Charles Landrum
Reviews By Author
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Su-34 Landing GearPublished:
UPDATED REVIEW This release by SAC provides replacement white metal landing gear for the Kitty Hawk 1/48 Su-34 kit. While white metal is softer than cast brass, the main struts and nose struts are quite sturdy in this set and will hold up if a lot of weight is added to the model. This release by SAC is a replacement for the kit landing gear, both the main gear and the nose gear. These parts are not a copy of the kit parts it is engineered from build-ups of the kit parts and then cast. As a result, this set has fewer parts than if you built the landing gear out of the box. The gear is engineered to incorporate some plastic parts from the Kitty Hawk kit. Unlike past SAC sets I have reviewed in the… more |
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Tru-Color Paint - Various ColorsPublished:
I am 57 and as I write this and like many I have mourned and am mourning the demise of hobby paints thanks to Rustoleum. I remember many good paint lines that have come and gone and many due to consolidation under Testors and later Rustoleum, Names like Model Master, Testors, Floquil, Polly S and Pactra to name some. I am more of an Enamel and Lacquer based paint user than acrylic; but have also done my fair of painting with acrylics. There are a lot of other paints available – Gunze Sanyo, Tamiya, AK Interactive, Mig, and Vallejo, but like most modelers I am a creature of habit and change is hard. So, as I have watched a multitude of railroad, naval and now military colors go away, and am faced with change. I jumped at an opportunity to try a new line of paint that has more bite than… more |
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USA WWII Landing Vehicle SetPublished:
In conjunction with their release of the U.S. LST-1 Class of ships, AFV Club has also release a box of 1/350 WWII military vehicles to populate the deck and well deck of the ship. Injection molded, the set includes two sprues, one the duplicate of the other allowing the modeler to build 7 different vehicles and 2 artillery pieces from each sprue for a total of 18 pieces in a box. Also included is a set of decals, which curiously does not match the number of vehicles. The instructions are isometric and printed on the box. There is no locating guide for the decals, just side view color drawings of the vehicles, so the modeler must rely on research for marking placement on the tops of the vehicles. Plus, the color call outs are poor. But aren’t all WWII vehicles olive drab? What… more |
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Famous Russian Aircraft - Sukhoi Su-27 & 30/33/34/35Published:
I would like to thank Specialty Press for this review sample This is a revised and expanded edition of Yefim Gordon’s original book on the Su-27 published in 2007. I thought the original publication was a large 544 pages. This book in comparison is 720 pages, which gives you an idea of how much additional material has been added. It is an impressively comprehensive tome on the Su-27 family and renders the other previous book obsolete. The layout was in Moscow by Polygon Press; it was printed in Bulgaria by Multi-print; Published in England by Crecy; and Published in the U.S. by Specialty Press. In addition to being an international effort, this book is heavy! Imagine my surprise when I went to lift the box at my doorstep. A hard cover edition, printed on clay paper, and… more |
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Super Drawings in 3D: OSA-Class Missile BoatPublished:
I would like to thank Kagero for this review sample This book on the OSA-Class is the latest in their series of super drawings books. The OSA (“Wasp” in Russian) was developed in the 1960s for a role much like the USN PT boats. The OSA’s torpedo boat predecessor was the Shersen, which in many ways was an enlarged PT boat in configuration and hull design. The OSA introduced the P-15 Termit (NATO designated SS-N-2 Styx) anti-ship missile, replacing the old surface launch torpedoes. The OSA was built in large numbers and exported to many Soviet client states including China. The design is very reliable and long lived; it is still in service in some countries. The drew blood in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 when Indian OSAs sank… more |
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R.M.S. Titanic (Olympic, Britannic) - Masts SetPublished:
I would like to thank Master Model for this review sample. Master Model continues to “turn” out metal details for the ship modeler and this one is indispensable. For anyone who has tried to work with tall thin masts made of plastic in small scale, the mast either end up being too thick so they don’t bend or too flexible if they are to scale. The solution is either wood or metal for thin masts that don’t bend, but the trick is achieving the required taper with this material. If you are not a machinist, skilled at turning wood or brass, Master Model comes to the rescue. I was surprised to find when I opened the package that the rather long masts were put into a bag too small to hold them. This was noticeable when I removed the display card. The result was that the taller… more |
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Mig-25 RBT Exhaust NozzlePublished:
Amigo Models is a relatively new company in Russia which has been producing resin aftermarket accessories for modern Russian aircraft in multiple scales. They are perhaps best known for detailed replacement exhaust nozzles. I first became aware of them when they offered a highly detailed replacement set of maneuverable nozzles for the Kittyhawk 1/48 Su-35. This set is designed for the ICM 1/48 Mig-25 RBT. The reconnaissance versions of the Mig-25 have longer exhaust nozzles than the interceptor variants. The nozzles in the ICM kit are correct for the variant but lack detail. Such a large engine begs for the additional detail that an aftermarket company can provide. Amigo does not disappoint and their engines are a small kit in their own right. This is a single medium set, just… more |
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Russian AK-630 with Bass Tilt RadarPublished:
Veteran Models in Taiwan has been producing finely detailed multi-media aftermarket replacement parts for ship modelers for quite some time. Nicely crafted, their parts are a significant upgrade to model warships. They started in 1/350 Modern USN systems and have since branched into other Navies. Now they are offering modern Soviet/Russian systems. If you have noticed Soviet and later Russian ships are busy, some would say crowded, with sensors and weapon systems. While functional, none of these are elegant in design, and the number of each provides redundancy to ensure survivability and reliability. Each one is hodge-podge of small detail not easily duplicated in the ejection molding process, no matter how sophisticated the molds. So Veteran Models move into this area is… more |
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Russian AK-630 with Bass Tilt RadarPublished:
Veteran Models in Taiwan has been producing finely detailed multi-media aftermarket replacement parts for ship modelers for quite some time. Nicely crafted, their parts are a significant upgrade to model warships. They started in 1/350 Modern USN systems and have since branched into other Navies. Now they are offering modern Soviet/Russian systems. If you have noticed Soviet and later Russian ships are busy, some would say crowded, with sensors and weapon systems. While functional, none of these are elegant in design, and the number of each provides redundancy to ensure survivability and reliability. Each one is hodge-podge of small detail not easily duplicated in the ejection molding process, no matter how sophisticated the molds. So Veteran Models move into this area is… more |
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Russian Kashtan CIWSPublished:
Veteran Models in Taiwan has been producing finely detailed multi-media aftermarket replacement parts for ship modelers for quite some time. Nicely crafted, their parts are a significant upgrade to model warships. They started in 1/350 Modern USN systems and have since branched into other Navies. Now they are offering modern Soviet/Russian systems. If you have noticed Soviet and later Russian ships are busy, some would say crowded, with sensors and weapon systems. While functional, none of these are elegant in design, and the number of each provides redundancy to ensure survivability and reliability. Each one is hodge-podge of small detail not easily duplicated in the ejection molding process, no matter how sophisticated the molds. So Veteran Models move into this area is… more |