FineScale Modeler

Once again, the Veterans Memorial Community Center in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, hosted the NNL North scale model car show. Organized by the RPM Model Club, builders from all over the Midwest displayed models in a range of categories, including muscle cars, lowriders, street machines, and hot rods. As all NNL shows, the event was not judged, although recognitions were presented for People’s Choice, Top Ten, Best Junior, and Best Competition Vehicle.

A welcome update, the new Tamiya 1/35 scale Schwimmwagen Type 166 (Wide Wheel Version) plastic model kit retains the charm of the original (first produced in 1998) while adding modern details, new figures, and wide wheels. This kit includes parts from the original Type 166 kit along with two new sprues that include brand new figures (one standing, the other seated), wheels and tires, and small details, like a shovel, oar, panzerfaust, MG 34, and an optional covered windshield.

RELATED TOPICS: FSMW | FINESCALE MODELER WEEKLY | NEW PRODUCTS | GROUND TEXTURE | NNL MILWAUKEE In this FSM Weekly, the FineScale Modeler staff looks inside new kits and products from Tamiya, ICM, Peko Publishing, and MPC, tests out texture rollers on two part epoxy putties and other modeling mediums, and wraps up the episode with exclusive footage from the tables of NNL Milwaukee!

Resulting from an agreement between the French manufacturer Aérospatiale and the Italian manufacturer Aeritalia, the ATR-42 combined concepts from the AS 35 and AIT 230 designs for a regional airliner to compete with the British HS.748 and the Fokker F-27.

RELATED TOPICS: FSMW | FINESCALE MODELER WEEKLY | NEW KIT REVIEWS | POUNCE WHEELS | LETTER TO THE EDITOR In this FSM Weekly, the FineScale Modeler staff looks inside new kits and products from Tamiya, ICM, Helion, and AMT, jumps on using pounce wheels to make rivets, and wraps up the episode by reading a letter from a modeler and fan to the FSM Staff!

The M24 Chaffee was a U.S. light tank replacement for the M5 Stuart. Deployed late in World War II, it went on to see action in Korea. There have been many 1/35 scale kits of the M24, but this all-new kit from Tamiya offers state of the art engineering that makes it a great choice if you want to add an M24 to your collection. Tamiya has taken its excellent engineering up a notch with this release, making changes from typical armor kits to help modelers fit and align parts properly.

Round 2 has gone through the archives to bring back this classic AMT 1/25 scale Scorpion mid-engine drag coupe plastic model kit. First released in the late 1960s, the chassis may look familiar because it was also used for the Piranha drag car, which has been re-released in the last few years with original box art. With the Scorpion back, it’s the best time to build this futuristic-looking drag car. The kit instructions start with the Hemi engine, but I suggest piecing the body together first.

VIDEO In this FSM Weekly, the FineScale Modeler staff looks inside new kits and products from ICM, AMT, Casemate, and Reskit, looks at different scribing tools, and wraps up the episode with exclusive footage from WrightCon!

The FIA Group 5 category of racing underwent several variations. From 1976–1982, it was based on highly modified production cars. Rules required that the roof, doors, and hood line of the original had to be maintained, but the rest were fairly open. The Zakspeed Capri Turbo made its racing debut at the Hockenheim circuit, and proved fast, but failed to finish. Its maiden victory came later in the year at Nürburgring.

Disney’s The Black Hole is a science-fiction adventure movie that follows the crew of the exploration vessel USS Palomino as they discover the long-lost USS Cygnus perched at the edge of an immense black hole. The Cygnus is manned by eccentric and megalomaniacal Dr. Hans Reinhardt, his sinister bodyguard robot, Maximilian, and a crew of faceless robots. The horrifying truth is that the mechanical drones are actually the zombified, lobotomized remains of Reinhardt’s original human crew.