Table of contents for March/April 2024 in FineScale Modeler

Making time for the workbench As you look over the table of contents above, you’ll notice that Tim Kidwell and I have how to stories in this issue. While it’s not unusual for our bylines to appear, it’s been a couple of years since either of us has finished a project and taken you guys through the process. This isn’t the way we want it. We enjoy time at the workbench and are both working on personal projects. Part of the problem has been finding time, and I’m sure we aren’t alone in balancing family and/or work with spending time on our latest model. Yes, even though it’s part of our job, it can be a struggle to build as much as we want. How do you do it?…

AIRCRAFT 1/32 SCALE Westland Whirlwind FB MK.I Fighter-Bomber from Special Hobby, No. SH32088, $152.99. 1/48 SCALE Fiat B.R.20 Cicogna “Bomber over Two Continents” from Special Hobby, No. SH48229, $49.99. Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II from Tamiya, No. 61125, $115. WBR A6M2-N Rufe from Eduard, ProfiPack, No. 82219, $49.95. A6M3 Zero Type 32 from Eduard, Weekend Edition, No. 84191, $34.95. FM-2 Wilder Cat from Eduard, ProfiPack, No. 11175, $49.95. Bf 110G-4 from Eduard, Weekend Edition, No. 8405, $49.95. Mighty Eighth 66th Fighter Wing from Eduard, Limited Edition, No. 11174, $54.95. Ki-21-Ib Sally Japanese heavy bomber from ICM, No. 48195, $121.99. WBR USN T-34B Mentor VT-5 Training Air Wing from Academy, No. 12361, $24. Grumman FM-1 Wildcat/Martlet Mk.V from Tamiya, No. 61126, $40. Republic P-47C Thunderbolt with ferry tank from Dora Wings, No.…

Star Wars has provided no end of unmistakable ship designs, from the colossal Star Destroyer and hammer-headed Corellian corvette to letter-designated star fighters and an improbable disk with loading arms and an offset cockpit. Now, Round 2, from its AMT brand, has produced a 1/32 scale version of another exceedingly identifiable Star Wars starship, the Imperial TIE fighter (No. AMT1341/60). A model this large begs to be lighted, and Round 2 engineered the kit with that in mind. If you’ve never put lights in a kit before, this one is perfect for a first attempt, not despite its size but because of it. Right off, you’ll need LEDs, a power supply, and a switch — you don’t want to have to keep connecting and disconnecting a power lead. I visited Evan…

With NASA focused on sending astronauts to the moon and ultimately to Mars, the agency has a new rocket — imaginatively named the Space Launch System. When an SLS lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2022, carrying the Orion spacecraft to its eventual lunar flyby, I wondered how long it would be until a kit depicting the Artemis I mission appeared. Not long apparently. Within a few months, Round 2 announced a 1/200 scale kit of the vehicle under its AMT label (No. AMT1423), which matches the scale of the brand’s other spacecraft. Let’s face it, rockets make relatively simple models — AMT’s Artemis I is a bunch of cylinders split in half with separate caps and details. It doesn’t take a…

Nearly 40 years ago, Fujimi shocked the scale model car hobby with its introduction of a series of 10 Enthusiast Model Porsche 911 kits. With an asking price roughly two-and-a-half times that of the average domestic 1/24 and 1/25 scale kits and a part count twice that of its competitors, Fujimi’s kits were a bold stroke targeted at an emerging market of accomplished adult model builders. (See Scale Auto, December 2014, for more on this). Less noticed at the time, however, was that the Enthusiast Model series presaged a time when multiple, product-correct, kit variations, sometimes 10 or more in number, could be made based on a single tooling set. An anomaly back then, this multiple-release capability is now a topline consideration for newly tooled kits, with the Moebius Models…

Starting with this article, I’m kicking off the AMT Annual Kit Challenge. What is that? I’m glad you asked. First, it’s not a yearly thing (although maybe it should be!). Rather, every fall from 1958 to 1977, AMT produced 1/25 scale 3-in-1 customizing “annual” kits for the latest cars and trucks that filled dealership showrooms. While some of these annuals have been reissued (and Round 2 is now duplicating them with all-new tooling), many remain one-off products that were never offered again once that year’s run sold out. For the uninitiated, annual kits lay somewhere between simplified curbside or snap-together kits and fully detailed kits with multipiece chassis, suspension, interiors, and engine compartments. Generally revered for accurate body proportions and crisp molding, they often also included era-correct customization and race…

Few skills improve the appearance of models as much as airbrushing, but it can also be one of the harder tools to master. Not only are there different kinds of brushes and air supplies to consider at the outset, but there are also multiple variables that will affect how paint moves through the brush and how it hits the model. For the uninitiated, this can be an overwhelming amount of info that can keep them locked into using paintbrushes and spray cans. Fear not! I’m going to answer many of those questions. If you are considering picking up an airbrush or have one but you aren’t sure where to start, hopefully, this will take the mystery out of this versatile tool. Even if you have been airbrushing for years, consider…