. The decal sheet allows you to build one of six vehicles of Co C, 1^st Marine Amphibious Corps Tank Battalion and one machine from Co. D. All vehicles being on Tarawa in 1942. Some Quick first look notes: Make sure that you drill out the hull (pioneer tools) and the turret (spotlight) before gluing if you plan on using these items. For the rear hull rivets, you get a choice. The instructions say use the photo etch but they include the styrene rivets as well. The kit comes with painted dots on the rear hull where to put the rivets (very nice touch). You also get three PE foundry markings to apply to the rear of the turret. My only con and it is not mine per se, is that unless you want to go front fender less, you will have to use the photo etched parts or find a set in the spares box. However, this kit will give anyone that has not yet ventured into the photo etched realm their first chance to do so with a minimum of trouble.

Some tidbits from Mike Scheel:

New Series on the Military Channel “Tank Overhaul” (rebuilding armor in private hands)
Tuesday Feb. 6th at 1900

The DVD of Flyboys will be out Tuesday. Best Buy's flyer has it listed as $16 and $23 for the "special edition"

Kit Review: Dragon Models Limited 1/72 Armor Pro Kit No. 7274; M4A3(105mm) VVSS Sherman; 147 parts (117 parts in grey styrene, 27 etched brass, 2 tan DS plastic track runs, 1 length of twisted steel wire); retail price US $13.95

By Cookie Sewell

Advantages: amazing amount of detail in a 1/72 scale kit; very nicely done with new parts breakdown; DML discovers weld beads!

Disadvantages: either pantographed or victim of same research error (see text)

Rating: Recommended

Recommendation: for all Shermaholics and 1/72 scale modelers. DML continues its effort to "run the table" with nice new small-scale kits of the Sherman family, and this version of the howitzer tank follows on its larger scale cousin.

The model is an early production howitzer Sherman - VVSS suspension, 47 degree ("big hatch") hull, high-bustle turret with loader's hatch, early style exhaust deflector, and a "slide molded 105mm barrel. The hull has two odd holes in the bottom which appear to have something to do with the preassembled variants (perhaps the base mounts for the pre-assembled ones; they are too small for screws). Barring that, the upper hull is again "slide molded" in one section and has the mounts for the side shields on it with bolt holes clearly visible. The smaller tools (e.g. mattock, tanker's bar, and axe) are molded in place, but the remaining ones are separate. The suspension is unique, as it does not copy that of the larger Sherman kits and differs slightly from the earlier Sherman releases. The bogie assemblies consist of a VVSS spring set, a bogie outer section with an "flat" return roller molded in place, a rear section, and a twin road wheel set with the rear section of the
articulating arms molded in place. Net result is that with only four parts you get a nice, neat finished bogie assembly. The wheels are the "cast" type with covers in place; likewise it comes with solid (e.g. matching) idlers and "solid" ring drivers. The tracks are T48 type with rubber chevrons. The turret consists of a top and bottom with the pistol port molded in place, but the cover left separate. This is again a "slide molded" part to get the detail resolution. (Note that everything with a casting number except the mantlet has one, even though you will need a jeweler's loupe on some of them!) The turret is quite complete, with a very nicely done machine gun with parallel heat jacket at the rear of the barrel and separate spade grips. However, even though it is the VVSS version only the later commander's "vision" cupola is included and not the early production "split hatch" one. The etched brass parts replace some of the detail parts provided in styrene, such as the front fender tips, the rear luggage rack, and some of the tool racks. The parts are called out on the directions with blue for parts to be trimmed or removed and a mustard color for the brass parts to be installed; this is quite helpful as the directions are thankfully in black and white and parts are thus much easier to see. But unlike previous DML efforts, this is the first one to include the same error noted in the larger kit. While apparently not pantographed, it manages to retain the too narrow mantlet discovered on the M4A3 (105) 1/35 scale kit (no. 6354.) Terry Ashley at the Perth Military Modeling Society site noted that the original 105mm howitzer mantlet was 40 5/8" wide, or what works out as 1033 mm. In 1/35 scale, that comes out as 29.5 mm. DML's new kit has a mantlet only 27mm wide, which is slightly noticeable. In 1/72 scale this should make the mantlet 14.3 mm wide; but on the kit it is exactly 13mm. Ergo, both kits are approximately 9% undersized, and in this scale it will show. Finishing instructions cover three tanks in winter whitewash camouflage: two vehicles from the 6th Armored Division, Luxembourg 1945 and one from the 8th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, in France 1944.  A "targeted" set of Cartograf decals is provided. Overall this is a really nice kit of the howitzer Sherman, and a shame that it too has a too-narrow mantlet to detract from its accuracy. Thanks to Freddie Leung for the review sample.

In box review:

Trumpeter 1/350 Scale USS England DE-635

By Glen Broman, IPMS Quad Cities

As many of you know I tend to dabble in ship models. For some reason, I’ve been looking forward to this release. The last Destroyer Escort model I built was the old Revell kit which must have been back in the mid 70’s and I’ve had a hankering to do another one. I bought my kit at Great Hobby Adventures in Des Moines after the January meeting. Although the instructions really don’t go into too much detail on the ships history, Greg Metge, the store owner, told me that the England sank six Japanese submarines between 19 and 31 May 1944. The England was working in concert with two other ships, as the other ships would try and fail to sink the submarine contact they were prosecuting, the England would take a turn and sink the sub on their pass. The ship is just a little shy of a foot long in 1/350 scale. The kit has three sprues of plastic, plus a separate lower and upper hull, hull plate if you want to go with a waterline model and the main deck. There is also a small sprue of photo etched brass. Oddly enough, no railings are provide, just the depth charge racks, some parts for the hedge hog launchers and the radar antenna. A stand is also provided. To finish this kit, you are going to have to invest in an after market PE railing set. My guess is that by the end of the month, Tom’s Modelworks, Gold Medal Models and White Ensign will all have PE sets available. Eighteen parts are listed as not being used, so that would seem to imply future releases of other ships in the class. There is a nice full color painting guide included with Gunze Sangyo colors called out in an overall Navy blue vertical surfaces and deck blue horizontal surfaces scheme. I can’t remember the painting Measure number off hand (Measure 31?). There are only three deals included, two hull numbers and the ships name for the fantail. There is also a US flag decal and some other decal that’s hard to make out, but no mention is made of them in the instructions or painting guide. That’s about it for ship markings Sportsfans, if you don’t like doing decals, come over to the dark side. The instructions pretty clear and should present no problems. Not that any of use real modelers would use them anyway. Can I get an Amen Brothers? The PE fret looks okay, it’s workmanlike and will get the job done, but you may as well go with aftermarket all the way as they should be an overall better quality if past aftermarket releases are any indicator. The moldings are excellent and some of the best I have seen for any ship model. The parts are delicate and look like they will be a challenge to safely remove from the sprue. Once again, this looks like a job for PE razor saws to remove parts from the sprue without damage. The 3” guns are very nice and the 20mm guns are the best I’ve ever seen in plastic. The gun tubs and hull fittings are usually way over scale in a ship of this size; in this case they are commendably thin and are again head and shoulders above many injected ship model kits. As Brad is fond of saying, Prisoner #7 has earned an extra ration of rice for this one. No rigging diagram is provided; you can use either the box top painting or your references. Overall, an excellent effort from Trumpeter and I only hope that these show up on the shelves of Hobby Lobby as I would like to build several. At $32 each they are more expensive than the 1/350 USS The Sullivans destroyer kit that Trumpeter just released, so getting a few at 40-50% off would be nice. Highly recommended for all ship model fans, and if you are looking to build your first ship model, this would be a good choice.

Kit Review: Panzershop 1/35 Scale Warsaw Pact Series Complete Kit No. PS35C13-HT; P-40 LONG TRACK Self-Propelled Surveillance Radar 1RL128D; over 900 parts (365 etched brass parts, 293 parts in grey-green and cream colored resin, one and a half sets of Fruil ATL-11 T-54/55/62 track, 7 parts of printed clear acetate); price US $350.00 (available from Chesapeake Model Designs, PO Box 393, Monkton, MD 21111 or http://
www.chesapeakemodels.com)

By Cookie Sewell

Advantages: ONLY kit of this vehicle likely to be made; gorgeous etched brass radar screen and accessory parts; clean, straight, warp- free resin casting; extended Fruil tracks solve problems of fitting track to the model

Disadvantages: radar antenna is complex and will have to be soldered together; very, very expensive kit

Rating: Highly Recommended

Recommendation: for all Soviet air defense fans and anyone wanting an air defense diorama centerpiece

F I R S T   L O O K

When the Soviet Union decided that antiaircraft guns would no longer be able to stop an aviation threat, they turned to surface-to-air missile systems to solve the problem. While the S-25 (SA-1) and S-75 (SA-2) solved their initial problems, they soon realized that they would need highly mobile system to protect their forces. During the 1960s they produced several systems in short order for regimental level (SA-9), division level (SA-6 and SA-8) and army and front level (SA-4) air defense. Each system above regimental level required several types of radars to operate: a long-range target acquisition radar, a short range target tracking radar, and a fire control radar, all linked by either cable or digital data systems in order to provide a cohesive air defense picture for allocation and engagement of targets. The SA-4 and SA-6 units were among the first to get the 1RL128 high mobility long- range target acquisition and surveillance radar. The 1RL128 was mounted on an Article 426U chassis. This was created from various engineer vehicles using a lightened version of the T-54/ T-55 chassis (Article 401 and others) and powered by the same V-2 series twelve-cylinder tank diesel engines. But due to the bulk and weight of early radar sets, as well as the size of the antennas needed, the Article 426U chassis saw the base chassis extended by another two pairs of road wheels, making seven per side. A large casemate type structure was placed on the rear of the vehicle, providing both a mount for the antenna as well as housing for the system crew of six and an on-board generator to provide system power. Modified a number of times, the system is still in service with some units as well as many client states who bought the SA-4 or SA-6
missile system. Panzershop from the Czech Republic is rapidly establishing itself as
a first-rate resin accessory and kit manufacturer, and this particular kit will probably be one of the best ever produced. Albeit a somewhat offbeat subject, it is quite impressive and provides the modeler with many options. The kit is very, very complex, and this has to be stated up front. Panzershop places a warning to that effect on the box top and unlike
many US ones which provide recommended ages, mostly I think to pump up the feelings of first timers who can build the kits without problems, they are not kidding! The box is very sturdy and the parts inside are either bagged on their casting wafers, wrapped in bubble wrap, or packed with foam peanuts for safety. All of the etched brass is inserted in ziplock bags with a stiff section of cardboard to eliminate damage in shipment. The lower hull is cast as a single part with internal bulkheads for stiffness, and the suspension is provided separately. Late T-55 "starfish" type wheels are provided - 28 of them - and they are all of the correct width, which is a rare thing to find with many T-55 based vehicle kits. Other than the casting bars or wafers, cleanup is minimal. The other major assemblies are the cab, the casemate, and the cab. All are packaged separately and require only minimal cleanup. The LONG TRACK comes with the main engine and all of its systems provided, and an etched brass hood covers it when assembled and installed. 31 resin parts are provided just for this installation, and the radiator takes another four resin and seven etched brass parts. Next is the cab, and while it is formed from the usual mixture of resin and etched brass Panzershop provides pre-color acetate parts for the five windows and two instrument panels. The rubber seals are painted onto the windows, which really does simplify the task of the modeler. Once the cab and floor are mounted on the chassis, the next step involves the installation of the casemate. As it is closed and there is no interior, all that is required are adding the external details such as the generator intake and exhaust components (etched), various air tanks and fire extinguishers (I counted at least four, all made up of multiple components), and the vents and covers over the sides and top of the casemate. The radar antenna is the most daunting component of the kit. It uses a resin base and feedhorn assembly but the feedhorn mount and reflector are etched brass and until complete all are very, very fragile. There is no other realistic way to assemble them but soldering, so that will the one restrictive skill set for most modelers in assembling this kit. The directions are typical of most low-production rate resin kits, mostly photos of parts and 'stick here' photos of subassemblies, but Panzershop provides four nice neat drawings of the antenna assembly with keyed numbers so that advanced modelers will be able to get the antenna properly shaped and formed. The directions unfortunately do not show a finished but unpainted model, but most modelers who get this far will not have a problem finishing up the model. It offers few display options - open or closed windows, open or closed cab doors, open or closed vents, and open or closed hood panels. But the greatest saving grace of all comes from the fact that the model also includes a very nicely done CD that covers most of these things in fine detail! The disk contains about 400 Mb of photos of the model as complete,
every step of construction, and a great selection of photos of a Czech Republic vehicle on public display. As such, the kit's paper directions are essentially only the "Cliff's Notes" version, but you will either need a handy computer or printouts of all of these files for reference. Color references are thus "by eyeball" so the results you get depend on your own personal color vision! Note that basic JPEGs and HTML files are both included on the disk. Decals are also provided for the specific vehicle that is on display, so the modeler will have one finishing option right out of the box. Overall this is not a cheap kit, but the general quality, excellence of the castings and etched brass, use of prime components like the Fruil track sets, and the outstanding CD of instructions and
references combined make this a reasonably priced package. Thanks to Bill Miley of Chesapeake Model Designs (the US importer) for the review sample.

Trumpeter 1/35 JGSDF NBC Detection Vehicle

An in box review by Glen Broman, IPMS Quad Cities

I was wandering around the kit stash in the basement looking for something a little unusual for this month’s in the box review and I found this one. Since I worked in the Chem Bio Defense field for many years, I have a tendency to pick up all of the kits that hit the shelves of NBC vehicles. This vehicle is used b the Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces and is a modification of their standard Type 82 armored six wheel chassis. It has a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) sampling suite similar to the US M93A1, Stryker NBC Recon vehicle and the German Fuchs. You have to love the Chinese translations though “its weathercock-looking measuring instrument was replaced with high-tech sensors makings its appearance smarter.” I’ve been trying to make my appearance look smarter for years, maybe I should take note. On to the plastic. Years ago, I built Trumpeters first armored car kit, a Chinese WZ-901. It was a piece of crap and no known glue then in existence would stick the pieces together. I think I used a MIG welder I had down in the shop to make the kit. This new kit highlights the huge improvement in molding and quality that Trumpeter have made. The kit has four separately bagged sets of sprues, a set of photo etched, three metal axles, some string for cable and a few clear plastic parts. The lower and upper hull pieces are packaged separately. The parts are well modeled with plenty of detail. It looks like the .50 caliber machine gun ammo box is the same type used on the M16 Quad 50 mount. There is no visible flash or ejector pin marks where they would show. One of the sprues that have some delicate looking parts has been wrapped in an extra layer of bubble wrap, that’s a nice touch. Here’s a set of five Japanese soldiers included in the kit that are nicely molded. The tires are a let down as they are not as well done as the rest of the kit and are certainly not as accurate as they could be. The wheels are split vertically which means a little filling and sanding will be in order. They will work, but after market would be better, if they exist. To date, I have not seen any resin wheels for the Type 82. The lower hull assembly looks pretty straight forward, not as complicated as the Revell kit of the Fuchs NBC vehicle. There is a shaded area on the lower hull piece that has a shaded area with an arrow pointing to it that says “repair”. I have no clue but will probably figure it out once I start building this puppy. There is a basic interior provided for the drivers compartment, with a little work, it can look decent. All color call outs on the instruction are for Gunze Sangyo paints. Early and late type sampling arms are provided and are clearly identified on the instructions. There are no interior parts for the aft crew compartment, so you will either have to leave the commanders hatch closes, add the crew figure or scratch build one. The periscope housings in the cupola are molded hollow so you can either fill them with white glue, add the kit transparencies or devise some other method to show the periscope glass. The information on markings and painting is a little sloppy in that there is one page with a five view of the kit showing the camo demarcation lines and it shows that they are either the standard JGSDF dark green and dark brown or field grey or earth brown. There is no mention of which the early or late version is or which decals are used. Tamiya have released several new colors in their paint range, including modern Japanese dark green and dark brown and I intend to use these to paint the vehicle. When I built the Japanese Type 90 tank I used RAF dark green and dark brown, they look close, so if you don’t feel like springing for a few extra bottles of paint, you can always go with those two colors for a pretty accurate match. Overall, this is a very nice looking kit with some painting and marking issues. I recommend this kit if you want to try some thing a little different. I purchased my sample at MVR Hobby in Davenport, Iowa.

Some local modeling news:

There are some new “old” kits on the consignment shelves in the basement at Major’s, go check them out. If you are interested in selling off some of your old kits, you can drop them off at Major’s, they charge 20% for a consignment fee. I’ve found this to be a pretty good way to get rid of some kits that I didn’t want to mess around with on Ebay.

Hobby Lobby should be having a 50% off sale pretty soon, so keep an eye on the paper or check www.hobbylobby.com.

Hobby Town on Kimberly has moved inside the Old Towne mall and has restocked. They occasionally have sales so it’s always worth while to check in and see what’s new. They plan on having an in store contest at some time in the future. I’ll keep you posted when I hear more.

MVR Hobby has done a little remodeling inside and now has probably the best paint selection in the Quad Cities. They also still have quite a few kits marked down from the December sale still on the shelves. MVR has the best selection of car kits in town and are always worth a stop.

After a lot of requesting, cajoling and discussion, Barnes and Noble will start carrying Military Modelling, Scale Aircraft Modelling and Military In Scale in February. They will be getting five copies of each issue. If we want to keep adding magazines unavailable in the Quad Cities to their inventory, we need to make sure that they sell out every month.

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