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Box Art

Sd.Kfz.10 w/3.7cm PaK 35/36
Review Author
Tom Moon
Published on
Company
Cyber-Hobby
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$54.95

This kit represents a field modification of an SdKfz 10 Halftrack to mount the 3.7cm PaK 35/36 in the bed. The AT gun basically just had the wheels removed and was placed in a specially designed cradle in the bed of the halftrack. The sprues are from the halftrack kit (new) and the 3.7cm PaK kit (old), along with the special sprue for the mounting of the gun. There are Magic Tracks for the tracks and, if you are careful, they will moveable and will allow for a good representation of the track sag. There is one sprue of clear plastic and one small fret of photo etched parts.

Step 1. This step builds the drive sprocket, idler wheel, and the two front wheels. It has been noted elsewhere that the drive sprocket is undersize in both the diameter and the thickness. After I built a run of the track I found that the drive rollers are too wide and, to get the tracks to fit, I had to sand off a little of the drive rollers on both sides.

Cover

The Siege of Sevastopol and the Crimea Campaign, 1941-42
Book Author(s)
Hans Seidler
Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
Company
Concord Publications Company
MSRP
$18.95

Concord Publishing has continued its series of illustrated campaign histories. This volume focuses on the siege of Sevastopol from 1941-42. Dimitry Zgonnik has four full color illustrations that highlight the uniforms of German soldiers during this campaign.

Beginning in the fall of 1941, the 11th Army, under the command of Erich von Manstein, was given the objective of capturing the Crimean Peninsula, which, by default, meant neutralizing the Soviet fortress of Sevastopol. After several attempts in the fall of 1941, the Germans failed to capture Sevastopol. In the spring of 1942, Manstein was able to eject the Soviets from the Crimea and besiege Sevastopol. Many buffs remember the Crimean campaign because of the Germans use of the Super gun Gustav which was used to reduce the Soviet fortifications. After a bloody siege, the city fell. The book does not include a map of the campaign, so you will have to look elsewhere to follow along.

Product Parts

WW II USAAF Fighter Pilot
Review Author
Jack Kennedy
Published on
Company
Ultracast
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$17.95

This is the fifth Ultracast figure I have had the honor of reviewing and I can honestly say that each one is better than the last. This figure of a WWII USAAF Fighter Pilot is no exception.

It is sculpted by my friend Mike Good. He has a world-wide reputation as a sculptor of pilots in every scale and I believe I have painted every one of them.

This piece is cast in tan hard resin in five parts that fit perfectly. The engineering is superb in that the pieces are pegged in such a way that there is no way to fit them wrong. After removing the casting blocks and minor cleanup of seam lines, I assembled the parts and mounted the figure on my favorite working block, a medicine container. I like this method because it affords me a surface to hold onto once the figure is CA glued to it and, after painting, is easily removed from it.

Box Art

PBJ-1H/J Mitchell
Review Author
John R. Lee
Published on
Company
Minicraft Model Kits
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$12.99

The kit comes in a sturdy top opening box – great for holding the parts as you work on the model. There are thirty-eight light grey plastic parts and two clear sprues, one being from the Minicraft C-47/DC-3 kit that uses only the Astrodome part. The small decal sheet (1¼” by 4½”) manages to include three schemes, one Navy (the only named aircraft) and two Marine.

As I found the PBJ with the radar nose interesting, I decided to make that one. With a little research I found a right rear-quarter picture of the aircraft in the Osprey Combat Aircraft #40 “PBJ Mitchell Units of the Pacific War” book on page 82. This picture and others in this book show that many of the PBJ’s had no fifty cal. package guns on the fuselage sides, so one of the first jobs was the removal of these guns.

I appreciated that the glass nose on this radar-equipped aircraft was painted blue, saving a lot of tiny window frame painting.

Parts and Packaging

Accessories for Four Aircraft
Review Author
Ed Kinney
Published on
Company
Fisher Model and Pattern
Scale
1/32

Paul Fisher has continued to expand his stable of exceptionally well done aftermarket products. These are, without exception, beautifully mastered and flawlessly cast in cream colored resin. No warps or pinholes (no surprise there). The four new items are shown in the images. Many thanks to Paul for the review samples. Please visit his website for these and many other quality Fisher Model products.