Faust

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 unconventi

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, befo

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

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

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! 🙂

It is an interesting one, and a good one at that! I would love kits of things like the 2018 Fusion, or a Malibu, or some general stuff. Some of Japanese stuff is "everyday-ish", and some of the MPC stuff can be that way to. I'm loving my Beretta, even though it's a GTU, and I know Revell did pretty much every flavour of '92 Grand Prix (I've got the GTP, but stupidly passed up the base one. D'oh!). As for "everyday", did you check out the Daewoo LeMans on my site? As for normal trucks, there was the Courier (AMT? Revell? Can't recall...) and there's the newly reissued '

If you know me, and/or the Sprue Lagoon, you know that I do have a thing for “loser cars”. However, it’s not just econoboxes and soulless “made-to-be-rented” cars that I love! I am also a fan of the mundane. That means cars that aren’t necessarily bad, and might be kind of exciting, but definitely things that you’d see everyday. They are the car equivalents to the “people in your neighbourhood” that Sesame Street sang about. One vehicle that surely fits this description is the Volvo 850 Turbo Estate wagon. I rather like these cars, and they’re decent, competent and even kind of stylish

Pictures are fixed. Not sure what was wrong. Try it now!

If there’s one thing I love, and one thing Bandai knows all about, it’s variants! When it comes to Gundam kits, there are quite often very many variants of major suits to choose from. The idea, of course, is that people will buy them all… well, it seems to work! Despite having 3 Jegan and two Jesta varieties in 1/144, I still picked up the 1/100 Master Grade Jegan when I ran into it. It was sure cheap enough for an MG, and it was a lot simpler than some of the more recent, overdone kits. However, I didn’t want just another green Jegan, so I figured out how to customize it. I did i

I'm still saddened that Bandai, with all it's unrivalled abilities, still hasn't gotten it's house together when it comes to providing proper decals on these kits. Now, the U-Wing also has water decals... did the X and Y wings not? That's lame, if that's the case! Hope you got one, and are enjoying it. It's a neat little beast!

Glad to see that there are people out there who, like me, enjoy the weird stuff! I had a few of these when I was a kid too, but I cut my teeth on Hobbycraft kits; Matchboxes weren't so easy to get at the time for me! I've grown to love them, though, as you know! Chris: Awesome info on the Seafox. Thanks a tonne!

I wouldn't bother with the Model Mastery Acrylic grey primer, and that's coming from me, likely the biggest Model Master Acrylic honk on the planet. It is okay for hand-primering little details, but it has a major problem when airbrushed; because it's chemically quite neutral, it doesn't like to stick. I often pulls right off the plastic if you've Tamiya taped over any paint applied over it. It has no bite. HOWEVER, it does have one use - vinyl figures. I've used some on a Kei (from Dirty Pair) I did years ago, and it worked fine there, because I wasn't masking anythi

It only seems right to start the New Year off with an old kit! Of course, I have a whole stable of those to choose from, but I thought that it would be fun to look at something that I’ve never done before; a biplane! While everybody knows the Swordfish, there is another Fleet Air Arm biplane of WWII that, it seems, is largely forgotten. No, I’m not talking about the Albacore, although it’s awesomely obscure and somewhat pedestrian as well. I’m talking about the Fairey Seafox! This was an observation and spotting plane used until the middle of the war to help locate enemies for the

I use Rustoleum grey primer. It's dark grey (like Schwarzgrau), so if you're into the vogue of dark primer with a light mottle on top for tonal variations, it is good in that respect too. It shoots fairly well out of the spray can, but can be a bit thick and prone to runs if you're not used to it. If you decant it, though, you can either shoot it straight and a bit heavier to hide imperfections or thin it with lacquer thinner to get a very light coat. Even on thick, it may look blobby when wet, but let it dry, no detail will be lost unless you totally ham-fisted the a

It seems I’m not the only one who’s paralyzed by choice! A short time ago, I had a poll for which of my many Monzas people would like to see written up first! Well, when there’s that much awesomeness on display, I can see why it would be a hard decision to make. However, I was very surprised to see that three of them all tied for first! So, I personally broke the deadlock and chose the one I liked best, which was also my nephew’s favourite (he’s four and has good taste, it seems). Check out what’s inside the first of many radical custom Monza kits with this out of box look at Stree

See that is different. I prefer something clunkier but more able to withstand handling and/or modification. That's one think I like about Matchboxes - you can mod them and they'll take it easily. I prefer to use my "modelling brain" (which, as we know, is a special thing it seems is unique to modellers) to figure out ways around crappy engineering altogether. I use it a lot on older Gundam kits (and sadly some new ones) where there are "built-around" assemblies. I'll spend hours figuring those out. However, I don't like having to do that; again, it's just laziness on Bandai's part

Okay, this is getting out of hand. Firstly, I'm not here to ruin anyone's "mojo" or wreck any company's reputation. I am a single modeller. I write reviews for (what's supposed to be) fun. Remember how opinions are like the final sphincter in the digestive tract? Yeah. So, just a few things. 1.) I put up the info I have in case someone finds it useful. If someone doesn't that's fine. If someone disagrees, that's fine too. I DON'T CARE. I'm not trying to win anyone over to anything. 2.) It's a perception of mine these things on the MIG are bad

Well, that's fine. I'm glad yours went easily and apparently I'm an idiot. However, I really did find it very difficult to get the intakes to hold together, and that's just how it was. I agree it does give nice thin pieces, and I'll try the blue tack thing on the Su-33 I have. I agree the Mig is a nice kit, and I do agree that it's likely the best one on the market, especially as value for weapons and decals goes. You cannot, absolutely not, beat Zvezda there. I will always support Zvezda in that regard. But, like I said, I just found the unconventional wa

I can see where you're coming from, Ventris, and I know exactly what is implied. I don't disagree that, indeed, the evidence woudl point to a certain ham-fistedness on my part! There were folks who said the same when they saw the underside of the wings on my Spitfire F.22. However, you can see from my website that I build a lot of different kits, and not all of them are very good kits right from the get-go (although that Academy Stuka was amazing!). Still, while I'm no IPMS Nationals winner, I do think I'm a competent modeller. My range of experience (especially in 1/72) from Far

Well, if it helps, I DO have a Megane, a Renault 5 (LeCar) police car and a Renault 16 hatchback. Do they count? So many interwar French bombers LOOK like cars (well... rail cars) that you COULD count that.. :) Remember my criteria are weird and sucky (there are a few others, but they're the big ones); how can French cars not fit into that mould! I would love a Fuego, and I have a Burago Renault 11 (I think that's the Alliance's name) I want to customize at some point... You're never safe, man. Not from me. Bwa ha ha ha!

About the Yak: I haven't written it up yet, but it does NOT brook any change in the order of assembly. Which sucks, because to me, it's illogical. There are too many things that go inside other things to fit around other things. It reminds me of a really badly executed MG Gundam (although I'm not sure there is such a thing). It's amazing engineering, but what's the point when it makes the build tedious and difficult? I know you know what I mean! I love the Firebar as a plane, and I have an old A-Model of it. I'm going to stick with it, because some A-Models are total garbage (Anak