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Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$8.00

A perfect addition to your diorama or display base is this Aires Aerobonus figure. This WWI era German or Austro-Hungarian Aircraft Mechanic is carrying a replacement propeller. Aires Aerobonus provides a resin propeller along with a figure with separate arms and head on one pour stub with side bars to protect the figure. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that Quickboost uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. The supplied instructions provide color drawings for painting.

Review Author
Steve Collins
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions is known for making replacement landing gear for a wide variety of kits in virtually every scale in which model aircraft are available. This set is designed to replace the plastic gear in the Academy F-35A kit. The packaging says it’s for F-35A/B, but Academy doesn’t do an F-35B yet. The only F-35B kit in 1/72 that I know of currently is the Fujimi kit and these landing gear are a bit shorter and less beefy than the ones in that kit. Perhaps the guys at SAC know something we don’t.

The set includes both main gear legs and the nose gear with their separate retraction struts. The struts are very sturdy and are made to be drop-in replacements for the kit parts. The parts require very little clean up, though some parts do occasionally become a bit bent during shipping. No worries there, though, since they are very easily straightened. Recommended, especially if you want landing gear that are sturdier than the kit ones.

Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$7.95

This is a mask set for the Airfix Grumman F4F-4 kit recently issued by Hornby-Airfix. It consists of a small sheet of yellow masking paper die cut so that the parts required can be easily removed without damage and applied to the areas to be masked. These include the clear glass areas of the cockpit canopy and the armpit windows below the wing. They fit exactly, and should quicken the painting process.

Recommendation

These are worth getting, and would be useful on the Hasegawa and Hobby Boss kits as well.

Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$9.95

This photoetched sheet provides a lot of detailed parts for the interior of the Airfix F4F-4 Wildcat kit. A total of 18 parts are provided on a sheet measuring about 2 inches by 1 ½ inches, which should tell you that some of the parts are extremely small. An instrument panel, metal pilot’s seat, and side panel details are included. In addition, some details are provided for the aircraft’s firewall, which can be seen behind the landing gear structure. There is a lot included here, and these will add to the detail if you are trying to super-detail the cockpit. Very detailed instructions are provided, which tell what parts to remove and replace with the PE parts. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully.

Recommendations

This set is highly recommended for adding additional detail to the cockpit of your Airfix F4F-4. It would also be useful in adding details to other F4F kits.

Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$73,538.00

This is a much more extensive set of PE details for the Airfix F4F-4 kit, and actually includes both the larger sheet and the smaller #SS538 PE sheet which has the cockpit details. In addition, the much larger PE sheet provides parts to construct more detailed wings, including flaps and sections of the folded wings. Some of the inner details for the wings in the folded position are provided, and they look excellent. Also, a new firewall is provided, and some details for it. A set of bomb racks and shackles is also on the sheet. The parts are relatively easy to prepare for assembly, but some careful trimming is required, and I would suggest using some pretty sophisticated magnification equipment, as these parts are pretty small and assembly is tedious. If you want to display your model with the flaps in the “down” position, this set will fill the bill.

However, there is a major philosophical problem here. The PE SHEET provides two sets of flaps,