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This is the final issue of 2017 (albeit our January 2018 issue will be on sale just before Christmas), so I thought I’d review some of the contenders for my kit and manufacturer of the year. We’ve had some pretty awesome kits released this year: Trumpeter’s large modern Russian artillery and rocket kits, MiniArt’s superb T-60 series, Takom’s FV432 series, IBG Models’ Scammell, 1/72 kits from Flyhawk and, to end the year, Meng Model’s Panther. Of the kits we’ve seen in the magazine, I have to say IBG Models’ Scammell is a wonderful kit, but, out of nowhere really, Academy’s K2 Black Panther, in terms of a pleasurable out-of-the-box build, is hard to beat. In terms of manufacturers, all of the above have established themselves as major players with their plastic kits, but I have to say two small resin manufacturers stand out for me, both in terms of subject and the sheer quality of their kits and accessories. The first is Korean-firm DEF Model, whose resin wheels and other accessories (not to mention their growing figure range) are always superb. Second, we have John Osselaer’s wonderful Paper Panzer Productions range of ‘Panzerwaffe ‘46’ vehicles and accessories. We’ll be seeing much more of both manufacturers’ work in the pages of MMI over the next year.

This month’s magazine is dedicated to modern armour. The quality and range of modern armour kits now available is bewildering and contemporary AFVs certainly demand different skills in terms of assembly, painting and weathering than models of historical armour. First this month, Chris Jerrett returns to MMI with another ‘Marine Corps Metal’ piece, this time a LAV-25. It’s also a pleasure to welcome back Alex Clark, one of the most talented modellers on the scene today, and his Small-Scale T-80B has to be seen to be believed. The T-80 is also the subject of this month’s Armour in Profile series, with Jim Kinnear providing some background on the Soviet Union’s last MBT. Özgür Güner rises to the challenge of modern armour in fine form with his build of the JGSDF’s Type 89 Infantry Fighting Vehicle, while it’s an IFV far removed from the carefully maintained vehicles of the modern Japanese army that is the subject of Štefan Pásztor’s article: a Syrian rebel BMP-1. Łukasz Orczyc-Musiałek tackles Trumpeter’s recent MARS kit, giving it a daring winter paint scheme to boot, while I present a build review of Academy’s excellent K2 Black Panther, South Korea’s state-of-the-art MBT. Finally, we head off to Turkey for a report on the FNSS model show. Until next month, happy modelling.