I like small air forces so whenever a book comes out covering planes flown by them I am interested, especially if it shows schemes used by those smaller air forces.

The Bazzocchi Connection is focused on two designs by Engineer Ermanno Bazzocchi who joined Machi during WW2. The Introduction covers early designs leading up to the MB.326 in 1961 after the firm became Aermacchi. This plane later evolved into the MB.339 and these two aircraft make up the bulk of the narrative and pictures.

The book moves through the development history of the MB.326 before moving into operational use. One interesting aspect is tables listing all operational aircraft by serial numbers under the air forces they flew with and with a notes column listing each planes outcome.

More images of sprue layouts, colours & decals to add to the CADs, info & art of MiniArt's latest "Blitz" – the early 1/35th scale 4x4 cargo truck, 3.6-6700A, in our preview...Read on... »

Here it is finally finished, my build of the Academy M3A1 Stuart Light Tank, in the markings of the USMC 3rd Tank Battalion on Bougainville in late 1943. The kit comes with a fairly comprehensive interior, but I added some missing details in there, as well as some on the external extra fuel tanks and some reinforcement iron bars on the rear fenders that photos showed. I replaced the kit headlight brush guards with some 3D printed ones and an engine exhaust screen that I printed up from files that I bought off of Cults3D. Paints are primarily AK Real Colors, along with AK, Vallejo, and Humbrol acrylics. I used the kit decals, and surprisingly they did not cause any problems as Academy decals often are reputed to do. And just for some size comparisons, this thing is pretty small… Bigger than a jeep Much smaller than an Easy 8 Sherman and pretty close in size to WC-51 3/4 ton truck… Thanks for looking, comments and critiques are welcome…

In September 2022, in a surprise move, the Japanese Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) revealed a new special markings scheme for one of its aggressor F-15J Eagles of the 306 Hikotai based at Komatsu AB. In conjunction with Paramount Pictures as publicity for the then-new Top Gun: Maverick movie, the service had painted up one of their Eagles as Top Gun instructor ‘Maverick’ Mitchell’s personal F/A-18E, specially for a forthcoming Air Festival at the airbase. A bit of a non-sequitur, but it looks good!

This book contains 84 pages, 150 b/w photos, 3 color photos, 12 color profiles, 2 B/W maps, and 5 tables. It covers the war between Hungary and Slovakia in 1939.

Like WWII, which would begin 162 days later, the origins of this conflict could also trace its beginnings back to WWI and the Treaty of Versailles and specifically the Treaty of Trianon.

Hungary wanted to recover territory it had to give up as per the treaty, especially that in Sub-Carpathia. With Germany having seized Czechoslovakia and created the new nation of Slovakia, this seemed the right time to Hungarian officials. The war lasted approximately 12 days which in the end saw Slovakia cede roughly 655 square miles of territory back to Hungary.

A Mighty Eighth Air Force book is on the table, but we’re not doing a “click and win” giveaway. We want something that makes the show better for everyone: your best Shop Talk topic ideas and your sharpest questions for the Wheel of Accidental Wisdom.

Mike and Kentucky Dave start with a laid back Fourth of July catch up, from road weariness to the kind of heat that makes even a pool feel too warm. Then we get to the main point: a listener powered giveaway featuring The Mighty Eighth: A Glimpse Of The Men, Mission, And Machines Of The U.S. Eighth Air Force 1942 To 1945, a commemorative coffee table book filled with art, maps, and historical detail. It’s signed and tied to Mark Copeland from the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, which makes it a special piece for anyone into WWII aviation, military history, or building Eighth Air Force aircraft models.

We also explain exactly how to enter and why we’re asking. Shop Talk is most fun when it goes beyond our own bench habits and gets into what you’re working through right now: the techniques you’re curious about, the frustrations you want solved, and the hobby debates you want aired out. Send your suggestions by email to plasticmodelmojo@gmail.com or via Facebook DM. We’re running entries through July, shutting it down just before midnight on August 1, and drawing a winner in early August, possibly around the National Convention.

If you want more modeling community conversations like this, subscribe, share the show with a friend at the bench, and leave a quick review. Then send us one topic or one question to enter, what do you want us to tackle next?

Military Gallery's "The Mighty Eighth: A Glimpse of the Men, Missions & Machines of the U.S. Eighth Air Force 1942-1945"

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Bump Riffs Graciously Provided by Ed Baroth
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Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us.  

MiniArt's new 35th scale "German Infantry, Ardennes 1944-45" features four figures & five sprues of weapons & equipment. See about the soldiers & the set in our preview...Read on... »

This is the first in what is promised to be a new series of aircraft modeling guides, and the chosen subject is the incomparable Avro Vulcan, the best known of Britain’s Cold War “V-Bombers.” Designed for nuclear deterrence but made famous at the end of its career for the “Black Buck” missions against the Argentine invaders in the Falklands War.

Author Geoff Coughlin is well known in British aviation modeling circles and is the founder of the scalemodellingnow.com website. A well-established author and aviation historian, he starts the book with a good but necessarily brief history of the type’s development and service, I think that this would have benefited from being longer, but size restrictions clearly came into play.

A new vendor, DXM Decals from Taiwan, has provided the IPMS-USA reviewer corps with a wonderful waterslide decal set commemorating the JASDF 8th Squadron 60th Anniversary Special Painting of an F-2A “Panther Spots” in 2020.

The Anniversary markings are for the following aircraft:

• F-16C Block 50P, No. 13-8558 (SN 1058) – 8th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Tsuiki Air Base, Japan.

Contents

There is one folded color sheet, printed on both sides (8 X 11.5 inches) that shows decal placement. There are three decal sheets which come with a complete set of stencils and the special camouflage scheme. Painting references are for five colors: FS35109, FS36320, Black, Radome Gray, and a Black+5% White mixture.

We have information on Kotare's new Bf 109E-4 kit in 1/32nd scale. First details & info on the "lucky 20" draw are all in our preview...Read on... »

Another review of another ICM kit - and I can’t get enough of them! This time I am working on the ICM 48326 Marauder Mk. III in 1:48 scale. As always, another beautifully detailed kit with many pieces. ICM has some of the best detailed aircraft kits around, and they are always a joy to work on. The Marauder is no exception!

Unboxing

This is a massive kit with 8 sprues molded in their usual light grey, 2 in clear, and 1 decal sheet. The instructions are just as clear, beautiful, and easy to follow as I have come to expect and look forward to from ICM. They have 3 possible paint schemes to choose from on this one, all with a lighter shade of green on the top of the aircraft and beige on the underside, with decals to match the specific color palettes.

Academy/MRC has released a new boxing of the Rafale M in 1/144th scale. From Scalemates.com, the original molds were created by Revell-AG in 1999.

In the Box

The kit is enclosed in a top-opening box and comes with four gray sprues and one clear. Instructions are well illustrated and easy to follow, and contain 12 steps for assembly.

There are four marking options for this kit for the Aeronavale (Naval Air Arm of the French Navy). The markings are as follows:

MasterBox has been busy - with four new releases coming at the end of this month with warriors from the last century & ancient times as the subjects. See what to expect in our preview...Read on... »

It's that time again when Clayton Ockerby from Workbench Hobbies treats us to his top ten of upcoming releases that caught his eye this past month in his video preview...Read on... »

We settle into a laid-back holiday catch-up, swap a few vacation highlights, and revisit that specific kind of nostalgia that comes from remembering long-gone hobby shops and the stuff we bought there. Then we look ahead to July with two feature episodes on the calendar, including a shop talk segment, plus a Nationals run-up as IPMS Nationals gets closer. If you like plastic model building podcasts that stay practical and builder-focused, this one sets the tone for what’s coming next.

We also spend time on the heart of the hobby: community. The Dojo keeps growing because modelers show up with questions, techniques, material tips, and works in progress, and the replies actually help people build better. A perfect example is the 3M tape conversation that started as a listener tip and turned into a thread with real momentum and even some unexpected crossover into Mike’s day job. If you’ve got a topic you want us to tackle, or you’re planning to come to the national convention, we want to hear from you. Subscribe, share the show with a modeling friend, and leave a quick review so more builders can find us.

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Bump Riffs Graciously Provided by Ed Baroth
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Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us.  

In this episode the boys are joined by John Figueroa and David Mason to talk about the upcoming IPMS Nationals at Fort Wayne Indianna August 5-8, 2026. [29.00]

A discussion is then had about aftermarket parts. Dave admits to not being able to just build OOB.....Ian and Julian try to talk him back from the cliff. [53.00]

All that plus the Patreon wheel of fortune and the mailbag!

Don't forget to support the sponsor of our show Scott from the Scale Modellers Supply

https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/

Leave us a message, comment or even ask a question, we would love to hear from you! Write to Onthebench64@gmail.com.

If you would like to support our show please go to www.patreon.com/onthebench

Hi ! Here a project I have done in the past using the MONOGRAM kit , if you like to view more pics, Just follow this link : https://photos.app.goo.gl/5ujTjFCJ6F9YiyTn6 Enjoy ! Jmarc

Welcome to Episode 127 of The Modelgeeks Podcast!   

In this episode, by suggestion from listener Brian Klimek, The Geeks are talking “Wish Lists”.  Manufacturers put them out all the time, we’ve all likely added our wants to one at some point and often kit makers have responded. Have any of your own “wish list” inputs ever been put to sprue?

We dive further into the Mail Bag with one particular email from a young modeler out of Canada who keeps plenty busy with life and manages to get in some bench time when he can, as well as hearing from long time listeners and friends.
 
From the Modelgeeks Podcast web page we take a look at the Listener Gallery and the fine work that has caught our eye....and of course we fire up the Gonk-U-Lator  to see who amongst our Patreon supporters is the big winner!  Support the show, and get your name into the Gonk-U-Lator  to win cool prizes!!!

With summer in full swing, we hope everyone is enjoying time with family and friends, staying safe…and getting those final details in place for you Nats entries!

 Mentioned in the Episode:

IPMS USA National Convention

 T V (Tuomas' You Tube Channel)
 
Share your work with us and the rest of the scale modeling community through our web page, or through our Facebook community page. We love seeing other people’s work. Who knows who you may inspire through your latest masterpiece!

Modelgeeks web page:

 Modelgeeks Podcast

 Facebook community:

 The ModelGeeks Model Shack

 …and of course you can email us at:

 contact@modelgeekspodcast.com

 We also want to thank each of our sponsors for their support. We are very lucky to have their support. When you have the time, pay a visit to their web sites, and have a look at their fine products.

 Sponsors:

Furball Aero-Design

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LionHeart Hobby

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Hypersonic Models

Matters Of Scale

Kotare Models

Squadron
 

If you're a wicked ModelGeek go check out the following links!

IPMS USA Events Page

AMPS

Butch O'Hare Modeling Club

The Interesting Modeling Company

 We are very fortunate to be able to join the scale modeling podcast community and are in the company of several other really GREAT podcasts. Hopefully, someday we’ll earn our wings and be able to keep up with those guys!  Please check them all out at Scale Model Podcasts.

 Blogs:

The Kit Box

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Model Airplane Maker

Support the show, and get your name into the Gonk-U-Lator  to win cool prizes!!!

Support the show

Model Geeks Podcast

Details of MiniArt's new 1/48th-scale Focke-Wulf FW 190D-11 (basic kit) are with us today. We look at CADs, art, features & the real kites in our preview...Read on... »

Six releases from Italeri this month – some awesome artwork & kit great choices (even a new tool Vespa!). Check them out in art, plastic, colours, decals & info in our preview...Read on... »