I am not much of an R/C person. While I like building models, I don't really have any interest in "playing" with them. But many R/C subjects, though large, still have quite a bit of detail.

I always thought a DUKW would make a great model subject. There are several in 1:35 scale (a little small for me) and one in 1:24 scale (sort of a motorized kit, not a lot of detail), but this kit and scratch built example really looks good.

Check out this 1:10 scale R/C built DUKW. It's a kit by Dean's Marine , and with the right effort, can be detailed out from the looks of it.

The lower hull is a complete fiberglass hull. I think that would be strong enough to build in some internal detail and interior for display. There are even 3 versions of the kit, depending on if you plan to make it R/C or not.

There's no denying Rat Fink lives on, even though Big Daddy Ed Roth may be gone. Here we have a tribute to Rat Fink in a huge 1/8 scale.

Folks, there's a lot of scratch building here, and some amazing work. Check out this gallery for some shots on the progress.

Rat Fink Project Gallery Photos.

On Star Trek's main website, they have a new product: a 1:1 scale TOS Hand Phaser.

"From renowned prop maker and effects artist John Long, this is the most "screen-accurate" hand phaser kit you'll ever see. Based on the only known existing "hero" phaser (the one used for close-ups in the Original Series), this kit is expertly crafted down to the smallest detail."

Be sure and check out the production shots for the product.

The box art is a nice tribute to the older box styles used by AMT.

Lot's of pictures coming from the NNL. Here is the first of many pictures on the way from some various web photo gallery hot spots.

• NNL Motor City Model Show 2006
• NNL Motor City Nationals
• Motor City Nationals Model Show 2006

Pictures taken at the Freeport Recreation Center in Freeport N. Y. for the 2006 LIARS Model Show. As usual, there are a lot of new model ideas to look through. :-)

• LIARS Model Show 2006

You can now download a full color PDF catalog from Lindberg Hawk models.

I was unable to get the first one to open, but the second one over from the left worked fine. They don't seem to have all the kits in there (mainly, I do not see the cabin cruiser boats), but hopefully soon they will update them.

Here are a couple of more NNL picture galleries from the model shows, if like me, you could not attend. Plenty of modeling ideas in here folks.

• NNL Southern Nationals 2006
• NNL Acme 2006

One of my all time favorite kits is out, the Revell Cop-Out Police Funny car. I am not much into Funny Cars, but for a car model, this kit has been one I can build over and over.

I'm not to fond of the rear double-piece tires, but except for that, it's an easy and fun subject to do. Even the box art is pretty good on this new reissue. This also one of the rare kits you can get the old style gumball police lights from.

This can be a great first kit for a youngster.

Revell has also released their new 1:72 scale WWII U.S. scale Gato Class Submarine. This one a sizable 52-inches long !

The Gato class of submarine was the state of the art in American design at the start of World War II and bore the brunt of the fighting against Japan during the war. They were fast, strong, heavily armed and well-suited to the long range patrols necessary in the Pacific.

They were generally over 300 feet in length. This kit is brand new tooling and is a massive, world-class model replica with 266 parts.

Click here to see some great shots of this kit built from Revell germany's website.

Revell has released their awaited 1:72 scale WWII U-Boat Submarine. That comes about to around a 30-something inch kit !

The kit includes: Two optional conning tower variants. Can be built with or without net saw. A finely detailed hull showing rivets and welds. Imitation flood valves and vents. Accurate representation of deck details. Torpedo hatches optionally open or closed; and Specific decals for various versions. Can be built to represent the U-552 (early and late version); U-69, U-82, U-203, U-253 boats.

There's not a lot of details about the product, but if you wanted a representation of Captain Harlock's Starblazer ship Yamato/Argo, here's a new example on the scene.

This one brought to you by Monsters in Motion.

It's a 16-inch (40cm) PVC model. No details on if you have to assemble it yourself, or if it is already pre assembled. It contains a DVD, but no details are given as to what is on the DVD itself.

Also added to their lineup is a statue of Pirates of the Caribbean Black Pearl. As long as we're talking "Pirates".

Here's a quick view of a gallery for an NNL car model show.

• NNL Model Show 2006

Recently released is a new DVD about Rat Fink, aka Big Daddy Roth.

Roth's best-known custom cars--The Outlaw, The Beatnik Bandit, Mysterion and others--remain timeless classics of southern California's custom-car culture, they're all shown here on dazzling display.

Just a couple of fun free things for today.

First up, Edelbrock has a PDF coloring book you can download off their site here. The art is pretty good, and should provide some coloring time for youngsters with hot rods on their mind.

Next up is some cool retro desktops by Hot Wheels. I especially like the ones with the 1960's artwork.

If you remember the saturday morning TV series Ark II, Amazon has just announced they will have the short lived series on DVD.

There were two vehicles in the show, the Ark and the Rover. (subjects worth modeling). It also one of those shows were you can see an actual jet pack being used.

Here's an online gallery of some of the various kits at the Rimrock IPMS 2006 show.

• Rimrock Show Gallery 2006