Valiant Wings Publishing has advised that Airframe & Miniature Nos 3 & 7 Second Editions are now at the printers and should be available next week on November 5th. These will be on sale from Valiant Wings' stand in Hall 1 at Scale Modelworld, November 9th & 10th, along with other titles currently in print.
My computer has been frozen for the last two days. If you have a Mac and you are planning to upgrade to the new Catalina operating system, I urge extreme caution! I have finally managed to recover the computer and my data. We'll be back to regular updates tomorrow.
8 October, 2019
Luke Pitt reviews Brengun's 1/48 scale RQ-7B Shadow UAV. Five images of the kit's resin and photo-etched parts, decals, box top and a reference photo are included.
For those who build post WWII 1/48 scale aircraft the48ers.com constantly receive new releases as well as stock popular products from almost 100 product lines and manufacturers around the world. One can select aftermarket items from a wide range of more than 5,000 products that are available!
John Darlington has let us know that Richard Thompson, who many of our New Zealand visitors will know as the previous owner of Modelair hobby shop in Auckland, passed away last week. I was fortunate to be able to spend a few days with Richard and his wife Nicky during a shop function in 2011, and it was with great sadness that I heard this news. I offer my sincere condolences to Richard's family and many friends.
Tim Nelson has sent a big new Feature article on building the Contrail 1/72 scale vacform Blackburn Kangaroo. 42 images accompany Tim's detailed text, including a bunch of in-progress shots.
Valiant Wings Publishing will update and expand both Airframe & Miniature No 3 - The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 & Ta 152 and Airframe & Miniature No 7 - The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Radial Engine, which have been out of print for a while. Anyone buying directly can also get both books at a special bundle price of £37.90 plus postage. Publication is scheduled for early November.
In the Gallery, Wingnut Wings has announced a new range of limited edition models starting with the Albatos D.V/D.Va. All Limited Edition Albatros D.V/D.Va models feature 156 plastic parts and 11 photo-etched metal detail parts and all new “Limited Edition” packaging with rustic, raw cardboard box with full colour sleeve with item details. Check Wingnut Wings website for more information and ordering details.
John Miller reviews MiniArt's 1/35 scale Avro 671 Rota Mk.I RAF. 22 images of the plastic and photo-etched parts, decals, marking guide, instructions and box top are included. John has provided three reference photos too.
Wingnut Wings has announced that next two releases 32605 Fokker D.VII F “Hermann Göring” & 32608 Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe “William Barker” are now available for pre-order from shop.wingnutwings.com with shipping from November 2019.
18 September, 2019
Squadron ScaleWorkshop presents a Digital Gallery of nearly 50 photos of Tamiya's brand new 1/48 scale P-38G Lightning, built by me; and masterfully painted, weathered and detailed by Chris Wauchop. Maximise the video to fill your computer or TV screen with these High Definition images!
News from DACO - 30 years ago, on 7 September 1989 to be exactly, DACO Products was officially registered as a company, after already being active for several years in designing decals as a hobby. For this 30-year anniversary, DACO Products is offering a full discount on all available DACO books, kits, decals and other products for 3 weeks! During the first week (from 7 to 15 September) a discount of 30% is given on all available products, the second week (from 16 to 23 September) this discount will be 20%, and during the last week (from 24 to 30 September) it will be 10%. It all happens at http://www.dacoproducts.com.
The "What's New" Archive seems to have vanished at some time in the last days but in case you have missed it, it is back at the bottom of the page again now!
Eduard has advised that their Limited Edition 1/48 scale P-51D Chatanoog Choo-Choo kit has now sold out. You still might find one via shops or online retailers though. Eduard will be releasing the next version of their 1/48 scale P-51D Mustang, this time a D-5 with and without the fin fillet, in October. Stay tuned for more on this kit.
Revell's new 1/32 scale Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1/A-2 single seater has just arrived. In tonight's Squadron ScaleWorkshop I unbox and offer my first impressions of this new kit. What a week!
And while we're speaking of Belgium, I incorrectly attributed the nationality of Daco in this week's F-104G video. Daco is, of course, based in Belgium. My apologies to Danny for the error.
8 August, 2019
Tonight I present a detailed written review on the brand new Tamiya 1/48 scale Lockheed P-38F/G Lightning. 40 images of the kit's plastic and multimedia parts, masks, decals and future box top are included. Please note that this is a pre-production test shot and the colour of the plastic is likely to be different.
At the IPMS USA Nationals, Radu Brinzan has spotted Wingnut Wings' newest announcement - a 1/32 scle Fokker Dr.I. We'll have more information on this in the coming days. Wingnut Wings will also be relesing a 1/32 scale HP O/100 along with their O/400. Good times!
The 48ers has added three new product lines: ANYZ from Germany, Rafalik from Czech Republic as well as Temp models from Russian Federation totalling 4,000 modern aircraft accessories and aftermarket products in stock!
More information has come to light about my suggestion that the new Tamiya 1/48 scale P-38F/G can be built as a P-38H straight from the box. In short, it cannot! It turns out that there are a number of subtle differences between the P-38G and H:
The internal rear canopy bracing was not a feature on the H. The rear canopy was a completely clear unit.
The turbocharger intake on the side of the boom just under the wing trailing edge on each outboard side; the H model intake was identical to the later J & L version’s longer and pointier rear end
A different instrument panel would have to be used for the H as there were differences from the F panel in the kit.
Thanks to Tom Cleaver and John Clements for this information.
5 August, 2019
A test shot of Tamiya's all-new 1/48 scale P-38F/G Lightning has just arrived! In tonight's Squadron ScaleWorkshop I unbox and offer my first impressions about the kit.
Eduard's brand new 1/48 scale "Chatanooga Choo-Choo" Limited Edition P-51D-5 Mustang has just landed on my doorstep. In tonight's Squadron ScaleWorkshop I unbox and offer my first impressions about the kit. As a bonus, I also explore the sprues from the forthcoming early D-5 kit without the tail fillet, due for release in October.
Tonght I review Eduard's BRASSIN 1/72 scale B-25 wheels. I have included photos of the resin wheels, the instructions, packaging and the Airfix kit wheels for comparison.
Jim Bates reviews Reed Oak's 1/72 scle 3D printed Mosquito Pilot. Even if this is not your scale or subject, take a look at this stunning figure. It is hard to believe that it really is 1/72 scale.
By now most of you will know that Tamiya's big announcement is a brand new 1/48 scale P-38F/G Lightning. In fact, the P-38H is externally identical to the P-38G so the kit is even more versatile than the title suggests. You can see more information about the kit on the Tamiya USA website. I am hoping that we will have a kit to show you in the next week or two.
In more new release news, Lucky Model has the brand new 1/48 scale F-104G Starfighter in stock and ready to ship. The price is a very reasonabvle USD$39.99 plus shipping. We're hoping to see this one on the desk at HyperScale soon too. Good times!
Sprue Brothers is celebrating their 15th anniversary with various promotions the entire month of July! This week's special is: Additional 15% Off All Eduard items (model kits, PE, paint masks, Brassin, BigSin, BigEd and Look - Over 7,000 different in stock items to chose from!)
'Time Takes Its Toll' is fantastic new book (358 pages!) featuring the aircraft at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona, USA is now available to download from our digital provider, pocketmags.com. It's just £19.99 and is packed with masses of fabulous colour photos showing numerous aircraft types as they slowly oxidise in the desert environment. Download now using PayPal: https://pocketmags.com/modellers-reference-library-magazine
Doolittle Publishing has a great subscription offer for all its plastic magazine titles. Take out a new subscription or renew an existing one (print only) to Tamiya Model Magazine, Model Airplane International, Model Military International or Military Illustrated Modeller for two years (24 months) and receive £28 worth of some rather clever, bendy modellers' masking tape that you can form curves with! Too good to miss! Renew online or call now! +44(0)1525 222573: GMT UK office hours.
John Miller reviews Eduard's 1/72 scale Fockker D.VII (OAW) ProfiPACK. 23 images of the kit's plastic and photo-etched parts, decals, marking guide, box top and five reference photos are included.
The 48ers announce that ANYZ as well as OzMods products are now available for Pre-Order @ 15% discount while the Fightertown Decals, ResKit as well as WandD Studio products are on 10% discount until June 26. Check out their website for more details.
...and while we are talkng about experimental fighters, Roland Sachsenhofer presents a new article on his Hasegawa 1/72 scale Grumman X-29A. 14 images accompany Roland's text, including a number of construction shots.
I have archived the What's New entries from January to May 2019. These may be found, along with all the other What's New archive pages dating back to 2008, at the bottom of this page. Earlier entries may be found in the Indexes.
I was lucky enough to be visiting Puckapunyal Tank Museum on the way back home to Sydney last Monday when an M113 APC and MRV were being moved around. Tonight's Squadron ScaleWorkshop video follows the vehicles on the move in the yard at Pukka.
Today's Squadron ScaleWorkshop video takes a look at military models in competition at the Australian Model Expo last weekend. View full screen to get the full benefit of the high definition images.
I'm back from the Australian Model Expo in Melbourne, and in today's Squadron ScaleWorkshop video we take a look at aircraft models in competition. This is a selection from a total of greater than 840 models on the tables - another big show!
I've been at the Australian Model Expo this weekend and will be taking a few days to get back to Sydney. I'll be back with regular updates from Thursday with news and photos from the show.
I'm heading down to Melbourne for the 2019 Model Expo this weekend at Sandown Park Exhibition Centre. I'll look forward to catching up with local HyperScale visitors there.