Faust

Ah yes, the Julia! That, the Zeppelin Rammer and of course the Piloted V1 (Fi-103) all take the concept of the "lightweight fighter" to the extremes. Don't forget the BV-141 GLIDER fighter, too! That was actually built! Still, those seem tame in comparison to things like the Triebflugel VTOL and the Piloted V2??! If only they'd had a plane that ran on dreams, they'd have won for sure...

You know what makes that Ratte box? The UFOs! Great sense of humour, Takom! Seriously, when your HULL GUN is the main gun from THE BIGGEST TANK EVER, you could be accused of <cough> compensating <cough>. I'm sure it would have been easy enough to knock out one of those Rattes with a Grand Slam, just to make the point! Oh, on the subject of the Natter - there was also a proposal to make them out of thick cardboard. Yes. Cardboard. Just like those old Estes rockets we likely all had when we were kids. Makes "to the moon, Alice" take on a whole new meaning... Why work on Sams or improving the Komet when you have... CARDBOARD DEATH ROCKETS! Sigh... Thanks for the compliments on the Baby article too. What's really funny is that article is a mistake; it was already published in December 2015's article. At that time, Nobody gave me any feedback. This time, I've heard from multiple people that they really enjoyed the article! Makes me glad I wrote it, and that it was accidentally re-released!

No, it's a really bad plan... I think the Natter would have been better served by just putting in 200lbs of TNT and a proximity fuse and firing it into the bomber stream. I mean, it HAD autopilot for during the launch sequence, so using it as a ballistic SAM seems like a better, and safer, idea to me!

When it comes to crazy, desperate ideas executed with inappropriate haste, advanced-yet-available technology and a good side helping of Teutonic efficiency, there’s little doubt that the WWII Luftwaffe has to be champion. Be it rocket planes that were more dangerous to their crews than the enemy or stealthy flying wing fighters, the RLM and German industry were up to a lot of different things as WWII came to a close. One of the more frightening ones that saw testing and actual deployment was the Bachem Natter. This was a VTO point defence fighter, more akin to a “Manned Missile” than any other aircraft that made it to service, except the Japanese Ohka. Of course, in great German fashion, there were all kinds of tests and prototypes! One such machine was the first (and only) manned article, Natter M23. The good folks at Brengun have actually made a kit of this little (and deadly) oddity. Check it out at the link below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/brengun-1-72-bp-20-natter-mustermaschine-m22-m23-oob/

I guess I'm the only one excited by those two 1/76 offerings eh? I have been WAITING for the Char B1 and FT17 to come out, and I don't have the M40 either. Now, all I need is the LRDG and the Jeep and Morris gun tractor set and I'll have all the Matchbox "big" armour multi-kits, I think. C'mon Revell! LRDG for 2020!

If you want to build it, just use a lump of putty for a canopy, and make a thin fabric tarp over it. I'm sure that either at home, or in one of the many desert countries that used it, such tarps would have been used to protect the canopy from the elements. This way, you don't need a canopy to build the model if you really want to! Just an idea you can think on!

Yeah, the He-115 is a nice one. I don't have it, but one day I will! I think it's funny that with all the modern tech kit makers have today, we still find a few subjects that Matchbox did so well. I wasn't aware of their B-17 being that good, but their Wellington (which I do have) is quite nice, and its fabric effect is much better than the overly-saggy skin on the Trumpeter version. Sometimes, newer isn't better! Thanks for the compliments, too, Rusty!

I know I'm a day late and a dollar short, but... I love what Round 2 does. Not all of it, of course. I don't buy every kit from ANY maker. However, they release stuff I love and can't find elsewhere. I love my loser cars, and they've had me covered now for years. Pinto, Pacers, Gremlins, Volares... not to mention some Street Vans. They have a good stable of super old, medium old and newish kits, with a wide range of subject matter. I personally feel itchy when I see a company "waste" resources on more '32 Fords, Tri-Chevvies or Chevelles. But that's me. I show my support where I want, and let others do the same. I've thrown a lot of $$$ at Round 2 because they're like factory-fresh ebay finds. If that's now YOUR thing, that's cool. Just don't ruin it for others. As for 3D printing; I just build what I'm given and do my darndest to scrabble the rest out of spares and sheet styrene. Still, darn impressive what the tech can do!

Thanks guys! As for the tires, Round 2 deserves at least 2/3 the credit. If there are two reasons to buy a Round 2 over the original, it's the new (always better or at least more accurate, it seems) decal sheets and those oh-so-great pad printed tires. Kudos to them for including such beauteous rubber, even with such a roach of a kit! I will admit, I do like how it looks. I'm not surprised it isn't build more, because it's a bear, but it does look neat all finished up.

­­­ bring your sunglasses!s ever repopped, or at least not for a while. Check out this little forgotten bird at the link below, anWell, after a lot more work than I thought it would be, the Pinto Crusing Wagon is now done! Just like the real car, this one was lot of headaches interspersed with some chagrins. Thing is, it’s an old MPC, and I was expecting some trouble. Not as much as I got, but I sure didn’t expect a “Clean Getaway”, so to speak! I’m really very glad to have a stock representation of one of what might be the lamer attempts to add performance through striping. I am now excited to get my hands on the ’77 Cruising Van that Round 2 just put out, so I can have two examples of Ford’s attempts to conjure up tapestripe horsepower! Check out this little beast at the link below, and be warned: you’re likely not going to see this kit built often simply because there’s so much wrong with it. However, in the end, it is all worth it, because it’s a Pinto Cruising Wagon, and how much lamer does it get than that? https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/cars/round-2mpc-1-25-1979-pinto-cruising-wagon/

Thanks for the compliment, Mike. I'm glad I made it interesting. Just so you know, I don't really care for the Provost, as a plane. If it was ANYTHING other than a Matchbox, it wouldn't have even made it into the stash. But, I have a weakness for "the 'Box", so I picked it up for nearly nothing. It was only after I got looking at it that I started to notice how cool it was, as a neat little kit of an obscure (in kit form) airplane. I grew to really like it, and I wanted to convey that in my review. I guess it worked! I recently picked up that He-70/170. I've seen the Revell Germany repop literally hundreds of times, and didn't care at all. I don't like Heinkel's pre-war stuff. I hate the engine arrangement of the inline. However, the Matchbox IMMEDIATELY grabbed my attention. When I saw the radial engined version, I was definitely hooked. At $5 for a sealed copy, I'd be nuts not to get it! There are so many kits that Matchbox made and only some are only now getting re-kitted; Two-holer Lightning and Viggen, Skyknight, Twin Otter, "wide body" Skyraider... the list goes on. Who else made a Privateer? Who else made a Siskin, Biplane Helldiver or He-115, Do-G1 or DoX for that matter? You can never, ever beat the 'Box, I don't think.

A lot of people say that things are “like riding a bicycle”, meaning that once you get the hang of it you can’t really forget how to do it. However, if you think about it, riding a bike is hard. There are a lot of specialized skills involved, and it requires training, persistence and special equipment to get the hang of it. Flying is very similar, and basic flying training is, and always will be, an important part of any pilot’s journey to the skies. Of course, compared to flashy fighters and bombers, the trainers aren’t as “imagination grabbing”, and so they often get left out in the cold. Thankfully, Matchbox had the sense to help rectify this when they issued their kit of the Percival Provost T.1, the RAF’s standard trainer for quite some post-war time. This isn’t a kit that I’ve seen very often, and to my knowledge it’s not one that Revell has ever repopped, or at least not for a while. Check out this little forgotten bird at the link below, and bring your sunglasses! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/matchbox-1-72-percival-p-56-provost-t-1-out-of-box/

Oh man, if we could get this reissued, it would be awesome! I'd likely buy another one, just for the decals. I was surprised to see it going for as much as it is. I got a real deal on mine. That means I don't have to worry (as much) about something if it goes wrong! I'm glad a lot of folks are excited about this one! I'd rather Round 2 reissue the California Sunshine or, be still my beating heart, the "Grand Superfly". I'd buy like three of those...

Well, the results are in and the people have spoken! Of the kits I managed to snag in London (Ontario, Canada) during the model show at the end of September, one has been quite overwhelmingly chosen as the “king of the losers”! The winner of this dubious title was the AMT BRAT, that awesome little bundle of tax-evading passenger un-safety! The margin of victory was considerable, with 71 votes, the Brat managed 17. Sure, that’s only 24%, but in Canadian politics at least, that’s more than enough to win! Given that the BRAT is also one of my top purchases (since I stupidly passed one up years ago) I was more than willing to dive right in and get you guys an Out of Box report on this fairly rare little beast. So check it out below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/amt-matchbox-1-25-1978-subaru-brat-oob/

Oh man, that van!!! I'm very in for that one. Not sure what I'll do with my Phantom Van of a few years ago now; isn't it the same base kit? Oh wait, if it IS the same base kit, then maybe I can use up BOTH decal schemes! So many van kits to go, but this is a good step down the road!

Mike: At the sale where I got the KR200, I actually saw the above kit as well! I immediately regretted buying the High-tech one, since I love Isettas too. I did notice that it was all clear. What in the living... anyway, I thought "Maybe my brother will build the other 'Schmitt, or I could make a "zwilling" (German for a 'twin', a fetish they had in the war)". However, when I saw the person wanted $55, and I know they are not a good bargainer, I gave up and was glad I'd bough the High-Tech version for much, much less. Now, if someone could do a PROPER Isetta, maybe in 1/16, that would rock!

Since the Messerchmitt is unwrapped, I took a look at it. YIKES!! There's so much PE and white metal in there... I don't even know how to put it together properly! I'm not going to say I'm going to disagree with you about the relative easiness of the kits!

A bit of both. I actually started writing something about a "rabbit hole" of awesome car kits, but then forgot to change the "hole" when I changed my mind. :0

There's a poll at the bottom of the post (at the Sprue Lagoon). I can't go and vote, since I made the poll, but if you guys vote on that poll, then I'll know which way the wind is blowing for sure. The Lil Red Express is winning so far, but the voting's for a week.

I’m sure everyone’s heard of an embarrassment of riches, right? Well, what happens when the riches you have are embarrassing, and they’re so plentiful that you get paralyzed by choice? Well, for one thing, you get what happened to me! At my local show just recently, I hit the vendors hard, and got so many amazing kits that I am a bit stuck for which one to open up and review first! When you’re weighing things like a Firebird station wagon, a four-door Corvette, a BRAT and a Messerschmitt cycle car, it’s not easy to come to a quick decision. So, I’m doing what anyone would do, when staring down the Magnum PI Vanagon and a Suzuki Samurai… I’m asking for help! Check out my awesome score of total automotive oddballs, and give me a hand with a vote for what you want to see as the next out of box car on the Lagoon! Just follow the link below, but be ready… awesomeness awaits! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/scores-and-collections/london-model-show-haul-2018/

Yes... Yes you should! Maybe, in the cold dark days of the winter, when light and warmth seem forever away, we should start a "sunset group build". Is that something you guys do here? As for Bear Bait, I had fun building it stock, but I would love another one to build full custom. C'mon Round 2, you can do it!

It's funny, I did leave out Bear Bait and Gold rush - they weren't present when did the photo shoot because they're already built! I use their boxes for spares boxes and forgot all about them! That 78 Chevy Sportback is awesome!!! That's one kit we need reissued immediately. Mostly because it's not even real, I don't think. That package wasn't available on a Monza, so it's an awesome Automotive What-If. I think. I remember researching it a while ago and finding something wrong with it, like the Pacer X from '78, which also never existed. So much sunset... so little time. I hadn't seen a lot of these kits before - totally awesome! I was also hoping they'd reissue California Sunshine at some point. I've seen one, but the decals were pooched, which is half the kit. P.S. What is with the side "pie chart" on that Monza??? WTF?

Nice! There are so many of these things! It really was a big thing, wasn't it! What else to people have in their stashes??

Since it’s the end of Summer as I write this, and the days are getting shorter, I thought it would be appropriate to put up a display of my “Sunset Stripe” cars. Unsurprisingly, most of them are MPCs, since that was right up their alley! Check out this collection at the link below, and get your time machines ready! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/scores-and-collections/sunset-stripes-car-collection/

That's really weird, Mike, that yours was a Crusing Wagon but without the graphics. I've never seen one in the flesh like that, but you could get it! An amazingly rare car! Awesome!!! As for the carpet on the panels, I've noticed that in the brochure I've seen, the '80s have it as carpet (although the shot in the brochure showed red on a red interior) and I've seen a pic of one with red vinyl on the panels, likely a 79. Since I was using the old inset panels for the job, and they were smooth, I just "vinylized" them and left it at that. It is an interesting change, though. to be honest, the carpet looks weird, but more appropriate. To be honest, I'm surprised you could get black carpet on a non-black interior's panels. I wonder, could they have come from a Rallye package, maybe? I know that consistency was not a hallmark of '70s car ordering. You are so right about the cat. The problem is, I can't find any good pictures of the cat, so shape and size were completely beyond me. I decided just to leave well enough alone. Same thing with the underhood lack of detail. There are no bottles, no master cylinder, nothing. I was getting to the point where I didn't want to drag out the build any more, so some things I just left as they came in the kit. The lack of cat was one of them! Good eyes, though, and I appreciate the detailed inspection of my work! It's not only '70s Cats that do that. My dad has a 2002 Mazda Protege 5. Great car, but since it was about a year old, you get a bit of rotten egg smell in it if it doesn't run long enough.