This is part 4 of our long review of Eduard PE parts for the HK B-17 kit. The usual thanks to Eduard for providing us these sets…

The radio compartment on the B-17 had a large clear panel over it. On earlier aircraft, including some “G”s, the cover would drop down and slide forward, providing an emergency exit in case of ditching or belly landing, and was also provided with provision for a .50 caliber hand-serviced weapon. On later “G”,s such as the HK kit, this window could be removed, but was fixed in place, along with a standard “through the plexiglas” gun mount for the gun. Made for a much-less windy situation for the crew at -60 degrees below farenheit wind chill…

For those of you who haven't seen them, SAM Publications has a series of books they call Datafile which are devoted to a particular aircraft and also have a modeling section. The newest one is No. 19 and deals with the General Dynamics F-111 series. There are 12 chapters dealing with all things Aardvark. The chapters are listed below:

Included with this review

• Scale Aircraft Conversions - Vampire/Sea Vampire Landing Gear (2 sets) ; Stock #: 72069, MSRP: $13.95

Cyber-Hobby’s Sea Vampire kit is a variant based on their Vampire FB.5 kit, with the inclusion of additional parts unique to the carrier-capable version. All parts are beautifully molded and the engraved panel lines are sharp and precise. (See Parts photo) The use of slide molding allows a huge amount of depth in the parts, which shows up in the hollow tail booms and underwing fuel tanks. The kit gives the builder the option of retracted or extended gear, open or closed canopy, and raised or lowered flaps. The heart of the aircraft consists of an upper and lower half, which makes up the fuselage and wings. Sprue gates for several parts are on the inner mating surfaces so when they’re trimmed off there’s no danger of marring the surface detail.