The folks at Quickboost continue to add superb detail sets to their growing catalog of items. For this review I will be looking at the exhaust detail set for the 1/48 Hasegawa Ki-44 II “Tojo” family of kits.

Hasegawa has released many different boxings of the Japanese WWII Shoki Fighter, and from what I see in my collection, this Quickboost set will work with any of the Ki-44 II kits.

The Quickboost exhaust stacks themselves are finely molded, and are very easily removed from the casting block. I find that using a razor saw is the easiest method, and after a little sanding, these great detail parts are ready to glue in place.

As you can see from the photo, the detail is far above the kit part that these replace. The exhaust well is deeper and more defined on the Quickboost replacement parts than the original kit part.

The Mitsubishi T-2 was a supersonic trainer for the Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF). Like the T-38 and F-5 in the US, it was used as an aggressor aircraft and demonstration team mount as well as the original trainer mission. The T-2 used the same engine as the SEPECAT Jaguar, the Rolls Royce Turbomeca Adour, built in Japan by Ishikawajima – Harima Heavy Industries. The Jaguar T.2 and the Mitsubishi T-2 look similar, but they’re definitely not the same aircraft. It’s a case of engineers with the same problem coming up with similar solutions.

Dragon advertises that they squeeze 1/35th detail into 1/72nd scale – and I can testify that they do indeed! The Pz IV F2 was the first of the series to mount a long 75mm gun. Originally designed to carry the short 75mm in an infantry support role, the gun versus armor race in early WWII found the Germans up-gunning the Pz IV to meet the threat posed by heavier Allied tanks. The first Pz IV F2’s, called Mark IV Specials by the British, appeared in March 1942.