BUY YOURSELF A SUB-ORBITAL XCOR LYNX SPACECRAFT - WELL, A COLLECTIBLE MODEL ANYWAY

David Jefferis reports

For a limited time, the California-based XCOR Aerospace rocket engineering company is offering a numbered, limited edition of hand-carved 1:24 scale display models of its Lynx spacecraft, currently under development. Only 100 models were made and there are still some available. Many are now on the desks of various VIPs and XCOR investors, but the rest are on offer to space fans.

Collectible spacecraft made of wood

It looks an attractive model that just might have a collectible value one day, as the company is aiming for its two-seater rocket to be flying in little more than a year’s time. Each model is hand-crafted from Philippine mahogany, and comes mounted on an attractive base, painted with the Lynx color scheme and logo. An individual serial number is stamped on the bottom of the base. The 1:24 scale model measures some 280 mm (15 in) long, with a wingspan of 330 mm (13 in). The model isn’t cheap mind, coming in at $299 USD, but hey, what price a piece of history in the making?!

The Lynx spacecraft

XCOR Aerospace is a fascinating outfit that has developed reusable multi-start rocket engine technology, and a unique plan to go into the space business. The Lynx is a two-seater, so it’s just you and your pilot sitting side-by-side in the snug cockpit, plus a small cargo compartment behind. Unlike other spacecraft, Lynx will take off from a runway, the pilot pulling up into a steep climb and within minutes you'll be heading for the high frontier on a free-fall sub-orbital rocket flight - next step, gaining your astronaut’s wings. 

Returning to Earth

Gliding back to land on the same runway, the whole takeoff-to-touchdown flight will take just 30 minutes, but what a ride! Most importantly, as space costs go, flying in the Lynx is relatively cheap - XCOR is already taking deposits on flights that will set you back $95,000 USD, way less than anything else planned. And if that still sounds a lot, the launch site might help - it's going to be at a dedicated new spaceport on the beautiful Caribbean Island of Curacao, so after the flight you can take in sun, sea, and a pina colada or two. Yes please!

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1-3  Views of the Lynx model on offer.

4-5  Lynx wind tunnel model performance under discussion.

6  If the girl came with the ticket, this writer would be XCOR’s slave forever. And just look at that retro-pressure suit she’s modelling - talk about droolworthy!

7  Visual of Lynx just a few seconds before engine shutoff.

Pictures courtesy XCOR Aerospace.

Visit XCor here.

See more spacecraft models here.

And various sci-fi offerings here.

THE WONDER OF WONDER WOMAN - A SUPERHEROINE KIT FROM MOEBIUS MODELS

A Mat Irvine review

Although Wonder Woman is most likely best known from the 1970s TV series starring Lynda Carter, the character existed long before that. In fact, the original Aurora kit of 1965 was based on the comic books that first featured the character in the 1940s. Along with Wonder Woman, Aurora issued others in the same vein, such as Superman, Superboy, Spider-Man, Batman, Robin, and The Penguin. However, amongst all those boys (and a bird), Wonder Woman never seemed to have quite the appeal - must be all that testosterone (and fish) - and the Wonder Woman kit was only available for a couple of years.

Wonder Woman gets lost?

Aurora did reissue its figure kits a few times, and invented the Comic Scenes series in the 1970s. Many of the original figure kits were repackaged under this title, a few parts were changed, there were new boxes, but otherwise they were pretty much the same as the originals. However there was one reissue absentee - Wonder Woman. The story went that the tooling had been sent to an outside company for moulding. This in itself was not unusual as although Aurora had many in-house injection moulding machines, when these were fully occupied, outside companies had to be used occasionally. It is thought that a batch of mouldings for Wonder Woman was one of these, but the tooling never came back and was lost, presumed scrapped.

Retro-engineering from Moebius Models

Consequently, Wonder Woman has become one of the most sought-after of these original superhero figures, and an unbuilt one can command a price approaching $500 USD (£310 GBP). Good for those with a stash of unbuilt kits, not so good for those who want to actually build one, rather than keeping it mint-and-boxed as loft insulation. This is where the 'New Aurora' companies have come into their own, and one of the major ones, Moebius Models, has now retro-engineered the Wonder Woman kit, slightly modifying some parts to improve fit but otherwise producing a near- identical kit to the original. This is true, even down to the style of plans and a virtual clone of the original Aurora box. It is even moulded in the same flesh/tan-coloured styrene.

Inside the box

Like most of these 1:12 scale personalities, the Moebius Wonder Woman is reasonably straightforward to put together, even if you are not accustomed to building figure kits. The actual colour of the plastic is almost irrelevant, as most of the effort will go into the painting and recreating the lady's set of very colourful garments. In the box you get more than a superheroine though, for there's the fearsome-looking octopus trying to wrap its tentacles around her legs. Much like the somewhat surreal quality of art used in the original comic and on the box, the octopus is highly stylized, but none the worse for that, and as you can see from the photo of the Moebius prototype that I took at the iHobby Exop Hobby Show in Chicago, the whole ensemble - WW, octopus, rock and sea - gains immeasurably from a careful paint and airbrush job. An SMN reader has pointed out that the skilled model work here was the work of Amazing Figure Modeler fame David Fisher.

So if you feel that male superheroes shouldn't have it all their own way, you can now add Wonder Woman to the collection - and the price is slightly more modest, at a UK price of around £27 GBP. She is an excellent addition to the growing Moebius Models range, and well worth having if you're into comics.  

See the Wonder Woman kit here.

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1  Wonder Woman tackles yet another pesky octopus. Just think of all that calamari…

2  The box for the Moebius Models Wonder Woman is a virtual clone of the original Aurora kit from 1965

3  The plans also reflect the original Aurora style.

4  Neatly bagged components are moulded in tan plastic.

5  There’s a new-style Wonder Woman being planned (publicity art shown below), who has an altogether more butch look.

Thanks to Andy Yanchus, Project Manager for Aurora for many years, who gently pointed out some errors that crept into the first edition of this review.

Thanks also to Moebius Models for the review kit.

ANOTHER BIG JET FROM REVELL WITH A 1:32 SCALE RED ARROWS HAWK

David Jefferis reports
The BAe Systems Hawk is one of the best known jet trainers, and the Red Arrows one of the world’s top aerobatic teams, so it’s great to see a new-tool kit of the two-seater on sale. The Hawk is not a large aircraft, but at 1:32 scale the wings span 294 mm (11.6 in) and the fuselage is some 368 mm (14.5 in) long, so the benefits of sheer size are clear. There are 158 components in the kit, including the ventral tank carrying the diesel fuel used by the smoke system. As a vet of many a Reds display, I reckon they use more smoke during a show than any other team I’ve seen - in Guernsey one year, a vast mist of the stuff wafted across the crowd in a multi-coloured haze, but everyone loved it!

Hawk details and a Guernsey antique shop

Revell has included the sort of detail you might expect, with the twin cockpits in particular packed with detail - they form the best Hawk interior yet available in the model market. The ejector seats are especially worthy of note, and the finished model will certainly repay efforts to give those seats extra finish, with a little little weathering on the edges. Again in Guernsey, I spotted an old ejector seat in a top-end antique shop. It had been stripped to bare metal and given a high-lustre polish, being sold in reupholstered form as a talking point, ‘suitable for the gentleman with everything’. Ah, if only I had the room... And the cash, as it wasn't exactly cheap.

Back to the kit, flaps, air brakes, ailerons, and rudder are all supplied separately, so you can have these items up, down, in or out, as the mood takes you. Just right, as are the detailed landing gear bays. All in all, an interesting kit for anyone who has watched in admiration as the Red Arrows perform one of their awesome displays.

About the Red Arrows

The Red Arrows form the official Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, its pilots having given displays since 1964. In this near half-century of action, the team has used various aircraft - it started with tiny little Folland Gnats - but has been flying Hawks since 1979. In that time, the Reds have given 4000-plus displays in 53 countries, all over the world. They have many formations, and are constantly developing new ones, though perhaps the best-known is the trademark ‘Diamond Nine’ grouping. And nine is the standard Reds number, with nine volunteer pilots, each having a three-year placement - three pilots in their first year, three in their second, and three performing their final season. It’s not impossible to get a flight with the team either - one female charity auction winner bid around $2.4 million USD (£1.5 million GBP) for the chance! 

See Hawk kits and models here.

The pictures show:

1-5  Revell 1:32 scale Hawk details.

6-8  Reds in action, in the air and after a show.

NOTE TO WORLD NAVIES - CANCEL F-35, BUY NAVAL TYPHOON. NOTE TO MODEL MAKERS - HERE’S A GREAT KIT-BASH OPPORTUNITY

SMN report

Eurofighter has released details of its proposed navalised Typhoon jet, and a glance at the details makes it seem the answer to a defence planner’s budget problems. The basic aircraft is already in service and proven, the development cost would be far less than a clean-sheet design, and best of all, there’s enough power from the two EJ200 engines to allow carrier takeoffs using a ski-jump - no catapult equipment needed.

Typhoon-N to replace the F-35?

For the UK’s Royal Navy, the Typhoon-N looks particularly interesting. The lift-fan F-35 has been cancelled already, to be replaced by the standard catapult-launched version. So here’s a way to cut out the F-35 completely, and keep the cost of new aircraft carriers down as well, for ski-jump installation and operations are far cheaper than using catapults. Commonality between Typhoon and Typhoon-N has another benefit too - maintenance ought to work out cheaper, from flight and technical training to the supply and cost of spares.

A Typhoon for kit-bashers

For model makers the Typhoon-N looks a very interesting project indeed, and a not too difficult job either. The main changes are longer undercarriage legs to soak up the shock of heavy deck landings, an arrester hook, and nozzle extensions to replicate the proposed thrust-vectoring EJ200 exhausts. Eurofighter’s pictures also show conformal fuel tanks either side of the upper fuselage, so they will add visual appeal to the model. 

Possible markings

On paint schemes, it’s your choice as the Typhoon-N is a paper plane at the moment. India is a target customer, and the top picture shows the aircraft in Indian Navy markings. Britain’s cash-strapped Royal Navy is a possible customer, for EFA’s proposal looks a no-brainer, at least for serious consideration. The Aeronavale (French Navy) flies the Dassault Rafale-M, but might be interested in the cost savings of a future ski-jump carrier. The Spanish Navy flies Harrier V/STOL aircraft from the Principe de Asturias, so could be a future Typhoon-N customer. The US Navy and Marine Corps are unlikely buyers, but a  Typhoon-N display model would look great dressed in the stars and stripes!

There are plenty of kits out there - we showed the Revell 1:32 scale offering recently, and here it is again, though finished in non-naval Luftwaffe markings. The detail pic shows the existing main gear, which needs lengthening to allow for the extra extension necessary for high rate-of-descent carrier landings.  

More details and a hi-res pdf download of the cutaway at Eurofighter here.

SMN article on Revell Typhoons here.

Typhoon kits are available here. 

LEONARDO DA VINCI LIVES ON WITH THE REVELL ‘AERIAL SCREW’ KIT - A RENAISSANCE-ERA HELICOPTER DESIGN

Mat Irvine inspects an interesting mixed media kit

In the middle of 2010, Scale Model News carried a report on one of the new kits from Italeri, originated by Academy, that explore the technological design marvels from the pen of that Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci. At the time it was said that this literally was a rebirth of interest as you would be getting models from not one, but three different kit companies. Two would use conventional plastic - as does the Academy/Italeri - but Revell planned kits that would use materials that Leonardo would certainly be familiar with - wood, cloth, and cord.

da Vinci designs

Six of the ten da Vinci kits have been issued, and they are not only an intriguing cross-section of his designs and inventions, but certainly look the part in these traditional materials. They are also reasonably easy to build, as both wood and cloth parts are pre-cut and pre-stained.

Aerial Screw kit

The first kit I’m looking at - the rest will follow - is one of Leonardo’s best known designs, the Aerial Screw, or as some would have it (although really incorrectly!) his ‘helicopter’.

Revell provides great details for the build, with everything in five languages, headed (naturally enough) in Italian. You get the layout of the pre-cut wood parts, and the cloth for the ‘sails’; full-colour (well, ‘sepia’ to be more precise) instructions, and a booklet on the thinking behind the design. The Aerial Screw would not have worked in reality, as it was far too heavy, but the principle was correct and is the way modern propellers function.

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1-2  The Aerial Screw model is approximately 1:48 scale. The box has an attractive 'olde worlde' design.

3  The back of the box also shows the other five kits in the first batch. These include a glider and a swing bridge. 

4  Pre-cut thin ply parts (back), packed in a tray to keep them in place; the cloth ‘sails’ (centre foreground), and the booklet, (left foreground). Each kit also has a cloth imprinted with Leonardo’s drawing, and his famous backwards writing (back right).

4  The instructions show that assembly is little different to a conventional plastic kit, except that you use the supplied wood glue to hold parts together, instead of polystyrene cement.

More about Leonardo da Vinci here.

View Leonardo stuff here.

And some kits here.

Thanks to Revell for the review kit. 

AIRFIX TSR2 SCI-FI VERSION NOW AVAILABLE

SMN report.

The 1:72 scale Airfix TSR.2MS, a rocket-boosted, missile-equipped aircraft designed to destroy deadly space rocks, is now available. And the good news is that if you change your mind and decide against the sci-fi version - based on the Japanese anime series Stratos 4 - then the box still contains the decals that allow you to finish the aircraft as an epitaph to British aerospace achievement and while you’re at it, a blaming finger at the sadly misguided politicians who cancelled so many brilliant projects in that era.

Stratos 4 the series

As an asteroid-killer, the TSR.2MS is an interesting concept - especially the reaction-thrusters used for attitude control at peak trajectory - and when we get our hands on one, we’ll pass judgement on fit and finish of the kit. SMN featured the TSR.2MS in late 2010, but the world of ‘what-if’ models makes the standard TSR2 a strong interest for anyone interested in advanced aviation from the 1960s.

A TSR2 that might have been

Over at Gregers.7, which styles itself ‘The Unofficial Airfix Modellers Forum’, there’s some fascinating stuff, including the superbly made 1:48 scale Airfix TSR2 in full camo markings we show here, renamed the Eagle GR.1 by model maker 'Viper'. The real thing never got further than white paint, RAF roundels, and a few flights before cancellation, but had the beast gone into squadron service, who knows, we might be seeing her in the Gulf rather than the Panavia Tornado.

Visit Gregers.7 here.

Viper's 1:48 scale TSR2 build is here.

Agape Models has another what-if TSR2 here.

More TSR2 stuff here, including Edouard cockpit details.

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1  Airfix 1:72 scale TSR.2MS.

2  Prototype TSR2 at Imperial War Museum Duxford, finished in nuclear strike anti-flash white.

3-5  Very neat build of the 1:48 scale Airfix model, complete with underwing stores.

Many thanks to Viper for the build pix - we’d love to see more of your stuff in future. 

WEEKEND MODEL WINDOW

Weekend Model Window is an occasional spot to show you some interesting stuff we've come across recently. 

The 1:43 scale Ferrari F40 is a Herpa plastic readybuilt, full of detail and a beautiful little product that sold to a lucky eBay buyer recently. 

The Messerschmitt Me163 Komet diorama was created by SMN star Mat Irvine, and very neatly done, too.

The Revell 1:32 scale Red Arrows Hawk is a finely detailed model that we'll have a closer look at soon.

 

The slightly smaller scale 1:35 Wiesel 2 mobile air defence system of the German Army comes complete with rotating quad missile launcher. 155 components make up this 129 mm (5.1 in) long Revell kit.

Ah Ghostbusters, what a great movie! And that Cadillac is still an object of desire at SMN Towers, even more so if it arrived driven by a lady with legs like that. This neat model was spotted at a show in Birmingham, UK.  

Science fiction in all its forms is an SMN enthusiasm, so this Martian War Machine caught our eye at a model meet recently. Good job the VW driver escaped beforehand.

A neat piece of model engineering from a member of the Gloucester and District Model Boat Club, a group that really knows how to create nautical masterworks.

Last but not least, found in the SMN Vault of Antiquity, an excellent condition 1984 Tamiya catalogue. Then, as now, Tamiya produces them to the highest standards, with printing and photo quality that makes you salivate - and certainly want to buy a kit or two.

BIG-SCALE LONDON BUS KIT COMING LATER THIS YEAR

Mat Irvine reports

I made a quick trip to the London Toy Fair at the end of January, and one of the biggest surprises of my visit was to find Revell-Germany announcing a 1:24 scale London Transport RM Routemaster double-decker bus plastic kit. Often suggested as an idea - and I recall there were rumours back in the 1970s that Airfix was planning such a venture - but the general consensus was that it would have been far too large a kit, and so that put the kibosh on the concept.

Is a big-scale kit too big?

In fact Airfix was also likely to have released a 1:24 scale Mosquito around that time, but it too was shelved as being ‘too big’, and instead released much later in 1:48. Of course, we do now have an Airfix 1:24 scale Mosquito, and large-scale kits in general are not uncommon. Revell has issued giant kits of oil platforms, bucket-wheel excavators and the shuttle launch pad, and it already has a big bus in the form of the 1:24 scale Cityliner coach, which admittedly isn’t as tall as an RM Routemaster, but is certainly longer. Then there are the 1:8 scale car kits from Monogram, which also has large bombers in 1:72 and 1:48, so all-in-all a 1:24 scale RM doesn’t seem too extravagant at all. 

Diecast alternative

And not forgetting Sun Star, which already makes ready-built 1:24 scale RMs in a variety of marking schemes, but these of course are diecasts, not kits. All of which means that the Revell offering will be appreciated all the more by model makers.

The Revell Routemaster bus

However, we don’t have too much detail as yet - Revell had pictures on show at the London Toy Fair, but the bus does grace the cover of the 2011 catalogue, and a mockup was on display. A real RM bus stood outside the Olympia Exhibition Halls, and this was in authentic London Transport colours. Interestingly, for years Revell used a similar bus  in Germany as a travelling exhibition stand, though this was painted blue, rather than tourist-London bright red.

Routemaster release date

Frustratingly, we will have to wait well until after summer 2011 before the kit is released - it is scheduled for Q4, so it’s months away yet. There is one tiny thing to point out if you have the 2011 catalogue and read the bus listing (page 44). The copy reads: ‘1:32 scale’. But it’s not  - the bus will be to the larger, 1:24 scale. 

Into the future

If the Routemaster is a London icon of the past, then the new double-decker, commissioned by London Mayor Boris Johnson, is likely to be the new star of crowded metropolitan streets. A mockup was recently displayed at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, and it really is a knockout design. Swoopy tinted glass, a clean, green eco-power system, and a familiar appearance in updated designer clothes looks set to carry on the ‘Big Red Bus’ tradition well into the future. So here’s a call to you manufacturers out there: let’s see a kit (and a diecast too, please) of this item - pronto! 

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1  Revell catalogue 2011, starring the RM bus kit.

2  Revell bus kit box, pictured at the London Toy Fair 2011.

3  The real thing, seen outside the Toy Fair exhibition.

4-6  New-style double-decker, launched at the London Transport Museum by Mayor Boris Johnson, seen at right in pic 4 - he’s the one with the blonde hair.

There’s a neat Corgi 1:50 scale diecast here.

London buses and other gorgeousness from Sun Star here.

If you’re in the big city, the London Transport Museum is well worth a visit here.

Thanks to Diecast Ramblings for the Sun Star RM pic.