Yet another in the long established series of military vehicle monographs from Squadron Signal Publications under their “Walk Around” range, this particular title covers the Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer. The book is in softback (card cover) format, 80 pages in length, with the glossy paper pages measuring 11 x 8 inches. The same title is also available in a hardback format, should you wish to spend the additional money.

Those familiar with this series of books will not be disappointed, as it follows the tried and true Walk Around format: the reader is given a brief written history of the Hetzer range of vehicles, a late war armored, tracked tank destroyer based on the Panzer 38(t) chassis. The Hetzer became the most widely used tank destroyer employed by German forces in WW2.

The Parts:

This product contains four pieces cast in white metal which replace the struts and gear for the Bronco kit. The molding is clean, with no “step” along mold release points. The details match kit parts, rivet for rivet, but with no flash (kit parts have a little flash).

The SAC main landing gear struts are molded as “one” piece whereas the kit main gear struts require two pieces to be glued together to form one strut.

Assembly:

We’ve all seen the notice, “no assembly required”, but other than attaching the SAC parts to the Bronco kit, there isn’t any assembly required to prepare the SAC parts. The SAC parts fit nicely. They are snug and tight and fit into the Bronco kit just as the original parts fit.

Painting:

I prime metal parts with an inexpensive primer found at Wal-Mart and Target. Use a primer of your choice.

Conclusion:

Now the United States Air Force’s “Air Dominance Fighter,” the F-22 Raptor is arguably the world’s most advanced and capable air-to-air fighter aircraft. As part of the competition between the F-22 and F-23, the “YF” prototypes were flown, studied, and evaluated. Revell’s latest Snap-Tite aircraft offering, the YF-22, is a faithful reproduction of the winning prototype design.

Molded in light gray plastic with a sprue of tinted clear containing the canopy and another molded in black with the base, the kit convincingly captures the lines and essence of the YF-22. Camden, age 6, assembled the 15 kit parts in no time flat with minimal guidance from Dad. Since no painting instructions were provided, we opted to leave it “natural plastic.” The peel-and-stick “decals” flew on over the ensuing 20 minutes, and in less than an hour, Camden had completed his replica of the world’s most advanced fighter and had it buzzing around the house hunting for MiGs.