Bob LaBouy
Reviews By Author
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Detail-Up Parts Series for 1/48th F-14 TomcatPublished:
Tamiya’s Product Description“This Detail-Up set can be used for Item 61114, 61118, and 61122. The set is very useful to give more detail to your model Tamiya F-14 model kits
This is Tamiya’s simple add-on kit for the recently issued F-14A Late Model Tomcat.” Using the Photoetch PartsWhile the underlying kit is far from their original F-14A kit and exhibits a great many differences, this ‘add-on’ kit differs very… more |
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Tamiya F-14A (Late Model)Published:
Tamiya’s DescriptionThis model kit recreates the Grumman F-14A Tomcat. The F-14A Tomcat U.S. Navy Fighter is famous for being the first mass-production and the most-produced model among the F-14 series. This kit realistically depicts the F-14A Tomcat (Late Model) - in service from the late 1980s to the early 2000s- with wings featuring separate flaps and slats. The kit includes one crew figure and paper flight deck sheet for use on a super realistic diorama set.
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Hetzer Jagdpanzer 38 Tank Destroyer: German Army and Waffen-SS Western Front, 1944-1945Published:
Overview from Publisher“By 1944 the German army was on the defensive on all fronts and Allied bombing was putting increasing pressure on the nation's industrial output. Since the earliest days of the war the Germans had experimented with mounting anti-tank weapons on obsolete chassis and one of the most successful of these would prove to be the Jagdpanzer 38, more often referred to today as the Hetzer . Small and unimposing the Hetzers appearance belied its effectiveness. Armed with the powerful 7.5cm L/48 gun, the same weapon fitted to the Jadgpanzer IV, the Hetzer featured armour sloped armour plates of up to 60mm thickness and was capable of a top speed of 42 kilometres per hour. Almost 3,000 examples were assembled. Its low cost and ease of production meant that it… more |
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HUMVEE American Multi-purpose Support TruckPublished:
Contents
This is my second review of one of the Land Craft series books (the prior one covering the Land Rover and it’s many uses. This is the sixth in the series called “Land Craft”. As I read and reviewed the earlier book, this book covering HUMVEE no less rewarding in its comprehensive coverage of this ubiquitous vehicles. While I have seen a great many HUMVEEs I had no idea about the total numbers in service with Army (120,000) and the Marine Corps… more |
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Land Rover – Military Versions of the British 4X4Published:
Publishers Notes“After the Second World War many American military vehicles become surplus stock and soon found their way into the hands of farmers and land owners across Great Britain. The subsequent heavy use and the real possibility of difficulties obtaining spares led Maurice Wilks, the Rover Car Company Chief Engineer, to design and build a replacement.” Table of Contents
Introduction“Since its introduction in 1945 when the Land Rover was quickly adopted by the… more |
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Desert Storm – Volume 2 - Operation Desert Storm and the Coalition Liberation of Kuwait 1991Published:
From the publisher’s notes on this book: “Early in the morning of 2 August 1990, aircraft of the Iraqi Air Force bombed Kuwaiti air bases, and then the Iraqi Republican Guards stormed into the country. Thus, began what would be called the ‘Gulf War’ – or the ‘II Gulf War’ or ‘II Persian Gulf War’ – fought between January and March 1991. Although encountering some problems, the Iraqi forces occupied Kuwait in a matter of a few days. However, when President Saddam Hussein of Iraq unleashed his military upon Kuwait, little did he know what kind of reaction he would provoke from the Western superpowers, and what kind of devastation his country would suffer in return. Concerned about the possibility of Iraq continuing its advance into Saudi Arabia, the USA – in… more |
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3cm Flakvierling 103/38Published:
This KitThe kit’s guns are described as “The Mk 103/38 was a late-war, four-gun installation of the Mk 103 3cm gun from Rheinmetall Borsig. The Mk 103 was an electrically fired, recoil and gas-operated automatic cannon designed to be used as a dual-purpose weapon against air and ground targets. The Mk 103 had a rate of fire of 280 rounds per minute using high explosive (HE) rounds, and 420 rounds per minute when firing Armor Piercing rounds. The experimental Mk 103/38 four-gun installation proved troublesome dur to (the) fact that the mount was originally designed for the smaller 2cm Flak 38, and heavy vibration took its toll on both the equipment and the crew aiming the weapon.” This kit provides a gun mount which can be… more |
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MaxxPro Dash with SPARK II Mine RollerPublished:
This is a reissue of the earlier MaxxPro kit issued two years ago, with the addition of Spark II mine roller parts. The ‘User Manual’ is twenty pages containing a map of the kit’s parts outlining 22 steps, a color four-view for one vehicle and no color suggestions or paint chart, though the four-view indicates that Gunze Sanyo Mr. Color were used in constructing the model. This kit contains approximately 522 molded parts on 12 sprue trees, a sheet of 41 photo etched parts, four tires and a decal sheet. An example is that there are 3 sprue trees each marked a “B” indicator and each is a separate group of individual items—confusing to say the least. From the earliest ‘details’ I found the various drawings to be lacking several key ingredients. When illustrating the… more |
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Dio Drybrush Paints, Light Grey & Panzer GreyPublished:
PaintingI asked for the opportunity to try this new product from the imaginative modeling studios of Mig Jimenez. As many modelers realize, Mr. Jimenez has a vast collection of modeling paints and primers. However, with these new Dio Drybrush paints, he has unleashed a great new line of special effects into the world of dry brushing. This new line comes in a variety of 27 paint products which will allow most modelers the opportunity to further our dry brushing skills. Two colors were initially sent to me to preview: Light Grey, A.MIG-0601 and Panzer Grey, A.MIG-0604. I quickly set up a model with three different base colors to see my initial impressions and what results I could get using DIO DRYBRUSH paints. I should also admit being reasonably new to the… more |
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ROC TIFV CM-34 "Clouded Leopard"Published:
HistoryThe name ‘clouded leopard’ is taken from a beautiful medium-sized wild cat that is found throughout much of Southeastern Asia and pictured below to satisfy your animal interest for this beautiful cat. This kit is a Taiwan Infantry Fighting Vehicle (TIFV) and appears to closely resemble the Stryker vehicles I have seen at Ft. Lewis. That’s where the apparent similarity ends, as the basic CM-32 vehicle series is new design built in Taiwan, the Republic of China. This Taiwanese vehicle is an 8 wheeled armored vehicle with the four front wheels able to articulate together, allowing for approximately a 33-foot turning radius. The CM-32 series is currently at roughly 600 units and is estimated to include almost 1,400 in total operational service. The CM-34 (… more |