AFV Modeller Publications

AIR Modeller - #15 (December 2007/January 2008)

Reviewed By  Stephen Bierce, IPMS# 35922

Cover Price: £6.00 UK (about $15 US.) Web Site: www.airmodeller.com This is my first time reviewing this magazine, in its third year of publication. In some ways, this periodical is unlike any other about display model aircraft I've seen. There are no advertisements. There is no editorial or letters column page. There are no historical or technical articles. The only regular month-to-month feature is the listing of new products. Air Modeller is thin, a scant 66 pages, on glossy paper throughout-full-color cover to cover. Air Modeller, in my opinion, is the closest thing the hobby has to a matte high-fashion magazine. This is meant more for coffee tables than work benches. You have top-of-the-line kits, assembled by some of the best modelers in the world, with the processes described only in the more general senses. They are all picturesque subjects, done in picturesque colors, and photographed and presented picturesquely. In this issue: Eduard's Polikarpov I-16 in Spanish Republican markings, by Tomás de la Fuente Maganto Tamiya's Bf109E-Trop in Luftwaffe Afrika Korps markings, by Zdenek Sebesta A conversion of Hasegawa's F-104 Starfighter to a two-seat Canadian version in bare-metal finish by Albert Tureczek Hasegawa's Kawanishi N1K2 "George" by Tomáš Juriga And a two-part article for the cover, on a real Fw190A captured at the end of the European War, interpreting the walk around photos into a coherent paint scheme via archive sources and computers (by Eric Larger), and the build itself as a Hasegawa model (by Franck Oudin) Rounding out the issue is an eight-page photo sampling of aircraft at the Duxford 2007 air show, centered around the WW2 war birds. If you need hard information about honing your technique, or anything more than the basic historical background on the subject aircraft, Air Modeller will likely disappoint you. The miniscule typefaces used will also discourage older readers. This is a periodical that presents aeromodelling as more than a hobby-as an art form. On that level, it succeeds. Thanks to Dave Morrissette, IPMS/USA and Air Modeller for my review copy.

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