The latest edition of Random Thoughts arrived on my doorstep a day or so back, just missing Summer by a few weeks. This issue seemed to me to be more varied than some of the past ones and also seemed to have a few more black and white photos, but with the cost of everything on the rise, I was not at all disappointed. Once past the editorial and columns by the national director and chapter liaison, we get into the articles. 

The first  entry is a look at some of the outstanding Canadian subject builds that were at the US IPMS Nationals. This includes the superbly done cover ship.

The first build article is an Accurate Armor Ferret Mk I by Sean Henry. Apparently it is his first resin kit build so he takes us through the trials and tribulations of his experience.

Next, infrequent MM contributor Randy Lutz builds the Eduard 1/48 Ki-115. Now this kit has been out for a while, but apparently this article has been in works a while. Randy did his usual excellent job on this one to create a real beauty. He did wonder about the interior, and if he had just checked out the remaining set of pictures in the MM walkaround archives, he would have had a great reference in the one at the Smithsonian.

Another fine Japanese build is the relatively new Koster 1/48 G3M multi-media kit. This includes vacuform, resin and metal parts and was superbly built by Jim Knight.

Something we rarely see in R/T is a car build and Ken Nesbitt shares his very nice job on an AMT 1965 Buick Riviera.

A fascinating build of a rather rare bird is Steve Bathy's red F-5G Lightning used by a Canadian aero survey company.

Finally, an amazing build of the Czech Master 1/32 T-33A by William Lawlor, a name that may be familiar to some. The additional work and scratchbuilding he did on this kit is truly inspirational.

To round out the issue, Dave Fletcher has the first part of a Cessna Crane colors and markings series. Something that will be useful to those looking for alternative schemes to the two kits now available for this aircraft.

As a bit of a reader's comment; you may know that R/T is printed in three columns per page. This works well, but when you have images that are 1.5 columns wide, printed below each other for the full length of the page, it really squeezes that section of the article. I'm not sure of how to get around this other than putting another 1.5 column image next to those being used. That long half column section, or in this case, sections, is hard to read. I'd suggest not doing this again in the future.

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

October 2011

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