Background

The M48 tank was the third in a series named for the famous WW2 US general, George Patton. The first two were the M46 and M47 Patton tanks, and the M48, though looking similar to its immediate predecessor, the M47, was in fact a completely new design. It incorporated a 90mm main gun, and had a cast steel hull and turret, which was much more rounded than its predecessors, thus offering superior ballistic properties. Initial variants of the M48 had gasoline powered engines, but these proved to be poor performers, and so the M48A3 introduced a better performing diesel engine. Production of the M48 lasted from 1952 until 1959, with a total of just over 11,700 vehicles manufactured.

This set includes seven replacement pieces for the landing gear on Academy’s F-8 Crusader. There are three parts for the nose gear including the retraction brace and the main strut and two parts for each of the main gear. The parts are designed to be drop-in replacements for the kit parts.

The first step is to remove the casting seams of each of the parts. I use a small wire brush in my portable Dremel tool at low speed, to polish up the parts and remove these seams. I prefer to do the cleanup before I detach the smaller parts from the casting tree as it is much easier to handle them while they are still on the tree, plus they are much less likely to bend or go flying when they are still attached.

Likelike Decals from Japan just released a few new sheets, and this one covers the P-51 Mustang.