By Roger Knight | 02.22.2021 14:13
The model is based on the 1966 LeMans winning car (almost - more about that later), which finally, after some years of trying, ended Ferraris 6 year dominance of the classic race. The GT40 first appeared at LeMans in 1964 with 4.2 V8, basically the same engine that took Jim Clark to victory in the following years Indianapolis 500 but at LeMans it proved fragile.
By Mario Covalski | 01.13.2019 22:51
Chevron presented us some time ago a conversion kit, that allows us to transform the Tamiya's 1/12 Tyrrell P34 1/12 scale in its 1977 homonym. In this note I will describe which were the problems I found in building this complicated and compound kit, and the way I solved them.
By Mario Covalski | 04.16.2018 15:26
This article will be useful to anybody who wants to pursue this project, I decided to write it in the form of an instruction manual, following the steps set forth in the Tamiya's instruction manual, but also indicating all modifications to be made in order to insert the "Perfect Parts" metal parts, along with suggestions and advice on my experience with this model on every stage of the construction.
All general recommendations on the use of CA and handling of metal and photoetched parts can be found in the previous articles.
By Martin Klein | 06.17.2014 11:20
The Honda RC166 is the first historical racing bike of the 60’s that Tamiya ever made. This era of racing was full of technical innovations and so the RC166 is a 250cc 6 cylinder 4 stroke engine with 4 valves per cylinder and double overhead camshafts.
By Pablo Raggi | 12.12.2013 19:40
At times being involved in the construction of complicated kits and very detailed projects means much time consuming and makes us lose fun or dispel enthusiasm. In order to recover those feelings, I decided to involve myself in the build of this IDF Dodge WC51. I’ll not speak a lot about this well known kit of excellent quality. Recommended not only for experienced modelers but also for beginners, an easy to build kit which really was built for pure fun.
By Jaime Pastor Pueyo | 11.10.2013 11:07
The aircraft that I have represented (SN 270434), has the peculiarity of having a great stain of white smoke that it can be seen from the exhaust to almost the tail, covering partially the fuselage red star. No other P-63 I have seen on photographs had this smoke stain so big. I started this model one year ago, although after a while working on it, I got tired and I moved it away for a while, until I found a picture with the white smoke stain that impressed me so much that I immediately took it up again.
By Francisco Rivas Pose | 11.10.2013 11:06
This kit was announced as Schumacher’s last F1 car and represented the single-seater he raced in 2006 Brazil GP. Except for a few details, it’s a faithful replica. My intention was not to build an exact version that ran in one particular Grand Prix but to give my model as much detail as possible, in fact, I neither had the intention to show the model with the wings and cowling in place since I wanted to leave the engine with plenty of detail visible.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes | 11.03.2013 10:48
First of all, it’s necessary to take a look inside the box to be sure if the content is complete and in perfect conditions. One of the most common and discouraging problems is that once the project has started, we can find out that there are broken or missing parts.
By Jaime Pastor Pueyo | 11.03.2013 10:44
Vought Corsair Mk.II 'Pacific Pirate' - sub Lt Don Sheppard, 1836 sqn, HMS Victorious, January 1945. Not all the Corsairs sported the USAAF markings during the Second World War. Lots of them fought with the Fleet Air Arm from the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious, Victorious or Formidable: they were the fearsome “Pacific Pirates”. And one of their best pilots, the Canadian Lt Donald J. Sheppard was the onlyone that achieved the As distinction with the Corsair, obtaining four of his five confirmed shoot downs from the Mk.II JT410 and his fifth one from the Mk.II JT537, 4th, 1945.
By Michael Capell | 11.03.2013 10:36
I have been waiting years for a plastic version of this vehicle to appear . The Model Victoria version was simply beyond my means and I did not have the confidence to tackle an all resin kit at the time. Trumpeter to the rescue and their version with injection moulded plastic . I have my own theory concerning the design ; after all the engineers and planners had finished , they handed the project over to Ferrari to design the rest, it looks so good from every angle. That's Italian design for you. So now we have an English modeler, building a Chinese kit, of an Italian vehicle issued to the Spanish army, well this is an international magazine.
By Mario Covalski | 10.14.2013 10:54
If you’re a Ferrari fan in 1/12 scale and want to add a F40, F50 and Enzo to your collection, you’ll find nothing good to build. There two kits available of the F40: one from Protar/Revell and the other from Monogram but in my opinion, none of them are worth the effort. Thus there’s no other solution than resorting to the diecast Tamiya and Kyosho have been offering. Without entering into details, the Tamiya Enzo and the Kyosho F40 are acceptable but not the Tamiya F50 1997 release.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes | 10.11.2013 10:18
There are many Harley Davidson kits available from different manufacturers, but without any doubt Tamiya have produced the best versions. I refer to model kits, comprising a lot of parts, which were developed with a high level of detail and match the original models. And if that were not enough, in 1/6 scale. The Tamiya's Harley(s) were born at the beginning of the 70s, time when large scale models were preferred by hobby modelers. Nevertheless, the design of those models was adapted to the demands and techniques of those times and of course, they are completely different from nowadays assembling techniques. This means that today modelers will have to face certain obstacles at the time of giving the model a realistic look.
By Pablo Martelli | 10.11.2013 10:13
For this project, I used the Academy kit reference #13201 which is no more nor less than its old mould featuring new parts and including a new decal sheet. In this way, Academy is trying to improve this kit to let those modelers who want to accomplish this vehicle in the recent Iraq campaign theatre, can do this.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 10.08.2013 18:01
The Spad XIII is one of the most famous WW1 fighters as it was the main mount for many of France s top aces including Rene Fonck and Charles Nungesser as it was for many of the US aces including Eddie Rickenbacker and Frank Luke.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 10.08.2013 17:55
Since time ago, I wanted to make an early version of M7 in North of Africa. I had kept one from Italeri waiting to get some good M3 bogies since the ones from the Tamiya Lee/Grant did not convince me at all. To correct these bogies, I had to make a homemade conversion which would take a lot of time) or buy an expensive resin aftermarket.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes | 09.15.2013 12:15
During many years, I thought that Tamiya was the only manufacturer of Japanese 1/12 car kits. And, until the arrival of the Internet, I used to go to local hobby stores to purchase the kits I wanted. Then, surfing the net, I found sites as Modelersite where I discovered lots of new things and brands, other scale models, and above all, different ways of seeing and developing this activity.
By Crescenzo Consolato | 08.24.2013 09:29
Since time ago, I had in mind to build this Tamiya kit with a higher level of detail trying to replicate the F189 which ran in the 1989 Portuguese GP. Although it’s widely known that the Tamiya kits come highly detailed offering a very good quality, I had to make several improvements to match this one to this Portuguese GP version. The reason is because this Tamiya kit represents a F189 of the early season.
By Martin Klein | 08.06.2013 10:14
The 312T2 Monaco ’76 is Hasegawa’s the first 1/20 Formula 1 kit so I was very curious about the quality. After inspecting all parts the summary from my point of view is that Hasegawa did a magnificent job. All parts are very detailed and will result in a nice model without any modification. On the other hand the level of detail provided gives the opportunity to add more detail and thus realism and this is the path that I am going to follow.
By Michael Capell | 07.28.2013 12:14
Well who saw this coming? Right out of the blue Wingnut Wing enter centre stage with no less than four original releases and all in 1/32 scale, incredible . When this company first appeared last year there was no fanfare or announcements, they just open a first class web site and sat back to see what happens. I can imagine the enjoyment they got seeing the surprise and amazement this created. For this article I chose the SE 5 from the four models available, reason being this one is the simplest to build and paint.
By Patricio Delfosse | 06.10.2013 20:05
Since I am an artillery fan, this German heavy gun couldn’t miss in my collection not only due to its caliber and effectiveness but because once it’s built, it is 35cm long. Prepare the showcases!
By Dario Risso | 05.10.2013 10:48
These new vehicles, designated StuH 42 (Sturmhaubitze 42, Sd.Kfz 142/2), were designed to provide infantry support with the increased number of StuG III Ausf. F/8 and Ausf. Gs being used in the anti-tank role. The StuH 42 mounted a variant of the 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer, modified to be electrically fired and fitted with a muzzle brake. Later models were built from StuG III Ausf. G chassis as well as StuG III Ausf. F and Ausf. F/8 chassis. 1,210 StuH 42 were produced from October 1942 to 1945.
By Lukasz Rybacki | 04.25.2013 11:15
After get the first prize for my highly detailed Ferrari Enzo in "Italian Job", a competition in a modelling forum, I wanted to do something simple just for fun. So I decided to make my variation of Gallardo using as base the Fujimi kit #12259, Lamborghini Gallardo by Sportec DX. From the beginning I wasn’t making a copy of a specified car. The key in this build was to take a little from various Gallardo versions and make my own and that looks good.
By William Chan | 02.18.2013 19:34
Modelers released the J199 10 years ago. I got this kit from HobbyLink Japan after seeing a great build from Alex Kung in Canada. I waited for 10 years before I built it. Unfortunately, the kit is for early season, so some modification were necessary.
By Pablo Raggi | 02.03.2013 11:12
Some time ago, an old Dragon SA-9 Gaskin kit (ref 3515) came to my hands. It belongs to the epoch when Dragon surprised us with a series of vehicles of the Warsaw Pact before the disintegration of the USSR and the fall of the Berlin Wall. I decided to build it as in the Middle East theatre. But tired of the typical sand color and the usual Arabian inscriptions, that I had to handpaint so many times, I started to look for something different, and I thought of building a Syrian Gaskin though as can be seen in this article, this vehicle could have served in any other country.
By Mario Covalski | 01.12.2013 10:25
By Martin Klein | 04.01.2012 12:01
After searching for reference pictures I decided to build the Monaco version. Being a Lauda fan since his early days in F1 this race was one of his few highlights that season qualifying on the second row. Unfortunately he retired after a race accident with D. Pironi. Lauda stepped out of F1 during practice of the penultimate season race (Canada) focusing on building up his airline.
By Mario Covalski | 12.01.2010 11:27
In a world where prices seem so constantly to be rising it is source of considerable satisfaction to think just how much pleasure can be still obtained ridiculously cheaply by the modelmaker. A large proportion of all models that are made can be said to be the by-product of waste, being made almost entirely from unconsidered oddments that would otherwise have been thrown away.
By Modeler Site | 12.01.2010 0
By Modeler Site | 11.01.2010 0
By Modeler Site | 10.01.2010 0
By Michael Capell | 09.01.2010 19:37
Wait, I know what you are probably thinking, that this is a bi-plane and all that rigging is so hard to do. Before you skip to the next article let me have a chance to convince you otherwise. Eduard was the first company to combine photo etch parts with their top quality kits. Now they have gone a step further with introducing 'dual combo' kits to their range, basically two kits in one box. I suppose if you muck one up we have a spare!
By Modeler Site | 09.01.2010 0
By Guy Golsteyn | 08.01.2010 17:33
To be able to build the 1976 Ensign, first you need to buy a kit of course. The problem is that none of the known manufacturers may offer anything that comes close to this subject. After a long search I found a 1/20 kit by the Brazilian manufacturer RTN Models. Don’t worry, I hadn’t heard of them before either.
By Mario Covalski | 08.01.2010 17:30
Building scale models doesn’t always mean to build static reproductions based on plastic or resin kits. Thus there are modelers who using raw materials, make models from scratch, without a commercial kit, others build models from paper, wood, etc or radio controlled ones…For many years, at the same time of building static models, I’ve been a big fan of radio control; in this way, I built ships, cars, aircraft and of course, I made them operate in the different scenarios they were created for. The aim of this article is to serve as an introduction to the scale RC cars focusing on my latter project, a Fiat Abarth 1000 built from the 1/10 Tamiya kit.
By Roger Knight | 08.01.2010 12:30
The object of this build was to make the model as the Fiat raced in 1907 rather than as it appears now in the Italian museum. It is on this museum exhibit that the Pocher kit is based and it is very different.
Apart from the car being painted entirely red, including the radiator surround and front wheels there are many other differences between the exhibit and the original car.
Other changes to the kit included replacing the 'plastic wood with real wood, floor boards and steering wheel rim and re-modelling the dash board to accurately represent the original.. it was red and not wooden as in the kit. Many plastic parts have been re made in brass and metal and the radiator grill was also remade replacing the plastic item supplied.
The seats where re-covered in leather and all of the straps and buckles have been scratch built. The side 'doors', for want of a better word are canvas on the original and the fabric supplied with the kit is far to thick to ever look convincing. I replaced these with silk as it hangs and folds in a much more realistic 'scale' manner. The engine, being very simplistic in the kit was enhanced using many scratch built parts
The tires on the original were white natural India rubber, as indeed all tires where at the turn of the last century. Carbon black was yet to be added to the rubber in 1907 so the tires supplied with the kit are incorrect (being black) but are correct for the museum vehicle. Model Motorcars ( www.modelmotorcars.com) produce many high quality after market parts for Pocher kits and their extensive range includes a replacement set of white tires for the Fiat so these were used to replace the supplied tires.
This model now represents accurately the 130 hp car in which Nazzaro won the 1907 French Grand Prix
By Modeler Site | 08.01.2010 0
By Modeler Site | 07.01.2010 0
By Jose Angel García | 06.01.2010 11:13
Here I bring you a model which I use to call “Bicycles with wings”, though in this case we are talking about a more modern aircraft than those considered as the aircraft pioneers. To my liking this is a pretty airplane and after the painting and decoration it’ll receive, will be superb.
By Modeler Site | 06.01.2010 0
By Eduardo Andreoli | 05.01.2010 11:26
Some time ago the 2.5 tons GMC Jimmy truck from Italeri, came to my hands. It’s a basic kit to which I thought I would add the Eduard ref#35068 and some homemade improvement. But I don’t know why, it still seemed to me it needed something else. Apart form its cab, just a few things of this truck caught my attention. It was one year later when I saw a picture of one of these trucks loading an old big boat.
By Christian Jung | 05.01.2010 10:56
In 1972 Protar produced their first 1/12 F1 scale model, the Ferrari 312 B2 1971. Protar was well known for their fine motorcycles models, but their F1 models weren’t of the same quality. A year before Tamiya released the predecessor of the B2, the Ferrari 312 B from 1970. The kit from Tamiya wasn’t of the same quality as their later 1/12, but it was much better than the Protar one. The first look on the Protar box shows that there are some parts really out of scale. Especially the tires and the rims which look like truck wheels. Fortunately the body seems to be well shaped, so it’s worthwhile trying to improve the kit.
By Modeler Site | 05.01.2010 0
By Mario Covalski | 04.01.2010 12:15
By Pablo Raggi | 04.01.2010 12:00
Several years ago when MIG Productions introduced into the market the first Land Cruiser(s) and they shattered the preconception that a 1/35 is a military vehicle to a 1/35 vehicle which could be used either as a civil vehicle or for military purposes, I was desperate to get a couple. I purchased the BJ44 (ref # MP35-138) with the recoilless gun (ref #MP 35-141). When opening the boxes, I found beautiful and well represented kits, however as it always happens, these resin projects use to rest on the shelves for some time without being touched. I was recently taking a look at my list of kits (yes, I’m so nerd that I’ve an Excel list with the status of each kit) and I discovered the technicals in the column of “ unbuilt kits”
By Pablo Scordo | 04.01.2010 11:15
The M113, received within its vast history, numerous camouflages, being, the one I’m going to show you along this article perhaps, the most atypical. During the O.N.U mission, UNTAES (United Nations transitory administration for east Slovakia), six M113 A2, given by the Canadian government, were assigned to the Argentine Army Combat Forces 1, which together with six Kurassier SK105, joined the Belbat (Belgian battalion), as armoured reserve. From January 1996, and during 14 months, reconnaissance missions, control and protection of engineer equipments developing tasks of terrestrial mines removal were carried out, in Brod Pustara at the North of Croacia. Once the mission was accomplished, they were transported to Argentina where they received the later traditional Argentine Army scheme.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 04.01.2010 10:54
The P-47 developmental history has been well covered so I will concentrate on the model it self. The model was built as a part of a project by some club members. It should have been a “straight from the box build” but my bad case of AMS attacked me again and I had to make some improvements.
By Modeler Site | 04.01.2010 0
By Modeler Site | 03.01.2010 0
By Mario Covalski | 02.01.2010 10:50
By Mario Covalski | 02.01.2010 10:48
By Modeler Site | 02.01.2010 0
By Pablo Raggi | 01.01.2010 11:13
Looking for new variants of Sherman used in the Middle East and reading the book “Israeli Sherman” by Thomas Gannon, I found out that my next challenge was to make an Israelí Super Sherman. Called by the Israelis Sherman M1 (as all their early Shermans), this is the most well known M4A1 big batch. Actually, in current days is quite simple to make a worthy M4A1, just by choosing among the versions from Tasca or improving the ones from Dragon or Italeri. As I had one from Italeri waiting for me, I decided to start my project and, of course, I was not going to build it straight from the box.
By Modeler Site | 01.01.2010 0
By Mario Covalski
I know that we're talking about kits that were manufactured 25 years ago, but oh God... what kits! I think that modeling in general has lost a lot without kits of these characteristics. There were attempts from Hasegawa, Fujimi, and Otaki in the big scale (1/12), trying to present kits with the same quality, not to forget Doyusha, but none of them had the "life" of Tamiya's Porsches; maybe there is an exception, the Lancia Stratos manufactured by Otaki for Nitto; this kit is currently marketed by Doyusha, but we'll talk about this model in a future note.
By Mario Covalski
By Mario Covalski
By Eduardo Andreoli
For some modelers, this kind of vehicles are not attractive at all, it’s small, with limited firepower, besides of being full of rivets. But for others, among I’m included in, are these features the ones that make it so attractive. It’s something different, fresh ( rare exception!!) it’s not German. Since several years ago, I’ve been searching information about this tank, with the idea of building it from scratch but luckily and to my surprise Italeri have just released a 1/35 scale plastic kit of the Italian Carro Armato.
By Roland NG
Mclaren Mercedes MP4/13, a historical F1 car that won the 1998 F1 season. Mika Hakkinen together with David Coulthard are the two drivers that drove the car that year and helped Mclaren to win their first championship since Ayrton Senna’s era. With great amount of testing which induce great improvements, Mclaren had developed a beautiful and aerodynamically powerful racing machine. This is definitely one of the favourite cars of all time because it just looks really sexy on the design. It’s been always my dream of making a detailed MP4/13 and finally I got the chance not too long ago. Well, this is the process of detailed MP4/13 in the making.
By Michael Capell
Imagine for a moment being a highly trained and motivated German soldier , with unit moral very high after successful campaigns in Poland and France. With every confidence in your superiors and equipment especially the Panzer spearhead of the advance sweeping every thing in its path. Quite impressive by any standard in history. Then comes the Russian invasion, Operation Barbarossa , and their version of how tanks should be made.
By Giovanni Galvan
By Gary Smith
By Mario Covalski
By Giovanni Galvan
By Guy Golsteyn
Un tiempo atrás compré un kit en escala 1/24 de Le Mans Miniatures en una gran feria de modelismo en Holanda: era el Matra MS 670 B que incluía la figura del conductor Henri Pescarolo. Lamentablemente, cuando abrí la caja, parecía que faltaba la figura del conductor como así también una importante plancha de piezas de fotograbado. Fue una desilusión. Afortunadamente el dueño de la tienda donde compré fue muy amable, y unas semanas más tarde, las piezas estaban en mi buzón de correspondencia. El kit hace posible construir varias versiones diferentes de los Matra de todas las carreras de 1973 excepto el de las 24 horas de Le Mans. Pero ya había construido ese auto en escala 1/43, así que no era un problema.
By Mario Covalski
By Giovanni Galvan
By John Horst
By Alvaro Bortoletto
By Claudio Kalicinski