PRECISION 1:8 SCALE HASEGAWA ROTARY ENGINE

SMN report:

Hasegawa has reissued the beautifully produced 1:8 scale scale Le Rhone rotary engine. There are just 82 components to assemble, but it's an impressive kit nonetheless. As you can see from the pictures, the result will be a extremely convincing replica of this important World War I powerplant, and Hasegawa includes a dolly stand, so the display possibilities are good too.

Widely used aircraft engine

The Le Rhone was designed and built by the French company Gnome et Rhone in 1916, and before long hundreds of these engines were installed in dozens of aircraft types from several countries. These even included Germany, whose engineers cloned the design from a crashed Allied fighter and by August 1917, this was being used in the Fokker Triplane, soon to become infamous as the mount for Manfred von Richthofen, the famed ‘Red Baron’. In German service the engine was called the Oberursel Ur II, but it was the Le Rhone in all but name, and is actually the engine that Hasegawa has chosen to model.

Dynamic duo

So a neat display pair could be the 1:8 Le Rhone, displayed next to a parked Fokker Triplane. Many Triplanes are available, so the choice is up to you, though it’s perhaps a pity that the French publisher Hachette hasn’t reissued its Triplane partwork of a while back; this monster kit was actually to the same 1:8 scale as the Hasegawa engine.

Clerget engine

Hasegawa also makes a 1:8 scale Clerget, another French rotary engine used widely in World War I, in aircraft such as the British Sopwith Camel (above). So here’s an opportunity for a matching pair of opposed fighters, both powered by and displayed with French-designed engines, something an irony probably not lost on combatants in the deadly air battles of the time.  

SMN partwork article, including the Hachette Fokker Triplane here.

Assorted Fokker Triplane kits here.

Assorted Sopwith Camel kits here.

Hasegawa Clerget engine, as used on the Sopwith Camel, here.

Other interesting engine kits here.

Airfix blister pack vintage display.

HaMeX 3 - REVIEW OF THE 2011 HANSLOPE MODEL EXPO

A look at Hanslope Model Expo 2011:

Top of the agenda for many visitors were the 'secret spaceships' - model spacecraft that have appeared in broadcast TV shows. Mat Irvine worked with the BBC for many years, and his comprehensive collection of Visual Effects (VFX) rocketry is one of the very best, so seeing them landed at Spaceport HaMeX was a great hit for science-fiction fans.

Mat Irvine with some car models built for his latest book 'Scale Car Modelling'.

Growing each year

Mat was pleased with the weather: "It was much better than 2010’s cold and frosty nastiness. In fact, conditions for last Sunday’s HaMeX 3 were just right for most, being mild and welcoming." He added: "The event is getting bigger and better too. Most sales tables were pre-booked, and for the first time we had to overflow into the side hall, as well as the main."

Through the doors

Attendance figures for the show are still to be finalised, but HaMeX was at least as busy as last year, though with an odd division of timings - doors opened at 1000 hr to a quiet start, then from 11-1400 hr the place was heaving. Then numbers dropped off again - maybe the sunny skies outside had something to do with this!

Donated Airfix armour was aimed at youngsters.

Stand displays

Sixteen model clubs, individuals, and traders were there, most reporting that they had done very well on sales - and all saying they’d had a good time. And organizers Mat Irvine and Paul Fitzmaurice reckon that's a major part of the exercise - it’s about having a bit of fun. 

Special effects models from TV

VFX models from Mat Irvine (above) included a couple of new-to-HameX spacecraft, the two-seater Bulletcraft from the Blake’s 7 TV series (left) and Dispensable from Space Vets (right). The Liberator Teleport Panel (middle) is a regular show visitor.

Tasty food

According to Mat: "The Hall Committee acted as kitchen chefs, with ‘la spécialité de la maison’ being the droolingly delicious (and famous locally) bacon butties. We reckon our cooks deserve a place on the popular BBC TV series ‘Masterchef’, so thanks to all for such sterling behind-the-scenes service."

The Doctor Who robot dog K-9 showed off for visitors.

Heads up for the next Expo

HaMeX 4 is already in the 2012 diary, inked in for Sunday, December 2. Meantime, there will be two other shows held before that. 

More display space created by table-stacking!

Car and rockets

The first such event will be the popular model car show Automodellismo, to be held on Sunday, April 15. And there’s a brand-new item, slotted for Sunday, July 1. This will be called ‘smallspace’, and will be themed around space, science-fiction and fantasy modelling. Details for the 2012 fixtures are to be finalised, so keep checking in SMN and the HaMeX website for info updates. 

Spoiler Alert - smallspace (note the small 's') will tickle your antennas by springing some ‘interesting’ and ‘exciting’ surprises! 

Visit HaMeX for details on all shows here. 

Useful stuff from little-cars here.

NEW BUS FOR LONDON - CORGI ANNOUNCES RELEASE DATE FOR DIECAST ‘BORIS BUS’

SMN update:

Corgi has announced a target release date of March 2012 for the 1:76 scale New Bus for London (NB4L) now under development, and currently running on a similar schedule to the real thing. The Corgi diecast model will scale out to 146 mm (5.75 in) long and be marketed under the successful London Original Omnibus Company (OOC) name. As planned, the first OOC New Bus will wear the livery, destination, and numbers of the first route that the new bus will serve. Corgi planners are expecting to see details of this route very soon.

New Bus for London background

It’s been a pet project for London mayor Boris Johnson, who drove the first one produced earlier this month, where they are being made in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Fitting in with London’s eco-friendly clean-and-green ethos, the bus is powered by a diesel-electric hybrid system, which cuts fuel consumption and noxious emissions by more than half. 

On the highways

The target in-service date is in time for the London Olympics to be held in July and August 2012, and this should be met, with at least eight vehicles running on the streets of London during the first half of the year.

Riding on the New Bus

For passengers, bus travel should be improved by having much better access. The New Bus has three doors - at the front, in the middle, and at the rear, which has a traditional open platform for peak-hour use, but can also be closed off at other times. Two staircases will speed movement to and from the upper deck, and the designers at Thomas Heatherwick Studio have incorporated sweeping glass up each staircase - great views guaranteed. Interiors are pretty good too, with better lighting and stylish fittings.

Several scale and types of New Bus for London

Back to Corgi, which has plans for a range of these buses, including a 'fit-the-box’ toy, and a diecast key ring memento. This will partner the Routemaster bus keyring, already on release (below). In Corgi’s words, these assorted items are planned: “so everyone from school children to tourists can carry a London souvenir in their pocket”. 

More please

So far so good, but we have requests to make. Please Sun Star, can we have a nice big 1:24 scale diecast, and Revell, howzabout producing a detailed injection kit as soon as you can!

NB4L details at Corgi here.

See more NB4L here.

London Olympics 2012 here.

VIRGIN GALACTIC SPACESHIP RELEASED IN TWO SCALES

SMN report:

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic seems to be on track to become the world's first commercial spaceline, with a passenger-carrying spaceship, the VSS Enterprise, carried by a twin-fuselage mothership, VMS Eve. Both vehicles were developed by California-based Scaled Composites, headed by the veteran designer Burt Rutan. Eventually there will be two motherships and five spaceships in the Virgin Galactic space fleet.

Spaceport America

And now that Spaceport America, Mojave, California, has been opened, the craft have an operating base. It’s the world’s first private spaceport, with a suitably futuristic terminal (above) designed by the internationally famous Foster + Partners. 

Voyage to the edge of space

Actually, the word ‘spaceship’ is a slight exaggeration, for the Mach 3 craft are not designed to go into orbit, like the winged Space Shuttle Orbiters. Instead they will go just above the 100 km  (61 miles) mark, a somewhat arbitrary height called the Karman Line that’s used to define the ‘edge of space’. But that’s not to be down on the Branson-Rutan achievement - it’s fantastic - and if this writer’s wallet bulged with the $200,000 USD needed for a ticket, I’d be trying on my VG designer spacewear tomorrow! Not that the cost is a barrier for those with deep pockets - more than 400 aspiring astronauts have already plonked down their $20,000 USD deposits.

Free of gravity

Let’s not forget too, that the six passengers on each flight will get to experience that magic space-effect, weightlessness. As planned, they will be able to unstrap from their seats, and float around the cabin for six minutes or so. The view should be amazing - looking through the large portholes, they’ll get to see the black of space above, and the curving horizon of our blue marble Earth below. Fabuloso! 

Diecast models

However, for the time being most us will have to be content with a scale model as the nearest we’ll get to the high frontier, so it’s good to see that the first diecast replicas of the two-vehicle Eve-Enterprise configuration are now available through the Virgin Galactic store.

Two scales

There are two models available, one to 1:200 scale, the other 1:400, giving VMS Eve wingspans of some  213 mm (8.39 in) and 106 mm (417) respectively. The four underslung engines on the mothership look accurate enough, as do the general outline and proportions. Perhaps the least convincing parts of the model are the somewhat clunky landing gear components - but that’s common with aerospace subjects in these small scales.

 

Summation

Whichever of the two models you choose, these are interesting replicas of the leading contender in the race to be the world's first commercial spaceline. The pterodactyl looks of the mothership are well captured, within the technical limitations of metal diecasting. Plastic injection moulding offers more precision though, as well as a chance for a cutaway version, complete with flight crew of two and half a dozen floating passengers. So here's hoping for a kit version to 1:72 scale or even 1:48 very soon. 

Visit Virgin Galactic here.

Interesting book How to Build Sci-Fi Model Spacecraft here.

TEXAS AIRPORT MODEL SHOW

Weekend read from Mat Irvine:

It’s probably a bit obvious to say that you see aircraft at an airport, but more to the point, many airports also display aircraft models.

Military-civil combo
One such, which I passed through recently, is Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport, Texas. It’s a military/commercial joint-use airport, in which one section is used by the Fort Hood military reservation, and there’s a check-in desk for arriving soldiers on the first floor of the terminal building. 

Big enough for jumbos, small enough for models

Being regional, Killeen-Fort Hood is not a large airport, although its single runway is long enough to take a Boeing 747. Commercial operations are mostly to link with larger airports, like Dallas Forth Worth to the north, using turboprop aircraft such as the ATR-72. But, apart from standard passenger facilities, the departure hall also features a number of model aircraft hanging from the ceiling, and in cabinet displays.  

Robert Gray Army Airfield

The military side of the airport is named in honour of Killeen native Cpt. Robert M. Gray of the US Army Air Corps, and Sgt. George Larkin, after whom the airport’s Deployment Terminal is named. Gray and Larkin flew on the famous ‘Doolittle Raid’ on Tokyo, in April 1942. Sadly, both were subsequently killed six months later, when their B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed in Burma. To commemorate their loss, a B-25 scale replica (above) hangs on display from the airport ceiling.

Fly Rio Airways

If you pass through Killeen-Fort Hood with enough time to look, there are also displays (above) that relate to another local, Ted C. Connell, who died in 2001. At various times he was Mayor of Killeen, served as aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson, and also owned Rio Airways, a regional operator that flew out of Killeen’s old municipal airport, now known as Skylark Field. 

Rio fleet choices

The display shows models of various aircraft that Rio flew from 1970-87, when it ceased operation. You can see Piper Cherokee Six, Twin Beech Model 18, and the de Havilland Twin Otter (top pic in article) and Dash-7 aircraft that Rio flew after 1977. Another ceiling-hanger is this half-scale Beechcraft 99 (above), finished in Rio’s trademark yellow paint and swirly logo.

Rio Airways Dash 7.

SMN note: Mitchell bomber kits

Seeing that B-25 hanging from K-FH's ceiling reminded us that the North American bomber has always been a popular scale model choice, and remains so today, with a wide choice of kits available, especially in 1:72 and 1:48 scales. The attractive model shown below was crafted by US modelmaker ‘vlambo’, a long-time modelmaker who came third in the one and only competition he entered. SMN says, maybe you should enter some more competitions vlambo, and thanks for the pictures!

Visit Killeen here.

Choose B-25 Mitchells here.

More vlambo models here.

KITS FOR SALE AT HAMEX 3 - PLUS CLASSIC TV SCI-FI MODELS ON SHOW

HaMeX update:

Hanslope Model Expo is due tomorrow, Sunday November 27, so there will be a chance to choose from a wide range of model kits for sale, mostly at very reasonable prices.

Moonbase 3 TV series

There’ll be lots of display stuff there too, including this surprise item - a survivor from the short-lived BBC TV series Moonbase 3 of 1973. Well, it appeared at the first HaMeX, so we’re betting that it might make a re-entry for 2011 too!

HAMEX 3 details here.

COUNTDOWN TO HAMEX 3

HaMeX update:

Hanslope Model Expo runs on Sunday November 27, so there will be a chance to have a look at some of the factual space miniatures from TV on display there.

Marvellous models to see

Co-organizer Mat Irvine will be at the show, with a small part of his ‘Mat’s Marvellous Models’ collection. You’ll get a chance to see all sorts of stuff, including items from popular TV science shows from the BBC, such as Horizon, Tomorrow’s World, and the long-running astronomy late-nighter, The Sky at Night.

HAMEX 3 details here.

MAD PHYSICIST MAKES MIND-BOGGLING MODELS FROM LEGO

SMN report:

LEGO builders number in their legions, but we've just come across someone who has blown our socks off, a Dutchman titled the ‘Mad Physicist.’

The day job

The Mad Physicist is just that - a physicist - in his day job, and LEGO-building is strictly a hobby that’s far away from the computers and laboratory. The title came from fellow LEGO builders who sometimes seemed to think that he must have a way of doing things that others wouldn't normally come up with.

Stunning LEGO models

‘Mad’ or not, the models are simply stunning, and we show just a couple here. The V-22 Osprey is not only a fair replica of the real thing - note the rotor blades even have their blade twists incorporated correctly - but it also has retractable landing gear (pic above). One of our favourite Mad constructions is called Brickston, a play on the South London borough of Brixton. We don’t know about the actual store names, but in general, the model matches our old-time memories of the place well. 

Build to order?

According to the Mad Physicist: “I get a lot of requests by people who would like to buy my models or who would like instructions. I am sorry if it disappoints anybody, but I have no interest in selling any of my models.” He goes on: “They are fragile, complicated, and tend to use a lot of parts, sometimes including rare ones that LEGO don't make any more or that aren't available to the general public.” Unsurprisingly, he’d rather spend hobby time building new models.

LEGO for Christmas

As Christmas is coming, we had a look at LEGO’s festive range, in which there are many tasty offerings, suitable for adults and children alike.

Star Wars

We’d be especially happy if any of these big LEGO kits appeared under the Christmas tree. The Death Star has always been a Star Wars fave, and here it is again, opened up in cross-section, though you have to turn a blind eye to scale - the movie version was big as a small moon, whereas the LEGO item is more of a Mini Star, perhaps designed to inflict damage by a thousand small energy zaps, rather than one mighty planetary disruption!

VW Camper and Space Shuttle

We’re long-time campervan fans, so the LEGO VW Hippie van hits the spot nicely, though these days our tastes veer toward high-tech rather than the gingham-curtained appearance of this one. Still, it’s a very attractive kit if you're into retro-nostalgia. 

The real Space Shuttles are no more than museum pieces now, but the LEGO version is still a kit that any space fan would be keen to build. This is a full-stack Shuttle, complete with fuel tank and boosters, standing vertically, ready for the "Go!" to launch a new mission. Excellent stuff LEGO.

Thousands (yes, thousands) more pictures from the Mad Physicist’s ever-growing collection here.

Visit LEGO Star Wars here.

For the VW Camper and other special items, visit the LEGO ‘Ultimate Gifts’ Shop here.

COUNTDOWN TO HAMEX 3

HaMeX update:

Hanslope Model Expo is due this coming Sunday November 27, so there will be a chance to have a look at some of the science-fiction miniatures on display there.

Spacecraft nostalgia

There can be surprises at the HaMeX shows. The last time the original London spacecraft - it featured in the 1978-81 BBC TV sci-fi series ‘Blake’s 7’ - was on display, someone bought their own tiny version to sit alongside it! Who knows what may turn up for HaMex 3 this coming Sunday 27th. 

Battle among the stars

To find out about the stars of Blake’s 7 and their battle with the corrupt Galactic Federation, including the classic (and prophetic) line: “In fact, creating an illusion of reality is quite simple”, visit the Internet Movie database here.

HAMEX 3 details here.

COMING SOON - SEXY ROBOT COLLECTIBLE

SMN report:

To science-fiction fans of a certain age - and robot lovers in particular - the name Hajime Sorayama may well be a revered one. For 64 year-old Sorayama made his name in the late 1970s and 1980s for producing beautiful airbrushed illustrations of ‘sexy robots’, humanoid machine-beings apparently made of gleaming metal, and most importantly, looking highly feminized. The bottom line was that, unlike standard-issue nuts-and-bolts droids, they were utterly gorgeous pin-up material.

Sexy Robot books

Coffee-table books of Sorayama’s works were published in their thousands (above) but it’s only recently that his sexy robots have made the journey from the printed page to three-dimensional miniatures.

From book to model

Now it’s the Japanese model company Yamato that has done the job. With Sorayama’s approval, Yamato has produced a very neat ready-built miniature robot, standing some 560 mm (22 in) high. It (she?) has a lustrous chromed finish, and like the original airbrush illustration, wears a candy-pink bathing suit, tastefully covering the naughty bits. Also, she (it?) wears a very stylish gold-finish garter on one leg, which accentuates the sleek appeal of the whole concept. Unlike a human female, we bet she doesn’t answer back, complain about dirty socks, or demand a hand with the washing-up either!

Clothed or not?

There’s a second, unclad sexy robot available too, but we reckon the model wearing the pink one-piece is the one to have - after all, if nude automata are your thing, the fabric item can be gently removed, to reveal the bare metal (actually, resin in this miniature) underneath.

Talking about sexy robots

It’s worth quoting the somewhat breathless advertising caption on the Yamato website, as perhaps the copywriter has a thing about sexy robots: “Do androids dream of electric sheep? We may never know. Fortunately, neither androids nor humans have to rely on dreams for visions of this metallic beauty as Yamato USA proudly makes the fantasy world of Hajime Sorayama a reality.” Whoa! So that’s all right then!

For any collector of robots, let alone sexy ones, this is an unmissable treat.   

Visit Yamato here.

All sorts of robots here.

Another image from the book, this one echoing Marilyn Munroe's classic pose. Love it!