Quad-City Scale
Modelers Society’s
May 2007 Newsletter
Meeting minutes:
Well folks, it’s actually been a while since we had a meeting. There have been four model shows since our last meeting, sadly, two of them where on the same day. The April meeting was a road trip to Des Moines. I attended the show, but due to a variety of reasons, I did not know if I was going until the morning of the show. Ronbo and I planned to meet and drive out together, but he was unable to make it. I got up early, was in Des Moines just as the doors opened, bought a Dragon M1A1 AIM kit from Ross Petra, a former member of the Lippisch chapter, now living in Ames, talked to a few old friends, looked at the models on the tables and headed off to hit the local hobby shops, Half Price Books in Clive and was on my way back before noon. I missed the rest of the guys. Here is Michael Vinson’s trip report: “Michele and I, Bob Horton and Ron Franck were in attendance. It wasn't a bad show actually, my first for them. There were about 150 kits on display, with the typical ratios of armor of various types, automotive and aircraft. It was a little lean on ships and sci-fi---a few subs, a few surface warfare ships, a carrier or two and a well done large scale HMS Victory in a plexi case, also a couple very nice Slave 1 ships and a TIE Fighter flew in from the Star Wars galaxy to pay a visit. As I recall, only a few dioramas, one of a 60's/70's era drag racers garage, an OS2U Kingfisher on a catapult (both of which were at our show), the toppling of Saddam's statue in Baghdad and one depicting a SAS assault on the Iranian Embassy (which won the grand prize). I was happy to see the number of junior entries (about 15 I think), and during the awards presentation all the juniors were asked to come up front and show who they were, which I thought was a nice touch. I think there were only three people with kits to sell, but I still found a couple things--I think you guys are corrupting me; I'm actually looking for armor to build! And that's about that! I guess I'll see everyone in May.” The next model show was in Madison, Wisconsin. I had a soccer game against Moline (we won), but Randy Kidd went, as did Ronbo. The reports were that they had some nice kits on the tables and a fair number of entries, but the vendor room was a little light. May 5 was the Cedar Rapids show; unfortunately, it was also the Duneland Show, which, in my opinion, hurt attendance at the Cedar Rapids show. I understand that there was a problem coordinating changing show dates during the period when we were without a Regional Coordinator, so I do not see this problem happening again, but it was a shame. Some of the club members attended the Duneland show due to making commitments early to help run the show, and we had a few other members that could not make the trip to Cedar Rapids due to job commitments. It was a shame as the Cedar Rapids guys did a great job this year. There were more vendors this year, Wings and Wheels had three tables, plus guys selling off their stashes, the raffle was good and the number of entries was up from last year. They had some great awards, they went to small acrylic trophies with color Fartin’ Flea logos for silver and bronze and a nice certificate wit the club logo for bronze. I was really disappointed with myself for not getting some new stuff built as I would have loved a shot a winning some of those awards. Jeff Hearne from Model X magazine was also in attendance and had copies of the inaugural issue of ModelX magazine. I picked up some copies from him to hand out at our May meeting for the first 16 people who walk in the door. It’s a nice looking magazine and I hope everyone supports it. Anyway, it was a good show and it was a shame that more folks didn’t attend due to the scheduling conflict. One of the reasons for attending the Cedar Rapids show was to discuss merging our two shows into one and alternating the locations each year. Both chapters are in favor and I think this is a go. Our tentative proposal is to select a date. I think our date may the best (last Saturday in March) as they potential family conflicts are less because most spring sports have not started and we don’t have a conflict with Duneland with the date. I would also suggest holding the first show in Cedar Rapids unless we have some one step up as show chairman here within the next month or so as we have to start planning. We talked about renaming the show to reflect the change in venues. The Iowa-Illinois Open, the Quad City –Cedar Rapids Invitational and Upper Midwest Shoot Out were all suggested, and you know some one had to suggest the Fart Fest, but as enticing as it sounds and as exciting and flashy as the logo would undoubtedly be, that is probably a non-starter. Anyway, we need to talk about it at the meeting and see what we come up with. The chapter Presidents from both chapters will hold discussions with their clubs and share the results so we can get this off the ground. An update on the magazine front, Barnes and Noble have now started to carry Model Aircraft monthly magazine as well as SAMI, Scale Aircraft Modeling, Fine Scale, Scale Auto Modeler, Military Modelling and Military in Scale. They are now the best source for a wide variety of magazines not available any where else in the Quad Cities. Major’s and MVR carry the Tamiya magazine titles so there are now very few model magazines that you can’t get around here. For our upcoming meeting, we will be doing a club photo shoot, so bring in anything you want to take pictures of. We will also have a video presentation on figure painting. For those of you who may not have heard, Travis Russ had his heart valve replacement and his doing very well. He is back at home and recovering. Please drop him a line and say hi. One last thing, we have swapped newsletters with a number of chapters for many years, and we have had our articles appear in many other newsletters and have had chapters such as IPMS Seattle, reprint our stuff. Sadly, we could not take them up on their offers to use their articles as my software was not able to work with the Adobe PDF files they used. Happily, this has now changed. This issue has a number of articles from IPMS Richmond, IPMS Seattle and GTR Modelers. I’m happy as we get a variety a modeling articles and I don’t have to type as much. However, I would still like to get some articles from youse guyz. Since we have enough articles for this months newsletter, I am going to hold off on my review of the Hobby Boss 1/35th scale Danish Leopard 2A5DK kit I picked up at the Cedar rapids show. This is a nice looking kit; in fact Hobby Boss kits in general are really looking good. They have released a number of aircraft kits as well, such as a Rafale, Mirage and A-10 in 1/48 that looked really good. I have been informed an importer that Hobby Boss is an off shoot of Trumpeter led by Trumpeter’s former head kit designer. I look for good things to come from this company. That’s it for this month, see you at the meeting.
The Dates:
May 12: Chapter meeting. Club photo shoot. More Figure Painting techniques from Ralph Nardone from the Atlanta Regional on DVD.
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
July 14: Chapter Meeting. Club barbecue
August 11: Chapter Meeting
August 22-25: IPMS/USA
2007 National Convention hosted by IPMS/Orange County; Anaheim Marriott,
Anaheim, CA; details at www.ipmsusa2007.org
September 8: Chapter Meeting
October 13: Chapter Meeting
November 10: Chapter Meeting
December 8: Chapter Meeting. Christmas party and annual “What If? Contest. The $20 challenge will also be held. Bring in the completed kit you bought for $20 from Ed and get your money back.
IPMS Director of Local Chapters Announcement
Fellow IPMS members;
The “Supporting Our Troops” program is going very well. Please visit the IPMS/USA website to see how individuals and IPMS clubs have contributed models and supplies to our troops. There is now a person that you can contact directly via email at george.salerno@iraq.centcom.mil . LtC Salerno has centralized the efforts on the receiving end. LtC Salerno is working directly with John Noack, 1st V.P of IPMS. You can also contact John at JNoack@IPMSUSA.org . As you can see by the various descriptions offered on the IPMS/USA website, clubs and individuals are pouring items of all types into the delivery system. If your club has not yet made a contribution please consider doing so at your earliest convenience. Telling IPMS about your efforts in word and picture is not “just bragging on yourself”. It is an encouragement that you provide to others who have yet to follow suit, so please document your club efforts and share your stories and pictures with IPMS. Your information will be added to the IPMS/USA website. On the 2nd subject, the IPMS/USA website will soon feature a “gallery” showing the recipients of the 2006 Meteor Productions Certificate program. Meteor provided a $25 gift certificate to an IPMS member from each chartered IPMS/USA club that made a nomination prior to the Dec 31, 2007 deadline. If your recipient is not pictured in the gallery please send an image to dmontgomery@ipmsusa.org. A big Thanks goes to Meteor Productions for this outstanding and generous show of support to IPMS/USA and to its membership.
Happy Modeling,
Dick Montgomery
IPMS Director of Local Chapters
Kit Review
By Alex Veloz, courtesy of IPMS Richmond
Model Subject: 7.5cm PaK 40 Late Type
Manufacturer: Dragon Scale: 1/35
Model Type: Injection Molded
Ratings:
Molding: 5
Instructions: 4
Detail: 5 Decals: 4
Fit: 4
Clear Parts: None
Accuracy: 5
Photo-etch Parts: 4
Ease of Assembly: 5
Value: 4
Recommended: I highly recommend this for WWII military equipment modelers. Problems:
(1) Instructions are somewhat confusing in step 1 because of the many small parts included. If you are not extra careful, you can easily get assemblies upside down or backward. I found this out and had to pry a couple of assemblies apart. Luckily the glue had not fully hardened and the parts were undamaged.
(2) The photo-etch plate in step 8 is not wide enough to fit over the barrel as shown in the instructions. You can either leave this part off or make a replacement part out of thin sheet plastic slightly wider than the one provided. Glen Martin also built this kit and encountered the same problem.
(3) Other photo-etch parts add little to detail because they are mostly hidden from view.
Comments: Overall, this is a great build. The many small parts are extremely well detailed, fit well with the exception of the photo-etch part noted above, and look great when assembled. One of the nicest features of the model is the turned aluminum barrel, which gives the model some needed weight and requires no filling or sanding like plastic barrels. There are also brass shells, five nicely molded Fallschirmjager (paratroopers), and assorted ammo boxes and tubes with stencils included. I painted the PaK 40 in a Tamiya dark yellow base with olive green and red brown camouflage streaks. The figures
were also camouflaged in the same colors. I applied a burnt umber oil wash to give the model some depth and bring out details. Rain and rust streaks were simulated by placing small dots of burnt umber and white artist oils on the gun shield and other surfaces and spreading them straight down with a wide fan shaped brush. I also used brown dust pigment mixed with distilled water on the wheels, tires, and the lower part of the gun including the axle and brakes. A hair dryer was used after the wash was applied to speed drying and to ensure that weathering came out even without pooling at the bottom of parts like wheels. I bought a Verlinden building ruin and some additional AFV PaK 40 ammo and plan to use these with my gun and figures in a diorama depicting the Anzio campaign in early 1944.
Kosher Computers
Submitted by our Liverpool correspondent, Paddy McGannon
I don't know if you know this, but you can now purchase Kosher computers!
They are made in Israel by a company called DELL-SHALOM. The price is so low, even
with the shipping from Israel, that I bought one. However, before you purchase a kosher computer of your own, you
should know that there are some important changes from the typical non-kosher
computer you are used to, such as:
1) The "Start" button has been replaced with the
"Let's go!! I'm not getting any younger!" button.
2) I hear "Hava Nagila" during startup.
3) The cursor moves from right to left.
4) When Spell-checker finds an error it prompts, "Is this the best you can
do?"
5) When I look at erotic images, my computer says, "If your mother knew
you did this, she would die."
6) It comes with a "monitor cleaning solution" from Manischewitz that
advertises it gets rid of all the "schmutz und drek."
7) When running "Scan Disk" it prompts me with a "You want I
should fix this?" message.
8) After 20 minutes of no activity, my PC goes
"Schloffen."
9) The PC shuts down automatically at sundown on Friday evenings.
10) It comes with two hard drives - one for fleyshedik (business software) and
one for milchedik (games).
11) Instead of getting a "General Protection Fault" error, my PC now
gets "Ferklempt."
12) The multimedia player has been renamed to "Nu, so play my music
already!" corner.
14) When my PC is working too hard, I occasionally hear a loud "Oy
Gevalt!"
15) Computer viruses can now be cured with matzo ball soup.
16) When disconnecting external devices from the back of my PC, I am instructed
to "Remove the cable from the PC's tuchus."
17) After my computer dies, I have to dispose of it within 24 hours.
18) But best of all, if you have a kosher computer, you can't get Spam!
Kit Review:
By J. D. Spearman, courtesy IPMS Richmond
Model Subject: Hughes H-1 Racer “Long Wing” Manufacturer: Planet Models
Scale: 1/48
Model Type: Resin
Ratings:
Molding: 4
Instructions: 4
Detail: 3
Decals: 2
Fit: 4
Clear Parts: 3
Accuracy: 4
Ease of Assembly: 3
Value: 3
Problems: The usual ones associated with resin kits: a few “bubbles” to fill and smooth, some rough edges to clean, some sanding and dry fitting to get pieces to connect well. The problems are minor, compared to most resin kits I have seen. Be prepared to spend a lot of time painting, light sanding, and polishing. Recommended, but expensive. One of the best resin kits on the market, in my opinion. If you like colorful shiny finishes on rarely seen models, this is the one. Comments: Fit twice (or 3, 4, or however), and cut once applies. Colored chalk applied to join parts can help find those high spots that need to be shaved down. There are 2 vac-form canopies, so one boo-boo is permitted, but take care because the shape is not simple. The canopies are clear and distortion free. The engine is well detailed and installs in the cowling nicely. Paint and polish is the real time consuming construction step. Primer was Mr. Surfacer 1200, thinned 50-50 with lacquer thinner. Light sanding with 1000 grit and repair unwanted seams with Mr. Surfacer 1200. Wings were painted with three coats, lightly sanded, of 1-Shot true blue enamel, then polished with the Micro-Mesh pads. The wings were then masked with Tamiya masking tape after removal of some of the stickiness. Fuselage, cowling, and landing gear were painted with three coats of 1-Shot gloss black enamel and polished to a mirror finish, followed by three or four coats of Alclad II polished aluminum lacquer. Elevators and rudder were dull-coated to simulate dope. Final assembly was straight forward, only requiring some care in aligning the landing gear.
DML/Dragon 1/35th Scale
M1A1 AIM Abrams
By Bob LaBouy, courtesy of IPMS Seattle
Initial Comments and Caveats: I am going to try this again. Once again, the single person who apparently has read my prior notes, asked me to do it again. Those of you who saw my latest effort at our October Chapter meeting, seemed to approve and be impressed with the latest Abrams kit from Dragon (DML). I must admit that I’ve been impressed with the M1A1 when I’ve seen a couple perform in public demonstrations. It’s very big, obviously heavy and from all written reports of both our country’s recent military incursions in the Middle East, an awesome piece of military technology. Whether a result of tactics, equipment or training - probably all three aspects – its prowess and achievements against a variety of Soviet bloc armor during these conflicts is impressive to say the least. Finally, as part of my self-education (and the patient, kind assistance of “the good, bad and the ugly” - John Frazier, Steve and Stan Cozad - I’m not saying which are which, you can decide for yourself…), I used this kit as the next step in my armor building and finishing tutorial. I finally think I’m beginning to see what they have been talking about. My small success in this instance appears to be largely due to the beautiful new kit from those crazy guys in China. With my pre-apologies to those who are praying for me, here goes…
Initial Kit Observations Holy big kit Batman! This is a large, highly detailed kit and not to trifled with. There are by various counts, at least 700 plus parts, two excellent photoetch sheets, several decal sheets and panel markings, and cardboard boxes (little boxes containing rations – unfortunately not included). If you want an easy build, buy one of the earlier Dragon kits and pass this one up. Aside from the fact that this kit represents almost every aspect of the Abrams, the engineering on the parts and finish is superb. You see this in the crisp detail, the small amount of marks or flash that needs
to be removed and in the top/surface detail. I compared what the kit provides with a few photos I took of an Abrams and as far as I can see, it is perfect and matches the real surface very closely. There are also a number of areas where alternate parts are included, allowing the builder to complete many things in either their “open,” “closed,” or “deployed” positions. The barrel is provided in both plastic and machined aluminum – either of which appear to be acceptable in my opinion. The detail can be further seen in the external machine guns: both the .50 cal M2 and the smaller SAW M240 7.62mm are not only detailed on the surface, but allow for the breech areas to be opened and have the barrel end open to simulate the actual barrel. No, while you might wonder, no rifling is evident in either barrel opening – I guess some detail is still up to the builder (Editors note: The 120mm is a smoothbore therefore the lack of rifling is accurate – see below). Another indicator is seen in the small clear hubs provided for each of the road wheels. In life these really are clear and allow the crew to quickly determine that sufficient lubricant is in each wheel hub. The individual track sections are reasonably easy to separate from their trees, and almost snap together. One way I judge a kit is the crispness of its detail and the accuracy of the kit’s engineering. In this kit, angles are at 90º (where needed), and the edges and lines are crisp and sharp, leaving very little sanding to be done as you construct the tank. There are enough decals on the main sheet for at least several M1s and lots of detailed stenciling marks. Add to this a sheet of CIPs (see notes below) and ration boxes and you’ll soon see what I mean. While observing the model, one local wag commented on there being no rifling inside the main barrel; it should be noted Dragon didn’t miss anything here – the M256 120mm cannon, originally developed in Germany for the Leopard 2, is a smoothbore. References I usually attempt to share what references
I’ve found useful and by that standard there are two I’ve used – both contain numerous photos of M1s during the Iraqi conflicts: Marines On The Ground (Mini Color Series # 7516) written by Gordon Arthur and published by Concord Publications Co., and Walter Böhm’s M1A1/A2 Abrams (also a Concord Pub. Mini Color Series, # 7502). I am sure there are more I have not seen. I also found the Verlinden Publications Warmachines No.
13 On The Road To Kuwait: Marines In The Gulf very helpful in terms of colors and wear and tear on the vehicles. Of almost no value was the M1Abrams in Action book by Squadron Shop, published in 1989, prior to these machines being used in serious combat. I also found the Echelon Fine Details decal instructions to be helpful, not to mention the beautiful decals themselves (URL: http://pachome1.pacific.net.sg/IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 9 %7Ekriegsketten/ ). There are a great many photographic images of the Abrams on the Internet, most of them recent and providing a wealth of ideas for painting you kit as used in the Iraqi wars. Just so you won’t feel as “behind the curve” as I did, a note to the uninitiated about the “CIP” (or Combat Identification Panels) notes. One of the several mysteries I encountered as a new armor buff was to find out what those shutter like plates or the flat plates on the turret are. Asking resulted in a number of responses from other modelers, most of which were wrong. They aren’t special armor panels, depleted nuclear material, nor flat screen TVs for the guys on the front lines. It took some digging, but here’s the “skinny.” These marvelous devices are reasonably new to our military armor and intended to reduce the number of casualties resulting from what we used to refer to as friendly fire and now are more politically correct in being called fratricide or “blue on blue” incidents. Following the ’91 Gulf War, a simple, yet effective system was established. There are several panels displayed on the Abrams, using thermal film and tape, which provides a quick “cold spot” identification of friendly equipment to both allied aircraft and vehicles. These panels are easily removable and the two flat ones
on the front facets of the M1’s turret are held in place by Velcro tape strips (this is the corner painted markings you see so often in photos and drawings). There are often also side and rear facing panels which look like shutters or Venetian blind panels. There are apparently several color combinations, based on the color of the Velcro/thermal tape and the surrounding camouflage scheme. For my desert-colored tank, I used the base color and applied small pieces of real tape painted the color of the military tape I have in my collection. They look as close as I could imitate to the many color photo references I used. Again, your references will provide you with the colors and locations you need.
There is a bit of a weakness that continues to plague the Dragon line – the instruction sheet. I know it’s easy for us to see the problems in instruction sheets, but there are several items on the sheet which almost defy understanding. There also seem to be some parts which are not called out on the six very packed pages of instructions. When you consider that there may be over 750 parts to be concerned with, it’s no wonder. To insure completion, I attempted to keep track of my progress, page-by-page, panel-by-panel, and item-by-item by placing tick marks and small notes on the instructions. On the plus side though, one area I really do appreciate on Dragon’s sheets is that they not only provide the usual Asian language notes on colors by referencing various Japanese paint manufacturers but also spell out the Model Master colors (which seems to be in much wider use on this side of the Pacific). Another most useful and informative aid is provided in the many detailed drawings Dragon provides on the bottom (or rear) of the model kit box. I can assure you that by carefully looking at these detailed drawings, your building experience will be easier and more rewarding. On more than one instance, there was a note I should have seen and missed, only to learn later “oh, I should have added that part there…” These small scans of the box bottom illustrate what I’m talking about, as does the amplified portion from this same sheet. In the last few years, I’ve been almost overwhelmed by the quality I’ve seen in numerous models. This is especially so in the several armor kits I’ve enjoyed building. In case you’ve missed or are unaware of the many kits of the M1 Abrams that been available for the last few years, you’re in luck. You can now stop searching for a good kit and probably get rid of the other kits you may have stockpiled; the latest M1A1 Abrams from DML now provides the clearest path to a great kit I’ve found. You also need to recognize the many inexpensive kits listed on eBay
(including many by DML) are of the earlier version. Now that I’ve already given away the story within the story (and not the usual ploy used the local news lead of “a breaking story” later in the article…), I would like to talk about the very obvious level of quality exhibited by the folks from Dragon. I’ve been building their numerous great new kits for about two year now and continue to be impressed with their overall quality. Aside from the fact that DML gives the modeler a number of alternate items, hatches, treads and other external finishing items, the evident quality of what is provided is outstanding. In my mind, this is Tamiya level of quality and a “10” on a scale of 1 through 10 (with Hasegawa, my long time favorite, getting about a 6 or IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 10 7). You might “ask what about details?” Their M2 50 cal. and M240 5.56 mm machine guns are provided with the end of their barrels hollowed out! Don’t forget the box top. I offer this reminder, realizing that I often use the box during the building project to store parts and carry it around in. However, in this instance there are several valuable aids included. The box top itself shows an Army Abrams in Iraq. This photo provides not only a good picture of the subject, but illustrates much detail about the “field condition” of the tank in the field. The markings for this tank are contained in the excellent decal sheet, which provides specific markings for six different tanks and numerous generic smaller detail markings and stenciling. The other significant aid is along the side panels of the box, providing some painting color references and some detail illustrations which can be very helpful in constructing the kit. This kit is a winner - in any sense of the word. It provides the modeler with a very accurate model of one of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps’ most important and significant pieces of armor. It is both a large and impressive vehicle, which is evident from the completed model. In my opinion this kit is a strong “10” and a project well worth your time and interest.
Building the First Trans Am
Pole Position Winner
By Chuck Herrmann, courtesy IPMS GTR
The early years of the Trans Am Series have become legendary in the minds of American road racing fans. American pony cars, such as Mustangs, Camaro’s and Barracudas, modified from the street versions, and battled it out on famous road courses. Most of the well known heroes from all forms of racing appeared in the series. The book Trans Am: the Pony Car Wars 1966-72 by Dave Friedman is a great reference that captures the history of these years. (see my review in the February 2002 GTR newsletter). While researching my project to do the first ever Trans Am race winner (the Alfa Romeo Guilia
Sprint GTA of Jochen Rindt), I came across other photos in the book, including one of the first pole position winner and the first lap leader in Trans Am history. I have been an AJ Foyt since he won the first race I ever attended, the Springfield, IL 100 miler on the one mile dirt oval for USAC Champ Cars in 1967. At the same time I saw these photos I had just read about the AMT reissue of the 1966 Mustang hardtop in their Resto Rod series, so next time I was in the hobby shop I picked up the kit and started to build this historic car. The kit needed to be modified by cutting out the rear seats and filling it in with sheet plastic. The kit supplies a basic roll bar; I built this into a cage with plastic tubing. A shifter was added from the parts box. I used photo etch buckles and masking tape for the seat belts. From a Lindberg 1964 Plymouth Petty NASCAR kit, I used the fire extinguisher, racing seat, wheels and tires and exhaust. Since I was doing a curbside, the engine is unfinished on top and the hood glued shut. The metal axles run thru the oil pan in the kit’s 60’s design. I did add the exhausts to the engine because they are very evident on the finished car and they needed some place to mount. The body did not need many changes. I left off the front bumper, sanded the clear headlights and painted them to make the covers, and added a gas cap on the trunk lid from the parts box. Bare Metal foil was used for the chrome; the paint is Testors Gloss White enamel from a rattle can. The stripes and tire markings are from a Cady sheet, adapted from the fastback body style. I was able to find most of the contingency decals from various sheets. The Gulf and Fram stickers are from an Auto World sheet from 1978 and they went on perfectly! I am still looking for few to finish it off. I am satisfied with the final results. Since I never found a color photo I hope the dark blue stripes are correct. I could have enlarged the wheel openings a bit, but decided to keep it simple and it makes a good shelf model.
A Step off the Beaten Path:
1/48th Scale Model Sklejania Lublin R-XIII
By Ken Murphy, courtesy IPMS Seattle
Maybe it was the feeding frenzy that made me do it. How else could I explain buying a kit from some foreign company I never heard of; of a subject I’d never heard of, with packaging that did not inspire confidence about the contents? Or maybe it’s just that some people will buy anything if it’s cheap. It all started with the month-long going out of business sale at the Tacoma American Eagles store last summer. Each week for a month they reduced prices on everything in the store. Kits were flying out of the store (pardon the pun), but by the last weekend when everything was marked down 75%, not much was left. Among the dregs was a stack of Model do Sklejania kits of the Lublin R-XIII. What, you say? I’d certainly never heard of that company, which turns out to be Polish, or of that aircraft, which by the looks of the cover art, was a pre-war single-engine, two seater something or other. But for the low, low price of $4.74, I thought it would be worth a look. And after all, it was a sale – I had to buy something! When I got home I took a quick glance. I was surprised – it didn’t look all that bad. The parts looked clean with decent detail. The texture of the wing fabric was nicely represented and overall it seemed a simple, straight forward build. Which is just what I was looking for when, months later, I had burned out on my Jasta Schweinhimmel project. For those of you who aren’t Jim Schubert, here’s a little background info on this obscure bird: The Lublin R-XIII was a Polish observation, close reconnaissance and army cooperation plane, designed in the early 1930s in the Plage i Laskiewicz factory in Lublin. It was a typical design for its time with mixed construction, fixed gear, struts, wire, the works. The “E” version represented by this kit was powered by a Skoda-Wright Whirlwind radial and mounted a 7.7 mm Lewis gun. A total of 288 were built in 7 variants, including 20 aircraft for the Navy. The kit includes floats for this version. It first entered service in 1931, but most had been withdrawn by 1938. Fifty were still with front line units when the war broke out. The history and data on the instructions is very thorough and detailed, but if you want a less stilted translation, Wikipedia has some good info and includes the only actual picture of the plane I was able to find anywhere. As mentioned above, the kit is pretty basic. The instructions include a grand total of 8 steps – 9 if you build the float
version. There are 64 parts of which 10 are for the floats. The engine/prop assembly is the most complicated, with 13 parts of which 9 are the oddly arranged exhaust stubs. They curve out and up behind each cylinder and are quite tricky to attach and angle properly. As you can see in the picture, the cockpit interior is as simple as they get; instrument panel, bracing, two seats, a stick and that’s it. Lots of room to scratch build to your heart’s content. I opted to keep it simple and build out of the box, though I regret not fabricating some kind of rudder pedals and harnesses, since they would be easily visible. But my whole point with this build was to keep it simple and not get carried away.
For the most part, the kit goes together pretty easily. A little putty smoothed out the fuselage and wing seams. Attaching the wing was a bit of a challenge, but I managed it without having to build an elaborate jig. The cabane struts are small and hard to align, but they fit nicely into the wing and I was able to eye-ball them into correct position. The rest of the various struts and braces were easy to fit. My only out-of-box addition was some
monofilament line for the rigging. One interesting touch is that the control lines for the rudder run along the outside of the fuselage, so I included that with my rigging. The camouflage scheme is my best guestimate based on the instructions, the box art, and pictures of other models I found on the internet. I don’t know if it’s accurate, but I like it. Since the scheme called for nice wavy lines, I used the rolled clay method for masking. This involves rolling out long ropes of children’s modeling clay, about the thickness of a pencil or less and bending them to the desired shape and lightly placing them on the model. I used rags, tape or paper to mask off the rest. When spraying, aim straight down. The roundness of the clay gives a soft edge effect, which can be controlled by the thickness of the rope – the thinner the clay, the sharper the edge. Oily residue from the clay has not been a problem. Just don’t leave any actual clay on the surface! This is a fast and fairly easy technique if you’re looking for something between a sharp Tamiya tape edge and an airbrush blur. The only drawback is in creating tight curves, the clay just won’t bend enough without mushing out of shape. My choice of colors was mostly based on need. I needed to use up an old bottle of Pactra Acrylic Flat Dark Green and I needed to try my new Misterkit colors I picked up on sale at Emil’s. They come in brown bottles with no way of knowing the color inside unless you happen to speak Italian. I’m sure that’s why they were on sale. Fortunately, Stephen Tontoni was on hand to help me interpret the labels. For the brown and yellow, I used “Bruno Mimetico” and “Giallo Mimetico.” I must say, the color is smooth and dense and goes on very well. There is some debate over whether the undersides were silver or light blue. I chose the later. For want of any alternative, I used the decals provided in the kit. They include markings for three aircraft. They are thin, but remarkably stiff. I had a difficult time trying to get them to snuggle down around the ailerons. Fortunately, the rest of the decals go on flat surfaces. Registration left a little to be desired and attempts to trim the excess carrier were hampered by the fact that the white areas were obscured by the white paper background. Also, the white areas were not very opaque and I had to do a lot of touch up. The unit symbol of a hornet in a square was unusable. What was supposed to be a light blue background was dark blue and obliterated the image. Using the decal as a guide, I painted over it to create the right look. What started out as a quick and easy distraction between serious builds, turned into much more as I got involved with this odd and interesting craft. It was challenging, fun, and stands out on the shelf, so if you’re tired of building the same old Mustangs and Messerschmitts, you might take a step off the beaten path and try a Lublin.
Ferrari Superamerica in 1/24 by Revell of Germany
Kit #07391
Reviewed by Gerry Nilles, from Internet Modeler February 2007 Courtesy IPMS GTR newsletter. See the article and additional photos on: www.internetmodeler.com
History: The history of the Ferrari Superamerica dates back to the 1956-1961 time period when this unusual convertible sports car first made it appearance. Like its predecessor the new Ferrari Superamerica, a variant of the 575M Maranello, is a very unusual convertible. Produced in 2005 as a limited edition of only 559 units this vehicle touts some of the most sophisticated technological feature ever seen on an automobile.
The Superamerica, which is powered by a twelve cylinder 540 bhp engine coupled to an optional Formula I transmission boasts exceptional performance as is demonstrated by its ability to go from 0 to100 km/h (0 to 60 mph) in 4.25 seconds. Its unique transmission can be used in the automatic or manual mode as well as “normal” or “sports” at the driver’s discretion. Likewise its suspension is state of the art and can be adjusted to sporty or comfort at the flick of a switch. However, and without a doubt, the most high-tech feature on the Superamerica has got to be its “electronically controlled color change”
convertible top. This unknown feature is a first of its kind ever used on a production automobile. Similar to the idea of eyeglasses that darken to sunlight the “Revocromico” top can be electronically adjusted from clear to almost black at the driver’s command. Overall the car has been designed as “user friendly” and is very easy to drive. Kit: The highly detailed Revell of Germany 1/24th scale Ferrari Superamerica kit comes molded in gray and red plastic. Accuracy looks good to this reviewer. Typical of Revell of Germany the kit includes a very nicely done power train assembly including a detailed engine/transmission and rear differential and axle. If desired this assembly looks to easily lend itself to additional super detailing. Likewise the interior is very nicely done. A piece of black screening is provided along with a template of shapes that are required to cover the side vents, the hood intake and the left rear fender intake. The hood is molded separately and can be left in either the open or closed position. Overall the kit is molded crisply with little if any clean up or filling needed. The instruction sheet is equally well done and easy to follow. Markings: There are not a great number of decals with this kit, however attention to the instruction as to placement and sequence should be observed, especially with the engine and other internal markings. Of course the decal sheet also includes the traditional items such as the Ferrari logos, license plates etc. As for the quality of these markings the registration looks good and traditionally Revell’s decals are of high quality. Conclusion: The Revell of Germany 1/24th scale Superamerica looks to be a very good kit of a rare and interesting Ferrari. Kit details include both a nicely detailed power train and interior. You Ferrari fans should be very happy with this kit.