Paul R. Brown
Reviews By Author
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BAe Systems Hawk 100 Pitot TubePublished:
This set provides a replacement pitot tube for the Airfix BAe Systems Hawk 100 kit. As with all of Master Model’s replacement parts, this pitot tube is exquisitely made and show in the photos it is a big improvement over the kit pitot. It will be a welcome addition to your Hawk. This will be the easiest add-on you ever make, as even though the instructions tell you to drill a hole for the replacement part, when I test fitted it to the kit, it just dropped into place without having to do anything to the mounting hole. All you need is some superglue gel and a few seconds to make sure the pitot tube is correctly oriented, and you are done, but watch your fingers as the pitot tube is very pointy. Highly recommended! Thank you to Master Model for the review sample and to… more |
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Handley Page Victor Pitot Tubes and Refueling ProbePublished:
This set provides replacements for the wingtip pitot tubes and the refueling probe tip for the Handley Page Victor. As with all of Master Model’s replacement parts, these are exquisitely made and will be a welcome addition to your Victor. I have the old Matchbox Victor kit, so I compared the replacement parts with the kit parts, and as the photos show, Master Model’s parts are head and shoulders above the kit parts. The instructions are nicely drawn and clearly show where you need to cut off the plastic kit parts when adding these replacements. However, as the kit parts illustrated in the instructions do no look at all like the Matchbox parts, my assumption is that they are based on the corresponding Airfix parts. Even so, with a good razor saw and some fine drill bits, the… more |
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U.S. Drop Tank CapsPublished:
One of Brengun’s more recent releases is a photo-etch fret of drop tank gas caps for 1/72 US Navy aircraft. The set includes 5 different types of gas caps, with 9 of each type, so you can detail quite a large number of drop tanks with this set. The set does not include any instructions or information as to which gas caps go on what types of drop tanks, but from what I can tell from looking at the photo of some sample tanks with the caps installed on Brengun’s website. It appears that the caps are intended for World War II US Navy aircraft. I had a set of drop tanks from the new Airfix Wildcat that I had not installed, so I dug out my Detail and Scale book on the Wildcat to see if I could determine which cap type was used on Wildcat tanks. Not surprisingly there were not too… more |
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Polish Wings 21: MiG-29 Kosciuszko Squadron Commemorative SchemesPublished:
Most of us have seen at least one photograph of a Polish Air Force MiG-29 in recent years with a large multi-color circular badge adorning its upper surface. I know I had seen a couple of MiG-29’s with the special marking, but I assumed they were one-off special markings. Mushroom Model Publication’s latest book proved me wrong in a big way. The book depicts the commemorative schemes worn by an entire squadron of MiG-29s, not just one or two. The book starts off with a brief history of the “Kosciuszko Squadron”. I was surprised to discover that the squadron was officially formed in 1919 when a group of American pilots volunteered to help Poland in a war on its eastern border with communist Russia. The American volunteers joined a group of Polish pilots to form the squadron. One… more |
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KH-29T Short Range Air To Surface Missile W/TV HHPublished:
The KH-29 (NATO: AS-14 'Kedge') is a Soviet air-to-surface missile with a range of 10–30 km designed for hard-to-hit targets such as reinforced concrete aircraft shelters, runways, reinforced concrete bridges and shall ships. It has a large warhead of 320 kg and can be fitted with a variety of seeker heads/guidance systems such as laser, infrared, active radar or TV guidance. The missile is typically carried by tactical aircraft such as the Su-17M3/4, Su-24M, Su-25TM/SM, Su-30, Su-34, Su-35, MiG-27M/K MiG-29SMT and the MiG-31. Advanced Modeling appears to be a relative newcomer to the modeling field, but their products are really good. This set is for the TV guided version of the Kh-29 family, the Kh-29T. The kit includes two complete missiles and two AKU-58-1 launch rails.… more |
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Plastic CratesPublished:
In addition to producing photoetch accessories for aircraft, AFV, cars and trains, Hauler also produces resin and photoetch accessories for dioramas. This set is a prime example of this side of their business. It provides 2 each of 4 different types or styles of plastic crates. There are two types of large crates, such as would be used for milk jugs and the like, and two types of flatter crates such as those used for packages of bread. As expected from Hauler, this set’s detail is outstanding and each type of crate is very distinctive. Construction starts with removal of the crates from the fret. I recommend using photoetch scissors to do so as the brass is very thin and bends easily, so using an Xacto to separate the crates, could bend them. Once a crate had been removed from… more |
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RP 825 Fuel TankPublished:
PJ Productions produces kits and resin accessories in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 scales. Earlier this year, it released a series of accessories for the Mirage III/V aircraft in 1/72 scale. There are only two parts to this set, the RP 825 centerline fuel tank and a pylon designed to fit the Mirage III C or E. The parts are molded in cream colored resin and are nicely molded with good panel line detail. The pour stub on the pylon is easily removed with either a razor saw or by simply wiggling the pylon (as I did). The attachment cleans up very easily with a sanding stick. The attachment point for the tank is at the trailing edge of the rear fins, so I used a razor saw to remove it. There is a bulge between the trailing tip of the tank and the attachment point, but this is easily… more |
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B5N2 Kate Landing Gear & Wing FoldsPublished:
Last year Airfix released a new kit of the B5N2 Kate, the Japanese Navy’s primary torpedo plane for the early part of World War II. The kit includes an option to depict the aircraft with the wings folded or with them fully spread. This set from Scale Aircraft Conversions includes nine drop-in replacements for the kit wing-folds and landing gear. The set provides replacements for both inner and outer wing fold plates, the two wing support braces, the main landing gear struts and the tail wheel. As is standard for SAC parts, they are cast in white metal and are intended to add some strength and rigidity in place of the kit parts. All nine pieces are crisply cast, however, as shown in the photographs, one of my inner wing fold plates was slightly deformed when it arrived, but… more |
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Dogfight Double Gift Set: Nakajima B5N2 "Kate"/Grumman F4F-4 WildcatPublished:
Earlier this year Airfix released this Dogfight Double set which combines it new Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bomber and its new Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat kit. The Dogfight Double kits are designed to allow the modeler to depict aircraft from a specific historical incident by providing markings for two specific aircraft in the kit. This set is designed to commemorate a confrontation that occurred on June 4, 1942 when Wildcats of VF-3 intercepted Kate torpedo bombers during the second air attack on the USS Yorktown. The kit decals provide markings for the Wildcat flow by LCDR. Jimmy Thatch, the commanding officer of VF-3 during the afternoon raid and the B5N2 Kate flown by Lt. Jouchi Tomonaga of the Hiryu. The box art depicts Thatch’s shoot down of the Kate, but not before Tomonaga launched… more |
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F-4 ArmamentPublished:
Earlier this year Eduard released an F-4 Phantom weapons set to complement Academy’s new F-4J kit. The set actually consists of five Eduard Brassin sets: 672030 AIM-7E Sparrow missiles (4); 672036 Aim-9B Sidewinder missiles (4); and three sets of 672087 Mk. 82 bombs (6 in each). As each of these sets has been previously been reviewed, I don’t want to repeat earlier reviews, but I want to mention a few things I encountered in my build. Starting with the Mk. 82’s, they were by far the easiest part of the build as construction was limited to removing them from the casting blocks, cleaning up the separation point, painting and decaling them. I did have to replace one fin as it was short shot, but out of 18 bombs with 4 fins each, I was not about to complain. The fin shape was… more |