Model Art

Model Art Model Magazine

No. 696 - January 2006

Reviewed By Stephen Bierce, #35922

For me, this magazine is an exercise in how "the more things change, the more they stay the same".  About twenty years ago, I bought my first Japanese scale model hobby magazine (a back issue of Hobby Japan) from a comics store in Orlando, FL.  It started me on my learning curve of study into Japanese language--which I do not pretend to master, but still pursue.  So leafing through this periodical brought the two worlds, my past and my present, together.

So what's here?  Glad you asked.

The main thrust of this issue is the new movie "Men of Yamato"—yet another retelling of the story of the battleship Yamato and its last voyage as part of the Japanese Navy response to the invasion of Okinawa in WW2.  This film saw its Japanese domestic release in the middle of December, and may appear on DVD soon.  Full-scale mock-ups of parts of the battleship were built as sets, including the massive gun turrets, the bow and part of the bridge tower.  A seven-meter long, 1/35^th scale model of the battleship was also made, for the purpose of inserting the ship into computer-generated action scenes.  (This contrasts to the 1980s movie "The Grand Fleet", when a scale model of Yamato was actually floated--and sunk--for the cameras.)  This museum-quality "miniature" is accurate down to the sandbags around the ack-ack gun emplacements!  There are nine color pictures of the model as it appeared at the Tokyo premiere of the movie.

This leads to the hobbyist articles:

• A 1/700^th model of the movie set, showing the parts of the Yamato that were included (and excluded)
• A build-up of the Tamiya 1/350^th Yamato kit
• A diorama with a Fujimi 1/700^th Yamato model in a peaceful Truk lagoon setting
• An in-box review of the new Tamiya 1/700^th Yamato kit, released as a licensed tie-in to the movie
• Another Fujimi 1/700^th Yamato finished model
• Finished models of the Fujimi Musashi and Tamiya Shinano (sister ships of Yamato)
• A survey of all the available model kits of the battleship Yamato, from Takara's modular model (which is sold as pieces in randomly-packed boxes--you need seven to complete the ship!) to Fujimi's 1/144^th scale monster (which would set you back 903,000 Yen!)

After a photo gallery of the between-the-wars Japanese cruiser Mikasa and an excerpt from a new book on the ship, we have a build-up of Aoshima's 1/700^th USS Enterprise aircraft carrier (CV-6).  This article has a good schematic drawing of the HMS Illustrious, showing the details and paint colors.

Then there's a piece about the Classic Airframes 1/48^th DeHavilland Vampire trainer, finished in JASDF markings with a walk around gallery of a preserved Vampire.

Next, we have a build-up article of Tamiya's 1/12^th Ducati MotoGP racing motorcycle.  Following that, Model Art presents a review article on the Hasegawa 1/24^th '71 Nissan (Datsun) 240Z sports car.  It's a 2-in-1 kit, and the reviewers got two kits and built both versions!  Later on, there's a 1/43rd scale Chaparral 2H race car from the sixties--the type with the huge airfoil wing suspended over the driver's seat.

For Armor fans, we have a construction article of the Dragon 1/35^th Pz.Kpfw IV Ausf E medium tank and a diorama of the Trumpeter 1/35^th scale LAV-25 Piranha armored car, paired with a "wrecked" Aoshima 1/32^nd Mitsubishi Pajero SUV in an Iraqi street combat scene.  Then there's a piece about the Sd.Kfz.265 'kleine PanzerBefehlswagwen' track, with two completed models (one in Europe Gray and one in Afrika Korps desert camouflage).

If you're into modern combat jets, there's a review of the American Revell 1/48^th F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter.

Back to World War II for a two-model review of the Accurate Miniatures 1/48^th scale SB2U Vindicator dive-bomber, with a sidebar about American shipboard bombers of the War.  In another part of the magazine is a pictorial about snow-ski landing gear types used on Japanese pre-WW2 and wartime airplanes.

The New Products section is chock full of photos, showing box art and sprue layouts.  For literally dozens of kits!  This is followed with an Industry News section dealing with teasers for upcoming kits and a page of Book Reviews.  Then, we get letters from modelers, some with pictures of their pride-and-joy models... or fan-art cartoons.  After the letters, there's a calendar of upcoming hobby events and some non-hobby events like air shows and motor shows.  This section even has a drawing for prizes (Deadline: December 31st 2005--D'oh!).  Well, we Yanks have a built-in disadvantage called the Pacific Ocean.

It would take me weeks to go through the advertisements in this magazine.  The Hasegawa ad has this Subaru 360 car model that looks very much like a VW Bug with a Blues Brothers-like character figure, a tie-in to a new movie whose title I can't read.  Guess I have to go research that one.  Model Art has a catalog of their books, including a new one on Japanese Escort Aircraft Carrier ships of WW2.  There are dozens of model shops, manufacturers and the like listed in the back.  To me, the ads are just as fascinating as they were the first time, way back in that old Hobby Japan.  Only now, everybody has World Wide Web addresses.

I'm finding my way back to the learning curve.  Thanks to John Noack and IPMS/USA for my review copy.

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