CALLING ON ALIENS? 1:48 SCALE VOYAGER SPACEPROBE FROM HASEGAWA

Mat Irvine: It’s perhaps a slightly odd decision for Hasegawa to model a spaceprobe that is more than 35 years old… but let us be pleased the company did, as it is a very interesting kit for any space enthusiast.


Two Voyager craft were launched in 1977, their mission to study the outer gas giant planets of the Solar System. Initially these were just Jupiter and Saturn, but Voyager 2 was redirected in mid-flight to go on to encounter Uranus and Neptune as well.

Currently the Voyagers are the most travelled objects to leave planet Earth, with Voyager 1 now some 18.5 billion km (12bn miles) from the Sun, far beyond the planets in the distant area known as the heliosphere.

Just over 80 parts make up the Hasegawa kit, which measures some 325mm (13in) to the end of the magnetometer boom. The components are supplied on two black plastic runners, plus one in white and one gold-plated for the onboard ‘Golden Record’ message disc carried by each craft ‘just in case’ a future civilisation encounters either of them. This runner also has one other part, of which more later. Last thing is a translucent blue stand (above) like those supplied with Hasegawa’s popular Egg Craft series.

The Voyagers are deep-space craft with no use for streamlining, so booms and equipment protrude all over the place from the central bus. Most distinctive is the long magnetometer boom that carries the sensors out and away from the main equipment.

The boom is actually a spiral device, spun out from a canister as the craft slowly rotates. It is the sort of thing that is impracticable to mould in injection styrene, but Hasegawa has had to go this route - with a bit of judicious painting it can be made to look reasonably accurate. 

But of course photo-etch parts would be better, and these are available from LVM Studios in the Netherlands. Leon van Munster’s additions include the magnetometer and science platform booms. These greatly enhance the look of the finished model, and are incorporated in the picture below.

Incidentally, the ‘twist’ built into Hasegawa’s styrene components is correct - to reproduce it with the LVM photo-etch equivalent, all you do is take the ends and twist gently.

Here, I have painted the base to resemble Uranus, one of the fly-by target planets. Oh, and one more thing - the other part on the gold-plated runner? It’s a small alien figure!

Review kit courtesy Hobby Link Japan.

Thanks to Leon van Munster at LVM Studios for the photo-etch boom sample.

Hasegawa Voyager kit available here.

STEAMPUNKS UNITE - COPPER AND STEEL MINI FROM CARLEX

SMN REPORT:

Like sci-fi? Like steampunk? Like cars? Like a kit bash? Then here’s an idea for you. It’s a full-size customized show car, the Mini Countryman Steampunk edition from Carlex Design of Poland.

Wide range of ideas

Carlex Design has an international reputation for well-judged mods to existing vehicles. From special leather interiors to wooden steering wheels, BMWs to Lamborghinis - if you have the money, a unique custom car can be yours. Or indeed, you can have a team of cars - Carlex has made a range of football-styled cars to celebrate Poland’s soccer squad in the Euro 2012 competition.

Intricate detailing

In fact, most Carlex projects are fairly middle-of-the-market stuff, so the Mini Countryman Steampunk marks a step up in the creative department. Carlex designers have really gone to town on this one, with the hand-tooled leather and copper interior suiting the fantastical genre very well indeed. They’ve maybe got a bit enthusiastic with the cutaway seats that reveal mysterious parts lurking between your legs, though - all we can say here is: “Yikes, let’s hope there aren’t a bunch of sawtooth gears or probing things that rise up from the depths without warning!” Still, no complaints really, as the whole thing looks ace.

Smart externals

As for the outside, the copper and steel finish looks terrific, and actually sets off the Mini Countryman’s hefty lines extremely well. The blacked out front and rear lights help, too.

Base kit for the conversion

As for making a model of the Carlex Mini Countryman Steampunk, the place to start is the Hasegawa 1:24 scale kit. We ran a story on this neatly produced kit of a very interesting subject in February here, so it’s worth having a look there, via the link below.

SMN story on the Hasegawa 1:24 scale Mini Countryman here.

1:24 scale Mini Countryman kit is available at a good price here.

Visit the Carlex Design Steampunk Mini here.

  

ON A ROLL - HOT STUFF FROM HASEGAWA

SMN report:

Hasegawa of Japan is bringing us hot new and revised products at a pace-and-a-half. Here a taste of what’s in store - space, sci-fi, aviation, and... girls!

Dreamliner

The 1:200 scale Boeing 787 Dreamliner comes in two flavours, JAL (Japan Airlines) and ANA (All Nippon Airways), differentiated in several ways, such as the differing engines used by the two airlines. At this scale, the changes are visually minor, but Hasegawa has detailed everything you need for an accurate finished model.

Voyager

Real-space fans have a treat in store with the 1:48 scale Voyager space probe. Two were launched back in 1977, their mission to record data and information about the outer planets. After swooping past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, they are now drifting into interstellar space, beyond the Solar System. 

Golden Record

The Hasegawa kit includes a scale representation of the ‘Golden Record’, a video disc containing the sights and sounds of Earth. There’s one aboard each spacecraft, a time capsule message, just in case they bump into intelligent aliens, sometime in the distant future.

Flood of science-fiction

Sci-fi fans have their hands full with a bunch of Hasegawa releases. Perhaps the most interesting is the forward-sweep combat fighter to 1:72 scale, representing an aircraft featured in the PS3/XBox 360 video game ‘Ace Combat’. The machine is packed with  advanced design features, such as canted tail fins and swivelling engine exhaust. Convincing stuff this, even if it is pure fiction.

More sci-fi

Two more jets feature in the Hasegawa release list: a 1:48 scale Macrosse robocraft, and a 1:72 scale Macrosse Plus, in UN Spacy markings. Both are neat models, reissues of kits dating back to the 1980s. 

Robot attacker

Meantime Maschinen Krieger comes out shooting, with another 1:20 scale robotic fighting kit, the Grosse Hund, and very convincing it is too. 

Space fighter

The Creator Works single-seat space fighter is perhaps a little less so, if only because Star Wars and its X- and Y-Wings have trodden the same path so well. Still, this one’s not Star Wars, so brownie points for that, as well as for being to model aircraft-standard 1:72 scale.

Girl power

Last but not least, we have a series of combat jets painted in girlie shades, courtesy the Japanese anime series Idolmaster, which is hugely popular with young teens. Hmmm... an F-15 Eagle, F-22 Raptor and Sukhoi F-33 dolled up in pinks, greens and blues, plus pretty girls painted on the wings is a different take on the term 'warpaint', and makes a refreshing change from the oh-so-serious camo schemes that are the usual paint jobs on these jets.

Summation

We’d build them all if we had time - but given a choice of one, it has to be the Maschinen Krieger release for the sci-fi freaks at SMN Towers. Yes please: Ma.K just has to be the best non-Hollywood sci-fi kit series ever released.

All sorts of Hasegawa kits here.

Kit images courtesy: Hasegawa, Boeing 787: Eric Prado

HASEGAWA RELEASES LIMITED EDITION 1:72 SCALE LOCKHEED STARFIGHTER CCV

SMN report:

The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was originally labelled ‘the missile with a man in it’, for its performance and for the tiny wings, seemingly too small to keep it in the air. The aircraft was widely produced, and one of the most interesting variations of the Lockheed jet was the one-off experimental CCV, now featured as a limited-edition 1:72 scale release from Hasegawa.

What’s in the box?

The kit appears to be a scaled-down version of the 1:48 scale Hasegawa CCV kit , but it’s none the worse for that, and it’s good to see a 1:72 scale kit of this unusual aircraft available from a mainstream manufacturer. The kit has 85 components, and can be made in three variations of the experimental CCV aircraft, flown in the early 1980s. 

CCV components

Added to the basic Starfighter kit are a number of parts that change it into the CCV version. These include fuselage fairings, tail strakes, and the canard mini-wing to mount behind the cockpit. Also included are metal parts for nose probe and sensors, plus decal sheet with special markings. When assembled, the F-104G CCV has a wingspan of some 92 mm (3.6 in) plus the long fuel tanks on each wingtip. 

Digital flight controls

So what was the F-104G CCV? The CCV acronym stands for Control Configured Vehicle, a mouthful indicating that the aircraft was a testbed for fly-by-wire technology, in which computer controls took over from traditional rods and cables. Important too, was that by going digital, the aircraft could be deliberately destabilized, a seemingly contradictory approach to flight management that actually results in an aircraft that is hugely manoeuvrable. 

Forerunner of the Typhoon

First flight of the F-104G CCV was on November 20, 1980, from a test facility at Manching, southern Germany, the aircraft being flown in tests to prove that CCV actually worked - thus laying groundwork for the Eurofighter Typhoon of today, a front-line aircraft flown by several air arms, including those of Austria, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the UK.

Starfighter today

There’s an ex-Luftwaffe F-104G on gate-guardian duty by the entrance to Manching (above) and do note the tiny wing, which was a special design using air bled from the engine to generate enough lift for takeoff and landing. The CCV vehicle itself survives today, and is on display (below) at Koblenz, Germany. Pic shown here courtesy Frank Van de Waardenburg and the Airfighters website.

Summation

A neatly produced kit with custom parts in resin and metal of a very interesting aircraft, with space-oddity looks added to the already high-performance F-104G Starfighter. Should be available this month.

Hasegawa F-104 here.

Starfighter stuff by the gazillion here.

All sorts of Hasegawa good stuff here.

Visit Airfighters here.

‘BIG MINI’ - BMW SHOWS OFF JCW SPORT COUNTRYMAN

Mega Mini - less height, more speed:

Revealed by BMW Mini just in time for the Geneva Motor Show next week is the ultra-sporty Countryman JCW. It earns its keep here as a kitbash option for modelmakers keen on the 1:24 scale Hasegawa Mini Cooper S ALL4 Countryman.

Alternative parts

We’ve had a look in the Hasegawa box, and it all looks very complete in there, with separately bagged-up components to keep things neat and tidy - and of course, avoiding the possibility of parts scratching each other while in transit from factory to workbench.

Speed on four wheels

As for the real thing, it’s a bit of an oddity, this John Cooper Works (JCW) Countryman. First the designers jacked-up the suspension to give us the Mini Cooper S All-4, now the performance guys lower it again to make the top-of-the-range JCW racer. Ah well, we like to think they know what they’re doing!

Fast Mini man

As for JCW, it’s named after the late John Cooper, the revered specialist racing car maker and tuner who breathed more speed and and better handling into standard production Minis. Today, the JCW company produces all sorts of performance equipment for the BMW Mini, and now the Countryman range has been added to the roster.  

Summation

The new JCW Countryman gives the modelmaker more kitbash options for the Hasegawa 1:24 scale Mini Countryman kit.

Hasegawa model article here.

All sorts of Hasegawa tastiness here.

Tamiya 1:24 scale kit of the original Austin Mini Cooper 1275S here.

Assorted Mini Cooper models here.

LATEST ‘BIG MINI’ TO 1:24 SCALE FROM HASEGAWA

First look at the big Mini:

We’re pleased to report that supplies of the Hasegawa Mini Cooper S ALL4 Countryman are available now. The model represents the 4-wheel drive performance version of the biggest car in the BMW Mini range. It’s a 1:24 scale kit of this newish vehicle, and has 104 components in the box.

Alternative parts

The kit developers at Hasegawa have decided to include two wheel styles, plus parts that allow modelmakers the choice of building the kit in either left- or right-hand drive versions. The kit looks an excellent choice for anyone interested in Minis old and new, and the upright boxy outline of the vehicle makes an interesting comparison with the smaller original car of the 1960s. 

Not really a Mini?

Purists often complain that the current BMW Mini is not small enough, and that the bigger Countryman range bloats the beast even more. However, it’s no worse than first time round in the 1970s, when the Brits introduced the shed-like Maxi as a mega-Mini variation. The Countryman certainly provides the interior space that many people need, so it earns its success in the car market - even if it’s kinda pig-ugly with it. Mind you, that’s our opinion - we’ve all got our own ideas on auto styling, so if you like the car’s looks, that’s fine: it’s up to individual choice.

Rally racer

Looker or minger, the Mini Cooper Countryman is an absolute blast in the World Rally Championship (WRC), and this is where keen modelmakers could take this kit, shake it up, and create a really terrific-looking model, dressed in full-metal racing gear. As the pictures show, the new WRC car is a serious piece of competition machinery, even if it towers over the original Monte Carlo Mini like a beetroot-red Incredible Hulk. The styling sketches (below) show the way to an ace conversion of this plain vanilla standard-spec Hasegawa kit. 

Summation

A terrific little kit to 1:24 scale, and absolutely ripe for conversion to full racing spec. Who’s going to be first with a show-winning diorama?

Visit heaps of Hasegawa kits here, from racers to robots.

Tamiya 1:24 kit of the original Austin Mini Cooper 1275S here.

2012 INCOMING - ‘BIG DOG’ HUNTER-KILLER ROBOT PROWLER

SMN update:

We reported on the upcoming ‘Grosser Hund’ Maschinen Krieger (Ma.K) sci-fi kit in October 2011, and now it’s here - big, bold and nasty, but apparently without a set of gnashing metal fangs. The Grosser Hund (‘Big Dog’) is the latest 1:20 scale kit from Hasegawa, featuring the science-fiction universe first created in the 1980s by the Japanese artist, Kow Yokoyama.

Moving parts

This latest Ma.K model is a new-tool miniature, dubbed in full the 'Humanoid Unmanned Interceptor Grosser Hund.' The 1:20 scale robotic beast, a combat machine belonging to Ma.K’s ‘Strahl Demokratische Republik’, has 196 components. Many of these are moveable, using press-on poly-caps at the joints of the limbs and head.

Two legs or four?

The Grosser Hund is at least as good as previous Ma.K kits from Hasegawa. The components are crisply moulded, with a claw-like front ‘paw’ beautifully crafted. The backpack comes complete with assorted equipment, including tube launchers and heat-dissipating exhaust fins. Transparent components are included for the various sensor heads set in the head, torso and left frontal limb. Note that while this model is named Big Dog, if built as supplied, it’ll be standing erect as a biped and the front left leg has a sensor, rather than a paw at its end. But there’s no reason why you couldn’t kitbash another paw if you wish to portray Grosser Hund in four-footed mode.

Custom colours

Decals are supplied for several different robobeasts, and as shown in our Hasegawa-supplied pix, Grosser Hund comes in a nifty camo paint job. However, there’s nothing to stop you going ahead with custom finishes of your own choosing - perhaps a stealth black for night-ops, or sand-and-tan for desert combat. The same is true for the weapons-fit, not forgetting that this is after all a fictional creation - so the universe is your oyster unless you stick closely to the Ma.K future-history ‘Year 2800’ timeline. 

Summation

However you choose to build your Grosser Hund, completing one straight from the box is a fine option, as you can see here.  All in all, it’s a brilliant piece of kit-engineering that, with careful painting, will look good in the lineup of any sci-fi collection. We’d like to see a diorama of a Big Dog combat pair, maybe restrained on suitably tech-look leashes by their hunt-boss, which of course has to be one of the other Ma.K kits, perhaps one of the excellent fighting suits available.  

Previous SMN Ma.K article here, including the 1:20 scale Ketzer fighting suit from kit-maker Wave.

Buy the Ketzer fighting suit here.

More background info on Maschinen Krieger here.

Grosse Hund available from Hobby Link Japan here.