Military Modelcraft Magazine, October 2021 Issue

In this month’s news, I have included a short piece on a new community initiative at Kilmarnock railway station in Scotland. A new model shop has just opened there, which is a good thing in itself but the shop also recognises the positive impact modelling, and hobbies in general, can have on people’s health and wellbeing. We are probably all more aware of our own mental health and that of others as a result of the pandemic. Many people have struggled with their mental health during the Coronavirus crisis and even the most resilient among us have experienced new worries and pressures over the last eighteen months or so. The rise in popularity of hobbies during this time is not simply due to the fact that people couldn’t get to the golf course or had more time on their hands but is a recognition of the therapeutic value of model making and similar pursuits. I’m always struck editing this magazine and our sister title, Fantasy Figures International, by the number of readers and contributors for whom modelling is an important part of maintaining good mental health. I’m sometimes humbled by the candour with which they relate their stories of how time at the bench has been a real lifeline to them when things have been tough. Modelling is essentially a solo pastime which affords an opportunity to get away from the pressures of the real world, but it also provides a supportive community away from the demands of family and work and I hope in some small way that our modelling titles here at Guideline Publications and our Social Media presence can contribute to this.

This month’s MMI has the usual spread of periods, scale and subjects. We begin with World War I and two builds of MiniArt’s new 1/35-scale Austin Armoured Car by Ilya Yut and Igor Sydorenko. We have a superb small-scale World War II diorama by Marek Zindulka (and congratulations to Marek and his wife, by the way, on the birth of their new son, Maxmilan) and the World War II theme continues as Lukasz Orczyc-Musiatek builds a radio car conversion of the Steyr 1500. In a slightly different vein, Gaishi Shoshuro returns with a ‘what-if’ vignette based around Das Werk’s Panzerkleinzerstdrer. Moving forward in time to the Cold War, it’s a great pleasure to welcome back Israeli modeller Allon Kira to these pages with a classic build of Tamiya’s M1 Israeli Sherman. The Cold War is also the theme of our Armour in Profile feature this month as I look at the colourful MERDC camouflage schemes used by the US military in the 1970s and 80s. This article was inspired by the fabulous M60 built by German modeller Uwe Kern and it’s a privilege to feature an extended build article on that model this month. Finally, Ralph Zwilling brings us to the warfighting systems of today and tomorrow with an exclusive look at the Bundeswehr’s latest Puma AIFV. Until next

David Grummitt
Editor