This upgrade provides excellent cast cockpit tubs, instrument coamings, and ACES II ejection seats. Included are side controllers; the control sticks are molded into the side panels. Score high there; no disappearing act on the joystick or those throttle levers while trying to attach them to the panels. Detail is unmatched on the resin. The photoetch fret contains all the myriad little bits designed to disappear or be invisible except to specialized cameras or those with 20/05 vision.

In 1984 Richard Staszak authored an excellent publication entitled, “Building and Improving Vacuum-Formed Model Aircraft”. The book was published by Kalmbach Books and was given the item number of 12054 and received the ISBN number of 0-89024-047-7.
Recently Mr. Staszak has released a DVD that is, or all intents and purposes, a complete copy of the original book. In addition, the DVD includes colored pictures and mini-reviews of over 100 vacuformed models from the author’s collection. Current sources for some of the older vacuform kits are also identified as well as new kits from current manufacturers.

Designed for the reigning king of the 1/48 P-47’s, the exquisite offering from Tamiya. There’s no difference between the D and the M wing, so that means they it can be used on any Tamiya P-47 kit.

About the toughest thing to do with a Tamiya P-47 is to get rid of the ejector pin marks. This set takes care of that with the landing gear doors and wheel bays. The castings are in Aires standard dark gray resin except for the covers for the gear struts. Those are in a cream color and much more fragile than the gray castings. The pour stubs on the wheel bays are heavy and could be tricky to remove. It’s pretty much a straight drop, except you’ve got to remove the kit’s wheel bays.