Rise of Flight

Here's the game for all you World War 1 aviation enthusiasts - "Rise of Flight". Found their site today. It's WW1 aviation simulator - it means you get the opportunity to fly early aviation! Just check out those videos and in-game pics:





What do you think? Looks terrific, right? I guess I'll need new PC anyway (specially for this game) :) Don't tell my girlfriend ;)

Anyway, here are the videos:

Pics of Eduard's latest Bf-109

Eduard has updated the pics of their latest 1/32 (isn't it their first kit in this scale?) Bf-109E-1. It's quite obvious that aviation scale modellers will like it. Especially knowing Hasegawa's 1/32 scale Bf-109G/K success.

Although Eduard's Bf-109E-1 kit has everything to outrun Hasegawa's Gustav/Kurfurst sales (photoetch and flamboyant decals) and also in terms of attention to details (check out those rivets!!), I still guess Czech manufacturer lobbies interests of their home boys :) You know what I'm talking about? Quickboost, Aires, etc.

You see, the kit has magnificat engine and cockpit area, as shown on this pics:

The first thing that I would change (if leaving canopy left opened) is the seat itself. Actually speaking in defense of Eduard, none of the model kits (at least those I've seen) got early bf-109 seat shape and form right. None. Here's how the seat actually looked like:

You can see that the seat was deeper and little bit more "curvy" in outline. I guess here's a very good idea for next aftermarket replacement seat for "resin guys" ;) We have plenty of F-18 and F-16, etc. seats, but we still don't have a decent early modification Bf-109 seat! Take a look at Tamiya's 1/48 Bf-109E-3/4 kit seats and compare it with the original photos - I hope you understand me. Although, is it so critical in 1/48 scale? Especially if the canopy is closed :)

So, what's next? Next thing I'm not sure of are the kit wheels. I mean the form and, once again, the depth. You can see here that the disc too shallow and oversimplified:

And here's the photo of original early Bf-109 wheel and the disc:

Anyway, I guess it's too difficult to manufacture such details in plastic or am I wrong? On the other hand, it's a very good idea for the next aftermarket sales hit, isn't it? ;) For example, Ultracast makes beautiful wheels for early 109 Messerchmitts in 1/48 scale (although some rivetcounters may find its tread little bit overdone and too deep):


Well, those were just my 50 cents ;) But what are your thoughts and ideas about the kit? Anyway, just post your comments below.

Vector news

Sergey from "Vector" made another superb item to detail your model. This time it's 1/48 resin wheel wells for Tamiya's/ICM P-51D. Here're the pics of the replacement wheel wells fitted in:


And the resin item as it's sold:

The 2nd February news update

I've got so much news that I would like to share with you that this blogpost will also offer the list of aircraft scale modelling news from me. Are you ready? Let's go:

1. Found great site of Portugeese modeller Rogério "Rato" Marczak. Here you go - www.ratomodeling.com The site is full with helpful scale modelling information. Including "how-to" section, which is my favourite. Go to www.ratomodeling.com and scroll down to the Articles section. Every item in this section is just extraordinary - very helpful and innovative. I also liked in-progress pages on different models. Including ship modelling items. Be sure to read Heller Fieseler Fi-156 'Tracked' Storch in 1/72 building article here. So many innovative scratchbuilding techniques! Bravo, "Rato"!
   I wish the author could have RSS feed installed on his site so we can enjoy update right after he publishes them. Anyway, very interesting site and highly recommended!
   
   
2. Very talented Australian modeller Brad Cancian goes on building WW1 aircrafts. This time he builds Roden's 1/48 SE.5a. As always as you may expect from Brad, attention to details is extraordinary and you can see that this in-progress is no exception.
   I got to admit that I was so impressed by Brad's 1/48 Eduard's Sopwith Camel build that I've purchased the kit. I know I have so many unbuilt kit on the shelf, but I got so interested with the subject that I couldn't handle the temptation. Although Zoomomani.com sells profipack kit for only $13.52.
   
   
3. As you can also see I've changed blog design settings little bit. I hope it helps visitors and regular readers. I've also changed blog RSS feed settings, so now you can subscribe to it and read blog updates from your favourite Feed Reader (e.g. Google Reader). It means that instead of only blog post header you will also be able to read the whole post. Enjoy! :)
   
   PS. Feel free to post you comments or advices.