Avionix 1/32 A-4M SKYHAWK COCKPIT SET preview

Well Trumpeter have gone and released our fave Skyhawk or “Scooter” the A-4M model – yes the one with the camel hump on it’s back... But the cockpit detail is – well how do you put this – pretty basic for a kit worth 120odd $..Well Avionix have come up with a new cockpit and some pictures we thought we would show you how it looks in our  preview…

Eduard “Brassin” Bf 109E wheels 1/48th scale reviewed & constructed & compared

Eduard has just released their new 1/48^th kit of the Bf 109E and one thing it had over its larger brother in 1/32 scale was improved wheels – Previously 1/32 scale kit wheels were criticised for being too shallow in depth – well having revised them in their latest 1/48th “Emil” Eduard have gone one better again, and improved these wheels in their “Brassin” line of top quality kit additions. Are these top shelf aftermarket wheels worth the extra expense now we have better wheels on the kit you ask?  Well let’s have a look at them constructed.

Master Details 1/32 USAAF Fighter Pilot (Cold Weather) construction & review

Master Details are – as their name suggests – a company that  are in the business of making things better, they take details from a particular kit – no preferences but usually a 1/32 aircraft kit – and try and improve on it. We have reviewed their improved P-47 tail and 1/32 Commonwealth pilot already here on T.M.N., but just touched down is this- their latest work – a WWII pilot from the USAAF in cold weather gear. We will review and construct the pilot to see if he is as cool as his name suggests.

MasterBox kit: - MB 3570 “Fraeulein, what are you doing today? German military men, WW II era” Review

MB 3570 “Fraeulein, what are you doing today? Was formerly named “Hat das Fräulein heute schon etwas vor? – I kind of like the original name first - It includes 6 figures of the German servicemen that could be combined in different arrangements. One of these figures being a lady service-”woman” hence the title and the poses of the figures in the kit. These figures can be included in the lovely MasterBox Tourenwagen kit complete with all figures or just a few – Let’s have a look at them in our review…

Haynes Publishing:Tiger Tank Manual Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger I Ausf. E (SdKfz 181) Book Review

Haynes have made quite an interesting series of manuals for enthusiasts of vehicles – but now they have used this series to branch out into the more mainstream ( and sometimes the more niche) interests of regular day folk, not just people who want to fix their car. We have reviewed the P-51D Mustang manual and found it to be pretty much a one stop shop for all you would ever need to know – will this title match its brethren in scope and depth? Let’s have a look…

1/48 Great Wall Hobby: Focke Wulf FW 189A-1 W/ Sonderaktion Schneekufen

Great Wall Hobby have had more than one shot at their excellent little Fw 189 kit in 1/48th scale – we have some limited images of the CAD drawings and excellent boxart of their newest version “Sonderaktion Schneekufen.” Or special action Ski equipped Fw 189A-1

Dragon's 1/35 Leibstandarte Waffen SS, Kleisoura Pass 1941 preview

When I was a wee man (long, long ago) I used to read books by Leo Kessler  about the adventures of the troops of the German Leibstandarte SS (LSSAH) unit under Col. Gier (the Vulture) and his charges Major Von-Dodenberg and his non-coms Shultz and Matzi – they were great romps and introduced me to this German elite unit whom which I didn’t know existed before then (or that most of the stories were repeated or made up) Anyway every time I see models of this unit in action I think of Shultz, Matzi and the men in the unit – and I am always interested in these figures – we thought therefore we’d show you Dragon’s new kit in our preview..

A2Zee Models news - Montex kits, Rotor craft and diamond Jubilee offers

Ali from A2Zee Models has an excellent shop in England that sells lots of gear you just cannot get from anywhere else - to top it off he is a lovely bloke to deal with as well - read on  in their newsletter to see what is happening at his store - including their purchasing of the Montex brand of great resin models amongst other things...

Discounts, pre-prders and new books and e-titles Ahoj! - Osprey 's May newsletter hits

Practically everything that is going on in the Osprey Publishing's house is broadcast every month - all of their Pre-releases, new titles, items back in stock and special offers, as well as  events and eBook titles(sigh) and even memberships are covered - all you have to do to keep updated is sign up to their newsletter and it will come to your inbox every month - but for those who don't want to do that - we'll always host it here!

BarracudaCast BR32016 1/32 P-51D Mustang Droptanks – Construction and Review.

Barracuda Studios from the USA have really gone to town in improving your new Tamiya Mustang. Decal sheets, internal decal placards and new colours for your new kit compliment internal cockpit details and some soon to come tyre sets you are really silly not to pick some up – one thing I noticed with the kit was some rather “adequate” drop tanks that aren’t as good as the rest of the kit – well Barracuda Studios have noticed this as well – we construct and review them here for you now..

Some great releases from Kagero for May need a preview'in

 

Kagero from Poland have some excellent book releases this month for most model genres up to the fifties – Legends of Aviation in 3D with the Fokker D.VII, a “Units” book - no 1 - JG 52 Aces of the Eastern Front(with decal sheet), one for the soon to be released Martin B-26 Marauder & Douglas A-26 Invader in Combat over Europe (also with a decal sheet), also for the armour lovers there is a great book on the Panther “miniTopcolors 31 Pz.Kpfw. V Panther. In Attack & Defence” which includes decal sheets in  1/35, 1/48^th and 1/72^nd. Let’s have a closer look in our preview…

DML news from the Shizuoka Hobby Show - Plus - Dragon USA's Latest releases

Dragon USA has sent us their latest releases for the week - we thought instead of just picking the cream we would give you all of their stuff each week  instead of picking the one we like the best- so then no one misses out! Also hot off the press are the latest images from the Shizuoka Hobby Show in Japan which is currently on - lots of images from dragon officially of their soon to be released stuff! Read on to see what they are offering ...

Ampersand Publishing are having a sale - up to 50% selected titles

Ampersand Publishing  are currently having a sale and we thought we would let you in on the titles which are up to 50% off on their site – well give you a little look inside each book in our sale preview...

GWH P-61A Black Widow “Clear Nose" & new Contrast Desaturation paint sets land at Airbrushes.com

Just announced from Airbrushes.com are four new paint desaturation sets for all of the major colours of military vehicles in WWII - Two German, a soviet and an Olive drab US set are here to compliment your models and especially the new 1/48th P-61 "Clear Nose" version which is also on it's way to this on-line store, we can tell you more in our preview...

Mantis May figure preview - A Checkpoint for reptiles?

New this month from Polish figure maker Mantis miniatures are these modern Iraqi conflict figure and animal sets – Coalition troops from Iraq (and a man in a backpack) and some reptiles are on the loose in this preview where we show you the figures and some of the inspiration and background behind them…

Kingscale Models - 1/32 Catalina latest along with 1/18 engines & King Cobra pics

Kingscale have sent us lots of new pictures of their extra large 1/32 Catalina that looks like it would be an amazing kit to be released soon .The inside ribbing and superstructure of the aircraft are looking very impressive - too bad you will have to seal it up - have a look in our extended previews of all of their stuff..

Squadron 's new releases - a Kidd, a Tub for two & a Skyknight?

Squadron from the USA have some interesting new products out this month – two new books – one on the Fletcher class destroyer the USS Kidd in WWII and Korea as well as another of the excellent “In Action” series about the Korean-Vietnam War era F3D Skyknight. Also on the books is a resin replacement cockpit from True Details to replace the Roden parts in their T2 Trojan kit. Let’s have a look at all three in our preview

 

Latest news from Round 2 Models for May....

Round 2 models send us their newsletter pretty much every month - there is always some pretty interesting stuff in there to suit most modeller's tastes especially hot cars and retro kits - with a little bit of sci-fi thrown in who could ask for more? Lets have a look at what the guys have in store and in preparation for us this month...      

              

MasterBox 35105: 1/35th “Charlie on the Left” Review

MasterBox have released three kits this month – we have already built the kit number 3562 “West European Cart” – and we liked it very much – time to look at this Vietnam –era kit which has three G.I’s and two of the afore-mentioned “Victor Charlies” or Viet Cong -V.C’s. Read on to see the kit in better detail in this review

MiniArt take us to the mean-streets of war-torn Normandie

MiniArt have sent us a quick preview of the latest 1/35^th scale diorama in their series with sprue shots and built up shots – if you need a D-day diorama base then the shots in this preview look like it is right up your – street.

The fifty-sixth (and currently the best) reason to buy MMIR is out now

 Military Miniatures in Review is an 80-page, full colour, perfect bound, bi-monthly magazine. Regular features include new product announcements, book reviews and figure reviews. This current issue of the magazine has some pretty interesting looking feature stories – have a look on our preview to see what’s new with this issue…

1/35 Hetzer masks in two schemes from J's Work reviewed

J's work   have already come out with some great masking solutions with their masking set for the F-16 in Israeli service which we reviewed last week – now comes the time to have a look at the masks for the complicated camo for the Hetzer 38T tank which until recently has been a modeller’s nightmare to paint – let’s have a look to see if these ease the pain for us..

Zotz 1/32 B-25J Mitchell at War Pt. 1 decal sheet Reviewed and road-tested..

 Zotz’ have come to the rescue of all HK Models kit owners with some great new decals to colour up the new 1/32 B-25 kit. There are scant choices for this kit so far – and the fact we may not have gotten decals for this glass nose variant or even the kit itself) have made many modellers very happy – let’s see if the reward is as promising as the anticipation...

MasterBox kit 3562: 1/35th West European Cart review

Newest of the three models from MasterBox this month is the kit number 3562 “West European Cart” – we thought - instead of just talking about it lets do a construction – but then we thought – lets paint it and weather it! – read on to see how we did it and what we thought…