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LST Landing Ship Tank
Review Author
Ron Verburg
Published on
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/245
MSRP
$21.99

History

The LST (Landing Ship Tank) was developed during World War II. Despite its size, the LST had a very shallow draft allowing it to load and unload on shore and at low tide without docking which was essential during the D-Day invasion. The power was provided by diesel engines driving two shafts and propellers. Speed was around 9 knots.

Kit

The kit is produced by Round 2 Models, a well-known company who bought the Lindberg Line and is re-issuing the kits in very colorful packaging. The box art work in outstanding! The scene depicts marines landing on a pacific island under fire while in the air Corsairs are shooting down Japanese Aircraft. Great art work worth framing but these ships were used mostly in the European Theater of Operation.

Box Art

Arado 234b
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Fly Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$95.00

First, welcome to FLY models and thanks very much for sending us this great kit to review… and to the IPMS USA review corps leadership for sending this kit and the landing gear accessory to the crazy builder in Oklahoma…

I purposely did not open any other review commentary on the new Fly Arado 234B-2/B-2N kit… my impression was to be that of someone who just invested in a new company and wondered how it was going to come out.

To the people at FLY… You need not worry; this is one magnificent effort and I’m VERY impressed!

Box Art

M4A1 Sherman Profipack
Review Author
Chris Gibson
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$74.95

I want to start by saying I don’t model much armor, this is only my third armor model completed, but I definitely will be building more.

Eduard has come up with a great kit which uses the Tasca molds for the Sherman tank and made it better with its Profi-pack. The basic kit is molded in olive drab green and comes on 14 parts trees plus a small clear parts tree and four sections of rubber tracks. It also has a nice set of photo etch parts and decals for four different subjects. The instruction booklet is pretty clear and concise and the illustrations are sharp.

Box Art

Lavochkin LA-7 (Weekend Edition) with PE Parts and Masks
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$16.95

History

The Lavochkin La-7 was a logical development of the highly successful radial engine fighter, the La-5, which was itself an improved LaGG-3 all wood fighter which, while having reasonable performance, was not satisfactory as a first line fighter at the beginning of the “Great Patriotic War”, as the Russians designated World War II. While the LA-5 went through numerous changes during its production life, it became obvious that the 1820 hp. Ash-82FN radial engine had reached its development peak, and that there was no suitable replacement for this engine, as the Ash-71F radial of 2200 hp. was unreliable and unsuitable for service use. Therefore, the Lavochkin Design Bureau decided to upgrade the basic La-5 design, making aerodynamic refinements on a prototype designated La-5 (206) which included a new cowling, oil cooler location, supercharger intake, exhaust cover outlet, and radio mast shape.

Package

Metal Landing Gear for the HK Gloster Meteor
Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$22.95

Many thanks to Mr. Ross MacMillan of Scale Aircraft Conversions and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to try this neat conversion and replacement set for the Hong Kong Models Gloster Meteor. I am delighted to report on another sweet add-on and upgrade.

The 9 white-metal parts arrived in a blister pack, backed by the distinctive SAC company logo. The heft of the parts is very noticeable. All parts are free of sprues with the exception of the main mount retractors. The parts require very little buffing, cleanup and polishing. The SAC gear struts directly replace the Meteor kit parts. The main mount parts and nose strut parts attached to the kit fuselage with no difficulty, even as a refit or upgrade to an existing kit. Kit parts that are replaced by SAC parts are C1, C2, C8, C11, C12, C13, C14, C17 and C18. No replacement is provided for C9 AND C10, but no replacement appears to be needed.

Package contents

404 Squadron Beaufighters: Black Friday Plus
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Aviaeology
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$10.00

For any who have missed it, Aviaeology is a company out of Canada producing decals specific to many Canadian themed subjects. This set of for 404 Squadron Beaufighters and comes in all scales but this the 1/72nd version. The first thing that hits you when you purchase one of their sets is the detail provided to replicate specific aircraft. The research going into these decals is second to none. This set includes markings for twelve different aircraft in a variety of schemes. Here’s a quick list:

Package

Venturas in Canada 1
Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Aviaeology
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.79

Venturas in Canada pt.1 provides complete markings for ten individual Venturas of various marks, and most of the markings necessary for an eleventh subject (Ventura B.II AJ430 as a ski test aircraft) are also included. This decal set depicts training aircraft, test machines, and some early US Navy ‘visitors’ to Canada. The 8-page instruction booklet included in the set explains subject selection was focused on variety as well as available reference photographs.

The instructions describe decal application, placement instructions, provide illustrations with painting instructions for all subject aircraft, plus a number of black and white reference photographs. Information in this set's documentation includes the early-production B.II / B.IIA cockpit canopy variation, detail items on ski test aircraft, ASV radar anti-submarine warfare test aircraft, and information on rare US NAvy PV-3 interim ASW aircraft.

The following aircraft are covered:

Package

A-4N Wings of Wittmund
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Twobobs Aviation Graphics
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$14.00

Bob Sanchez and TwoBobs latest release is beautiful set of markings for the Hasegawa A-4N, which covers planes from Wittmund Germany owned by BAE systems. Curious about that? No problem- Twobobs has the following history included:

"BAE Systems operates (6) ex-Israeli Air Force A-4N aircraft in Wittmund, Germany. These aircraft fly tow banner, Ground Control Intercept and Close Air Support training missions in support of NATO in Europe."

There even more explanation on the decals sheet. The sheet contains markings for four white painted planes with numbers N431FS, N432FS, N434FS and N437FS. Markings are included to allow the making of two planes that look great in all white and their colorful markings.

Box Top

Vought F4U-1A Corsair
Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$213.00

Thank you to Tamiya, Inc. for providing this wonderful kit for review and to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to document my build experiences. The sharing of this review with the scale modeling community would not be possible without the exceptional support of the IPMS Reviewer Corps. Thank you everyone!

Summary

The F4U Corsair needs no introduction as one of the iconic naval fighter-bomber aircraft of World War II and Korea, primarily operated by the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps. A list of publications I found useful during this build may be found following this review. The kit is very well-researched, with numerous subtle part choices to allow one of three variants to be completed with either folded or extended wings.