So how do you upgrade Revell’s beautiful new PV-1 Ventura? Well, one of the areas on the kit that isn’t bad but could use some love is the wheel wells and landing gear doors. Eduard has come out with two very nice PE sheets in this set to upgrade the kit.

The frets address the main gear wells with replacement parts, added sidewall detail, and improved bulkheads. There are added covers and hooks not present in the kit, and all is relief-etched for a great look. One excellent thing they did was to have the main piece slide over the kit’s normal attachment points for the landing gear so you are still attaching the plastic to plastic for a nice, firm grip. One other point to note is that there is very little sanding or part removal to do. For the wheel wells, I only needed to remove the side bulkheads and a little relief on the front of the wells.

The Kit

This new Dragon ’39 to ’45 Series Sd.Kfz.3a Maultier (“Mule”) offering is the first completely new rendition of this veritable German workhorse to come along in quite a few years. The Maultier was used in every theater the Germans fought and was extensively modified for a variety of combat and support roles. The version offered by Dragon this time around is the standard cargo carrier with high, wooden-slat sides.

Among the most un-Japanese looking fighters of WWII were the rather chubby J2M Raidens that were designed and built as bomber interceptors for the Imperial Japanese Navy. They were reasonably successful in defending the homeland against U.S. high-level bombers in the final year of the war. And, over the years, many kits have been offered by Hasegawa, Tamiya, and Oataki (later marketed under a number of other brand names) to build various versions of these interesting interceptors. They are appealing subjects and many of us probably have a few of these kits salted away for a rainy day.