The latest edition of Random Thoughts arrived on my doorstep yesterday and as usual, I tore into reading it. The editor is continuing to work on the format and is doing a fine job of things. This one has a fine selection of articles and should appeal to most all modelers. There are 36 pages of goodies, most of it in color, which is a good thing and one of the reasons for going to a quarterly format.

The first article is on the origin of the Sweating Beaver and I have to say that I found this to be an interesting bit of IPMS Canada history.

Next up, Bernie Hengst models the ICW Ju-52 in 1/72 scale using the Italeri kit. There is a fascinating historical background to the build of a failed attempt to fly these planes around the world in 2000 only to be foiled by Russian politics.

A familiar subject is Joe McDonald's build of the Hasegawa 1/48 Spitfire as Jonnie Johnson's Spitfire IX.

For ship fans, Paul O'Reilly does a superb job building the HCMS Warrior using the L'Arsenal 1/700 kit. This includes a full color center spread of the camo scheme used by the ship. A section of reference photos is also included.

Then Michael Novosad provides a two page review of the Touch-N-Flow liquid cement applicator.

A Verlinden 120mm 'Napoleon' 12-Pounder Cannon as built by Gary Barling is the next article and a truly superb job of it indeed. This build is full of snippets of information that any artillery fan will find of interest.

Michael Novosad returns with a how to on attaching antenna cables using Invisible Thread.

An M3A1 Stuart recce vehicle is the subject chosen by Bob Ascah for the penultimate article. Of course, it is done in the markings of a Canadian unit serving in Italy.

Finally, the Classic Airframes 1/48 Venom FB.4  as built by John Wong rounds out an excellent issue.

If you aren't a member; join. You don't have to be Canadian, eh! You can get details via the IPMS Canada website.

June 2009

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.