Mattel commissioned a design "contest" to celebrate Hot Wheels' 40th birthday. The company invited 1:1 several automakers to create models from scratch; six accepted the challenge, and Honda's Guillermo Gonzalez delivered the new Hot Wheels Racer.

It's 1:64 (ouch, wouldn't this be even cooler in a larger scale?). At first glance, it's a solid design, but after a second, you can see the body of the car is an " H ", and reflects the Honda company's logo.

Look for these wherever Hot Wheels are sold.

As mentioned earlier, Aoshima has released 2 versions of the Knight Industries KITT and KARR kits. These are 1:24 Scale, and a curbside. From the pictures, it appears it will have some sort of electronic gadget to display the red blinking lights we all know so familiar.

Available now from Hobby Search.

Yeah, wood isn't exactly the modeler's medium. But these are pretty cool, built by sculptor Michael Rea.

He's built everything from machines, artifacts, to an eight-foot-tall prosthetic suit, equipped with swords, for physicist Stephen Hawking after seeing Quentin Tarantino’s kung fu-inspired Kill Bill.

Neat stuff ! Click here to see more.

iStand has introduced the Eagle iStand. This product is specially designed to hold the 1/72 Scale Space 1999 Eagles model kits.

It can also be used to hold other models, from Star Wars to Aircraft. Because of it's thin footmark, it gives a good impression the subject is in the air and 'flying'. With it's sturdy durable metal construction, it will probably last nearly forever.

Flagship Models has just released a new kit coming out soon. The USS Keokuk.

The USS Keokuk, a 677-ton ironclad, was built at New York City. Originally named Moodna (sometimes incorrectly spelled "Woodna"), she was renamed prior to her December 1862 launching, and was commissioned in early March 1863. Keokuk arrived at Port Royal, South Carolina, later in that month to take up her duties with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. On 7 April, she joined USS New Ironsides and seven monitors in an attack on Fort Sumter, centerpiece of the formidable defenses of Charleston, South Carolina.

The kit is 1/192 Scale. It includes enough parts to build one museum quality USS Keokuk and includes resin and white metal cast parts, photo etch details, anchor chain, decal flag, computer rendered instructions, and color box art. The parts are cast using state of the art techniques and are accurate down to her wood deck and every rivet in her experimental hull design.

A couple of great statues have been released by Kotobukiya from the popular console game Halo3. They look to be very detailed, I especially like the hexagon shape shield and base.

These are currently available from Hobby Search.

This company Brickgun has released new Collectors boxes for it's products. They make kits of gun replicas from Lego based parts.

BrickGun kits include everything you need to build the model. They supply all the genuine Lego pieces necessary and easy-to-follow printed instructions which walk you through every step of the build process. The models are simple, yet intricately detailed and can typically be put together in under an hour. All mechanics are actuated by rubber bands supplied with the kit.

Obviously this is not a real gun in any way, and let's not even go there. It's a collector's item, especially if you are into Lego collecting.

Lindberg will be reissuing the old IMC Tanker trailer kit. This time in chrome, though an un plated version should be out as well.

For those who aren't familiar with this kit it can be built as both a long tank (shown) or a short tank trailer. The short tank can also be easily mounted on the back of your favorite truck chassis. Fuel, Oil Waste, Milk, or Hazard Materials, this trailer has a lot of possibilities.

Special thanks to Steve Goldman and Lindberg for the test shots.

When you the 21st century just isn't enough and you know you can better, and you want to take that modeling challenge to an all new level of scratch building, there's the 24th Design Company.

Check out the site for several rooms and a ton of displays. Definitely gives you some thought the next time you want to repaint the old house rec room.

Appleseed