INCOMING - HOT STUFF FROM ITALERI

There's a good variety of kits coming from Italeri this month, ranging from World War II AFVs to pan-Euro highway trucks.


First off is the German Sd.Kfz.251 Flammpanzerwagen flome-throwing half-track, a hold-in-your-hand sized model of this widely-used Wehrmacht AFV. The kit may well please aircraft modellers, as it's to 1:72 scale. Pleasingly, Italeri includes two figures.

To standard 1:35 military scale is the 'upgraded mould' Pz.Kpfw.VI Tiger 1 tank, a mid-war version from 1943.   Components for two versions are supplied, as are detailed tracks, decals for four tanks, and a photo-etch sheet.

This brand-new tool model car kit is really interesting, featuring the Fiat 508 Balilla, a popular Italian car produced in the 1930s. This Italeri version is the military 508CM Coloniale model, used by Mussolini's forces as a staff car. Italeri includes original Italian markings, and a set of iron crosses, suitable for the period when German forces ran Italy.

For diorama fans, Italeri has two useful accessory set, both to 1:72 scale. The Urban Accessories set would fit perfectly in a 1930s-40s period model, while the PSP Pierced Steel Planking set suits virtually any temporary airstrip setting. Both kits are new moulds.

Coming into the jet age, Italeri has a 1:48 scale upgrade kit of the Nesher/Dagger, based on the Dassault Mirage fighter-bomber. Decals are included for six variants, from Argentina and Belgium to France and Israel.

Staying in the mid-jet age era, here's a 1:72 scale model of Ed Heinemann's classic naval design, the A-4 Skyhawk. This is the humpback OA-4M two-seater, in US Marine Corps markings. The real thing was tiny - it didn't need folding wings aboard an aircraft carrier - and so is the model, with a wingspan of just 116mm (4.4in).

Down to earth, but up in scale is the 1:24 scale Scania Streamline 143H 10-wheel medium truck. Just one minor complaint here - the supplied decals and colour scheme are not wildly exciting, so there's plenty of scope to research something with a bit more oomph.

  

Plenty of Italeri stuff here, including the excellent new 1:72 scale Short Sunderland flying boat.