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Review Author
Tim Wilding
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$56.00

History

In February 1942, the German Army (Heer) started building forty Sturmpanzer (Assault Tank) on Panzer IV chassis in readiness for the Battle of Kursk. The vehicle carried a 15cm howitzer in a boxed fighting compartment. Another eighty were produced in late 1943. Finally, another 162 were built between May 1944 and March 1945. These were the late production models built on the Panzer IV Ausf. J chassis and this newly tooled kit represents this model.

Review Author
Tim Wilding
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$11.50

Zimmerit was a paste-like coating used on German armored fighting vehicles between December 1943 and October 1944. It was used to produce a hard layer covering the metal armor of the vehicle, providing enough separation that magnetically attached anti-tank mines would fail to stick to the vehicle. This 5x10 inch sticker sheet enables easy reproduction of zimmerit on the Tamiya #35353 1/35 scale German Assault Tank IV Brummbar Late Production. There are 48 red outlined stickers on this sheet that need to be cut out, pealed from the backing and applied to the model. The stickers are a little thicker then decals and cut very easily with a sharp X-Acto blade. I also used my photoetch scissors to cut a few decals. A metal straight edge helps making the longer cuts. There is some extra zimmerit coating printed on this sheet for repair needs.

I am using this sheet on the new Tamiya Brummbar for a separate review.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
Company
Iliad Design
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.00

Iliad Design’s latest 72nd decal sheet covers 4 Dakotas that flew with the Air National Guard

The Puerto Rican Air Guard is represented by the attractive white over aluminum scheme. This one includes the stars and bars on the fuselage as well as the National Guard badge on the tail. This scheme is from post 1961.

The other three aircraft are all in natural metal finish and date from 1947-1948. We have Virginia, Nebraska and New Mexico National Guards.

The Virginia bird has the legend “The Old Dominion” above the fuselage windows while both the Nebraskan and New Mexican ones have State markings instead of fuselage stars.

All the main markings including Stars and Bars are included.

The Albuquerque club usually has an award for the best New Mexican aircraft and this last scheme would look great on either the Airfix or Italeri kits.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
Company
Iliad Design
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.00

Iliad Design is a Canadian company that not only makes decals but also offers aircraft colour charts and books.

As the name of this sheet implies, this is the third in the Stars in the Sky series. While the names might not be as recognizable as the first two sheets, the choices for the marking are very diverse.

We have two WWII bombers, a Korean War fighter and a fast jet. So who is up in this latest offering?

First up is a British Lancaster II flown by Robert Clothier, a Canadian actor. This would be a lovely option for that very nice Airfix kit.

Second is an AU-1 Corsair flown by Baseball player Jerry Coleman. Jerry flew this bird in Korea while serving with the US Marines.

Our third offering is a F-4C flown by Pop Singer Dean Paul Martin. Martin was a Captain with the California Air National Guard when he was killed flying this Phantom during a snowstorm.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$4.95

Packaged in a typical Brassin blister pack are these little gems. Let’s face it, one of the issues with plastic parts is the requirement to clean up the molding lines on a part. Even the finest kits in the world have them. It is a function of the molds and injection process. Cleaning up these parts is a requirement. If the part is small or fragile it is a pain in the seat pan. Resin parts can work around this and provide even more detail. Again, that is just a function of the material.