OOPS... ITALERI SCHNELLBOOT IS NOT THE BIGGEST KIT...

It just goes to show that perhaps we shouldn't take promo material literally. Model guru Mat Irvine points out:

"Incidentally and re: yesterday's posting, in no way is the Italeri boat
the 'biggest kit' - if by 'biggest' you mean longest/tallest - and I
presume you do as you quote 'metre'?"

"Revell's 1:96 Saturn V is 4 feet tall and Lindberg's Japanese submarines
are almost five feet long! Pretty sure Renwal's Visible Chassis was
longer too."


Well, we had another look at the Schnellboot, and strictly speaking, Italeri declares it as the "biggest 1:35 scale plastic model kit", so maybe that claim still stands. No matter, it's a good one!

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST KIT SPEEDS BACK - ITALERI PUTS THE 1:35 SCALE SCHNELLBOOT BACK INTO PRODUCTION

SMN Report

Good news for model ship enthusiasts with Italeri’s announcement that ‘popular demand’ is bringing back the metre-long  (well, 999 mm to be precise) kit. The Italeri 1:35 scale Schnellboot - ‘fast boat’, also known to the Allies as the E-Boat - really is one of the best-ever World War II naval models in any size, but especially in the big military scale, and it certainly dwarfs the 1:72 scale competition from Revell and Airfix.

Smaller-scale Schnellboot built in Germany

Of course not all - even most - of us have room for the Italeri giant, and those smaller alternatives are decent kits in their own right. The German website 'Das Modellboard' has some fine build pix of the Revell 1:72 scale Schnellboot, two of which we show below, and as you can see it’s beautifully built. It might be nice to see some crew aboard this latter-day Marie Celeste, but that’s up to personal preference.

Restoring the S130

Meantime in Cornwall, UK, work continues with the restoration of the S130, thought to be the last surviving Schnellboot. As planned, it will be finished in full German Navy operational spec, including engines and armament. There’s a list of items the project needs, so if you happen to have an unwanted S-Boot Bridge Telegraph or Head, then you know where it should go. It’s an interesting wanted-list, and the site is well worth a visit.  

Visit the S130 Restoration project’s ‘Wish List’ here.

Visit Das Modellboard here.

Assorted Schnellbootery here.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER? ANOTHER BATMOBILE COMING SOON - THIS TIME FOR KIT BUILDERS

Mat Irvine reports

It’s one of the mysteries of the modelling universe - why has there never been a conventional injection-moulded styrene kit the Batmobile in traditional 1:25 scale? Well, now there is.

Batmobile on a tight schedule

The vehicle in question is the Batmobile, as built for the 1960s television series, starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin. The series was less ‘dark’, more ‘comic book capers’, than the more recent movies, and in keeping with the action-adventure rhythm, the TV studio decided it needed a ‘star car’ in just three weeks. The well known car customizer Dean Jefferies started work on adapting a Cadillac, but had to turn the job down as being too impracticable in the time available. However, another Los Angeles customizer took up the challenge - mainly because he had the raw material parked outside his workshop.

George Barris and the Lincoln Futura

The man in question was ‘King of the Kustomizers’ (his spelling) George Barris, and the car in question was the Lincoln Futura. This styling exercise, produced by the Ford Motor Company in the mid-1950s was a real looker, with a twin bubble canopy, was built by Ghia in Italy, painted a pearlescent white (which invariably looked slightly greenish) and which had toured the Car Shows to much acclaim.

Star car for Debbie Reynolds

The Futura was already a star car - it has been used in the 1959 movie It Started With a Kiss starring Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds, in which it was painted red, a colour that looked better onscreen than white. After that appearance, Barris obtained the car for himself - the actual details are a murky automotive urban myth, though the cost was supposedly just a single dollar. And it was because the Futura was ready in his yard that Barris could turn the design around in the allotted time. 

Many Batmobile kits

The 1960s were a big time for TV and movie star cars, and many were made as kits by the likes of AMT and MPC, plus a few by Revell and Monogram. But not the Batmobile, at least not in 1:25 scale. Instead, Aurora made it in 1:32 scale, and for decades this was really the only example generally available, although there were a few Japanese copies. There were resin versions for the specialist modeller, some based on the 1:25 scale Revell Futura kit, and of course many of the later movie cars, but no conventional kit in 1:25. 

The Polar Lights 1:25 scale Batmobile

But now, even if it is a mere 47 years late, we are due for a 1:25 scale injection-moulded kit of the Barris Batmobile, this time from one of the ‘New Aurora’ companies, Polar Lights. There will be three versions of the kit: a snap version, a conventional glue version, plus - and this sounds really mouthwatering - a super-detail De Luxe Edition with photo-etch parts. The release date is still uncertain, but hopefully we’ll see it by mid-2011.

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1  From left, Batmobiles in a collectible tin, and original-style Aurora box, plus a Batcycle and Batboat.

2  One of the original Batmobiles built by George Barris, now on display at the Volo Auto Museum, Illinois. Just exactly how many Batmobiles there are is another urban myth, but the usually quoted number is four. The first one came from the Futura, then three more were made in glass-fibre from a mould pulled from the first body. These last three cars used Ford Thunderbird running gear. Actually, there was a ‘Barris Number Five’ - this wasn’t built by George, but he later acquired it. 

3  Boxes for the conventional glue (left) and Snap-Together versions.

4  Deluxe Edition Batmobile. This will have photo-etch parts and a pinstripe paint mask.

For information on the history of the TV Batmobile visit here.   

Visit the online home of the ‘King of the Kustomizers’ here.

View a whole colony of Batmobiles here.

And tour the Volo Auto Museum here.

NEW SCANIA 1:50 SCALE TRUCKFEST HAULER FROM CORGI

David Jefferis goes up close

Here is a smart new addition to Corgi’s ever-growing Truckfest range. The 'big cat' graphics decorating the sides of the 1:50 scale Scania tractor unit are extremely well done, and represent the markings of Wayne Catt Transport, a ten-year old UK-based haulage company.

Corgi Truckfest hauler

The Wayne Catt Truckfest Scania is covered with photo-realistic vinyl graphics, the full-size equivalent of scale model decals. Vinyl technology means that today it’s possible to have any visual treatment you like on your machine. Once printed on to the thin plastic sheet, the designs can be draped over a vehicle, and with some skill by operatives using hot-air blowers, the vinyl wraps smoothly on and around even the most complex curves. And when it’s time to sell the vehicle, the vinyl can be removed without harming the paintwork underneath.

It’s a far cry from the super-talented work of a retired signwriter friend of mine, who spent his working days painting vehicle sides one at a time by hand!

Simple vinyl graphics

Vinyl works on simpler graphics too - I bought a red Micra last year (an insurable option for my just-passed-her-driving-test daughter) and we decided that the somewhat blobular little car looked rather like a ladybird, minus its spots. Sooo... £25.00 GBP ($40.00 USD) later, along came a pack of newly-printed black blobs in assorted sizes. And with no lessons beforehand, she and friends had a ball, vinylizing her car!

What’s the Catt truck like?

Back to the new Corgi. It’s a 2000-only Limited Edition, well up to the high standard set by others in the Truckfest series, and would look good in your collection. The usual details on the 125 mm (4.9 in) long model are there - rows of lights, a pair of Michelin men, bull bar in front, and a particularly neatly produced set of wheels and tyres, all of which are lettered as the original. 

Customize a truck

Diecasts are usually thought of as exclusively ‘collector’ items, but of course you csn customize them, albeit without as much flexibility as is possible with a plastic kit. However, a simple paint job can give an old model a fresh lease of life, as well as adding some original style to your shelf-top custom parade. 

How to do it

The metal shell of the Corgi Mercedes-Benz Actros shown above and below was dipped in paint remover to remove all trace of its former finish, then cleaned thoroughly in warm water. Automotive aerosol spray was used for the new deep-black look: this one is a satin finish, though any decent auto-spares store will sport a galaxy of types, from high-gloss to pearlescent. Plastic components were also cleaned, though don’t try paint remover - you’ll end up with a blob of melted plastic if you do! The finish for these parts was Volkswagen Mars Red, which is a rich, lustrous shade that needs only a couple of coats to look good. Small items were hand painted, and the whole thing reassembled after being left for several days to dry and harden thoroughly.

Customizing options

If you like 1:50 scale trucks, the Corgi Truckfest range is among the best. If you want to try a custom refinish for the first time, then it’s best to try it out on a cheaper, used truck - try looking around your next local swapmeet or collector fair for likely items. And of course injection-kit manufacturers such as Revell and Italeri have plenty of choice in their ranges, especially in larger sizes such as 1:25 scale.

Visit Corgi trucks here.

WEEKEND NOSTALGIA - THE HASEGAWA RANGE OF 1988

SMN Archaeological Dig
We’ve done rather a lot of hunting around in the SMN Cellar of Secrets of late, and in the process have found all sorts of tasty stuff. Latest find is the beautifully produced Hasegawa product catalogue of 1988, named The Fantastic Odyssey of Hasegawa. It has survived the years pretty well, even if the cover has some battle damage.

So here's a glance through some of the pages that show a gorgeous combo of an interesting range, beautifully assembled models, top-notch product shots, and handsomely designed publication. Enjoy - and if you see something you’d like to see make a comeback let us know. For us, those large-scale cutaway kits are, well, desirable - though the word hardly begins to sum them up...

Big-scale Fokker Dr1 Triplane was a top quality production. Click on the pic for a blowup size (as with the others, then click your back button to return) and note the fishing line that suspends the model - no chance of that these days, with Photoshop and its ever-handy cloning tool at the ready!

Inside front cover and contents, with fold-out insert.

Updated versions of the A-10 and F-15 are still flying in active service.

Just the thing for AFV fans, and useful for dioramas.

Box-by-box presentation for the 1:32 scale range, plus a loose-insert for new products.

Four large-scale kits. More please, Hasegawa.

Diorama examples show Hasegawa's models off very well.

Dawn of flight time, with the Wright Flyer.

Oh, and that somewhat battered cover? Here it is:

BIG AND SMALL ‘DESTINATION MOON’ ROCKETS FROM FANTASTIC PLASTIC

David Jefferis looks at some classic science fiction

It was couch potato time the other evening, with a chance to munch some sweetcorn while eyeballing a sci-fi movie from more than 60 years ago. George Pal’s Destination Moon of 1950 remains one of the best of its kind - a realistic future vision, dressed up as fiction by the addition of a lukewarm plot and wooden actors. Destination Moon may have been shot in black-and-white, with indifferent acting, but... it also featured a handsome spacecraft, the Luna, looking like a sleeked-up version of a World War II German V-2. And Luna became the prototype design for virtually all sci-fi rockets of that era, streamlined beauties that soared through the midnight depths of space. 

A post-Apollo rant...

If only it had turned out that way: here we are now, more than four decades on from the first Apollo landing, with any thoughts of returning to the Moon pushed into a vague and distant future. US astronauts may have got there first, but here at SMN Towers we’d put our money on the Chinese or Indians to plant the next flag.

Spacecraft Luna from Fantastic Plastic

Still, all that shouldn’t get in the way of a bit of nostalgia, and that’s the spirit of the 1:288 scale Luna kit from those interesting people at Fantastic Plastic. FanPlan’s 157 mm (6.2 in) long offering is an ultra-simple piece of kit engineering, with just seven parts, including the meteor-pocked lunar surface base. One of the components is a rather inelegant landing prop, poking out of one side to stop the nuclear-powered craft from falling over. It’s odd that the original designers didn’t simply use a triangular pattern for the landing legs - the kit simply reflects that bit of rather poor thinking.

Building and finishing the spacecraft

Assembly should be a speedy affair, as will be the finish. All you really need to do is spray the ship silver overall to represent the original’s bare-metal finish. A little airbrush weathering will do no harm at all, especially around the airlock door and rocket exhausts, plus the control surfaces and landing-leg areas. When Luna looks good, you can set it off by carefully detailing the cratered base, after which the rocketship should make a great addition to a sci-fi model collection. 

Micronauts

One thing you may not be able to do is populate your miniature moonscape with a set of convincing astronauts. At 1:288 scale, they will be only about 6 mm (0.25 in) tall, which precludes any great detail. Figures to this size are not difficult to find, as 6mm is a wargaming scale, but while it’s easy to get Romans, Germans, even fantasy elves, we’ve not seen any astronauts, though the Baccus 6mm company does offer various sci-fi sets. If anyone knows of a source for 1950s-era astronauts, let us know!

Bigger alternative

However, all is not lost on the size front, because Fantastic Plastic also offers the humongously huge alternative shown above. It’s the same subject, but now to the six times bigger 1:48 scale. This Luna has been created by Masterpiece Models, and is cast from the same studio miniature used in the original movie. There are even fewer parts (just five, plus a circular chunk of lunar surface) though wire is provided if you are patient enough to construct the rung ladder from the airlock to the cratered ground far below. The model stands some 940 mm (37 in) tall, so would make an impressive display piece for a classic sci-fi movie buff.   

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1-2  The neatly produced 1:288 Luna from Fantastic Plastic.

3  Image from the set of Destination Moon, with astronauts in their highly realistic spacesuits.

4  1:48 giant-size version from Masterpiece Models.

5  Movie still showing Luna safely landed tail-first on triple fins and ‘that prop’.

Baccus 6mm make figures at this scale, including sci-fi sets here.

Visit Fantastic Plastic’s 1:288 model here.

The 1:48 Masterpiece Models version is here.

There's more rocketry here.

GULLWINGS OLD AND NEW - REVELL BRINGS US A 1:24 SCALE MERCEDES-BENZ 300 SLS

SMN reports on the 1:24 scale Revell Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG kit

Until the New York Motor Show of 1954, Mercedes-Benz street cars were seen mostly as somewhat ordinary, if safe and sensible, four- and five-seaters. Then things changed dramatically, when M-B wowed the hordes of show visitors with its new 300 SLR (picture below the jump), a roadgoing version of its SL ‘Sports Light’ competition car. But what set the SLR apart from anything else on wheels was the pair of upward-opening ‘gullwing’ doors. The 300 SLR became an instant icon, and in one fell swoop, turned Mercedes-Benz into a desirable brand.

Gullwing up to date

The modern version of the car is the Mercedes-Benz SLS of 2009, a hugely desirable performance machine, capable of an official 317 km/h (197 mph) though we’re told that a keen driver could reckon on blowing well past the 200-mark with the right road and weather. The SLS also has those gullwing doors, and the top-spec edition is made by AMG, M-B’s performance subsidiary - and this is the car that Revell has chosen to model in 1:24 scale. 

What’s the kit like?

It’s a neat kit of the 2009 machine, made up of 136 components, quite a high parts-count for a model just 193 mm (7.6 in) long. Still, that’s no bad thing for model makers, and Revell has really packed in the detail, as you can see from the pix we show here. Apart from those ace up-and-down doors, the interior is nicely handled with a full set of gauges and dials, even a satnav in the middle of the fascia panel. The engine cover lifts up to reveal a beautifully crafted eight-cylinder powerplant. The wheels rotate and the front pair steer left and right, to make the displayed model look that much more realistic.

Killer looks in red

The bodywork is moulded in red, which is fine, but ideally you’ll give it a spray finish to get the depth of colour necessary to make it look convincing. If you are into registration numbers, then Revell should make you reasonably pleased by supplying a decal set of five international plates.

SMN score

For auto enthusiasts, this model of a modern classic is well worth adding to the collection, especially if you have the ‘original classic’ already on your display shelf. Don’t forget that Revell also does a fair kit of the 300 SLR’s direct ancestor, the competition 300 SL, with faired-in headlights and smaller grille. As you can see below, it could make an ideal coupling for display with the SLS. 

See the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG here.

See other M-B models here.

Pictures courtesy Revell.

PIMA AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM - AT HOME IN THE DESERT

Mat Irvine goes visiting
Just south of Tucson, Arizona, is the Pima Air and Space Museum, the world’s third-largest aircraft collection. Here is a vast collection of aerospace items, some located in specially-built hangers, some sitting out in the desert sun (and weathering occasional sand storms). The 35-year old museum is mind-bogglingly huge, with more than 300 aircraft and 125,000-plus objects and artifacts to pore over, spread across five hangars in an area of some 80 acres (32.4 hectares).

Wide variety of aircraft
Naturally enough, most of the aircraft are American designs, though there are odd interlopers - from France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and a good showing for the UK, with a Hawker Hurricane, Bristol Blenheim, Avro Shackleton, and an example of Anglo-American co-operation, the AV-8 Harrier.

Just the place for model fans
One of the hangers is especially interesting for model fans, as it contains no full-size machines, instead housing a terrific collection of models. The sources for these vary - some are manufacturer models, some specifically-built museum exhibits, others are collections of commercial kits. For sheer variety, the ‘Pima Model Show’ is up there with the best; the photos I took here show just a few of them.

Things to buy?
Pima has a decent restaurant, and an interesting store with a range of aircraft-themed items and apparel. You can’t buy a real aircraft there, but there are several aircraft scrap yards nearby which might be tempting!

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1 Entrance to Pima Air and Space Museum.
2 One of the several large model cases. This one has mostly commercial kits, mostly World War II aircraft.
3 Experimental aircraft and missiles include a Northrop Flying Wing, with X-3 and X-15 around it, plus an X-11/12 missile, front middle.
4 An odd juxtaposition here, with an experimental German vertical takeoff (VTO) aircraft, next to a Flash Gordon spaceship.
5 A large-scale model Ryan X-13 VTO machine, sitting on its dedicated launch platform.
6 The ConvAIRCAR was one of many attempts at combining a car and aircraft. This design was nearest to the ‘flying’ AMC Matador devised for the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun.
7 One of the oddest combinations ever created, the Antarctic Snow Cruiser. This was an exploration vehicle that had its own built-in aircraft. The Snow Cruiser went to Antarctica in 1940, but never worked as intended, and was lost soon after. It was rediscovered in 1958, was opened up to check the interior, but its position has since been lost again.
8 A neat miniature of the Rak-1, a rocket-glider developed by the German Fritz von Opel in 1929.

Visit Pima’s interesting website here.

UNBOXING THE NEW SUPER-VALUE ‘BATMAN AUTOMOBILIA’ PARTWORK

SMN report

We’re using ‘unboxing’ in its widest sense here, as most of this new product is actually flat printed paper. Still, who’s quibbling - what we have is the first in ‘the definitive collection of Batman vehicles’, and this starter for what could be a l-o-o-n-g partwork series makes a terrific package, and as is usually the case with partworks, it’s offered as a knockdown price to lure you in as a faithful subscriber.

Excellent package

Well, suckers we’re not, and this looks like one of the better offerings around. For just £2.99 GBP ($4.84 USD) you get a big 477 x 326 mm (18.75 x 12.8 in) double-sided backer board, on which is mounted a 12-page magazine, an eight-page series intro, three free-offer sheets and a Questionnaire Survey. This last asks far too many personal questions for this good ol’ boy, but those less sensitive about their private lives may well fill it in for the chance to win one of 10 Batman DVDs.

Diecast Batmobile

And now to the prime component of the package: a diecast 1:43 scale Batmobile. The black and beautiful 1989 movie-special is mounted on an oval base, with a quite excellent scale Batman figure, plus a couple of oil drums, all items being set on a diorama base that slots into a clear oval case. A nitpick is the rather obvious moulding seam on each lightly-weathered drum, but these are not bad enough to spoil the general flavour. Eaglemoss Collections, the publisher behind the venture, claims the curving picture backing inside the case is a ‘3D Lenticular’ which is true enough, though you have to squint closely to appreciate it. But the important thing is that the Batmobile looks terrific inside that oval dome, where it will also remain pristine and free of dust.

Excellent presentation

As you can see from the pix, we have here a decent miniature, set off very well by the presentation. The extra pictures show a couple of other Batmobiles parked at SMN Towers. The white one is the SMN ‘Special’, a white AMT 1:25 scale kit, presented as a semi-retired Batmobile in weekend-racer colours. And lo and behold, a search through the SMN Cellar of Secrets turned up the rather handsome bath-gel Batmobile from a few years ago, scale unknown but it looks about the same as the AMT model.

SMN Score

At the price, you just have to have this 1:43 scale Batmobile, which is available in the UK from most newsagents and bigger supermarkets. The big question is whether it’ll be worth carrying on with the series, and that’s down to the depth of your pocket and Bat-enthusiasm rating. The next few issues look good though, even if the price will more than double - there’s the 1966 Lincoln Futura-based Batmobile, the 2005 Tumbler, and an intriguing streamliner from the 2009 Batman & Robin comic book. 

The Eaglemoss Batmobiles website is primarily for subscriptions, but has a page-turning section where you can have a look inside the bi-weekly magazine shown in our pictures above. Access the Eaglemoss Batmobiles site here.

And view some Batmobiles here.

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1-4  Various parts of the splendid - and well priced - Number One issue.

5-7  The 1:43 Batmobile, and a decent effort it is, too.

8-9  The Batmobile with bigger brothers: in white, the AMT 1:25 kit, finished in post-Batman racer markings, and in black, a neat bath gel product, with jet exhaust doubling as fluid dispenser.