Ever wonder what kind of condition your airbrush needles or nozzles are really in? It’s tough to tell without some magnification help (more than your garden-variety optivisor) and some good lighting. As part of its expanding line of cleaning accessories, Iwata has introduced a 30/60X magnifier with LED lighting to provide a one-tool solution to satisfy that need.

Although my sample’s internal switch was a bit touchy (had to jiggle the assembly a bit to get it to stay on), the quality of the test subject images was exceptional at 30X and 60X under both the white and the blue lights.

Upon concluding my tests, I took a couple of minutes to determine battery type and accessibility. After disassembling the outer case (snap fit), it was apparent that the batteries were of the wrist-watch variety and could be accessed by removing 4 tiny phillips-head screws from the inner case.

Check the “What’s in the Box” prequel to this build review.

The Academy family of F-4 Phantoms are impressive kits. I absolutely love them. They are very detailed, but as always there is room for improvement. Enter Quickboost.

Packaged in typical Quickboost bottom opening package with a cardboard stiffener. Two pour stubs of light grey resin hold eight resin pieces that are blemish free. They contain beautiful detail on both sides. They are easy enough to remove from the pour blocks and are direct replacements for the kit parts.