Журнал "Tankette" 48/2 May 2013. Magazine of the miniaturearmoured fighting vehicles association (англійською мовою)

Журнал "Tankette" 48/2 May 2013. Magazine of the miniaturearmoured fighting vehicles association (англійською мовою). 

• The Origins of Resin Models
• South Wales MAFVA open day
• Thor Ballistic Missile & Transporter (+ detailed 1/76 Plans)
• Centurion ARV MkII conv (+Plans)
• Value Gear Resin - a review
• Finnish Armour at war 1939-45

Bang on schedule comes the second issue of Tankette under the editorial management of Tom Cole, and this one has a glorious cover photo of a U.S. Army operated Sherman with Cullin hedgerow device seen at avehicle show recently.

Inside the front cover are photos of a 1/35th scale Centurion ARV by Alan J Brown and the humongous Railway gun by Peter Denyer. These photos relate to articles in this issue.

As usual page 3 is given over to administrative stuff, notices and an editorial where Tom waxes lyrical about the forthcoming MAFVA Nationals.

Page 4 has a very important message from recently elected MAFVA Chairman John Ham regarding recent events within MAFVA, the constitution and elections.

John Rulton provided a look back to the arrival of resin kits in the hobby, and the subsequent impact they have had on model-making. The pioneering work by Eric Clark was instrumental in expanding the interest of many model-makers (including myself) by supplying vehicles not available from the commercial suppliers. Who can forget the excitement of opening the package from Eric, gingerly extracting the parts from the cotton wool (which insisted on sticking to the parts) and admiring the detailed (for the day) parts for that new model. Prior to cyanoacrylate we were using epoxy, rubber based glues or anything else we could find to glue the models together. And the buzz generated when you took it along to the club meeting was phenomenal!

From Paul Gandy comes a report on the activities of the South Wales MAFVA, in particular the display the branch put on for their open afternoon. Paul talks through the models and the modellers who exhibited at the show, quite an inspiring collection.

Tom Cole brings us the first part of an article on the U.S. Thor missile system in RAF service along with plans of the specialist vehicles by Mick Bell in 1/76th scale. An interesting article for me from a technical point of view, as these were then the cutting edge of the space race, and also as many of the abandoned launch sites later became used as exercise locations for radio exercises by units of the Royal Signals. A 1/76th scale kit of the tractor and trailer is available from BW Models as kit BW187.

A new author, Alan J. Brown, appears next with a ‘how to’ article converting the Centurion gun tank to the ARV (Armoured Recovery Vehicle) Mk II version. Alan bases his work on the old Tamiya kit, but it would be equally applicable to AFV Club offering. Plenty of photographs of the real vehicle and in progress work on the model, plus the completed work are included, as well as very useful working drawings. The tail end is a list of other sources of information, also very useful.

Bob Lockie then reviews Value Gear resin stowage items which look like a very cost-effective way of customising your 1/35th scale tank.

The final item in this issue is a potted history of Finnish armour at war 1939-1945 written by Keith Taylor. This gives a chronological history of the fighting between Finland and the Soviet union, and later against German units, along with the AFVs used by them. This is backed by colour photos of AFVs in Finnish service on the inside of the back cover.

The back cover itself has photos of models on display at the On Track 2013 model show from February.

Another excellent issue to interest the AFV model maker.