Tools-You can never have enough. You don’t need it until you need it. With the return of Squadron they are developing their own line of modeling products. In this case it is high quality sprue cutters. Squadron has developed THREE different types of sprue cutters, each for a specific purpose.

For this review, let’s look at the top of the line, the High Precision Sprue Cutter, Stock # 12103. This particular cutter comes in a vacuformed sleeve with a cardboard backing. Inside of the sleeve are obviously the cutters but also a quality leather pouch that protects the cutting surfaces when not in use. It is even labelled with the cool Squadron logo.

I enjoy taking older kits and finding ways to spruce them up – sand off the raised lines and engrave them, add rivets, make corrections or add missing parts, etc. When I saw these Yahu Models instrument panels, I had to give them a try!

I secured instrument panels for three different subjects – an F4F-4, a P-51 B/C, and a P-40 (N-20/N-40 Late). The F4F and P-51 panels were designed for Arma Hobby kits, and the P-40 for the Special Hobby kit. My experience with Arma Hobby kits led me to believe they probably wouldn’t be needed, especially if you are going to build with a closed canopy, and Special Hobby kits often include upgrades for items like this. My habit is to find items like these to spruce up older, less detailed kits. So, I pulled two Hasegawa kits (P-51 B and P-40 N) out of my stash, along with an Academy F4F. Both of the Hasegawa kits had a basic blank clump of styrene to lay a decal on, and the Academy kit had nothing.

Number 43 in Helion’s Europe @ War Series details three early months of the Ukraine-Russia War, March-June 2022

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