SCALEWORLD

Well, it's that time again. Only three more weeks (from the 1st of December) and your curiosity will be sated. You'll know if all those hints -and outright statements- you've been making about those kits, books and/or tools you've been lusting over have done any good. It also has me wondering how many copies of my latest book (How to Build and Modify Resin Model Aircraft Kits by Richard Marmo) will wind up under your trees. Don't know where to find it? Try the publisher's website, Amazon.com, Historic Aviation or your better bookstores and hobby shops. Only $19.95 and well worth it. O.K., I'm biased since I wrote it, but it's still a good book.

Decades ago, in another lifetime before we got so deadly serious (remember, it used to be fun) about our modelbuilding, an awful lot of Aurora kits wound up as gifts. Everything from bright yellow Japanese Zeros to Sopwith Camels, Dick Tracy, Frankenstein and more. Aurora went belly up and so did the opportunity to have fun with those kinds of kits.

Fortunately, over the last several years, POLAR LIGHTS has begun repopping the old Aurora kits from the original molds, reverse engineering the kits to create new, usable molds or creating completely new model kits that replicate the retro appearance of the 1950s and 1960s. No matter which approach they take, it makes for a refreshing break from actual aircraft and armor subjects that we consider so much trash if the kit's dimensions are so much as 1/10" off in any given direction.

A prime example of POLAR LIGHTS offerings was last month's review of the Batplane. If that got your attention, check out a few more of their releases ranging from fiction to the real thing.

First up is the long awaited repop (actually reverse engineered) of the Land of the Giants Snake Scene. Anyone who ever watched the Land of the Giants TV series should remember this scene, with two of our heroes standing off a coiled Diamondback Rattlesnake while the classic damsel in distress lies screaming in the grass!

If you ever saw the Aurora kit, you know what to expect and POLAR LIGHTS gives it to you. For the rest of you, the kit comes in a conventional top over bottom box with the now familiar oval window in the bottom. That allows the collectors to search for those 1 in every 12 kits molded in white styrene. Can't find a white one or don't care? Then your kit will be molded in green with all of the 22 parts clean and crisp. The retro look is very much in evidence, extending to the instructions. A brief bio of Irwin Allen is found on the front page and a partial listing of POLAR LIGHTS kits appears on the back.

The inside pages contain exactly two construction steps, which is about all you need for this kit...and that's assuming you need any at all. There's also a box with a suggested detail paint scheme.

You can build it straight from the box, using the boxtop as your paint guide and wind up with a model that looks just like the ones you used to build. Or forget fun and go whole hog to make this thing as realistic as possible. Heck, with the right attitude, you can even have fun doing it that way. Considering the $18.99 price tag, you can build more than one.

Prefer something with wheels and a movie connection? A 1/25th scale kit of the DeLorean Time Machine as seen in Back To The Future should. This is actually a pretty neat little kit with lots of possibilities. Marketed as a Snap Kit and priced at $12.99, the fact that it has some 49 parts and is very nicely detailed means that you should have no problem taking it to as high a level as you want.

Packed in a flip-top box, all parts are bagged and most are molded in a medium gray styrene. There's one sprue of chrome parts, primarily the wheels, and another bag holds the body that's plated to represent brushed aluminum. Also, there's a small sheet of self-adhesive stickers in it's own bag. Alternate parts are included for either the Mr. Fusion or Antennae configuration. Tires are soft vinyl as you would expect.

Instructions unfold to a large, two-sided sheet with English on one side and French on the other. In either case, the illustrations are large and clear. A box of recommended paint colors completes the sheet. About the only thing missing is a Marty McFly figure.

They say you can find anything in New York City. If that's true, then you have to wonder whether the events depicted in the original Ghostbusters movie is really fiction or fact disguised as fiction. In any case, POLAR LIGHTS has seen fit to give modelers a way to combat all those 1/25th scale ghosts, specters and spooks that are terrorizing your 1/25th scale New York City that's sitting in your basement. And what better way than with a 1/25th scale ECTO-1 ghostfighting Cadillac Snap Kit for a mere $12.99?

Aside from the subject, everything I said about the DeLorean Time Machine applies to the ECTO-1 kit. You get the same flip-top box, the same large, two-sided, two-language instructions and all kit parts are properly contained in protective bags.

Despite the considerable similarities (not unexpected since they're both fantasy movie vehicles), the two are definitely different. For starters, the ECTO-1 is substantially larger. Obviously, a Cadillac dwarfs a DeLorean. Then you have all the equipment strapped onto the roof, blacked out rear windows, emergency light bars, etc. Detail is excellent, though the chassis/frame evokes memories of the old AMT 3-in-1 kits that used a one-piece chassis/frame with molded on detail. POLAR LIGHTS takes the same approach and there's nothing wrong with that.

It's kits like ECTO-1 that can get you wondering if the line between Snap Kits and conventional glue kits is becoming blurred to the point of invisibility. In the case of ECTO-1, there's an extensive list of recommended colors if you want to do more than just snap it together. Also, a note at the bottom of the color box recommends Bare Metal Foil for the chrome body trim to modelers who have experience with it. Snap Kit or glue kit? You tell me.

Tired of having fun? Interested in a car kit that falls in the 'normal' kit category and will get your NASCAR juices flowing at the same time? Then check out another offering from POLAR LIGHTS, this one being a 1/25th scale, level 3 kit of the Buddy Baker 1973 Dodge Charger. If you've built any of the earlier offerings from POLAR LIGHTS' lineup of NASCAR kit, you can reasonably expect this one to fit right in. And it does.

The conventional top over bottom box comes crammed to the gills with highly detailed parts. Everything is packed into three bags; chrome sprue in one, clear in a second and everything else -nearly- in a third. You'll find that the body is the only part that doesn't have a bag. Of course, instructions are loose with the decals slipped inside the folded instructions. And, as is true with many of their kits, an oval window on the bottom of the box allows you to check the color of the sprue. In the case of this kit, as well as the Richard Petty Charger kit reviewed below, collectors will find 1 out of every 12 kits to be molded in red or blue instead of the white of the majority.

Parts are crisp and clean. If anything on the real car was left off of the model, I couldn't find it. You even get the driver's side safety net, seat belts and radiator hoses from soft black vinyl. There are optional wheels -chrome and pressed steel- and notes describing conditions when each were likely to be seen. In fact, there are numerous notes that will keep everything perfectly clear. Incidentally, there are two engine options as well. A 360 small block and 426 Hemi, along with the alternate parts necessary for proper installation.

Instructions utilize large, clear drawings combined with numerical notations and extensive notes to keep you straight on what goes where. One page is devoted to decal layout. You'll also find a color list on the front page as well as other color notes in each illustrated step. Decals are legitimate waterslide decals and the instructions make a point of telling you that they're compatible with decal setting solutions.

If you're a NASCAR fan (Fanatic? Nut?), this one is a must have. And at $17.99, it won't put that big a dent in your wallet.

Assuming the Charger kit isn't enough to satisfy your NASCAR craving, check out another 1/25th scale offering, a Richard Petty 1974 Dodge Charger. Everything I've said about the Buddy Baker kit could be repeated here, with a few exceptions. Price is also the same $17.99. Rather than repeat myself, let's deal with the differences.

The decal sheet is larger, markings are different and you only get one engine, a 360ci small block. You also get a set of masks printed on the instructions as an aid to painting that red and blue color scheme. And that's about it. If you're a NASCAR enthusiast, take your pick…or take'em both.

If modelers don't get kits for Christmas, odds are they wind up with at least a book or two. Those of you who are fascinated by Soviet aircraft should find some new additions to the Red Star series from MIDLAND PUBLISHING especially desirable.

Flankers: The New Generation by Yefim Gordon is the subject of Red Star Series Volume 2. Believe me, if your interest lies in modern Soviet/Russian aircraft, this is a volume you won't want to miss.

The book utilizes a vertical 8 1/2" x 11" format with 128 pages and heavy semi-stiff covers. Paper stock is glossy enamel, which forms an excellent base for all of the color photos. And when I say all, I mean 99.9%. There are a grand total of 6 b&w photos in the entire book. The rest (245) are in full, glorious color. On top of that, there are 32 color illustrations, mostly profiles in a wide variety of color schemes and markings.

There are only four chapters plus an introduction, but that's really all that's needed. They cover the entire history of the Sukhoi T10 (the manufacturer's designation) from inception thru the latest variant. Military designations start with the original Su-27 (Flanker-A) all the way to the Sukhoi Su-37. Along the way, we learn about the Su-30, Su-33, Su-34 and Su-35, as well as thorough descriptions of which T10 sub-type was used for what experiments, test beds, etc.

Believe me, there isn't enough room in this column to do justice to this book. If your interest lies with modern Russian/Soviet jets in general and the Flanker family in particular, beg, borrow or buy a copy. Or put it at the top of your gift list.

While published and distributed world wide (except North America) by MIDLAND PUBLISHERS, it's available in North America from SPECIALTY PRESS. Price? $27.95 in the U.S.

Next in the Red Star Series is Volume 3, Polikarpov's I-16 Fighter: Its Forerunners and Progeny by Yefim Gordcn and Keith Dexter. Basically the same format as the Flanker book, it differs in that photo coverage is black-and-white. Not surprising considering the time period involved, as well as the country of manufacture. Still, you get 160 b& w photos along with 66 color profiles. There are five color photos, one on the front cover, two on the back and two on an inside back page. You'll also find 22 b&w line drawings, including a fascinating mixed power (prop and jet) projected version of the I-185 that barely looks like a distant relative of the I-16.

Seven chapters give a complete history of the I-16 Rata (Rat), along with it's predecessors and successors. For example, the IL-400, I-1, I-14, the various permutations of the I-16 and the I-180 that's probably best described as an extremely improved I-16. Particularly interesting are photos of parasite fighter and attack versions designed to deploy from a TB-3 mother ship. If nothing else, it proves that U.S. Navy dirigibles and the B-36 FICON weren't the only ones to try that approach.

Photographic quality ranges from surprisingly good to poor. However, most of them appear to have been taken under primitive conditions and then languished in dusty archives for decades. Given that, I'm surprised they survived at all.

Several models of the I-16 have been available to the modeler over the years. If you have one stashed that you've been tempted to build one day, this book should get you off the dime.

As with the Flanker book, it's distributed in North America by SPECIALTY PRESS (https://www.specialtypress.com) and carries a price in the U.S. of $27.95.

With that, I'm out of time…not only for the month but the year. See you in January, 2003. Happy holidays.