Paul R. Brown
Reviews By Author
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Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8/R11 (Overtrees)Published:
The fourth kit in Eduard’s FW 190A-8 series is the Fw 190A-8/R11 nightfighter variant. In an effort to fight the RAF’s night bombing campaign, the Luftwaffe searched for ways to increase the number and effectiveness of it nightfighter forces. The long term solution was the development of dedicated nightfighters such as the He 219 Uhu, but as new aircraft development was a slow process even wartime, it was forced to look for short term solutions as well. One solution was the FW 190A-8/R11 where four FuG 218 antennas were installed on the wings of the Fw 190A-8 along with flame dampeners along the fuselage sides and blast deflectors for the guns. Since this is an overtree set, no instructions were included, so I downloaded the instructions for Eduard’s standard FW 190A-8 kit for… more |
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Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8/R2 (Overtrees)Published:
The third kit in Eduard’s FW 190A-8 series is the Fw 190A-8/R2 “Sturmbock” variant. As the American daylight bombing raids became larger and more frequent the Luftwaffe searched for ways to increase the effectiveness of their daytime fighters in bringing down the B-24s and B-17s without drastically increasing their vulnerability to American escort fighters. Focke Wulf’s solution was to add additional armor to key areas of the Fw 190 and to up-gun it. The result was the Fw 190A-8/R2 which had extra armor around the engine, the ammunition boxes in the wings and along the sides of the cockpit. In addition the side panels of the windscreen were beefed up with extra panels of glass and large side panels of toughened glass were installed on the outside of the main canopy. The R2 also had the… more |
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F-8E Crusader Landing Gear (Academy)Published:
This set includes seven replacement pieces for the landing gear on Academy’s F-8 Crusader. There are three parts for the nose gear including the retraction brace and the main strut and two parts for each of the main gear. The parts are designed to be drop-in replacements for the kit parts. The first step is to remove the casting seams of each of the parts. I use a small wire brush in my portable Dremel tool at low speed, to polish up the parts and remove these seams. I prefer to do the cleanup before I detach the smaller parts from the casting tree as it is much easier to handle them while they are still on the tree, plus they are much less likely to bend or go flying when they are still attached. After cleaning up the parts, I decided to start with the nose gear strut… more |
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Fw 190A-8 (Standard Wing) OvertreesPublished:
When Eduard released its Fw 190A-8 Royal Class Quattro Combo kit earlier this year it also released overtree sets of each of the four versions that were included in the Combo kit. Kit 70111X was the overtree set for the standard Fw 190A-8 with the four wing-mounted Mg 151 cannons two in the wing roots and the second pair outboard. The upper wing halves have the wing bulges for the outer set of cannons in addition to the inboard bulges for the wing root mounted cannons. As with all of Eduard’s overtree kits, this kit includes just the plastic parts for the Fw 190A-8, there is no photo etch, decals or instructions. The instructions are the easiest item to solve as Eduard posts all of its instructions on its website with the associated kits. I had started by printing the… more |
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Fw 190A-8 (early wings) OvertreesPublished:
When Eduard released its Fw 190A-8 Royal Class Quattro Combo kit earlier this year it also released overtree sets of each of the four versions that were included in the Combo kit. Kit 70112X was the overtrees of the Fw 190A-8 with a different set of wings than those of the standard A-8. The “early version” only has the two wing root mounted Mg 151 cannons whereas the standard A-8 wing has an additional set of MG 151s mounted outboard of the wheel wells. As with all of Eduard’s overtree kits, this kit includes just the plastic parts for the Fw 190A-8, there is no photo etch, decals or instructions. The instructions are the easiest item to solve as Eduard posts all of its instructions on its website with the associated kits. I started out by printing off the directions for the… more |
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IRIS-TPublished:
The IRIS-T (infra-red imaging system - tail / thrust vector controlled) is a heat seeking missile developed by a consortium of European countries as a replacement for the AIM-9 Sidewinder. The program was led by Germany, but included other NATO countries such as Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Spain and the IRIS-T has been exported to several countries such as Austria, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. The IRIS-T became operational in 2005 and is carried on the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16 Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet, Tornado and the Gripen The set includes two complete IRIS-T missiles, 2 seeker covers and 2 sets of different launch rails – 2 LAU-129’s for the F-16 (and presumably the F-18, Eurofighter and Tornado) and 2 Lavett RB99’s for the Gripen. Each missile consists of 7… more |
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Su-24MR Mask SetPublished:
This set in designed for Trumpeter’s new Su-24MR “Fencer E” and includes masks for both the clear parts and the wheel hubs. The masks for the clear parts include two part masks for each of the canopy hatches which are nicely curved to match the contours of each hatch. They also include masks for the inner edges for each side of the windscreen, leaving the centers open to be filled in with liquid mask, or as I did with scrap masking from the edges of the set. There are also three small masks for the windows in the ventral strike camera fairing. All of the masks fit great and will make painting the clear parts much easier. I am going to see if I can reuse the hatch masks on the insides of the hatches by swapping sides with the masks after painting. The set includes masks for the… more |
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Fw-190 Wheels - EarlyPublished:
This set in designed as a replacement for the kit wheels and hubs of Eduard’s new 1/72 FW 190A series of kits. The set includes two resin wheels with the hubs integrally cast and a mask set for the wheels. When the wheels are removed from the casting block, Eduard’s careful planning comes to light as it turns out the attachment point is also a flattened area of the tire, establishing a realistic sit of the aircraft on the ground. While the tires are not bulged like some other replacement sets are, they really should not be in 1/72 scale as the tires are so small. I painted the tires Tamiya NATO black with flat black hubs to create some contrast between the two shades of black. The enclosed mask set includes masks for the tires, but instead I painted the hubs first and… more |
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Royal Class MiG-15 Quattro ComboPublished:
The MiG-15 turned out to be a nasty surprise for United Nations pilots when it first appeared in the skies over North Korea. While it and the F-86 Sabre shared many design features, they each had their strong points and weak points, that when used properly made them difficult adversaries. The MiG-15 became a symbol of Soviet prowess in the early 1950’s and was used by air forces all over the world, many of them serving into the 1980s or beyond. MiG-15s were not only built in the USSR, but also in Poland, Czechoslovakia and China. The Quattro Combo includes four separate kits, a MiG-15, two MiG-15bis’s, and a MiG-15UTI along with markings for 18 different aircraft (2 MiG-15s, 9 MiG-15bis’s and 7 MiG-15UTIs). As has become standard with Eduard’s Royal Class kits it also includes… more |
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M117 Bomb (late)Published:
The M117 is a general purpose 750 lb. (unguided) bomb used by the United States military starting in the 1950s and continuing up through Operation Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan. It was used extensively in the Vietnam War being carried by everything from F-100s, to F-111s, to B-52s. The bomb consists of a bomb body containing the explosives, one of several different tail assemblies and fuses. Eduard has issued three different M117 sets. This set represents the M117 with the later version of the low-drag tail assembly primarily for use in medium to high altitude deliveries. This version of the M117 was used in Operation Desert Storm when USAF B-52s dropped over 40,000 M117s. The set consists of six bomb bodies, six tail assemblies and three different types… more |