Tamiya’s 1/72^nd scale IL-2 Stormovik kit is a great looking kit with fine details. But, as usual, there are always ways to improve. This new item from Quickboost is a direct replacement for the exhausts in the kit. The advantage is they are hollowed out so you don’t have to try and attempt that yourself.

Clean up is simple to remove them from the resin backing so no instructions are provided.

All in all a quick and simple replacement that will add that extra bit of detail to your IL-2.

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review kit.

During World War 2 the Russians created a large number of flamethrower-equipped vehicles, useful for burning Germans out of strongpoints. Some of them replaced a turret or hull machine gun position with the weapon. Others, such as the OT-130, replaced the main gun itself and made this a dedicated flame thrower tank.

Like the original vehicle itself, Hobby Boss’ OT-130 tank is a modification of the tried-and-true T-26, which by this time in the war had outlived its usefulness as a main battle tank. The 45mm main gun was removed and replaced with a flamethrower unit and its appropriate internal tankage. The kit itself features over 900 parts including two sheets of photoetch and seeming hundreds of tiny pins used to assemble the workable tracks. There is no interior provided, although all of the crew hatches do open. No figures are provided with the kit, although it comes with a clear lens for the headlight.

The Revell 1/25 scale “Jungle Jim” Rail Dragster is a re-release of a series of dragsters produced in the mid-1970s. This particular kit represents a car driven by “Jungle” Jim Liberman. If forum comments are correct, this is not a representation of any specific car or race, but rather a generic representation of one of his cars. If you want to build something specific, a bit of research will likely be necessary.

The kit comes in Revell’s typical 9” x 7” model box, where you’ll find four sprues of white plastic, one chrome sprue, one black sprue with the rear tires, and a vinyl-type sprue for the front tires.

The largest sprue contains the dragster’s body, seat, and wings. There are some heavy ejection pin marks, but fortunately they are on sides that are not visible. I didn’t notice any sinking on the visible sides, so the parts shouldn’t require much cleanup.