Not today, not the last week either,
actually the last week of April but
I haven’t gotten around to posting until now …
Two illustrated shopping lists detailing what bits and pieces are needed for the various British Centurion versions.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in Centurion tanks.
Includes build reports of the different versions.
Available from SMM Publishing
Couldn’t resist.
The RFM M50 Mk2 seems very nice.
I’m afraid 
to read any reviews on it after Opus 4.7 pulled information on the RFM JS-2 #5160 kit. I wanted one regardless etc.
Anyway, here’s a summary of what Opus 4.7 reported…YMMV
RFM RM-5160 IS-2 Mod. 1944 — the short version
Expecting a clear step past the old Tamiya kit.
It is not that.
Pulling the main points together for anyone still deciding, drawn largely from Holger’s teardown at tigerscorner and the Scalemates thread.
The core problem: RFM copied the 2005 Tamiya kit’s geometry and improved it in two places while regressing in several others. Turrets, mantlet trough, mantlet jacket, and gun cradle are effectively Tamiya twins. The RFM muzzle brake even drops onto a Tamiya barrel because the seating is copied to size.
What they fixed vs Tamiya (the entire list):
Both real, both small.
What’s wrong:
Decals: the “БоЯвая подруга” typo (should be Боевая) is decade-stale — it traces back to Zaloga’s 1980s Osprey plates and the 90s Dragon kit. Worse, none of the marking options can be built accurately from the box; every one needs a turret, cupola, or hull variant the kit doesn’t supply, and the Polish “Berlin” attribution is wrong.
Plus side: molding quality and fit are excellent, separate fenders are well thought out, the 3D muzzle brake is sharp, clear parts and a usable copper tow cable included. The PE frames work as a substrate if you back them with fine nylon filter mesh (60–70).
Holger’s verdict is “mediocre,” and his recommendation is to wait — Zvezda has a cast-nose IS-2 confirmed, and they’ve already corrected the balancer ends and crown nuts on the shared suspension sprue mid-run.
Bottom line: if you want a buildable IS-2 today, Tamiya plus an Aber barrel and EVM cupola is still the safer path, and several here (the other forum per Opus) cancelled RFM pre-orders on exactly that logic. Zvezda Lobnya is the most accurate out-of-box option currently. The RFM kit is for builders who specifically want workable tracks and great fit and accept reworking the running gear, cupola, loading hatch, the hinge/roof anachronism, the PE mesh, and the markings.
___
YMMV - RFM is my favorite kit manufacturer. I think it will build nice based past RFM build experiences but I shouldn’t have bought more than one copy of this one.
HTH
After several decades of use, I finally pulled the trigger and (with approval of the missus) got me a new compressor. The old one doesn’t have a auto shut off, thus, when reaching working pressure a valve pops open (usually with a spray of oil).
The new one is not as silent (no oil in this one), but the noise level is acceptable. And it’s capable of feeding 2 airbrush at a time.
Oh, a new cutting mat and a jar of paint also hitched along
Found this on my deck this morning from Wheels and Wings Hobbies. What a massive box for a Sherman! 
But it is pretty much filled. Nice that it includes the HVSS suspension. No tracks for the HVSS but obviously that can be had from aftermarket. This is slotted to be built as an IDF M1 Sherman from 1956
It’s a very nice kit. A couple of us have or are currently building it.
I would be, if it weren’t for my kit missing an entire sprue 
That sux. I immediately went back and checked to make sure all mine were there 
Chanting “build it! Build it! Build it!”
Got my hands on the new Takom T28! I saw someone post theirs in another thread, but I figured I’d post here, mostly to thank everyone in this and this threads for setting my head on straight, and helping me see it’s better to wait for someone to make a better kit than to buy Dragon’s for just way too much money!
It looks like those side skirts hide much of them, assemble only what can be seen.
Obviously not armoured, but needed for a couple of US 1950s/60s dios, including to enhance a brace of M103A1s:
While I am excited about this kit, I am a bit disappointed that Gecko took the easy way out and did a so-called “Early Production”. I understand why, since it meant they were able to reuse the existing PzKpfw.II suspension without any changes, but there are VERY few photos of these early vehicles. The three decal options in the kit are all based on photos, but you can’t really tell from them if they are early production vehicles due to shadows, mud, snow, etc.
I do hope they produce the later production vehicle but this would require complete new suspension arms (since wider springs were used), as well as new hull sides, since the 1st, 2nd and 5th stations had new bump stops and of course Gecko has molded the baseplates for the original bump stops on the side plates.
Cool! Model Scenes makes a lot of neat stuff. I haven’t looked at their side in a long time though. The last model of theirs that I built and reviewed (here on Armorama) is their mullein plant.
I’m looking forward to seeing your ferns on your diorama.
