Scale Aircraft Conversions is known for making replacement landing gear for a wide variety of kits in virtually every scale in which model aircraft are available. This set is designed to replace the plastic gear in the Academy F-35A kit. The packaging says it’s for F-35A/B, but Academy doesn’t do an F-35B yet. The only F-35B kit in 1/72 that I know of currently is the Fujimi kit and these landing gear are a bit shorter and less beefy than the ones in that kit. Perhaps the guys at SAC know something we don’t.
This is a mask set for the Airfix Grumman F4F-4 kit recently issued by Hornby-Airfix. It consists of a small sheet of yellow masking paper die cut so that the parts required can be easily removed without damage and applied to the areas to be masked. These include the clear glass areas of the cockpit canopy and the armpit windows below the wing. They fit exactly, and should quicken the painting process.
Recommendation
These are worth getting, and would be useful on the Hasegawa and Hobby Boss kits as well.
This photoetched sheet provides a lot of detailed parts for the interior of the Airfix F4F-4 Wildcat kit. A total of 18 parts are provided on a sheet measuring about 2 inches by 1 ½ inches, which should tell you that some of the parts are extremely small. An instrument panel, metal pilot’s seat, and side panel details are included. In addition, some details are provided for the aircraft’s firewall, which can be seen behind the landing gear structure. There is a lot included here, and these will add to the detail if you are trying to super-detail the cockpit. Very detailed instructions are provided, which tell what parts to remove and replace with the PE parts. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully.
Recommendations
This set is highly recommended for adding additional detail to the cockpit of your Airfix F4F-4. It would also be useful in adding details to other F4F kits.
This is a much more extensive set of PE details for the Airfix F4F-4 kit, and actually includes both the larger sheet and the smaller #SS538 PE sheet which has the cockpit details. In addition, the much larger PE sheet provides parts to construct more detailed wings, including flaps and sections of the folded wings. Some of the inner details for the wings in the folded position are provided, and they look excellent. Also, a new firewall is provided, and some details for it. A set of bomb racks and shackles is also on the sheet. The parts are relatively easy to prepare for assembly, but some careful trimming is required, and I would suggest using some pretty sophisticated magnification equipment, as these parts are pretty small and assembly is tedious. If you want to display your model with the flaps in the “down” position, this set will fill the bill.
However, there is a major philosophical problem here. The PE SHEET provides two sets of flaps,
History
The Grumman F4F-4 “Wildcat” was the standard carrier fighter used by the United States Navy and Marine Corps at the beginning of World War II. It differed from the earlier F4F-3 by the addition of folding wings and extra armament. Although the F4F-4 could not outclimb or outmaneuver its chief antagonist, the Mitsubishi A6M-2 Zero, superior tactics and pilot skill usually tipped the balance in favor of the F4F, and eventually, the F4F was replaced by the superior F6F “Hellcat” and the F4U “Corsair”. The Zero, on the other hand, was only slightly modified during the course of its career, and that, along with the larger number of American fighters produced, helped the U.S. Navy’s efforts to defeat the Japanese. The operational history of the F4F is well known, and any serious modeler should be aware of the basic story, so it will not be repeated here.