Reviews

Review Author
Randy Robinson
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$19.95

From the instruction sheet-“This glass-bodied sleeper patterned after a ’60 Chevy panel truck looks like a clean semi-custom…” Designed by Tom Daniel it is a pro-street style custom wagon. Tom Daniel was prolific designer of wild customs; over 75 of his designs were made into scale models.

The kit consists of 72 parts molded in orange and transparent red with chrome-plated parts and four soft rubber tires. The instruction sheet is simple and easy to follow with clear drawings and part numbers as well as paint callouts.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Plusmodel
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$16.99

Plus Model out of Czechoslovakia continues to add to its list of quality aftermarket and modeling supply products; this time with a package of wooden (yes wooden!) warning signs identifying an active mine field – perfect for a diorama, or even amongst a pile of detritus found in the back of a Maultier.

The package contains enough material to create 30 signs of two different styles. The signs and their posts are made from soft, laser-cut wood that look terrific.

The parts are protected in a sturdy plastic sleeve to prevent damage in shipping, and can easily be removed from their wooden ‘sprues’ using a hobby knife. Once clipped and touched with a sanding stick, they can be assembled using white glue or any other adhesive suitable for gluing wood.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Bronco Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$15.99

Bronco Models is well-known for producing some of the finest after-market track sets available. Chances are, if there is not already a Bronco after-market track set made for whatever you are working on, one will be available soon. Such was the case for their recently released T84E1 M-47 track, which I have been waiting for ever since my Italeri M-47 ‘rubber-band’ style tracks split, and then split again, soon after I placed the completed model in my display case.

This is my first foray into building Bronco tracks and I went in knowing their reputation for being both excellent and challenging to assemble. Opening the box, however, I soon realized that these tracks would take even more time than I thought to bring together - too much time, in fact, for me to complete a set for this review. Instead, I decided to put several links together to explore the process and pass on what I learned along the way.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$60.00

Hasegawa has re-released their 1/48 F-2A, this time as a “Detail Up” Limited Edition, with photoetch parts. The detail set includes seatbelts, landing gear wiring and some details for the underwing pylon stations and air discharging cones in the wings/tail section.

When opening the box you find 12 sprues for a total of 179 pieces. Typical of Hasegawa the underwing stores include drop tanks and, as a nice surprise, some air-to-air missiles (AAM-3, I’ve believe). This boxing has regular Hasegawa printed decals for 3 different versions of the F-2A in Japanese service.

Construction starts with the cockpit and with the air intake. Both subassemblies have good fit and decent detail, but probably the cockpit instrument panel could use a PE replacement, even more considering how visible it is under the clear bubble canopy. I wished the PE fret would have included some instrument panel detail.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$17.00

Way back when, I built the Airfix 1/72 MiG-15. I was more than happy to get Eduard’s new Weekend MiG-15, because it’s a far superior kit. So this review is going to tell you the wonderful things about this kit. But because it’s a review, there will be a couple of things that could use improvement.

Since it’s a weekend kit, there is no photo etch or additional detail parts. On the other hand, the seat, cockpit and canopy are all super examples of what can be done in a 21st Century kit. I also cheated some and painted the external parts with Testors Metalizer Aluminum. As it turned out, I could have saved the trouble, because most of it rubbed off during handling.

Review Author
Tom Moon
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$64.99

This is a multimedia kit comprised of 470+ styrene parts on 24 sprues, DS tracks, two small photo etched fret, decals and the set of instructions that need to be reviewed very carefully before gluing any parts together. The DS tracks have no shape or sag. I have tried to introduce this shape by using the Hobby Trax forms. Generally I was successful, but if your model is to be shown in a contest, I suggest that you replace the tracks with individual links (magic tracks or Fruil).

Most Dragon models today are a collection of old sprues and new sprues added to create a new kit variant. In this case, Dragon has done so and you will have some sprues with the same letter but are called out by the color (see Sprues Blue A & L).

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Iwata Medea
MSRP
$28.95

For many modelers the airbrush is one of the most significant tools that they possess, and it can also be one of the most finicky tools. If not kept clean then the airbrush will not provide the “quality” paint job for which it was purchased in the first place. We all have our accessories for cleaning these devices and I found a “cleaning set” by Iwata that combines a number of these tools into one package. Don’t tell the Iwata folks but I also use a Grex, a Badger, and a Passche, and I’ve found that the Iwata Cleaning Kit works on all of the airbrushes.

The price varies from around $20 to $28.95, the former being a “sale” price and the later being the MSRP. Do some shopping and you’ll find a low price. Also be aware that these items are popular and it is not uncommon to find them “out of stock”.

Inside the plastic box are some items that you’ll recognize and some that you won’t, so let’s look at each item and its purpose.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Master Box Ltd
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$39.99

Master Box continues to surprise with interesting vignettes, all in one package. This set includes their Type 170 German staff car and five figures – two US Paratroopers and a civilian family. The US officer is consulting with the father in the family to determine where he’s going, and the child has squirmed out of his mother’s arms to get a closer look at the fascinating soldiers. I was attracted to his model from the moment I saw it – anything about the lighter side of warfare appeals to me anyway, and Master Box had come up with something really interesting.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Special Hobby
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$73.50

Special Hobby provided this kit to IPMS in August, 2013. “Real life” intervened and the original reviewer thought it best to return the item so another reviewer volunteer to take on the review. That process began in mid-October, 2014 and the kit was completed in mid-December, 2014.

Instruction Sheet

Error – Page 13, Shows two part “PUR 13”s. The upper illustration (Step 20) uses two arrows to indicate the correct placement of two rear-facing machine gun barrels. These barrels are centered on a small ridge formed by the trailing edge of the cowl where it fairs into the upper wing skin. The arrow showing the placement of the port-side barrel is in error. Both barrels should be centered on the aforementioned “ridge” on both the starboard and port sides. Further, machine guns were not installed on the “B” version but were installed on the “C” version according to “Warplanes of the Third Reich”.

Review Author
Chad Richmond
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$26.50

Many of us have waited a long time for a quality kit of the Kfir, and Kinetic released a very fine example about a year ago. Though the kit is very detailed, of course there is always room for improvement and embellishment, so Aires has come up with a couple of offerings for this kit. One of these is a very nice set of highly detailed main and nose gear wheel wells. All together there are fifteen exquisitely detailed parts that include new doors and actuators for each of the wells. Both the main gear well and nose gear well include all of the plumbing that is inherent in those wells.