Thank you to the great folks at Hauler-Brengun for bringing a welcome and unique variant of the iconic Spitfire to the scale model world. Thank you also to the IPMS Reviewer Corps staff members who do the hard work in getting us kits to review.
Round 2 Model Company purchased the rights to the entire Lindberg line and they have been releasing selected kits gradually. In the past, “real modelers” disparaged the Lindberg Line as being inaccurate and simplistic, but these kits were never designed to be the be all and end all of accuracy, even at the time long ago when they were released. They were designed to generally represent the subject and do so in a kit that was easy to assemble and reasonably priced. By today’s standards, they are not what most ship modelers are looking for, however if you’ve got a youngster you’re trying to get involved in the hobby or maybe a Brownie or Cub Scout group, they would make great projects and teaching tools. Or, maybe you want to try out some new techniques. These kits would make great test beds for that.
Thanks to Eduard for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it to me!
This set vastly improves the appearance and detail of Revell’s 1/72 Halifax II and III; consisting of a ceiling section, individual frame elements and door inserts, with relief detail etched in place, it is well worth acquiring if you intend to build your Halifax with the bomb bay open.
Like many Eduard sets, This main fuselage bomb bay is not for the faint of heart; it requires patience, dexterity, skill, and a lot of luck to pull off a successful installation. Only the hard-core need apply; it is not a beginner set, but in the hands of practiced modelers, makes a huge impact on the final product.
Remember rule 1: Metal work-hardens every time you bend it. Breakage is a way of life… if you try to bend things more than once, you MIGHT get a second chance…
Thanks to Eduard for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it to me!
Early British bombers were designed with wing bomb bays; these have been overlooked in the past, but this set brings the mystery of this equipment out of the darkness and improves the appearance and detail of Revell’s 1/72 Halifax B III; Consisting of all the requisite improvements for the wing bomb bays, including bomb racks, doors, and mounting hardware.
This set is simple to use; Revell provides convenient guides on the inside of the lower wing sections to make it easy to remove the closed kit doors; use a straight edge and #11 blade to do so. I used thick superglue to attach everything on this set.
A bit of simple folding is required for the bomb interior frames, just be careful of alignment while the glue dries and don’t push them too far out past the exterior of the wing. Take your time, and everything fits.
This is a single media kit comprised of 85+ styrene parts, DS tracks, no photo etched parts fret, and a standard set of instructions, they need to be reviewed very carefully before gluing any parts together.
Thanks to Eduard for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it to me!
This set vastly improves the appearance and detail of Revell’s 1/72 halifax B III. The kit consists of all the requisite improvements for the forward crew section on the Halifax: a new pilot seat, seat harnesses, instrument/control panels, engine throttles and control levers, radio and bulkhead details, and sidewall details.
This set is simple to use and improves the kit cockpit with little fuss. The parts are not self-adhesive, so there is a need to use your favorite cement/glue to attach things. I use Gator Loups’ polyurethane “Gator glue” for the instrument lamentations, and superglue to attach everything else.
Honestly until I built an Eduard Fulmar last year I didn’t know about the distinctive design of the British landing light. Now, if you are so inclined to add a great scale detail to your British aircraft look no further. Brengun has a wonderful set of photoetched landing lights for most any 1/48 British subject.
If you are building any of the host of Russian military trucks from the Great War, you may find yourself mumbling at the rather iffy rubber tires frequently included with the kits. Although a number of manufacturers have come out with really excellent kits of these workhorses of the Soviet Army, the tires included seem to be a regular stumbling block.
MiniArt has addressed this problem with a series of new detail sets that create beautifully detailed renditions to replace the soft tires included with most of these kits. This set, for instance, not only provides 12 complete tires, but the various hubs, bolts and brake drums needed as well. Each tire itself is composed of five individual “wafers” that when assembled create a realistic and detailed tread pattern. Finely molded manufacturer’s logos are included, of course.
Created as a joint project between corporate partners Porsche and Volkswagen, the 914-6 hit the US market badged as a Porsche. It could have been called a Volkswagen, and in Europe, it was!!!! Produced in two mid-engine versions; a woefully underpowered four cylinder (-4) and six cylinder (-6). Each manufacturer had reservations about both versions. Designed to replace the entry level 912, it became the leading seller in the Porsche stable, the -6 version costing nearly as much as the 911!! The 914 was highly visible both on the road and on the track. I chose to build my sample as the stock version.
Molded in White Plastic, with one sprue of chrome plated parts, some clear parts and four vinyl tires the kit consists of 70 parts. Parts for both the street stock and racing version are included. Instructions and a sheet of decals complete the kit.
The Somme by Richard Van Emden was originally published in England by Pen and Sword as a hard cover book on May 24, 2016 and a soft cover on June 6, 2016. Casemate released this soft cover edition on August 19, 2016.
London resident Richard van Emden has written profusely on the subject on World War One. He worked as a journalist after graduating from Newcastle University in 1988. He books focus on World War I and include: Tickled to Death to Go, Prisoners of the Kaiser, The Trench, Sapper Martin, Last Man Standing, Britain’s Last Tommies, Famous, Veterans, Boy Soldiers of the Great War, The Soldier’s War, and Tommy’s Ark. He has interviewed over 270 veterans of the Great War and many of those interviews are used in this book. Richard Van Emden also is heavily involved in television programs about The Great War and includes Veterans, Roses of No Man’s Land, The Boy Soldiers of the Great War, and The Real War Horse.
