AIRFIX MODEL CLUB OFFERS A MEMBERS-ONLY SEAFIRE KIT

We’re not great joiners of things here at SMN, but another look at the Airfix Club has made us think twice.

Annual membership buys you a badge and membership card, various discounts, an Airfix catalogue, a Flying Hours Passport token collection scheme, and the quarterly magazine, samples of which are shown above.

But the real come-on is the members-only model kit, which combines three 1:72 scale aircraft in one box. A Swordfish torpedo bomber and Wildcat fighter are interesting enough, but the real kicker is the third aircraft, a Seafire MkIIc, which is available only in this kit.

The annual sub comes in three membership scales, for the UK, Europe, and Rest of the World. UK members have the option to receive hardcopy magazines and catalogue at extra cost.

The pictures above show:
1 Club magazine jacket sample.
2 Club magazine spread sample.
3 Club-only kit box.
4 Seafire on the deck of HMS Formidable

Seafire picture, courtesy IMWA.

Visit the Airfix Club here.

HERE'S ANOTHER CHANCE TO VIEW THE SMN FREEEBOOK

Some of you had the odd issue viewing the 'freeebook' of the SMN dummy we produced a while ago.

Sooo... here's another try, in a slightly different format. You should be able to view it above as a tiny, clicking on the small white triangles half-way up the sides to turn the pages, or you can click the 'full-screen' button in the middle to view the freeebook at a decent size.

It's best not to press the 'Menu' button though, as that leads to all sorts of other stuff. Enjoy!

STEALTHY STARS AND STRIPES - ITALERI’S COLOURFUL F-117A

By Mat Irvine
It’s 26 years today since the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk went into service with US forces, though it was another five years before the ‘stealth fighter’ was revealed to the public.

At first the F-117A seemed rather like a Model T Ford - you could have it in any colour as long as it was black. Since then however, the aircraft has been painted in various shades, including this colourful version with stars and stripes adorning the underside.

The kit comes from Italeri, last major bastion of the Italian model kit industry, (though it has acquired one of the others, Protar), and is a version of Italeri’s existing 1:72 scale kit. Two schemes are provided - both have the flag, but one has black upper surfaces, the other features low-visibility grey. The stars of the flag are provided as one decal for the nose area; for the stripes you need to paint white first, then apply seven red decal strips when the paint has dried. Otherwise, Italeri’s model assembles easily, with no real difficulties.

I made the diorama above to show the F-117A flying near the vast Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, which houses many secret US aircraft projects. Whether any are based on ‘alien technology’ is a question I’ll leave for now, but all the ‘black’ (secret) projects have likely been tested here, from the U-2 spyplane to the SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117A - and probably others still to be revealed.

One place near Nellis, (and I’m talking ‘relatively’ near, as you cannot approach the base closely) is the small town of Rachel, Nevada. Outside Rachel, you will find the ‘white mail box’, infamously thought to be linked to secret UFO goings-on, and my diorama shows this, plus a jeep and its driver, waving to the pilot.

Back to the kit, and one small point: the back of Italeri’s box lists one aircraft as coming from ‘Groom Lake, New Mexico’. In fact, the lake is within Nellis Air Force Base, so it should be Nevada. ‘Groom Lake’ is one of the shorthand names often applied to the whole place – along with ‘Dreamland’ and of course, ‘Area 51’...

The Italeri F-117 is available from stores and online suppliers, including Amazon here.

CHUCK YEAGER BREAKS THE SOUND BARRIER - AND HERE’S A FREE PAPER X-1 TO MARK THE OCCASION

On this day in 1947, US test pilot Charles ‘Chuck’ Yeager flew the bullet-shaped Bell X-1 rocketplane faster than sound and into the record books. It was a spectacular achievement - until then, the ‘sound barrier’ had been regarded by many as a ‘wall in the sky’ that might forever be unbreakable.

Since then of course, supersonic flight has become an everyday event, with most air arms sporting at least one supersonic interceptor type. However, the X-1 itself has not been particularly well covered as models go. Probably the best one is still the old Tamiya 1:72 offering, which has an optional transparent fuselage half, allowing you to see the rocket motor and fuel tanks inside. Other interior detail is rather sparse though, so it’s a toss-up as to whether the model is best off built like this.

UK online outfit Hannants can supply the Tamiya X-1, though note it has new box art, which in SMN’s opinion is not half as much fun as the ‘classic’ box we show above. The click-through below takes you to an X-1 maker listing, so there are some choices there.

And for paper model makers, the website Paper Model Toy has a free pdf for you to make a simple cut-and-fold X-1. Printed onto A4 paper, it’s roughly 1:72 scale, so will allow you to compare the little X-1 with other single-seaters to that scale.

Pictures show, from top to bottom:
1 Yeager by the entry hatch of his X-1 Glamorous Glennis.
2 Free paper model for pdf download.
3 Classic Tamiya boxtop art.
4 Bits in the box, complete with metal ball oxygen tank.

Download the paper X-1 from Paper Model Toy here.

Buy an X-1 from Hannants here.

MEGA SALE OF DESIRABLES AT HOBBYLINK JAPAN

HobbyLink Japan (HLJ) is a well-established online supplier that has a particularly wide range of Japanese products on offer, ranging from aircraft and anime to military vehicles and robots. And now HLJ’s excellent site features a wide-ranging sale, with so many goodies on offer that it’s hard to know where to start - not that we’re complaining!

An item that caught our attention was the 1:48 scale World War II Luftwaffe personnel set, from Dragon. Neatly sculpted to represent pilots and ground crew from the Battle of Britain period, the eight-person group includes a table and chairs (four on-call pilots are playing cards while they wait for the next mission) and a pair of officers in easy chairs. There’s also a bomb loader pushing a bomb trolley.

This is just one item though - HLJ has an ocean of tasty stuff waiting for buyers, so do have a look. UK model makers might also like to know that HLJ will be exhibiting at the IPMS Scale ModelWorld on November 7-8, in Hall 2, Table 36.

Visit Dragon 1:48 Luftwaffe personnel here.

Visit HLJ main site here.

Visit the IPMS here.

GM’S PARADE OF PROGRESS - THE WAY THE FUTURE WAS

A headline draw at motorshow time (Frankfurt’s over, Tokyo opens on October 24) is the range of gee-whiz concept vehicles on display. Most of them are a bit of a tease though - few make it into production, and the ones that do are usually sad-sack imitations of the way-out ideas that fired us up.

But designing futuristic vehicles - trucks and buses, as well as cars - is in every designer’s DNA, and sometimes ‘the future’ does hit the highway. Back in 1940 the US General Motors (GM) company built a whole fleet of high-style bus-cum-trucks called Futurliners, to travel around the country putting on instant displays of advanced technology en-route.

The deco-design Futurliners were a massive draw, and as the video shows, the arrival of the ‘Parade of Progress’ in your home town was quite a big deal. The Futurliner parade rolled from 1940-41, and again from 1953-56.

Models of these spectacular machines are thin on the ground, but there is a neat 1:64 diecast from Norev, a French company well known for producing rare and exotic subjects. Good on you Norev - please repeat to 1:43 scale, with lots of extra detail! Follow the links for more info on the Futurliner, and suppliers.

The pictures above show:
1 The Parade of Progress as it appeared on a 1953 Life magazine.
2, 3 Norev 1:64 model at Awesome Diecast, front view.

Visit the Futurliner at Awesome Diecast here.

Visit Norev here.

Fairfield Collectibles also have the Futurliner here.

A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY - IPMS MODEL SHOW IN NOVEMBER

The International Plastic Modellers’ Society (IPMS) has expanded across the world since its beginnings in the UK, in 1963. Today, there are IPMS chapters in more than a dozen countries.

For UK model makers, the Telford ModelWorld 2009 will be a big bash, with 200-plus trade stands and model displays.

If you’re in reach of the show, keep at least one day free over the weekend of this 7-8 November to drop in, and be awed at the craft skills displayed.

The models above depict:
1 Interceptor from the Gerry Anderson TV series ‘Captain Scarlet’.
2 Fully loaded tank transporter.
3 Diorama scene from The War of the Worlds. Note the street name.

Visit the IPMS here.