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Review Author
Doug Cole
Published on
Company
Monogram
Scale
1/8
MSRP
$32.95

Background

The Grim Reapers description on Revell’s website sums up the premise best, “The baddest of the bad is back and hotter than ever. Tom Daniel's devilishly designed Grim Reaper still has that mean, classic look 40 years after it was designed. The Grim Reaper starts with raked, custom, square-tubular forks and cool, dual-square headlights. Then, there's the "coffin" shaped gas tank on the custom frame with custom stitched seat, and "Iron Cross" medallion. It's all powered by a classic V-twin motor with down-swept chrome pipes. Kit features tons of chrome parts, flexible tubing for wiring, swing out kick stand, and soft black tires”.

Book Author(s)
Mark Lax, Mike O'Connor, Ray Vann
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Cross & Cockade International
MSRP
$31.99

Cross & Cockade International is a non-profit UK based group known as the First World War Aviation Historical Society that publishes their journal four times a year. They also provide a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI themed books like the Lawrence of Arabia book I reviewed earlier for IPMS USA. This Journal is the sister of the US Journal, Over The Front.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Acrylicos Vallejo
MSRP
$3.95

Vallejo’s name is well recognized in the scale modeling field. They have a huge array of products, and their specialized modeling products line is one of the best in the world. At our last IPMS Chapter meeting, Keith Pieper of Avalon Books gave me a tube of Vallejo’s new white Plastic Putty.

The putty itself is an acrylic medium with white color and marble dust. The added marble dust makes the putty more durable than most.

The tube is fairly small, 20 ml., but with the fine applicator “spout”, it goes pretty much where I put it, so I have less waste of putty when I’m doing a seam. The first time I tried it, I put the putty on the cab of an Italeri Opel Blitz ambulance in 1/72, which needed a pretty good fill between the hood and the doors of the cab. After I let it set up overnight, I sanded the seam, and it worked pretty well. Because it’s white, it made painting easier, the color covered better than they would red or white putty. No primer required.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.95

Packaged in the typical Brassin blister pack are seven pieces of perfect light grey resin and a single fret of photo etch.Instructions are included that show all the parts and how they are to be added.

The rudder, elevators, and ailerons with their mass weights are the resin pieces. The flight controls feature some stitching detail that is nicely done.

The modeler has to add the photo etch trim tabs to the control surfaces. Interestingly, the rudder and elevators have the trim tabs molded on so if you decide not to use the molded on trim tabs you have to remove them. The instructions are pretty straight-forward. The control surfaces are direct replacements for the kit parts.

If you want to articulate the surfaces, like I wanted to do, you will have to remove the molded on tabs and flush mount the control surfaces.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.95

The Overtree versions of the Eduard kits is the release with no frills. No instructions, no decals, no masks, no photo etch, no nothin. That doesn’t mean that it is a bad thing. You get a kit for a very reasonable price and it can be built out of the box quite nicely.