With many of the new kits coming out, there have been a few excellent mechanic figures included, either in the kits or as aftermarket. It never occurred to me until this release that what was missing was a tool chest. A mechanic needs his tools, doesn’t he? Aerobonus to the rescue with a rolling 9-drawer tools chest which has the Snap On logo, too.

The kit is simplicity itself, with the main tool chest being a single part only needing the casting block sanded off. The four wheels and a handle are on a single sprue and easily detached and added. The color is Snap On Red and is close to insignia red, which I used. The silver parts were painted and then touched up, and I also distressed the kit a little with some scrapes and scratches here and there. The decal sheet contains a part number and the Snap On logo. There are also labels for each of the drawers if you choose to use them. I flat-coated the kit and touched up the silver with a silver pencil.

Aires has continued its releases for the Roden T-28 family with a wheel well set. Included in the set are 9 large resin pieces in the standard firm gray Aires resin, and also a small fret of retractions parts which has around a dozen pieces. There is no photoetch with this set.

The first thing to note is that this set gives you ALL the replacement landing gear doors – 9 in total, which are superbly thin and have great structure on their insides. The kit doors have some roughness that the Aires set does not.

The front and rear wheel wells have much more detail than the kit parts, with better framing and detail. The big difference for me in this set is that the kit has some really tough-to-fix ejection pin marks, and the resin does not have any at all. Between the detail and no ejection marks, that is a great start to recommending this kit.

Heavy, appreciative thanks to Ross at SAC for providing IPMS USA this review set. And to think I volunteer to do these reviews… what a cool way to practice the hobby!

This set is one of SAC’s more simple upgrades. The Hasegawa B-47 is at least 45 years old as a kit (I believe 1968), and is still the only game in town if you want to build one in 1/72nd scale. Shape is spot-on, the wheel wells and bomb bay are potential superdetail areas (as the basic structure is there), and the overall presence is almost perfect. Recent upgrades from a certain Polish resin maker include new engine nacelles, a new, more detailed cockpit, and a new canopy (which is too flat and thick on the original model). A LOT of weight!

This means one heavy bird for the landing gear to handle. The mains can take it, but from personal experience the outrigger gear will snap off. Will is the key word…