Model Art Co, Ltd

Model Art Modeling Magazine (August 2006)

Reviewed By  Stephen Bierce, IPMS# 35922

MSRP: 1050 Yen There are two main thrusts to this issue: a how-to article set exploring assembly techniques for 1/700th scale warship models, and coverage of the 2006 Shizuoka Hobby Show. The ship models in the how-to articles are the aircraft carrier Chitose (based on the Pit Road kit), the battlecruiser Kongo (based on the Hasegawa kit), and the destroyer Yukikaze (at various points in her career; using the Aoshima, Pit Road and Takara Microworld model kits as baselines). In addition, there is an article about the ocean liner/hospital ship Tachibana Maru... whose kit has been produced by a garage company, it appears. Normally, I wouldn't be interested in this stuff, but I do happen to have a Nichimo model of the Haruna (sister ship to the Kongo) in my "to-build pile" so some of the information here might prove useful. The Shizuoka Hobby Show article has dozens of photos of new products. Featured are: Dragon's new 1/32nd P-51D Mustang Tamiya's updated 1/32nd Zero-sen Hasegawa's 1/48th Bell Airacobra Tamiya's 1/35th Char B tank Dragon's 1/35th Marder II self-propelled gun and Sherman tanks Tamiya's 1/48th tank line, including the KV-1, King Tiger, and diorama scenery pieces A 1/48th LCM-3 landing craft MicroAce's (ex-ARII) reissue of the 1/48th Patriot Air Defense Missile battery series Hasegawa's 1/350th version of the Yukikaze destroyer Dragon's 1/700th USS Arizona battleship, USS San Diego cruiser, and USS Independence light carrier Many new car models in 1/24th from Fujimi, Aoshima, Tamiya and Hasegawa... including Fujimi's models of the Toyota/Scion minivans. There are also new big rig trucks and busses coming in 1/32nd scale from Aoshima. Hasegawa continues to show a sense of humor. In 1/48th scale, they now have two sets of mascot parade motor-scooters... one mimicking T-3 propjob trainer planes and the other lampooning the Blue Impulse team's T-4 jets. What next? An airshow crowd figure set? In addition, we have build up reviews of Dragon's 1/35th Panzer IV Ausf D, AMT/ERTL's 1/25th Ford GT, Trumpeter's 1/32nd A-7E Corsair II, Skyline's 1/144th Boeing 737-500 in All-Nippon Airways markings, Dragon's 1/48th Focke- Wulf Ta154 Moskito, a 1/43rd McLaren F1 sports car, and Fine Molds' 1/72nd Messerschmitt Bf109G and K (two models, parallel kits issued at the same time). Rounding out the content is a conversion of the Grand Phoenix 1/48th scale kit of the Fairey Firefly Mk I to the Mk V, test-shot photos of Eduard's upcoming Fokker D.VII in 1/48th, walkaround pictures and data on the Mitsubishi T-2 CCV prototype, detail drawings and sketches of a Zero-sen's underside fuel tank, a profile on diorama builder Douglas Lee, and the usual notes on new models and books. The letter column is interesting because there seems to be a new fad going on in Japan...modelers making home movies based on their models. The builders dress in costume, digitally place themselves in the cockpits or hatches of their models, and add in special effects. I'm sure I would have done it myself if the technology were around twenty or so years ago. Thanks to John Noack and IPMS/USA for my review copy.

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