Editor's Note: Click on the pictures to enlarge. The complete set of pictures are at the Tamiya 1:24 Super GT500 Xanavi Nissan Skyline R35 GT-R Race version gallery.

The year 2008 saw the end of the Nissan 350Z and the debut of the rear wheel drive No.23 Nissan Xanavi NISMO GT-R/VK45DE at the Super GT, which is driven by team drivers Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer. The GT-R has a 4,494cc sized motor. On its debut the No.23 Xanavi GT-R won and team Motul Autech GT-R came second for a well earned one-two finish, and continued its winning ways at the second round with the Xanavi recording back-to-back wins.

The kit came in 6 plastic clear bags stapled, also with a letter, indicating no instruction manuals and decals came with it but further inspection reveals tires also weren't available. Luckily, a friend was able to purchase the R35 road version also by Tamiya and will just photo copy instruction sheet for more in depth look on how to assemble this beauty.

Just when large-scale aircraft modelers thought the skies were theirs, here comes Trumpeter with a large-scale party-pooper!

Trumpeter has just sent IPMS Philippines Bert Anido test shots for its upcoming 1:72 LCAC:

Review article to follow. The complete set of pics are at the 1:72 Trumpeter LCAC album of the gallery, which can be viewed by clicking here.

For those into NVA Armor, this one’s for you. Red Star Hobby has released a set of decals to dress up your model in North Vietnamese Army livery. This set is a breath of fresh air in Vietnam armor modeling as the only other decal options for NVA roundels aside from Dry Transfers would be DML’s NVA T-34/85 kit and Trumpeter’s T-54B Model 1952 as well as the clever use of Vietnam Peoples’ Air Force (VPAF) decals in 1:48^th and 1:72.

Red Star Hobby

Red Star Hobby (KY LAM CO. LTD) was established in 1996 at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam by a group of modeling enthusiasts. Their “Wartime Souvenir” series are decals, figures, vignettes, and conversion kits of Vietnam War (known in Vietnam as the "American War") subjects. These are sold in popular tourist spots and former battle sites.

Red Star’s set is tailor-made to depict Tank 390, a Type-59, the Chinese copy of Russia’s T-54, belonging to the 4th Company, 1^st Battalion, 203^rd Tank Brigade of the NVA’s 2^nd Army Corps as seen displayed today inside the Palace Grounds (now called Reunification Palace) along with the other “gatecrasher” – a T-54B, Tank 843. Tank 390 made history by being one of the first two tanks to crash through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and signaled the end of the Vietnam War. During the fall of Saigon, NVA vehicles were seen flying the Viet Cong flag from their radio aerials to give the impression that the invaders/victors were southern Communists.

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The Grumman TBF Avenger was built to a US Navy specification in 1939 that called for a replacement for the then “state of the art” Douglas TBD Devastator.  The new TBF was first displayed to the public in the inauguration ceremonies for the Bethpage plant on December 7, 1941 during which they received word of the Pearl Harbor attack, decided to continue with the ceremonies and promptly went on to war footing immediately after the last guest left the gate.

Grumman built 2,293 Avengers, with the TBF-1C being the most numerous variant, before production was shifted to the much needed F6F Hellcat and the line was transferred to General Motors. The GM Avengers were designated TBMs and were equivalent to the Grumman TBFs (F=Grumman and M=General Motors). General Motors eventually produced 7,546 Avengers, most of them TBM-3s, before all the remaining orders were canceled after VJ day. It was the most prolific torpedo bomber in World War II and served long after the war in a variety of roles, beyond its originally defined role, serving in COD, AEW, ASW roles and as a firebomber long after the war.

The TBF-1C / TBM-1C /Tarpon Mk II variant is mainly distinguished from other earlier variants by having “wet” wings and bomb bay for extra range and the deletion of the .30 cal cowl gun for a .50 cal gun on each wing.

(Click on the images to enlarge)