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Review Author
Jarrod Booth
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$69.99

Iveco is an Italian truck manufacturer that builds some of the latest trucks and commercial vehicles in Europe. Acitoinox is a truck accessory parts company, and plays a big part in the fancy stripes and mirrored finish stainless steel 40th anniversary scheme of this subject.

The Iveco Stralis Hi-Way is a re-issued kit with new decals and adhesive “chrome” dress up “stickers”. It comes in a sturdy box that is well sized for the amount of sprues inside. The sprues are mostly individually bagged and protected.

This truck is beautifully detailed with parts reproduced faithfully to the original - outside and inside. I referred to various internet sites for picture references. The plastic is given in approximate colors of black, blue, white and chrome, so it could be built with no painting.

The instructions are well laid out with photo like pictures, a good parts map and paint recommendations.

OK, let’s build this thing!

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
November 14, 2016
Company
SBS Model
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$15.54

A short while ago Hobby Boss released a charming model of a rarity – the Hungarian 39M Csaba armored car, which clearly shares an ancestry similar to the French Panhard armored car of roughly the same vintage. Although Hobby Boss seems to have done well in the overall design of this kit, it is somewhat let down by the soft rubber tires, which fall below the quality of the rest of the model. Ironically, what detail is evident on the tires is soft and inaccurate, and even includes a misspelling!

Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
November 13, 2016
Company
Meng Model
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$36.00

Meng Models exploded on the scene several years ago and has since built a reputation for interesting subjects and well-designed kits. With the release of a Russian Light Anti-Aircraft gun set, I am sure that their star continues to rise for the scale modeling community. You get four weapons – ZPU-1, ZPU-2. ZPU-4, and ZU-23-2 as well as several of their Chinese equivalents. As part of Meng’s Supply series, this is certainly a welcome addition to those who enjoy modeling anti-aircraft artillery. With sixteen sprues and one fret of etched brass, the parts are well molded. They have taken advantage of advances in molding technology and there are many very small and fragile parts. Take care when you remove them from the sprue. The instructions are in a booklet form and come with color profiles of each weapon. You can choose any color you want as long as it’s Russian Green. There are no decals or clear parts.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
November 13, 2016
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$9.95

When Eduard releases their Weekend Edition or their Overtree issues they release a small ‘essential’ fret of pre-painted photo etch. Such is the case with the latest release from Eduard.

This one fret of photo etch provides the modeler with a pre-painted instrument panel, seatbelts and interior parts. They also provide radiators, exhaust deflectors, antennas and an access panel. Really, can you paint as well as Eduard prints on their instrument panels? I know I can’t. I love the pre-painted instrument panel and the seatbelts.

Typically, these sets don’t come with instructions but the downloadable kit instructions show where they go.

The key to these LEPT frets is that they are only available for a limited time, normally about a month after the release of the overtree kits.

If you have never used photo etch these are great little sets to practice with while adding detail that I think is superior to the plastic.

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
June 10, 2020
Company
PJ Production
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.60

PJ Production has jumped in to help 1/48 Mirage III series model builders. This new release provides one Matra AS 37 Martel along with the pylon as featured on the Dassault fighter. This set is probably focused on the new Kinetic 1/48 Mirage III kits, but it should also work well on the Academy, Eduard, Fonderie Miniatures, Heller, and Hobby Boss kits; along with the older ESCI kit that has also been re-boxed by Revell and Italeri.

Notable is the re-sealable packaging that PJ Production uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. You will want to be careful handling the rear resin fins as their small size makes them an easy sacrifice to the carpet monster. Painting instructions are included with the small instruction sheet. I found several air-bubbles in the resin parts, on the missile body. Gap filling super glue with baking soda quickly solved the issue.