German Panzer II Coming Soon

Guest User ·

Our Hard Cover Follow-up to Panzer I is on it's way!

Great coverage on all of the major models of the Pz.Kpfw. II. This includes the early versions and all of the little differences that distinguish them. Of course, the mainstay models like the Ausf. C and Ausf. F. are here too along with the always cool variants like the Flammpanzer.

Egyptian Sherman from Dragon

Guest User ·

We received our information from Dragon USA

www.dragonmodelsusa.com

Dragon 3570, Egyptian Sherman

This 1/35 scale kit is based on Dragon’s excellent Sherman tooling. It thus has crisp details, a high degree of accuracy and very easy-to-assemble DS tracks. To this chassis has been added a brand new turret created especially for this hybrid vehicle. The complex shape of the FL-10 turret from the AMX-13 is extremely well reproduced. Indeed, the oscillating turret of the original FL-10 was basically made of two hinged parts, whereby elevation and recoil were achieved by the upper part moving relative to the lower part. Dragon has captured the turret shape perfectly. For Sherman fans this is a most unusual and desirable tank. And for fans of Middle East conflicts, this Egyptian Sherman is an ideal model to add to any collection!

Drum Roll, Please...

Guest User ·

Thank you to Joe at Merit International for the information

Coming in September from AFV Club:

AF35249, M60A3 Patton Main Battle Tank!

Choose to construct in M60A3 or M60A3 TTS.
New tooling shooting simulators can be selected.
The kit comes with warning light for various choice of setting.
AN/VSS-3 xenon searchlight can be selected.
M19 blank adapter of Commander’s cupola can be build.
Wading device including.
The M68A1's thermal sleeve has two types of choose ( Early or Late stage ).
New tooling T-142 type tracks.
Two kinds of road wheels included (steel and aluminum).

Dragon USA Megaganza Part Three!

Guest User ·

Bronco has churned out another version of their sophisticated Horch kits, Dragon has a big pile of variants on their now classic base kits and last but not least is a closer look at the Dragon Patriot missile launcher kit!

Bronco 35209, Mittlerer Einheits PersonenKraftwagen(m.E.Pkw) Kfz12(Early Version) & 2.8cm sPzB41 On Larger Steel-Wheeled Carriage w/Trailer Sd.Ah.32/2

Dragon 6834, 10.5cm StuH.42 Ausf E/F

Dragon 6599, Flakpanzer T-34r

Dragon 6838, Su-76i

Dragon 6721, 5cm PaK 38 L/60 auf Fgst.P.Kpfw. II (Sf)

Dragon 3563, MIM-104F Patriot Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM)

Bench Wars Part 4: The results!

DavidDoyleBooks.com ·

In this highly anticipated final chapter of our world-famous blog, we bring you: THE RESULTS.

(crickets chirping...)

I managed to cover nearly the entire length of the bench, maximizing the surface. My lights were moved to the shelf above to clear my reach to the outlying modules.

BTW, final assembly was slightly tricky. Each of the modules is attached to the next with small magnets. These are inserted in holes drilled in various locations. The individual magnets are a tight fit and keeping the correct polarity throughout was difficult for me (I'm easily confused).

Once sorted though, it is an effective system for keeping all the different parts together. The resulting unit is pretty sturdy.

Here is a closer look at the center section:

I used my handy Dymo label maker to identify all the drawers. All the stuff I use the most is located within this section. The top tool holders are pretty cool. The one on the right contains my most frequently used items.

With the large number of drawers available I was able to put together some very useful groups. This is the blade drawer. Previously, these were scattered over several locations. Number 11 blades are in the front:

All my punch and die sets are now together for the first time:

Bits and collets:

Here is a closer look at the right-hand tool caddy. There is a little space n the front that is handy for my x-acto and glue applicator:

Here is one of two of the "on deck" storage units:

I filled up a lot of the space, but there are few areas left over. The corner drawer units are teeny, but so is most of my stuff:

There is still some room in this unit, on the left hand side. I'm not really sure what to put in that center divider...

I now consider myself highly organized! The system is already working quite well. I can quickly put items away and I have zero clutter on the bench. At the end of each session, the bench surface is easily cleared.

I am very pleased with the Hobby Zone product line—everything was very high quality The level of service was also quite good. We have used their paint organizers, too and will be adding to them soon.

Please do not hesitate to check out their site at http://www.hobbyzone.pl/en/

 

 

 

Black Dog Update!

Guest User ·

www.blackdog.cz

T48064, 1\48 Panzerkampfwagen II A\B\C accessories set for Tamiya    


T72098, 1\72 T 34\85 factory 122 model 1945 conversion set for Trumpeter  

 
T72099, 1\72 US M26 Pershing accessories set for Trumpeter      


T35171, 1\35 Opel Blitz 3.6-47 Omnibus accessories set for Roden  

  
T35172, 1\35 M 551 Sheridan Gulf War accessories set for Academy 


F32007, 1\32 German Fighter Pilot N°5 

      
F32008, 1\32 German Fighter Pilot N°6  


F32009, 1\32 German Fighter Pilots N°3 


D35081, 1\35 House corner (Europe WW II) base 


D35082, 1\35 Buddha statue base   


D72031 1\72 Street WWII base    

Dragon USA Megaganza Part Deux!

Guest User ·

www.dragonmodelsusa.com

Dragon 3553, M60 Patton

Lots of Cold War mavens have been looking forward to this one, including us!

It's got the earlier turret that looks a lot like an M48 turret, but is not. The kit includes the aluminum wheels with the strengthening ribs. All of the goodies we have seen in the more recent M48 kits are in here as well like the spotlight, dust cover and decent looking one-piece tracks. A slide molded 105mm gun barrel is in there too.

Dragon 3565

This kit contains parts to do either an M48A1 or an M48A2C. Just for review, the M48A1 had the flat engine deck while the M48A2 had the humped one that was passed down to the M48A3 and the M60 series.  The M48 A1 had five return rollers while the M48A2 had three. The M48A2 had an extra track-tensioning wheel that looked like a return roller between the rearmost road wheel and the drive sprocket while the A2C dispensed with this.

There is a bit of conversion work to be done to make it an M48A2C. The fenders need to be chopped and so does the T-shaped muzzle brake in order to replace it with theY-shaped one.

Markings for 3 Israeli M48A2C and one Jordanian M48A1 from the 1967 Six Day War are included.

Our M48 Patton book provided some good technical reference as the Israeli M48s did not have major modifications at this time. Sabinga Martin SMBK-18 is also a great reference for this one.

Bench Wars Part 3

DavidDoyleBooks.com ·

Using the sheet shown in my previous post, I placed an order.

FYI, my bench top is 97 inches long and 25.75 inches deep (about 246 cm x 63 cm). I was shooting for a modular set up that was 95 by 19 inches (about 241 cm x 48 cm). This is where the sheet came in handy.

The HobbyZone site can be a tiny bit confusing. Although one can choose between Dollars, Euro or Zloty, all of the prices include VAT. This is only subtracted once the order is placed. For example, the OM03 Corner Drawer Module is listed at $32.57 on the site, but the actual cost is only $26.48. It's not the worst thing in the world, as the order ended up being much less than I thought.

Here is the final order:

Here is the box upon arrival:

 (I'll cover the paint stands in a subsequent blog)

Being composed of lots and lots of MDF, I was fearful that the shipping from Poland with be prohibitive. Miraculously, the nearly 75 pound box was just $138.86 to ship via UPS to the U.S.

As can be seen, the order was blocked out inside with cardboard tubing wrapped in bubble wrap. Pretty clever. The invoice was in a plastic sleeve and included some stickers and pencils:

There were a total of 24 boxes inside:

Each box is essentially a small kit, so I was in for a lot of construction! Here are the parts for one of the three-drawer units:

In the shot above, the drawer components can be seen, as well as the part for the "carcass" that contains them. The carcass parts are all slotted and notched. The small holes in the square parts to the left are for magnets, which attach the various units together (more on this later). The back of the unit is coated on the inside with sturdy vinyl sheeting, as are the drawer fronts and the dividers (the slotted parts).

Jeff pitched in to help and we were soon knee-deep in parts. We used Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue—the yellow stuff, for all assembly.

A hint from Jeff: the drawer fronts don't have a slot to lock them in place on the bottom. He used a lot of extra glue in this area and it had a kind of caulking effect, sealing the front firmly in place. Wood glue shrinks considerably once dry, so this doesn't have any effect on the handsome finish of the parts.

I should say that this is not necessary for the drawers to function properly. It simply adds strength to each part and helps keep small parts from finding their way under the drawer fronts once in use.

Here is another of the side pieces, this time for the corner drawer unit:

As suggested in the excellent instructions, we secured the units using masking tape while they dried:

During construction, we kept an bucket of water on the floor with several clean sponges in it. We used these to keep the excess glue under control and make sure everything remained neat and tidy.

Working together diligently, we were able to complete all 24 modules in one day. When working with wood glue, it's important to let it dry overnight for the best bond. Working with MDF is interesting, as the material will swell slightly when exposed to glue, then shrink back as it dries. This creates a very strong bond.

We left that night with all the units drying in various spots around the office.

Next: the results!

 

Dragon USA Photo Megaganza Part 1

Guest User ·

We just received a big box of samples from Dragon USA.

www.dragonmodelsusa.com

Let's kick things off with some small stuff.

Bronco has two new accessory sets that will come in handy for your next diorama:

Bronco AB3578, WWII German Rubber Raft comes with two rubber rafts.

Bronco AB3579, Universal Fuel Tank Trailer is the same thing they included in their recent A13 modified for German use and Morserzugmittel 35t, but now you can get just the trailer. It comes with a bunch of jerry cans and fuel barrels that are really nice and could be used for filling out a truck bed.

Next up are two 1:72 scale kits from Dragon. These look pretty easy and are probably good for an evening in front of the TV to keep your hands busy.

Dragon 7499, Sd.Kfz. 171 Panther A Early Production looks almost exactly like the classic 1:35 scale kit right down to the box art.

Dragon 7327, Churchill Mk. III Avre includes the welded turret and the spigot mortar that make this version distinctive. J

Jeff built one of the little Dragon Churchills a while back from start to finish, including weathering, in one afternoon.

Riich 35034, British Airborne Universal Carrier and Welbike is another variant of Riich's very sophisticated base kit. The Welbike is more complex than the Tamiya ones in their figure set. The Universal Carrier has a flat panel hull and link and length tracks. Some of the hull plates are also included as photo-etch parts for the detail mavens out there. Get out your Optivisor and tweezers, ladies!

We'll have more tomorrow when we take a look at some of the new Dragon kits!