Faust

Just knowing what’s going on in a battle can make the difference between victory and defeat, literally life or death. Because of that, finding out what the enemy is up to, and making sure you apply your resources in the best way possible, has always been an important part of warfare. With the maturation of aircraft as viable spotting and recon platforms during the 20th century, the art of battlefield recon rose (sometimes literally) to new heights. However, not every important machine was a high-tech wonder, festooned with cameras and other sensors. Some were more workaday planes; tough, rugged front-line spotters that would fly out over the battlefield and report directly. One of the less-famous of these kinds of planes is the Henschel Hs-126. With long, fixed undercarriage and a surprisingly bulky-looking fuselage hanging under a rarely-seen-in-frontline-planes parasol wing, the -126 was really not a beauty queen. However, it did its job well. I’m quite a fan of odd and lesser-known aircraft, so I was very happy to get my hands on one of the original Matchbox kits of this particular bird! Check out the out of box review below – maybe you’ll want one of your own?! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/matchbox-1-72-hs-126-out-of-box/

No, I'm not a truck guy either. But a customized minitruck from the '70s WITH crazy UFO decals is pretty cool. Add to that they all have rusted away long ago (well, most of them at least) and it's an everyday loser car as well! I can't resist that! 🙂

Sometimes, it’s fun to go a little wild and crazy. Real car owners have been doing it for ages, and model kit companies were generally not too far behind when it came to customizing trends. When something became cool on the street, it was typical for the model companies to start producing kits in the same vein, whether that meant modifying existing kits or just issuing new ones that were already customized or could be. A perfect example of this was the mini-truck customization phase that was big in the mid-‘70s and lasted until the early ‘80s. The vannin’ craze and the show rod world spilled over and merged on the light trucks of the era, resulting in the Street Truck, a customized micro-van more for cruisin’ than bruisin’. Well, now that everything retro is cool, Revell as dug deep into the Monogram side of things and brought one such road warrior back to life. This thing is wild and better than ever, thanks to new decals! Check out the new repop of the Monogram Chevy LUV Street Pickup at the link below. https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/monogram-1-24-chevy-luv-street-pickup-oob/

Wow, they have these at Hobby Town? Sadly, here in Canada, we don't have any big Hobby Store chains, just small shops. Good in a way, bad in a way. From what I've seen, I'd say get this kit if you want to - it looks pretty epic!

If there’s one thing I have a lot of, it’s robots. I grew up in the ‘80s, when Transformers, Voltron and Robotech were the big things. I glommed onto those and never let go. As I got older, and discovered Gundam and the other great mech animes, I was astounded at the number of awesome robots that were available as model kits! Since then, I’ve amassed quite a number of mech kits, and I generally love them all about the same. However, when Flame Toys brought out their “Furai” model kit line, which are models of some of their third-party Transformer designs, there was one that blew me away. That one was the Autobot Drift, a design that melded the best of Transformers with the best of more “traditional” Mobile Suit design. I wanted one, but couldn’t find a lot online about how the kit was as a model. Regardless, I was ecstatic to be able to get one, and now we can all see how this new type of mech kit measures up to his competition. Check him out at the link below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/flame-toys-furai-model-drift-out-of-box/

Spring has sprung, and that means that it’s wet, muddy and generally kinda crappy weather-wise. Add in all the craziness that’s going on in the world, and it might be enough to make you pull the covers back over your head and just wait for better times. However, there’s nothing to brighten a dull day like some good old-school MPC craziness!! In order to brighten everyone’s spririts, and to thank everyone for helping my little site get to 300,000 views, I thought something different should be done over at the Sprue Lagoon. Thus, I decided to put my four MPC Monzas head-to-head and see just how similar, or different, they are! So, if you want a trip back in time to a more badge-engineered, parts-reusing, mix-and-match era, where bad customs and crazy decals were the norm, then strap in and check out the link below! H-Body shenanigans a-plenty await! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/mpc-monza-parts-comparison/

Oh, I remember the Estes Honest John! I never had one of those, but I did have a tonne of other model rockets. Darn... those were fun!

During the Cold War, nuclear-tipped, rocket-launched weapons were all the rage. From the towering ICBMs that would end the world to the ridiculous and perilously short-ranged Davy Crockett nuclear mortar, it was expected that all phases of future war would be conducted by some kind of rocket bombardment with mushroom clouds as the end result. A perfect example of one such piece of equipment, and one that falls somewhere between the two aforementioned extremes, was the Honest John. This was a truck launched artillery rocket that could be fielded with both conventional and unconventional warheads. With a range of between 15 and 30 miles, it was basically the equivalent to tube artillery. It was highly mobile and promised to deliver nuclear Armageddon to an advancing enemy army from behind friendly lines. Of course, it only makes sense that there would be replicas of such a system, since it was important to the US and its allies. However, one of the more interesting reproductions of this weapon is actually a toy! I mean, it was the Cold War, what else were kids going to play with besides battlefield nukes? The toy I’m talking about is the Dinky Toys No. 665 Honest John, and it was a particularly long-lived model in the Dinky line! Check out this diecast doomsday weapon at the link below! Sure, it’s not a kit, but it’s a neat replica and it really fires! (Don’t point at eyes or face…) https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/dinky-no-665-m386-honest-john-missile-launcher/

I've noticed that a lot about old biplane box art. The art on the Matchbox Seafox makes that rinky-dink little thing look huge and butch, and the Shark's art makes it look very streamlined and fast, indeed. Of course, in neither case is that true... 🙂 Gotta love the power of perspective!

They say that “everything old is new again” and I think they must have had our current fascination with nostalgia particularly in mind when coming up with that phrase. The good thing about nostalgia is that sometimes it spawns a “do-over”, where whatever is being fondly remembered gets reinvented with the benefit of modern sensibilities and technology. Nowhere is that more apparent, to me at least, than when it comes to toys. The current crop of Transformers toys are almost exclusively re-dos of old classic standbys but with modern, top-notch design and functionality. However, before this wave of nostalgia hit, I had thought it would be fun to try and bring two of my favourite things (modelling, and Transformers) together. Rather, though, than model someone famous this time, I decided to go for a “What if they were real?” approach. That’s not that entertaining when the subject is a yellow Beetle, perhaps, but it gets plenty freaky when it’s a magenta, blue an purple quiltwork of an AH-64 Apache! Check out my “just for fun” take on the classic Decepticon helicopter named Spinister. What, you don’t remember him? Check it out at the link below, and you’ll wonder how the “in disguise” part was every supposed to work in this guy’s favour. https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/mecha-robots/academy-1-72-ah-64a-apache-spinister/

I'm not sure I'd use the word "precision" with it, but hey, you know... maybe they mean the scale is precise? I can't believe the number of times that this thing gets popped!

Well the people have spoken, and the winner in my poll to see what should be reviewed next was the Blackurn Shark, from FROG. This is one of those “Because you demanded it!” moments, and I have to say, I was surprised the Shark came out on top. It was close with the Neiuport and Macchi coming in close second and third, but the mighty Shark won out! Hailing from the 1968 time period, this first-style boxing certainly has he years on its side! So, if you’ like me and love a good classic kit, or you just want to see how it was done in the old days, check out the link below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/frog-1-72-blackburn-shark-out-of-box/

I've got the 1/35 and 1/72 ICMs.... I guess I'd better get around to getting this 1/24 one too! I love that it's in "real car" scale! God I love those cars. If I could own one "super expensive" car in real life, it would be that. Not a Porsche, Lambo, Ferrari... not a Packard, Rolls or Bugatti... a G4. Beautiful and beastly all at once!

For a lot of people in the Northern Hemisphere, the winter months can be long and draggy. Sunshine is at a premium (if you see it at all), there’s usually cruddy weather and driving isn’t exactly trouble-free. Add to this the inevitable arrival of post-Christmas bills and a return to the “normal” routine, and you’ve got a recipe for some serious doldrums. Thankfully, my friend Alan took it upon himself to send my “January Blahs” packing by doing some packing of his own! In the mail near the end of January I got a surprise load of kits from him! You want to talk about a great way to end a day? Getting a box of awesome old kits in the mail is definitely a good way to do it! Thanks, man! Check out some of the cool stuff I got at the link below, and don’t forget to vote on which one I do in-depth first! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/scores-and-collections/cure-for-the-january-blahs/

There's no glory in a non-stock Pinto! The goal is to remind us all of the travesties that were foisted upon us, so we never let it happen again! 🙂