JeroenPeters

1:48 Mig-21PFM “Days of Glory and Oblivion” AK Interactive Catalogue # AK 148003 Available from AK Interactive for €49,95 Introduction Already the third collaboration with Eduard, that establishes not only as a paint and weathering brand, but also kit ‘manufacturer’. I’m hyphenating this, since the sprues are 100% Eduard, but the schemes and some other parts in this kit are AK’s work. Eduard is known for it’s clever engineering, good fit and well researched subjects, so in that sense one of the best parties to collaborate with. What AK Interactive adds is a selection of interesting schemes (with lots of scope for intensive weathering), extra parts and superb instructions and decals. Days of Glory and Oblivion The theme of this boxing clearly refers to the golden days of soviet and communist aircraft design and development, followed by the demise and abandonement of numerous airframes. Left to the elements and final decay. In other words: there’s two ways to go with this kit. Full shiny AK Xtreme metal (or Alclad J ) or bring out the chipping fluid, grime, pigments and washes. The kit This kit is basically the same kit Eduard offers in their #8237 kit and is concerns the PFM version of the Mig-21. PFM stands for: - P = Perekhvatchik ("Interceptor") - F = Forsirovannyy ("Uprated") - M = Modernizirovannyy ("Modernised") Actually only one scheme features the PFM version, with the other two being the East German Mig-21SPS, where SPS = Sduv Pogranichnovo Sloya ("Boundary Layer Blowing"). To avoid confusion with the local "MiG-21PFM" designation given to the modified MiG-21PF the East German air force redesignated the "real" MiG-21PFM as "MiG-21SPS." AK Interactive has selected a total of 3 schemes to choose from. Not a whole lot, but this is compensated by the inclusion of a full stencil set (I’m talking hundreds of ground crew stencilling): A • Mig-21PFM, Soviet Air Force, Operation Danube, Czechoslovakia, 1968 B • Mig-21SPS, c/n 944302, JG-8 “Hermann Matern”, East German Air Force, Marxwalde, mid 1970’s C • Mig-21SPS, c/n 944302, Museo del Aire, Madrid-Cuarto Vientos, Spain, 2015 Scheme A and B: Scheme C: As you can see scheme B and C are actually the same aircraft. B depicting what it looked like back in the 1970’s and C how it resides now in the Airforce museum in Madrid… The kit consists of: • 372 plastic parts (with 26 parts in clear plastic) • 1 fret of photo etch • 3 resin wheels with flat or punctured (NOT FLATTENED) tyres for scheme C. • decals for 3 versions (including full stencilling) Sprue M: Just look at that surface detail. Sharp as a knife: Inside fuselage: Sprue E - Weapons and external fuel tanks x2: Sprue C: The cockpit rear wall show sufficient detail on their own. No real need to get the Eduard Brassie interior... Sprue D (Just look at the sheer amount of little parts. Hard to believe we're looking at 1/48 here): Separate types on the wheel hubs, superb detailed gear... Sprue N: The kit lets you choose from two types of instrument panel. Grey plastic. Paint it and maybe die out the instruments from the decal sheet separately. Or use the flat part and apply the full instrument panel decal on it. I'd go with option A... These parts are also featured in clear plastic. Lots of options. Sprue L: Again: lovely surface detail... Inside wheel wells: Sprue G: Superb clarity: And here's the transparent instrument panel option: Extra parts: Pre coloured seatbelts: Punctured tyre: The decals... Impressive set of stencils. Daunting almost. The decals appear to be printed by AK Interactive, which in my experience go down really well and respond to agents nicely. Good detail on the instruments and check out those weathered numerals... How's this for weathered decals? So how does this kit compare to the Eduard Profipack Edition? Brett Green reviewed the Eduard version some time ago, here, and gave it a two thumbs up for building pleasure, fit, detail (in all areas) and surface detail. Looking up close at this kit, I can only concur. The only real difference between the kits is the coloured PE set. In the Eduard kit (which is about the same price) the PE includes cockpit sidewalls, instrument panel and seatbelts. Also included in the Eduard kit is an extra uncoloured PE fret containing various parts. To be honest: the cockpit of this kit is detailed pretty well without the aid of any PE. But if you do want to go Full Monty, you could get the Eduard Brassin upgrade for the cockpit which costs about $29,95. But let’s get back to the whole idea behind this kit! This kit is all about the use of AK paints and weathering agents. For instance: if the decayed museum Mig is what sparks you, then you want to leave the canopy closed and maybe even fog it up! Add the included resin punctured tyres (which are not in the Eduard kit ofcourse) and you’ve got yourself a Jamie Haggo. Or go shiney metallic and try some AK Xtreme metal for a change. Here's a look at the Eduard Brassie cockpit, so you can decide whether to go all out, or keep your pit closed. Tempting right? Look at that helmet in the seat... The instructions seem to be drawn by Eduard (which makes sense, since you need the 3D master models in order to render these drawings), but all the colour codes are added by AK Interactive and call only for a combination of colour description (i.e. Light Grey) and AK paint coes (i.e. AK481). I am always a fan of brands that provide colour charts with Tamiya, Mr Hobby, Gunze, etc.. colours, but this being a paint and weathering brand, it makes marketing-sense they only provide their own line… Instruction booklet: And last but not least: There is an extensive 3 page full colour walk around of the Madrid Museum Mig-21: Verdict If you just want to build a 48th scale Mig-21, you could just go out and buy the best one out there: The Eduard version… or the AK offering. Simply the one you bump into first. The prize is about the same and they were both pushed from the same mould. The plastic, details, engineering is the best out there and won’t disappoint. The Eduard Profpack has a few more PE parts, but the AK version offers cool weathered schemes and resin punctured tyres. So if you want to build a derelict Mig-21 like the one in Madrid, you really want this kit. There are a lot of walkarounds online providing photo’s of this particular plane and there are also a lot of photo’s included in the instruction manual. Another great kit that was given a new make-over by AK. My sincere thanks to AK Interactive for this review sample. Jeroen Peters

Nice!! Love those panel lines..

ACES HIGH Magazine ‘Captured’ (AK 2914 Issue 8) Publisher: AK Interactive Chief editor: Daniel Zamarbide Suárez Available from AK Interactive for € 9,00 After already 8 issues we have grown accustomed to the quality, concept and content formula of Aces High Magazine by AK Interactive. A glossy, high resolution printed magazine with a Romain Hugault poster in the middle and a concept theme that links all the topics. This time we’re looking a a selection of captured birds. One of my personal favourite subjects. Luftwaffe subjects are cool, but it’s refreshing to see them in RAF or US colours every now and then. Or vice versa. Always enjoying the content directory: Previous Aces High titles I have reviewed are: Aces High 4: The Mediterranean Aces High 5: Vietnam Aces High 6: Battle of Britain Aces High 7: Silver wings The magazine is available from the AK Interactive website for € 9,00 euro’s. You may think that that is steep for a magazine, but only if you view this publication as such. I tend to keep these titles and grap one when covering a certain subject or trying a new technique. Every build is accompanied with step by step tutorials, that will pull you out of your comfort zone. So what do we get with this issue? A sturdy glossy cover, binding 82 quality glossy pages. A poster in the middle (as always). Restrained advertorial space (and yes, the HK Models ad on page 75 with our own Large Scale Modeller logo in it, makes me all warm and fuzzy inside), many tutorials and techniques, and well designed lay-outs. Let me walk you through it: Index: • P-51B Mustang - The Wild Horse from Zirkus Rosarius - ” (1/48 Tamiya by Daniel Zamarbide) Daniel himself kicks off this magazine with this excellent Tamiya kit. His immaculate but thoroughly weathered style always grabs me. He can take me through the paces time and again, but I know I’ll never reach his standard. He’s one of those modellers that builds, paints and photographs at the highest level and throws in a good dose of creativity in the mix. His Spanish school style painting on the nose and spinner of this plane brings it to life. Much respect for the yellow underside (which is always a difficult colour) and brining just the right amount of contrast in the mono-colour. A sweet, seemingly simple build, with a great scheme. The incomplete swastika on the tail, shows us that his builds want to reach a larger audience than just Spain. • Pfalz D.III A - The Unlucky German - ” (1/32 Wingnut Wings by Michel Gruson) I have to admit I haven’t heard of this modeller before, but this Pfalz is a home run. Yes we all know the Lozenge decals can be tricky, but Michel manages to use the Aviattic decals to good effect. I really like the way Michel applies the English Roundels to the wings and fuselage. He uses masks by Oramask. Another first for me… The model is rigged with metal 3D prined turnbuckles by Gaspatch (the best..) and EZ line. • Ju-87 D-3 Stuka “Under Entirely New Management” (1/48 Hasegawa by Kamil Feliks Sztarbala) Another venerable kit and another build with a yellow underside. Maybe superfluous to mention, but the undersides of Beutewaffen / Captured planes was to show the friendly troops that the pilot examining the enemy bird was a friendly too These enemy planes were put through their paces extensively, which gratifies a well worn and weathered appearance. And yes, this is another reason these captured planes are such an interesting subject for the modeller. • Mig 007 James Bond (1/48 Trumpeter Mig-21F-13 by Girolamo Lorusso) The title had me puzzled until I read the story. What we have here is an Iraqi Mig under new Israeli management. James Bond refers to the activities of the Mossad in 1963 that intertwined with the Israeli Air Force. A bit farfetched, but I get the point. The kit is extra detailed with a Neomega Resin cockpit and painted with a mix of AK Extreme Metal and Mr Hobby Color. The roughed up aluminium surface and the colourful red elements really set this one off. The poster (as always) is from the hand of Romain Hugault. Romain’s love for round chested ladies and sexy warbirds has created an almost all new genre on it’s own. The accuracy of the plane details, the historical background, the feeling for drama in composition and perspective and the curvy ladies is something you don’t see combined in a whole lot of comic books. • Fw 190A-5 “The Blue Hunter” (1/48 Eduard by Marek Novacek) Step by step we are shown how amazing depth in colour is achieved, scratches are added with Prisma pencils (my favorite) and shades of colour variations are sprayed. This build clearly shows the effective use of panelliner, oil streaking and pencil highlighting. • Sukhoi Su-25 UB/UBK “The Gulf War Escape” (1/48 KPMasterline by Juan Villegas) This build is the highlight in this magazine. The brand KPMasterline is not well known and not highly recommended by Juan in the introduction. It’s clear the modeller had many obstacles to overcome and lots of detail to add, which is a good thing for us eager to learn. The model receives added raised plastic card and photo-etch for a more rugged appearance. He starts his paintjob with a mix of panel line shading and random patches. A technique I like to use. Juan also uses the new Gauzy agent (AK’s Future) to prepare the model for decals and weathering. Can’t wait to try this myself. This article has a bonus ‘Techniques in detail’ section, which show us how to make registry covers, reliefs and rivets. Pretty cool stuff. • Profiles To show us that there are more examples of captured planes than the standard Fw190 in RAF colours or Thunderbolt in Luftwaffe scheme, 9 surprising profiles from both wwI, wwII and post war are added. Also make sure to check page 80, which shows some black and white photographs of captured subjects. • Mind the Gap ‘Captured Schwimmwagen Type 166’ (1/48 Tamiya by Francisco J. Martinez) A cute, quick build of a Schwimmwagen in US colours. Basic steps used to great effect. Filters, Washes, Rust and Dust. Lovely. Verdict What can I say? A cool theme, great builds, clear step-by-step instructions (which makes you hang on to these titles), great artwork and photography. If I had to nitt-pick (and since I’m writing a review here I have to), I would recommend a tighter grip on the english grammar, which can be a bit bended here and there. If you need inspiration, advise or just to be amazed, get your copy now. Next issue: Helicopters! A special thanks to AK Interactive for the review sample. Available here. Jeroen Peters

Nice! Thnx for the comparison!

Good to see all the responses! We all get distracted by the un-important thing from time to time (like work, family and friends ). It's time to quit our belly aching and hit our work benches! Cheers!

Cool book! Got the kit in the stash, so I'm sure I'll get me a copy at one point in time.

Nice!! First one I've seen build...

What a beast! Love the primer turret...

Yes! Good to see you building again!

....wow.... such a big kit deserves such detail. Good to see it in-flight too..

Yes! Finally! What a fantastic lookin kit. And superb review

Keep at it!!

Loving this!

Linking this a lot. Restrained weathering and cool scheme.... Thnx for sharing!

Seriously nice! Love the grille and figure especially...

Trainspotting Trainwrecks, Locomotives & Wagons AK696 Publisher: AK Interactive Available from AK Interactive for € 42,- Whilst this is not a book on large scale models, armour or even planes, I will show you that this title can be very helpful in enhancing your paint and weathering skills. If you however are in the hobby for model trains, this will prove to be a must have for adding realism to your tracks. I have to be honest. When this book landed on my doorstep for review I put it aside, thinking the subject ‘trains’ was of no interest to me, LSM, thus you. But after fumbling through it’s pages I noticed the weathering techniques are quite alike the techniques we use on our Large Scale armour and planes. Maybe more armour than planes actually. Chipping, streaking, washes, etc… And with the ever growing offer of large scale (1:35) train subjects by brands like Trumpeter and Dragon, this seemed like a good title to review for you – the Large Scale Modeller So what do we get? A sturdy A4, glue bounded book. 208 quality colour printed pages, filled with tips, techniques and reference material. The book has both the novice modeller and experienced modeller in mind. The first probably being the railroad modeller that wants to start experimenting with weathering techniques, and the latter looking to up his weathering game. The build up of the book in this sense is logical: • Introduction to materials • Model examples with step by step instructions • Scenes, featuring railroad tracks, buildings and other hardware • Reference material of the real deal Another note to add is that the lay-out and art direction of these AK titles are getting better every title. Being one myself (art director that is) I can really appreciate the attention to detail in this area. I won’t elaborate on every single subject or model (that would be a bit too much), but I will address the highlights as I walk you through the pages. • Introduction As said before, this book is for both novice as experience modeller. Therefor this book starts with discussing all the available jars of goodness we as a modeller can choose from: primers, varnishes, acrylics, lacquers, enamels, oils, etc... This is followed by a chapter on techniques, where the basics of modelling are set apart. Filters, washes, oils… All basic stuff for most of us, but judging by the amount of questions I get through the forum and Facebook, there are still a lot of modellers out there that are new to the hobby, are just stuck in their ways, and will definitely benefit from these ‘seemingly’ basic pointers. • Model examples The first model that gets ’the treatment’ only gets a slight make over. Some washes, a light filter of dust and some subtle streaking, but just enough to bring it to life. This is immediately followed by an Atlas 8-40BW (a what??) that gets weathered to match a real life photograph. Rust, graffiti, streaking, the works. Pretty impressive stuff: The scale of most of these trains is HO, or rather 1:87. Looking at the photo’s of these models, it’s hard to believe these trains are smaller than 1:72. Since this book carries the official approval of the Märklin brand, I looked up some of the prices of your normal locomotive. These easily run for 150 euros a piece. And you thought your hobby was pricey! Now that I got the taste for looking up the prices of some of these trains and wagons, I noticed a locomotive on page 122 (a Renfe-Mikado Steam Locomotive in HO scale) that runs for 425 euro’s online This 425 euro locomotive is basically…. Black. All black, right from the box. Seeing it come to life over the following pages with the help of pigments, pencil and streaking agents is doing justice to this expensive gem. Seeing it run the tracks in all it’s life-likeness should be a treat for the railroad enthusiast... Here you go: • Scenes One thing that makes all those euro’s and hard work a waste, is seeing a huge set-up with stations, villages, roads, mountains and trees, but somehow it all still feels like toys. That’s where the next chapter comes into it’s right. Scenes (or rather ‘scenery elements’). On the following pages we learn how to convincingly paint those plastic looking HO houses, amazing accessories (like a horse drawn cart and water pump), railroad tracks and other structures. If you look at all the aspects in this book, it becomes clear the skills of a hardened diorama and armour builder are useful assets in this hobby. Some cool reference photo's on the scenery details: • Reference Photography About 25 pages finish up the book and show us a good selection of the real stuff. Heavily rusted and weathered, to give you a good impression on where to sprinkle your magic pigments and place your pin washes. Ofcourse, if you are an avid railroad fan, you own and make your own photographs, BUT probably not all over the world, as these photographs were made. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zambia…. You know… the places where these trains take the biggest beating. Verdict If you look at this book as a book that is intended for the railroad hobbyist pur sang, you’re doing it short. If you love trains, weathering, armour, diorama’s and more… this title might surprise you. I hope my review will let you take a look inside, where you otherwise might not have done so. Bare in mind that it is 208 pages thick and covers at least 18 trains and wagons through their weathering stages, about 8 scenery elements through their building and painting stages and is topped off by a pretty big reference photography section. I'm sure that if you manage to learn something from this book and apply some of the techniques to your railroad or even large scale models, it will stop the onlooker in their.... tracks A special thanks to Maciej from AK Interactive for the review sample. Available here. Jeroen Peters

Dang! Need to go there again soon..

Member request sent! Cheers!

Sweet! A difficult scheme to pull off. Nicely done..

Lovely!!

Hi Frank, we all get distracted and the build section is littered with unfinished builds. The lovely part is that when you share your build, and people hand you information, you might just keep the juices flowing enough to see a build through! Cool Napier! Cees knows a thing or two on those Thnx for your reply. Stay tuned: the forum will soon undergo a massive transformation!

What you could do is this: Make a mould from the old one. Fill the inside with clay or something else. Cast a mould. Let the mould harden and heat form a clear sheet over it. That means heating up the clear sheet and pulling it hard over the mould. It might work. Actually that's how scratch builders work.

1:32 Ju-88 Spy Profimodeller Catalogue # 32217 Available from Profimodeller for € 73,50 Introduction I can hear you think: ‘A Spy plane??’. Well ofcourse we mean the recon variant of the Ju-88. The Ju-88 was the logical choice in search for a successor of the Do-17 reconnaissance variant. It was fast, could fly at high altitudes and was able to carry quite some load. A versatile, stable platform. A series of trials were performed with the A-variant (A-1’s and A-5’s), which came into service in 1940, just in time to be pushed into service for the Battle of Britain. These early A-trials carried three camera’s in the rear bomb bay. The dive brakes and WTC bomb racks were removed (not needed for recon missions!) and an extra hand operated camera was installed in the nose, in the former bombardier’s position. This all lead up to a standardized set-up of three camera’s, positioned behind the rear bomb-bay (so that bomb carrying capability was not compromised) and neither were the fuselage fuel tanks (so not to compromise range). This was the D-variant. From this D-variant a whole range of dedicated recon versions were born (D-0 to D-5). The real deal, with the external fuel tanks loaded and camera ports visible: Make sure you pick your scheme and corresponding D-variant (or A) wisely and check where your camera’s are properly positioned, what engines you need (Jumo or BMW), etc, etc… This set offers an impressive range of schemes to choose from, but more on that later. The set Profimodeller packs their kits and sets in sturdy tight fitting boxes. Upon lifting the box top a neat array of golden smaller boxes, decals, photo etch and booklets greet you. The golden boxes are also a common with Profimodeller and ensure the resin inside doesn’t shift around the box during transport. The two long range external tanks are solid resin and are the only resin parts not packed inside the two golden boxes, due to their sheer size. So let’s look at these giant chunks of resin first. They are actually the same as set: P32215. So if you only need the external fuel tanks for the Ju-88, you might want to grab this set. The fuel tanks themselves feature a small step in the resin due to shifting of the mould. You will need some filler and sanding paper to get the front of the tanks smooth. No biggie. Another tip: these tanks are heavy! So you might want to drill some holes in them and add some metal rod to reinforce the attachment to the plane. When we open the golden boxes, an overwhelming amount of yellow and black resin comes out. The black resin is typical for Profimodeller, and to this day I’m not exactly sure what it is. It feels like plastic, but it cuts and sands like resin. I’m also not sure why certain parts are casted in it and others in standard yellow resin. It may have to do with the strength, but looking at some of the smaller parts in black, that doesn’t make sense. One bag carries the ETC racks. Four of them in total. Why four?? Because it takes two of these racks to carry one giant external fuel tank. That’s why! If you look at the construction sequence of the tanks, you see a lot of Photo etch clads the exterior, along with a extra carrying band that wraps it to the two ETC racks. STILL I urge you to drill a whole through the resin part that contains the fuel line and enters the wing, and stuff a metal rod right through it, into the tank. Just for extra measure. This part got harmed in transit. Easy fix though: The second bag contains the bulkhead, side walls of the camera compartment and outside of the hull with the three camera ports. The detail on the sidewalls is delicate and something you want to show off! The same goes for the rivets and other detail on the bulkhead. Superior stuff. One small piece of electronics in this bag however lost a small bit during transport. I found this inside the bag and is an easy fix. It shows that even these separate golden boxes, can’t protect the delicate resin from my parcel delivery man ‘Mohammed’… The camera mounting frame: The third bag gives us the black resin I was talking about. Just look at this second bulkhead. Great stuff… Also in this bag we find the camera housings, electronics and camera’s. All perfectly casted, without any flaws. The black strips with lightening holes are the top fuselage frames that will be visible from the bottom, IF you leave the camera doors open and place the model on a mirror. A wise way of displaying all this added detail! Another stunning spectacle are the sheets of photo etch. Daunting? Yes! But patience and persistence will guide you through. Two large sheets and one small. The small sheet holds parts for the external fuel tanks. The two large sheets contain the parts for detailing of the camera, insides of the camera-bay doors, reinforcement plates, hinges, etc… The instruction booklet is actually quite clear and compact, which could create the illusion that building this set is a breeze. I however would not recommend it to the novice modeler. Close up: Close up: The small sheet for the external fuel tanks: The Instructions: The schemes (12 in total!!): A• Junkers Ju-88D-5, 1.(F)/120, Norway, 1943 B• Junkers Ju-88D-1, 3.(F)/Aufkl.22, Dno, USSR, 1943 C• Junkers Ju-88D-1, T5+DL, 3.(F)/ObdL., Gosstkino, USSR, 1942 D• Junkers Ju-88D-2, 4T+GH, Westa 51, Nantes, France, 1944 E• Junkers Ju-88D-1, T5+GL, 3.(F)/AufkL. Gr. ObdL., Luga, USSR, 1942 F• Junkers Ju-88D-2, 7A+NH, 1.(F)/121, Sicily, Italy, 1942 G• Junkers Ju-88D-5, GM+CA, Luftbildstaffel 1, Derna, Lybia, 1942 H• Junkers Ju-88D-1, 7A+MH, 1.(F)/121, Fuka, Egypt, 1942 I• Junkers Ju-88D-1, 7A+GH, 1.(F)/121, Fuka, Egypt, 1942 J• Junkers Ju-88D-2, 4U+GK, 2.(F)/123, Siciliy, Italy, 1942 K• Junkers Ju-88D-2, 4U+EK, 2.(F)/123, Crete - Italy, 1942-43 L• Junkers Ju-88D-1, D7+LH, Westa 1./ObdL., Bad Zwischenahn, Germany, 1942 M• Junkers Ju-88A-1(F), 4U+DH, 1. Staffel, 1. Gruppe, Aufkl. Gr. 123, France (BoB) The decal sheets: Verdict When we look at the quality of the product, I would rate this set an 8. No air bubbles are found, only a few small steps in the surface, that can be fixed. The photo-etch is of the highest qualities around and the decals register and are well printed with no grain showing up in the colours. The amount of schemes to choose from, the top, bottom and side views of the schemes, clear instructions, make this set worth the money. The Ju-88 kit itself isn’t expensive at all, so you have no excuse to spend a little extra in order to create a bit more exotic version. ​As I've said before: these sets are no breeze. You need some serious skills to do the set right. But I know that with the proper amount of research, patience and persistence, you will have a unique stunner on your hands, that will attract all the camera's at the show (apart from the three that are in it's belly My sincere thanks to Profimodeller for providing the review sample. To buy this set directly, click here. Kind regards, Jeroen Peters

I see now what you are doing to the canopy frame! Did you cut out all the glass and replace it?

Is that intended for a motorbike build? Sweet jesus....