Reviews

Review Author
Mark Costello
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
MSRP
$33.00

From the kit's Hasegawa web page:

Returning to roost

Moving the space shuttle is one jumbo task, fortunately, the eggheads of Boeing hatched the B747-one of the largest commercial aircraft ever to spread its wings. The bigger birds made dozens of flights yoked together with the shuttles. Had the shuttles scrambled on their own, they would have risked frying their engines or cracking flight surfaces. After the space shuttle program was put on the shelf, the 747s ovoided their due date by serving the shuttles to their final roosting places. Limited edition kit features a shuttle carrier and shuttle with decals for Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$7.00

Master Model from Poland specializes in metal turned parts for aftermarket kits. In my personal option they are among the best in the market. I really like their products.

This set is devoted to the USN 16in/45 Mark 1 cannons (with blast bags) and it includes a set of 8 metal barrel which is very nicely detailed down to the holes on the end of the barrels. It can be used for the USS Colorado, USS Maryland and USS West Virginia.

The instruction sheet clearly describes where to cut and how to modify the plastic part to receive the aftermarket detail part. It is a very easy task and any modeler with a bit of experience modifying parts will run into no problems.

This aftermarket set will enhance the looks of your finished model.

Recommended to the average modeler due to the need to replace plastic parts.

I would like to thank Master Model Poland and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$14.50

Hauler Brengun offers a variety of aftermarket detail sets for 1/35 scale. Set #HLU35076 1/72 provides the components necessary to assemble two steel containers used in factories to store and transport any manner of manufactured parts, castings, subassemblies, etc. They would be useful as details for dioramas of industrial models.

This set includes two resin castings of the bodies of the containers and enough parts on a single brass photo-etch fret that provides the parts to assemble the 4 corner posts with lifting lugs (see the photo below). The parts are packaged in a clear pouch stapled to a card to protect the resin parts and fret. An instruction sheet is included showing how and where the components are installed. The detail in this set is very crisp.

Book Author(s)
Mick Davis, Philip Jarrett, Norman Franks,
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Cross & Cockade International
MSRP
$37.67

This is Cross & Cockade International’s fourth book in their series of WW1 aircraft. The first was Nieuports in RNAS, RFC and RAF Service (2007). The second was the Royal Aircraft Factory Fe2b/d and Variants (2009). Somehow the third (Although still yet to be published) will cover the Airco DH 2.

This tome was developed in cooperation with the Royal Air Force Museum and it shows. Many of the some 300 plus B&W photos and details were pulled from the archives of the museum where they are nicely reproduced on the slick paper of this monograph. The front and back covers, as well as the inside covers feature six color paintings of Dolphins in action. The final chapter on the RAF Museum’s restoration of a composite Dolphin (now C3988 at Hendon) alone has nearly fifty color photographs.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$12.95

A bit of explanation here. I try to do full-build reviews with photos taken through most of the process. When I hooked my memory card into the USB port on my computer, it said, “there are no files”. And there weren’t. It had erased my photos, so all my pictures are GONE. It did the same to another memory card. I am quite unhappy.

On with the review.

Scale Aircraft Conversions does white metal landing gear for a lot of aircraft kits. Some are necessary because the kit parts aren’t correct. Some you need because the plastic kit parts aren’t strong enough to hold the model. And then there’s this case. I finished the Victor kit, and it was a tail sitter. OK, I glued it to a piece of foamcore board, and the glue held the nose down. When the opportunity came to get the SAC gear, I jumped at the chance.

Review Author
John Noack
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.95

I was in the midst of building Hasegawa's 1/72 F-14A Tomcat when a new list of review items came out and SAC's gear for the mighty 'Cat was one of the available goodies. Having already done some work on the kit landing gear, it provided a great opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison.

SAC's gear come in an attractive clear bubble/card packaging emblazoned with the (USAF) SAC logo. I opened the package, removed a small amount of flashing from the 3 white metal parts, and went immediately to paint – flat white as a primer coat followed by gloss white out of a rattle can. Score one point for SAC, as I had spent a lot of time with needle files, blades and sandpaper removing a whole lotta flash from the kit parts (this is a theme that will repeat in the kit review).

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Airfix
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$34.99

In 2014, Airfix tooled a new 1/72 scale Douglas C-47 Skytrain (or Dakota as it is know in the UK) that virtually eclipses Airfx original C-47 kit that was introduced in 1960 and released in various forms eleven times since then. The new kit is superior in all respects (with maybe two exceptions, which will be explained further on) and clearly demonstrates the strides Airfix has made in improving the detail and accuracy of their recent offerings.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$7.00

Master Model from Poland specializes in metal turned parts for aftermarket kits. In my personal option they are among the best in the market. I really like their products.

This set is devoted to the USN 16in/45 Mark 1 cannons (without blast bags) and it includes a set of 8 metal barrel which is very nicely detailed down to the holes on the end of the barrels. It can be used for the USS Colorado, USS Maryland and USS West Virginia

The instruction sheet clearly describes where to cut and how to modify the plastic part to receive the aftermarket detail part. It is a very easy task and any modeler with a bit of experience modifying parts will run into no problems.

This aftermarket set will enhance the looks of your finished model.

Recommended to the average modeler due to the need to replace plastic parts.

I would like to thank Master Model Poland and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$21.00

Master Model from Poland specializes in metal turned parts for aftermarket kits. In my personal option they are among the best in the market. I really like their products.

This set is devoted to the HMS Belfast and it includes a set of 12 replacement metal barrels for the 6-in guns and a set of 12 replacement metal barrels for the 4-in guns. The parts are very nicely detailed down to the holes on the end of the barrels. It also includes resin correction parts for the 6-in mountings, including some metal pins to keep the parts in place and to allow variable elevation of the guns.

I have to apologize for not being able to get good pictures of all the parts. They are so diminutive that my camera was not able to focus on them. I have included some screen captures from the manufacturer website in this review.

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
Pavla Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$3.53

If you are looking to improve the appearance of the nose on your 1/72 scale EMHAR F-3H Demon, I would direct your attention to this new release from Pavla Models. Recommended for the EMHAR kit released in 1991, this replacement nose is a clear advancement over the old plastic nose provided in the kit. Modelers with some experience in using resin parts should have no issues with utilizing this part.

As I stated in another recent review, from my perspective, Pavla Models continues to quietly add new items to their product lines in order to add detail to existing kits; many of these lines are intended for aircraft modelers, but there are some AFV items as well. Pavla Models provides replacement canopies that are vacuum-formed as well as cockpit sets, ejection seats, and general detail sets for aircraft.