The Modelling News: Four new deadly weapons for your workbench arsenal in January from Trumpeter

Now we have the pictures of the sprues for Trumpeter's new releases this month we thought a preview was in order! Four new models for the stash in the December/ January from these guys - see if they take your fancy in our preview...

New Trumpeter kits of December/January

USS Constellation CV-64

Model:06715

1:700th scale

Product Link

Like her famous namesake, the current USS Constellation (CV-64) has a long and proud record of service. Built at the New York Naval Shipyard as the second ship in the "Kitty Hawk" class of aircraft carriers, "CONNIE" has more than 30 years of service, which have seen her sail into harm's way from Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam to the Gulf of Oman in the Indian Ocean. Commissioned on October 27, 1961, Constellation sailed west to her homeport of San Diego in July of 1962. On August 4, 1964, the American destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy were attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Constellation, visiting Hong Kong on a regularly-scheduled port visit, set sail immediately and began launching strikes against North Vietnamese vessels and bases.

Over the next eight years, Constellation would return to the South China Sea for a total of seven combat cruises, conducting air strikes against heavily fortified North Vietnamese positions, engaging naval targets and shooting down enemy aircraft. For her actions in Southeast Asia, Constellation was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. In 1975, "CONNIE" has redesignated "CV" from "CVA," following modifications to her flight deck and equipment which enabled the ship to deploy with S-3A Viking (anti-submarine) and F-14 Tomcat (fighter) aircraft. In 1982, Constellation returned to the yards, this time in Bremerton, Washington. Naval aviation had undergone vast changes since 1961, and when "CONNIE" came out of the yards in 1984, two weeks early and under budget, she was fully modernized. One facet of the ship's upgrade was the ability to carry the Navy's newest strike fighter, the F/A-18 Hornet. During WESTPAC 87, Constellation once again found herself in the limelight, this time in the role of providing vital air cover for the escort of US-flagged tankers through the Arabian Gulf.

In February 1990, Constellation departed San Diego, returning to the East Coast for a three-year overhaul. The $800 million Service Life Extension Program, completed in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in March 1993, added 15 years to the carrier's operational life. The overhaul saw upgrades to virtually every major system on the ship, from the galleys to the engine rooms and the flight deck to the anchors. Constellation returned to San Diego on July 22, 1993, following her third transit around Cape Horn at the tip of South America.
From her birthplace at the New York Naval Shipyard to her homeport of San Diego and her rebirth at Philadelphia; from the troubled waters of the Gulf of Tonkin to the North Arabian Sea.

Length: 467.6mm Beam: 122.8mm

Total Parts 720+

30 sprues, hull and decks

Detailed Hull is a one-piece part

Detailed flight deck and hangar deck

Extensive photo-etched details included

Aircraft Wing includes: E2C, EA-6B, SH-60,F/A-18C, F-14D

Complete ship and aircraft decal sets

Aero L-39MS/L-59 Super Albatros

Model:05806

1:48th scale

Product Link

The Aero L-59 Super Albatros is a Czech military jet trainer developed from the firm's earlier L-39 Albatros. Compared to its predecessor, it featured a strengthened fuselage, longer nose, a vastly updated cockpit, advanced avionics (including head-up display), and a more powerful engine. At the time of its first flight on 30 September 1986, it was designated the L-39MS.

Length: 252.7mm Wingspan: 197.1mm

Photo-Etched Parts

6 sprues

The kit consists of over 140 parts

2P16 Launcher with Missile of 2k6 Luna (FROG-5)

Model:09545

The proportional model:1:35

Product Link

The 2K6 Luna is a Soviet short-range ballistic missile complex. Luna rockets are solid-fuel, unguided and spin-stabilized. "2K6" is its GRAU designation. Its NATO reporting names are FROG-3 (with 3R9 missile) and FROG-5 (with 3R10 missile). From 1965, the 2K6 Luna was replaced by the far more successful 9K52 Luna-M, which was known in the West as the FROG-7.

Length: 310mm Width: 90.2mm

Total Parts 570+

copper cable & Photo-Etched Parts included

21 sprues, upper hull and lower hull

The kit consists of over 570 parts

Multi-slide moulded upper hull and lower hull

Individual tracks links

Soviet SU-102 Tank Destroyer

Model:09570

1/35th scale

Product Link

In 1944 the Construction Bureau of the Ural Heavy Machinery Plant developed the SU-101 with the D-10S gun and the SU-102 with the D-25S gun. Both vehicles were designated as Uralmash-1. Prototypes were manufactured in April 1945. The vehicles never entered mass production nor saw any active service.