HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MODELMAKERS!

Scale Model News wishes you all a Happy and Prosperous 2012. 

And then we'll be back tomorrow and beyond with news of... a stunning ultra-large scale World War II fighter with amazing interior detail... a science-fiction flying cop car... a NASA hot-rod... and much, much more...

But for now, enjoy today's New Year Slide Show! 

Here's Mat Irvine in his scale model kit-packed studio to wish you all the best for 2012. And (below) a boxful of miniature X-series goodness, all made by Mat.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Mekon, here he is in a collected Dan Dare volume (below). As created and illustrated by science-fiction legend Frank Hampson, he was a nasty little vat-bred critter, constantly trying to conquer the Universe. 

But luckily for the peace-loving citizens of the galaxy, the melon-headed monster was always outwitted by his human nemesis, Space Fleet hero Dan Dare and his chums.  

STEALTH JET OR JAMES BOND AUTOGYRO? YOUR CHOICE!

Stealth technology is standard-issue on military hardware today, but not so long ago, it was top secret and kept far away from detailed public knowledge. So model companies came out with various guesstimate-kits, based on informed thinking by experts. Among these was the MiG-37B stealth jet, a 'faction' model even given the notional NATO codename, 'Ferret E.'

End of the Cold War
The reality of MiG weaponry has since proven rather different, but that doesn't make the Italeri MiG-37B kit (above) any less relevant - in fact, it's an extremely interesting kit that reflects the last days of the Cold War, and the dawn era of a new technology.

Farewell seat and cockpit
Today, the leading edge in weapons design is surely with the UAV (Uncrewed Air Vehicle), a type of combat machine certain to be at the leading edge of any and all future air wars. Let's hope they won't be necessary on many occasions in 2012.

James Bond machine
Meantime, enjoy the slide show and do take time to study that old Airfix evergreen, the James Bond Autogyro, named Little Nellie. She starred in the 1967 movie You Only Live Twice, and at the time was reckoned to be as viable a state-of-the-art weapon system as stealth and UAVs are today. Not that autogyros are dead - there are more than 1000 of various types operational around the world.

Festive Season Slide Show
We have 22 pix today for you - enjoy.

FESTIVE SEASON SLIDE SHOW - FROM PEUGEOT RACE CAR TO LUFTWAFFE 1946

2011's coming to an end now, and it's been a year of steady growth for SMN, we're pleased to say. The Mobile Edition has been an interesting experiment, and in 2012, we should be able to make newsposts directly from the trusty iPhone. It's a high-tech world all right!


Important skills
Meantime, despite the advance of electronics, the manual skills of traditional craftsmanship remain as important as ever in the scale model world. And that's something that reflects today's society, as basic dexterity is needed across the board, whether you're a cook, a writer, a painter or a builder.

Meantime, enjoy the show.