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.
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By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
Without any doubt, the most advanced and radical Focke Wulf design in World War II was the Triebflugel. In the actual language of modern aeronautics, Focke Wulf’s “Triebflugel” ( driving wing) projects would be called a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL)...
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By Pablo Raggi
At the beginning of the 50s, Daimler Benz took over manufacture of the Unimog and means UNIversal MOtor Gerät, being Gerät the German word for machine or device. Its four-wheel drive and suspension design allowed the truck to comfortably drive not only on paved roads but over extremely uneven terrain. So much so that many armed forces purchased them in a variety of variants with an equally impressive number of uses: cargo/troop transport, communications vehicles, ambulance, fire engines etc. etc. One of these countries was Syrian that used them as cargo/troop transport and mounting them anti aircraft devices, created an armed version that would be used later by the South Lebanon Army.
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By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
"How the hell am I going to handle this monster? ….There is no other crew except me …!!" This was the first impression of the Feldwebel Rudi Riedl, in his first encounter with a Mistel composite. Riedl was a blind-flying instructor of the Jagdfliegerschule (fighter pilot school ), located in Stolp-Reitz, a German pilot school specialized in training its members on attacking special targets....
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By Patricio Delfosse
The arrival of the Tamiya kit to the market was a partial surprise. Although, it’s true that outside of Japan this was not a subject that modelers were crying out for, due to their history Tamiya felt that it was almost a must to manufacture the most recent Japanese MBT. In spite that it is not an interesting vehicle for the occidental modeling world, the new Tamiya kit is always welcome.
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By Patricio Delfosse
Working with resin kits calls for certain precautions and techniques somewhat different than the ones used for the plastic kits we’re used to building. These kits comprise fewer parts but are more difficult to build. Resin kits technology is suited to short runs, and we could say that they are not pure commercial kits but collection pieces even before being built.
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By Fabrice Marechal
During a visit to my friend Philippe, I had the opportunity of driving a red S2000, the test was fantastic and I simply fell in love with the car. As soon as Tamiya released the S2000 kit, I bought one right away to build a scale model of that red car The only reproach I could make is, that I had to build it with the steering wheel on the right-hand side.
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By Marcelo Scaminaci Russo
The Gotha Company had no experience in fighter design, having specialized in transport aircraft and gliders, and during WWII, it developed only one, albeit very interesting night fighter project known as P.60. This aircraft was in response to Horten brothers...
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By Geo Tziafas
Those who had the luck or misfortune of building Tamiya's F40 know that this kit is one of the worst from the Japanese brand. It has fitting issues, a rear hood that virtually won't close no matter what you do, shape inaccuracies, missing details, and a large number of molding marks, making it a challenging project. A few years ago, I built the street version of the F40 and put a lot of effort into fixing issues and detailing it as much as possible. A set of photos from that build is available at the end of this tutorial. I hope this tutorial and the attached information will be useful to those who, like me, love this car perhaps Tamiya's most iconic one.
By Geo Tziafas
One of the latest releases (November 2020) from Model Factory Hiro was the McLaren F1 GTR kit, representing the car that won the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. This tutorial aims to share my experience building this beautiful but challenging model, especially for less experienced modelers. Unexpected issues arose, which I won’t hide in the text, but I’ll share the solutions I found for them. I hope this will be very helpful.
By Geo Tziafas
The Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti from the DTM series is one of my favorite model cars, so I couldn't resist and, just a few days after receiving it, I immediately placed it on my workbench. Actually, I was looking for a way to relieve the pressure from various events in my daily life. The kit seems more refined and of better quality compared to the McLaren F1 GTR kit, for example, which I had built some time earlier. A clear indication of this is that I have seen several completed by modelers, while the McLaren remains a 'rara avis.' Apart from the version I built myself, there may be others, but to date, I haven’t seen them.
By Lars Wahlström
Over the years, a number of model kits have been made of the 300 SL in various scales. Pocher announced in 2016 that they would release a die-cast kit of the 1:8 scale gullwing model, but the project was cancelled due to a financial crisis within Pocher. I suspected it was PCT who made it, because a couple of years later they released a 1:8 scale coupe model kit that was sold as subscription kits through Eaglemoss. I wanted to build the model as soon as I heard about it, but it was hard to come by and I wasn't interested in a long term subscription. Eaglemoss went bankrupt in 2022, but PCT owned the tools and decided to rerelease the kit in 2023, but this time as a "full kit" through its sister company IXO, so I ordered. I had seen on various forums and model sites that the kit was not completely accurate in every detail, but that's part of the fun of improving, detailing and making your own model unique.
By Mario Covalski
With this photo array (one picture says more than thousand words sometimes) I share with the reader my experience with the model adding many missing details, not all, painting parts and applying plastic modelling techniques to improve the appearance of this expensive model. Also solving some problems that the kit has and showing tips and tricks to improve or facilitate its assembly.
By Mark Laird
I have seen many people building the 1/12 scale Meng MP4/4. Since this car held the record for the most wins in F1 until the end of the 2023 season, when the Red Bull RB19 claimed that title, it's a car I've always been interested in building. After admiring the work of others on their models, I decided to take the plunge and purchase one myself. With over 50 years of experience building models, I couldn’t resist the urge to customize it rather than assembling it straight out of the box.
By Felice Ferriello
This tutorial is based on showcasing and explaining the main modifications to convert the Hasegawa Miura P400 SV kit into the Miura P400 Roadster, as well as the added details. I won't delve into the assembly of basic components since the purpose is to share with the reader the more complex tasks. The rest is well-known as the Hasegawa kit has been around for several years. This model is dedicated to my wife Lyska, who supported me with patience and love throughout the process.
By Lars Wahlström
I had already started my own research and looked for reference images and information. I also joined a Facebook group and got a lot of tips. The kit was released in the UK before in the EU, so many had already started their builds and discovered inaccuracies. The objective of this tutorial is to share with the reader the work done, not only to assemble the kit, but also to get the most out of it, adding details and missing parts, painting where necessary, etc., always guided by the references. to which I had access. Hoping it is useful to others.
By Mario Covalski
The aim of this tutorial is to share with the reader the modifications made on the 1/16 T-55 from the firm Hooben, to convert it into a T-54 first. then in a Tiran 4 of the IDF (Israeli defence forces) early. The model represents a Tiran 4 as it looked in the period between 1972 and 1974. Besides to help the reader, especially to those who has never built a Hooben T-55, to solve the problems I had to deal with, alert them to several problems that appears after some use, like it happened to me with the one built in 2011 (the old kit version).
By Geo Tziafas
A true masterpiece, an automotive treasure that, when it was first unveiled six decades ago in 1960 at the Geneva Motor Show, prompted Enzo Ferrari to declare it the most beautiful car in the world, takes the spotlight in the following article. With over 70,000 units of the E-Type produced, it graced the Coventry factory floor in three distinct phases: Series 1 (1961-1968), Series 2 (1969-1971), and Series 3 (1971-1974).
By Gary Wickham
Eduard has recently released a new tooled Hawker Tempest Mk.V family in 1:48 scale. I have the Mk.V Series 1 ProfiPACK (82121) kit as well as the Big SIN (64856) set which includes a full Brassin Cockpit, Exhausts, Wheels and Landing Flaps. I also have some of the Barracuda Studios correction sets including the spinner and radiator intake. I'll highlight all these goodies (and compare them to the kits parts) as I progress through the build
By Lars Wahlström
In 1977, as a Christmas gift from my brother, I got a model kit of a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray in 1/8 scale. The kit was made by Monogram, but the same kit was later also released by Revell. There were editions with the body in both red and blue plastic. I noticed quite immediately that the detail level was low, lower than many models in 1/25 scale. Not even the doors were operable and the chrome-plating quality was really poor. Comparing with the French Heller's super detailed 1/8 model kit of the Citroen B15, which I built earlier, the Corvette was toyish and a real disappointment for an experienced modeller. But I decided to take it on anyway.
By Geo Tziafas
In the following tutorial I will share with the reader, many photos and explanations about the construction of the Alfa 33TT, I hope it will help and guide, for those who want to build this magnificent MFH kit, but this experience is valid for other similar kits of the same brand. This tutorial, very descriptive and with many good photos, can also serve as a general guide for other MFH kits in the same scale.
By Ricardo Gonzalez
When I saw this Tamiya kit, I felt like I could do something special by adding aftermarket detail sets and doing a bit of scratch-building. My goal in writing this tutorial is to share with the reader the work I've done, not only in assembling and super-detailing the model but also in showcasing a customization by changing the look proposed by Tamiya.
By Patrick Sedney
Once again, Tamiya delights us with the flawless engineering quality of their scale model, the Mercedes-AMG GT3, which was launched in 2017... or was it? In this tutorial, we will explore the pros and cons of this remarkable replica of the Mercedes-Benz vehicle, created in collaboration with their performance brand, AMG, for various FIA GT3 championships. Customizing it for the 2019 GT World Challenge America Crowdstrike team.
By Geo Tziafas
Starting a Hiro kit build is essentially starting a game of chess. Each move affects the next and the slightest mistake may cost in fitting or detailing issues. In addition, as in the famous board game, the more moves (test fits) you are ahead the better you can predict the way they will interact with each other and the less likely it is to be checkmated during the final assembly.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
Basically this kit has been built straight out of the box, using almost all of the parts included in the kit, and small details such as generic photo-etched screw heads have been added. The objective of this tutorial is to share with the reader the steps that I followed to build this model.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
I built the model straight out of the box, using all the parts included in the kit, and I have added some details in the engine that, although it is not exposed, but it was fun and the work has been reflected in the photos. I added some wires, and generic photo-etched screw heads. These photo-etched parts were also used to detail some other parts of the model. For the paint, a Lamborghini orange tone called Arancio Miura (Gravity Colors Ref. GC-1194) was chosen, and thus, make a different proposal to the red finish proposed by Hasegawa.
By Mario Covalski
With this photo array I share with the reader my experience with the model adding many missing details, not all, painting parts and applying plastic modeling techniques to improve the appearance of this expensive model. In addition, solving some problems that the kit has and showing tips and tricks to improve or facilitate its assembly.
By Mario Covalski
With this photo array (one picture says more than thousand words sometimes) I share with the reader my experience with the model (I put together two) adding many missing details, not all, painting parts and applying plastic modelling techniques to improve the appearance of this expensive model. Also solving some problems that the kit has and showing tips and tricks to improve or facilitate its assembly.