Upon opening the kit I found the plastic to be delicately molded in an easy to paint light grey styrene with fair detail for a model its scale and size. The parts count is rather high because many of the details are molded as fine separate niceties. Very small (less than an 1/8th inch) parts such as the masks, life rafts, antenna, and supports are molded in this fine plastic and make use of magnifying devices necessary.

Parts count:

Thank you to Freedom Model Kits for providing a review copy of an excellent new release of a very unusual aircraft. Thank you to the many Reviewer Corps people who make the IPMS review system work. It is a continuing honor and privilege to be part of the team.

This first release from a new company is a welcome addition to UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) subjects in the scale model world. Freedom Model Kits (FMK) maintains an excellent Facebook presence (see the vendor link above), hosting much good information including corrections, and they set a very high standard with their first offering. I thoroughly enjoyed building this kit for review. The part fit is excellent, construction is very straightforward, and a very nice model may be produced directly out of the box. The model compares well to public domain published literature and internet sources.

Master Model, maker of fantastic turned-metal details, has released a new set of 1/72 probes for the RA-5C Vigilante. The Vietnam-era RA-5C, a supersonic nuclear bomber turned capable reconnaissance aircraft, features a prominent pitot tube with multiple diameter changes along its length. Master’s set includes both the complicated pitot tube and an AOA (angle of attack) probe. The set can be used on any 1/72 RA-5C kit, and should be an outstanding upgrade. In this review, I’ve compared the parts to the Trumpeter kit.