Hauler has provided an interesting item that can be put to good use in any number of 1/72nd scale dioramas, as well as an item that enhances the display of a non-diorama model. That item is a set of two umbrellas. Imagine a ground crewman or pilot, sitting atop the wing of an aircraft in North Africa. An umbrella would provide some much-appreciated shade. How about an infantryman or member of a tank crew, taking a break and preparing a meal in North Africa? And, of course, if our fellow is in Europe, then the umbrella could provide some protection from rain. And, of course, umbrellas know no nationality, so if based in England, the umbrella would certainly be useful during rainy weather.
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This set is designed to be used on Su-34s and Su-35s and should fit either Trumpeter Hasegawa’s kits. The set consists of 18 resin parts which allows you to assemble a pair of the twin store carriers and provides the parts for either configuring the rails for either bombs or rocket launchers.
The parts are cast in grey resin which is of medium hardness which is easily cut with a razor saw or a sharp Xacto blade and sands easily. After washing the parts to remove any casting residue, I used a fine razor saw to separate the parts from the casting blocks. The instructions clearly show where to cut the parts off of the casting block and the resin spacers that between the side rail mounts and the center part of the upper pylons. I then used a 400-grit sanding stick to clean up the edges.
Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) offers an extensive range of replacement landing gear parts for a wide variety of kits. I have some experience using SAC items to replace kit parts and I’ve found that the SAC items add strength to the model without sacrificing any of the detail found on the original parts.
As mentioned in other reviews, I tend to be a rather heavy-handed modeler and I have a long history of “critical parts” failure with WWI models which is self-made and not a reflection on the quality of the original kit. I’ve snapped wing struts in half, broken off tail skids, and caused catastrophic damage to undercarriage support structures. Knowing that I’ve “got a problem”.
This set is designed to be used on any 1/72 scale Su-35 and as the pods are wingtip mounted, they should fit either Trumpeter or Hasegawa kit. The set consists of 6 grey resin parts for two pods and 2 each of the red and green position lights that mount out the outboard sides of the pods. This will allow you to outfit one model.
The parts are cast in a light grey resin which is of medium hardness, so it is easily cut with a razor saw or a sharp Xacto blade and sands easily. After washing the parts to remove any casting residue, I used a fine razor saw to separate the parts from the casting blocks. Each pod is cast in two parts consisting of the main body of the pod and a separate tail cap. The instructions clearly show where to cut the parts off of the casting block and if you are careful, the two sections of each pod should match up pretty well. I did not do so well on my cuts, so I ended up using Mr. Surfacer to fill the gaps.
Scale Aircraft Conversions offers a very large number of gear replacement sets for a wide variety of aircraft kits. This gear set is designed to replace the gear, and other parts, on the Wingnut Wings Fe.2b Late. Parts included in the SAC gear set are the axle, axle brackets, tail skid, and two control cable bars.
The SAC parts are packaged in a sturdy clear container with cardboard backing. Each part is made of white metal and matches its WNW counterpart with great precision and attention to detail. Wingnut Wings is known for its superior quality and attention to detail so what would be the reason to seek replacement parts? The answer is simple. The SAC parts, made of white metal, provide a strength and stability that will add to the durability of the model while maintaining the high level of detail of the WNW product. The parts in this review sample are free of flash or mold separation lines and, while they might bend, they will not break.