Charles Landrum
Reviews By Author
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Antonov AN-2 Air Intake and Oil RadiatorPublished:
The AN-2 “"Annushka" (NATO designation “Colt”) is a throwback from a very earlier age as a biplane STOVL cargo aircraft. Hobby Boss makes a nice replica of this plane which captures it rugged appearance. Quickboost offers a series of details designed to enhance this kit. This set provides drop in fit parts to replace the kit air intakes and oil cooler. The molding is typical Quickboost, well molded and crisp in durable resin. I did a comparison of the kit parts and the level of detail is similar. So why this set? It saves time - eliminating the need to glue two small halves a small parts together and cleaning up the seam. I find that in styrene the intakes with hollow openings can distort with cement and are hard to clean up. So if you are a bit ham-handed with small parts,… more |
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Antonov AN-2 Cowl FlapsPublished:
The AN-2 “"Annushka" (NATO designation “Colt”) is a throwback from a very earlier age as a rugged biplane used in a STOVL role. The Hobby Boss kit is a nice replica of this plane, yet there are some details that require improvement. Hobby boss provides the option of having the cowl flaps open or closed. Quickboost offers a set of replacement cowling flaps in the open position which are much thinner and have slightly more detail; they are intended to replace kit parts – E49, E50, E53 and E54. These parts are not quite a drop in fit and required me to clean up the opening in the cowl where the flaps fit; this is due to the accurately molded side pieces of the flaps. The cowl openings are tapered and needed to be squared in thickness to allow the flaps to fit. I ended up enlarging… more |
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Naval T-BirdsPublished:
I have to respect Iliad Design in Canada, which does not follow the convention of releasing decals just for kits new out on the market, but instead releases subjects off the beaten path. This latest release is a series of markings for the US Navy’s version of the T-33, the TO-2/TV-2. The T-33 was an initiative by Lockheed to develop a trainer from its P-80 fighter. Debuted in 1948, the T-33 was immediately bought by the US Air Force and proved to be iconic aircraft which still soldiers on today in many Air Forces. The Navy, which had acquired the P-80 (Navy designation TO-1) for evaluation, also had a need for two-seat jet trainer and acquired 650 of the planes by way of the US Air Force. In Naval service it was at first designated the TO-2 and later the TV-2. The T-33/TV-2 is a… more |
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Antonov AN-2 ExhaustPublished:
The AN-2 "Annushka" bi-plane (NATO designation “Colt”) is a throwback from a very earlier age, not only because it is a biplane, but because of the larger Shvetsov Ash-62 9 cylinder radial engine that powers it. On the right side of the plane is a single large exhaust pipe that belches fire and smoke when in operation. The pipe on the real AN-2 comes out from the engine at a shallow angle of incidence and then makes a radius bend outward to carry the exhaust away from the fuselage. Hobby Boss makes a nice replica of this plane, which for the most part captures its rugged appearance. However, everything involving the engine comes up short. This is true for the exhaust system; what is provided is a small pipe that is hollowed out, but could not possibly exhaust an engine of that… more |
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Antonov AN-2 EnginePublished:
The AN-2 “"Annushka" (NATO designation “Colt”) bi-plane is brutish, rugged airplane – a throwback from a very earlier age. Central to this appearance is the large Shvetsov Ash-62 9 cylinder radial engine (a development from the Wright R-1820 Cyclone) at the end of a short nose.. Overall, Hobby Boss captures the lines of the “Colt”, except the Shvetsov ASh-62 engine, which as molded looks like an anemic Clerget from WWI. Even with the close cowl and the large four bladed prop the engine does not look right. Thankfully Quickboost now offers a replacement engine. The Quickboost Shvetsov ASh-62 engine looks just like the reference photos I have. Across the board the engine is in every way far superior to the kit’s engine. The cylinders are full sized and prototypically large in the… more |
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US Navy Missile Cart with 5 Weapon OfficersPublished:
Any modern flightline, including the deck of a carrier, has a collection of specialized vehicles and carts used for the movement and servicing of the aircraft. Skunk Models Workshop has been offering a steady stream of accessories for the modern jet-age modeler who may want to create a diorama or pose a few items of equipment around the aircraft for visual interest. This latest offering by Skunk Models Workshop is a collection of weapons carts used by the US Navy in the arming of aircraft prior to a mission or the de-arming of aircraft post mission. Called yellow gear due to its historical color, all of the flightline equipment is now white. There is a lot of detail in this multi-media set. Skunk Models provides not only 8 carts and all of the associated storage racks, but also… more |
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AIM-54A PhoenixPublished:
For fans of US Naval Aviation and those fascinated with the Cold War, an incomparable weapon system and platform pairing was the F-14 Tomcat with the AWG-9 radar and the AIM-54 Phoenix missile. The AIM-54 was the long range fangs of the F-14 that gave the aircraft the capability to engage the Soviet Naval Aviation threat and its vast arsenal of anti-ship cruise missiles at very long range. It is ironic that the weapon system developed for the F-111B should end up in the Tomcat, the plane Grumman designed to supplant the faltering Navy F-111. There was and has been no equal to the missile. The Iranians used it to deadly effect in the Iran-Iraq war and it was so highly regarded, it was copied by the Soviet Union for pairing with the Mig-31. To date the options… more |
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Space Shuttle Tile DecalPublished:
For modelers building scale models of the Space Shuttle one of the more difficult challenges has been to replicate the thermal shielding on the spacecraft, whether the tiles or the blankets. In the smaller scales, this can be a real challenge and as a result one of the most sought after after-market sets has been thermal tile decals. Meteor Productions, in their Cutting Edge decal line, was the first company to offer tile decals. These deals proved extremely popular. That company has been gone for nearly 5 years and the decals have become very hard to find, usually commanding high prices. Enter Warbird Decals, a new company in the real space market. They have introduced a new line of thermal tile decals in the scales of 1/72, 1/100, and 1/144 to meet the ongoing demand. The set… more |
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Russian Missile R-23T (AA-7B Apex)Published:
Distinctive of the Mig-23 interceptor were the large white R-23 (NATO AA-7 APEX) missiles that it carried close to the fuselage. To me, with the large fins, they seem more menacing than the US Sparrow missiles. Now that there is a decent model of the Mig-23 available in 1/48 it is nice to see the aftermarket manufacturers step in and provide more realistic ordnance options. Even though the Trumpeter kit provides R-23 it is nice to see the variants and detail offered by Plus Models. In this case these are the infrared seeking R-23T missiles. As I experience with some of their other products, Plus Models provides a small multi-media kit in each package. This kit is no exception, providing separate resin main fins, replacement missile rails, clear resin seeker heads, resin seeker… more |
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Mirage F1.BPublished:
Kitty Hawk is a newcomer on the scene and seems to be filling a niche by releasing subjects not kitted before and new kits of older subjects previously kitted. The only previous kitting of the Mirage F.1B in 1/48 was the Fonderie Miniatures limited run multi-media kit. That is why, as a fan of the Armee de l’Air, I was pleased to see Kitty Hawk release this kit, especially in two colorful anniversary schemes, including the D-Day 60th anniversary scheme from 2004. Kitty Hawk has started to release single seat variants of the F.1 as an option to the elderly ESCI/Italeri Mirage F.1. Surprisingly the kit comes in a compact box that looks short for a jet kit in this scale. The box is packed with sprues including a great deal of weapons. Many of the sprues are obviously… more |