Finished left

Daimler Benz Project F - German Service

Track Parts

T-60 Early Series. Soviet Light Tank Interior Kit

Finished model

Yak-23 "Flora"

9

Chevrolet G7107 WWII Army Truck

Left Front

M60A2 Patton Early Type

Treads & template

Tanque Argentino Mediano (TAM)

Sprue G Back

Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II

Seat

RF-84 Thunderflash

Left side

T-24 Medium Tank

Finished set of Japanese field kitchen accessories

Japanese Military Field Kitchen Equipment

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Box Cover

RQ-7B Shadow UAV
Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.00

The RQ-7B Shadow is a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is currently in service with the US Army and a few other countries. The primary role is reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition. The Shadow may be small in size but its capability rivals the larger platforms. Being small, it can be launched from a trailer mounted catapult and recovered using an arresting gear similar to Navy carrier aircraft. The wingspan is only 14 feet (3.87 m), 11 feet (3.4 M) long and empty weight under 200 Lbs. (77 Kg) and gross weight 375 Lbs. (170 Kg). It is powered by a 38 hp (28.5 Kw) rotary engine (gasoline).

Front Cover

British Escort Carriers 1941-45
Book Author(s)
Angus Konstam
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$19.00

Osprey Publishing just released a new book devoted to the Escort Carriers under British Flag during World War 2. Still this book has a few paragraphs devoted to the first two Escort Carriers under Dutch Flag. They had (Dutch) Fleet Air Arm Flights detached to them, under operational control of the British, so I think they count as ‘British’.

This book is relatively short at 48 pages but don’t let the relatively small thickness of the book fool you. The book is packed with information. It clearly describes the need for air cover for convoys and how out of necessity many merchant ships were converted to operate as a ‘proof of concept’. Once the value of the Escort Carrier was proven, the larger US industrial capacity provided the vast majority of the Escort Carriers under British Flag.

The book is broken down in the following sections.

Package

Boeing 737-800, -8 MAX, -700 Landing Gear

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$14.95

The Aircraft

Boeing’s 737-700, -8MAX and -800 are medium sized “single aisle” jet airliners. They are easily identifiable by their single winglets, which first appeared on the -700. Later 737s have a double winglet.

I chose the 737-800 because it’s the variant used by QANTAS, which I flew from Melbourne to Cairns Australia in the spring of 2019.

The Scale Aircraft Conversions Set

You get two sets of gear parts in this set. This could be useful if you decide you also want to do a -800 or even a -8MAX. The parts are all white metal, and they fit nicely in place of the kit parts.

Painting

In this case, all of the gear legs were white. Easy to paint. There are a couple of hydraulic shock absorbers which are silver. Also easy.

Front Cover

MMP Books Single #5, MiG-17F/Lim-5
Book Author(s)
Dariusz Karnas, Karolina Holda
Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$11.59

This is the 5th of the MMP Single series. This book is for the modeler who is going to build this aircraft. There’s no real text, other than the photo captions but there’s a bunch of good information to help build and detail a MiG-17F.

The first 5 pages are line drawings in 1/72 and 1/48 scale. Then 4 pages of detail drawings of canopy, landing gear, instrument panel, and aircraft construction detail.

There follows 8 pages of black/white photos of aircraft details and in service. Finally, 3 pages of color photos, and a large 3-view of a Lim-5 in full color which takes up the last 3 pages.

The photos give a very good idea of what the aircraft looked like when in service, and the color photos are wonderful in that they give good color info on the cockpit interior.

Overall Evaluation: Well recommended. If you’re going to build one of these, this is a low-cost option to get the detail and info you need to do a well-detailed model.

Package

F-5 Tiger II "Freedom Fighter" (shark nose versions) - F-5 E, F - Pitot Tube and 20mm gun barrels
Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$3.66

This was done in conjunction with the Platz 1/144 F-5E/N kit which I also reviewed.

This set consists of a brass pitot, two 20mm guns, and a fairing which can replace one of the guns.

The upgrade is pretty simple. You get a .3mm drill. Remove the kit pitot and drill a hole there. The guns require a little more work, as there isn’t a good place to start drilling. I began by using a #1 blade to dig the guns out, then drilled the .3 mm holes. Then I installed the pitot and the guns. I had to use a little filler under the guns to get them looking good.

I painted the guns area with the same gray I used to paint the model, then highlighted the guns. I used Testors “Burnt Metal” for these, as I find gun metal to be too dark. The pitot was painted Neutral Grey along with the nose area. The Master pitot is about 1/3 the thickness of the kit pitot, so it’s more to scale.

And the project was done. Looks good.