Special Hobby & CMK's latest kits for April look like they have plenty of detail & great colour choices. We have picked the most interesting to show you in our preview...
Preview: Special Hobby & CMK kits for April
Tachikawa Ki-54 Hickory ‘Captured and Post War Service
by Special Hobby
1/72nd Scale
Product Code: sh72485
Price: $26 USD @Hobbylink Japan
The Hickory was a Japanese WW2 twin-engine aircraft produced in four versions, for pilots, wireless operators and navigators training, gunnery training, a transport version and anti-submarine operations type. Our kit comes on four styrene sprues and one with clear injected parts.
The parts of the kit
This boxing portrays captured machines. One as flown by US pilots bearing a nose art and dubbed Lemon, a French machine operated in French Indochina (Vietnam) and a North Korean machine, recaptured by US troops during the Korea War.
- The Captured and Post War ServiceKi-54 has never been kitted in styrene format before.
- Decals for machines with interesting history
- Paint masks also available (but sold separately)
The plastic in the kit
P-40F/L Warhawk ‘Desert Hawks with Merlin’
by Special Hobby
1/72nd Scale
Product Code: SH72493
Price: $26 USD @Hobbylink Japan
The P-40 Warhawk / Kittyhawk fighter aircraft were an important part of the USAAF and other allied air forces throughout the war. In many various subtypes, the P-40s fought on all WW2 battlefields. And so, they beared national markings of many forces and were finished in many various and interesting colour schemes.
The parts of the kit
The P-40F and L airframes differ from other P-40 versions by the power plant as they were the only ones fitted with the British RR Merlin. They were deployed in Africa, Italy and the Pacific. The most famous these Fs and Ls became during the Torch Allied landing in Africa. Our older kit set is now re-boxed with a new sheet of decals offering markings for three airframes. Two of them with US markings, the third one as flown by the British.
The plastic in the kit
SIAI-Marchetti SF-260EA/D/EU ‘ Late Bulged Canopy Type’
by Special Hobby
1/72nd Scale
Product Code: sh72433
Price: $18 USD @Special Hobby
The SF-260 is an Italian training, sports and aerobatic aircraft which can be found all around the globe. In Europe, it served with the Irish Air Corps and is still being used by the air forces of Belgium and Italy. The type was gradually developed and upgraded, so the latest versions differ to some extent from the earlier ones. The main difference is rather obvious, it is the more bulged rear-sliding canopy with different style of its framing. This change is most possibly caused by the ever increasing height of the pilots.
The parts of the kit
This model of the later version differs from their 2021 earlier release no. SH72418 by having this new clear sprue with the larger canopy. The decal sheet brings markings for an Italian machine with nose art on either side of the fuselage, then a Belgian machine and also two eye-catching machines as flown in Latin America – an aluminium lacquer overall machine from Venezuela and white SF-260 from Uruguay with dayglo orange trim.
Interesting paint schemes
Spray masks to be available shortly (sold separately)
The plastic in the kit
60 cm Flak Scheinwerfer (Flak Sw-36) mit Sd.Ah.51 / Světlomet 60N s vlekem
by Special Hobby
1/48th Scale
Product Code: 129-8069
Price: $44 USD @Hobbylink Japan
The German WW2 60cm-diameter searchlight that was used both by the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht to illuminate the night skies during air raids and airfield runways to allow for safe landings. This searchlight is already on offer in 1/72 scale (model MV130) and now it has been scaled up to 1/48 and improved with better detail allowed by the larger scale. The complete kit, including the Sd.Ah.51 transport cart is made by direct 3D print. The assembled searchlight can be placed on the cart and put back as the modeller prefers. The full scale searchlight was also used by the Czechoslovak Army after the war, designated Svetlomet 60N.
The parts of the kit
Humber LRC Mk.2 1/48
by Special Hobby
1/48th Scale
Product Code: 129-8065
Price: $42 USD @Hobbylink Japan
The Humber is a British armoured vehicle used during WW2 mainly in reconnaissance missions, which also suggested by the LRC abbreviation – Light Reconnaissance Car. It employed the 4x2 drive chassis and was equipped with the Boys anti-tank rifle and a turret with a machine gun. The car was used by Commonwealth units in Western Europe, Africa, Italy and India. Our finely detailed resin cast model comes with 3D-printed parts, a fret of etches and decals catering for a single British example.
The parts of the kit
These new kits are available on Special Hobby's Website or from Hobbylink Japan