For the final RT of the year, the long awaited 50th anniversary decal sheet was included. Very much worth the wait and an equally great reason to be a member of IPMS Canada as goodies like this are only provided to members. The sheet includes a Hurricane, Spitfire, Sabre, JN-4, Vampire, two Shermans, a Centurion, and a Jeep, all serving with Canadian forces at one time or another. Most were provided in two of the more popular scales. A goodly portion of this edition was used to provide information on the subjects involved, including what kits are appropriate and what modifications would be needed to produce the subject provided. There were also photos of the actual subject, something that is important when modeling accuracy is wanted.

For the rest of the issue, it had three top-notch articles. The first is Randy Lutz' M6A1 Serian. Randy chose the Tamiya 1/48 kit and provides insights as to coloration and ways to make the model more accurate.

This was followed by Ian Moore's Trumpeter Tribal Class destroyers. These ships were frequently different from each other and Ian's article goes into some detail as to what was on what ship as he provides some great photos of his builds.

The final article is by Gary Barling's Stuart V. This model is one that is based on the AFV Club kit and was outfitted as a recce tank. These vehicles had the turret removed and an additional machine gun. Their speed was protection was enough to help against small arms fire, making them excellent platforms for this role.

As with all RT articles, these are well written, in full color and with lots of photographs. How do you get these great editions? Simply join IPMS Canada and trade money for magazines. It is well worth it. As a bonus, you also get their e-mail editions of Beaver Tails, which is separate from the magazine.

December 2014

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