Master Model produces finely crafted small detail parts for models which have been damaged or may be subject to rough handling. Their collection of antennas and pitot tubes are invaluable for the modeler whose friends (or former friends) handle models less than carefully. There’s a picture below. This particular set is the guns for a Spitfire IXe.

The Spitfire IXe had a pair of 20mm cannons in the wing. These had been moved outboard to allow more ammunition for the Browning .50 caliber machine guns. The cannons stuck pretty far out from the wing, but the Brownings barely showed. The “fix” for the Brownings was to put the muzzle inside a tube which extended from the wing.

Model Art Modeling Magazine is an excellent periodical from Japan providing an abundance of modeling subjects in each issue. It doesn’t matter what your modeling focus is, each issue will provide something of interest for you, and more than likely, you’ll find something interesting that you didn’t know you would.

Although the magazine is published entirely in Japanese, the quality of the photos in each issue is really amazing, and goes a long way in telling the story. There are plenty of “work in progress” and “how it was built” photos highlighting the tools, materials, and techniques used by the master builders. These photo guides go a long way in explaining the builds visually, although I’m sure some details are missed without a proper translation. In fact, the photography is so good, even the advertisements were interesting. I found myself perusing the advertisements almost as much as the work in progress photos.

Bronco’s 1/35^th scale model of the Horsa Glider Mk. 1 is quite an impressive model, as anyone who has built it will tell you. They may also mention that the landing gear of this kit is fairly fragile, as it’s obliged to hold up a fair amount of weight on this over two-foot long kit.

Scale Aircraft Conversions have come to the rescue with a very nice set of white metal parts which are direct replacements for all of the landing gear components including the front fork. The only thing not reproduced is the skid itself.

As you might expect, these are stronger for the most part than the styrene items included in the kit, and should assist in keeping your model from “drooping” over time – something I’ve been a bit concerned about with my own copy.