Dave Morrissette
Reviews By Author
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Russian 9P149 Launching Vehicle w/9K114 Shturm-SPublished:
The 9P149 is a tank destroyer of Soviet origin and in this example, it is a vehicle carrying radio guided anti-tank system designated 9K114 Shturm which uses the 9M114 Kokon (Cocoon) missile. Same missile as used by the Mi-24 helicopter. The kit comes in standard gray plastic in 15 gray sprues, two clear sprues, decals and 2 photoetch frets. Total is 790 parts many of which are very tiny as the entire vehicle is a about a scale foot long. There is an entire interior which covers the driver compartment, engine and transmission. You will decide how far you want to build the interior if you don’t decide to open the hatches. The interior is really nice but I didn’t find many references no color call outs on the instructions. Construction begins with the bottom hull adding the… more |
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HH-60J Jayhawk ConversionPublished:
Floyd Werner and Werner Wings produces wonderful aftermarket and decals primarily (but not wholly) aimed at helicopters. That not surprising as that was what Floyd’s does- fly helicopters. This set consists of parts and decals to convert the Kitty Hawk 1/35th scale HH-60H to the Coast Guard version of the HH-60J Jayhawk. Wait, Kitty Hawk is out of business! Zimi Models to the rescue. They have reissued many of Kitty Hawks kits and that includes the Resue Hawk. Problem solved. The set includes seven well cast resin parts. The bigger pats are in white resin and include the extra fuel tank and the front fairing in front of the cockpit. Three of the seven parts make up the search light with the modeler supplying the lens.The last two parts modify the instrument panel with… more |
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Heinkel He162 Volksjäger - From Drawing Board to Destruction: The VolksjägerPublished:
The He-162 Volksjaeger has long been a popular model subject with great kits in all popular scales from Tamiya to Revell to Trimaster. It is an interesting plane and now we have an excellent book documenting the development to deployment to the end of the small jet fighter. Written by Robert Forsyth and Eddie J. Creek, this is a wonderful book with great profiles, pictures and information on the He-162. The chapter breakdown is as follows:
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P-38J DecalsPublished:
Iliad Designs makes a bunch of decals with really great schemes in all the popular scales. The object of this set is the P-38J with several kits being available. I had a Tamiya kit looking for some markings so I jumped at the chance to review the decals. Inside the package there is a single sheet of well printed decals with two full color instructions sheets with profiles of the plane and details associated with the plane as well as top and bottom profiles. There are markings for five planes covering everything from natural metal, OD over neutral gray and one with medium sea gray and a black bottom. Note that ONLY the markings are included. Stencils and all need to be sourced from the kit or elsewhere. The markings are:
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F-14A VF-41Black Aces DecalsPublished:
HAD Models is a group out of the Budapest Hungary and specializes in decals and masking sets for aircraft kits in the all-major scales from 1/144 to 1/35. They range from WWII to modern era planes. This set is in 1/48th scale and covers F-14A’s from the VF-41 Black Aces. Markings are included for seven unique planes:
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The Scrapyards - Aircraft Salvage Around Davis-Monthan AFB, Vol. 1980’sPublished:
New from Tempest Publishing is a great book covering the Davis Monthan AFB Scrap yards and this volume focuses on the 1980’s. the book starts with an introduction and Mr. Robson goes into his love of the fields and there is a great overall shot of the many planes stored and dismantled there. One of the first things I learned was that there are multiple actual scrapping and recovery facilities. The book is actually broken down by these and follows a path around the yards. The chapters include the following:
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Luftwaffe Search Lights and Range Finding Equipment, Vol. 1Published:
The Camera On series is unique for modelers in that it not a specification/tech manual for the subject under discussion, it is a pictorial study with pictures taken directly from archives and the original prints and detailing visually the subject in question. In this case, the subjects are Luftwaffe Search Lights and Range Finding Equipment, Volume 1. As an overview, the book contains dozens of period pictures of search lights and range finding equipment in various forms of use. The pictures are WWII period and are all black and white. From the foreward, Alan Ranger explains the goal is o present the pictures of the equipment as taken by the German soldiers not professional photographers. The goal is to get the feel and way of life of the soldiers that manned these batteries.… more |
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CH-54A Tarhe US Heavy Lift HelicopterPublished:
When ICM announced and started showing drawings of a new CH-54A Tarhe (more commonly called a skycrane), people were excited and then realized, it was in large, glorious 1/35 scale too. When the opportunity to review it came up, I begged for it and was lucky enough to get the opportunity. Inside the box are 14 sprues of grey plastic and one sprue of clear. Decals are also included. The sprues are well done as there are multiples of sprue H. This is the one with wheels, and engine parts and there are four total which includes some spares. Sprue J are the rotor blades and there are three with two blades each. One of the first things to notice is the very petit and well-done rivets. This helicopter was not built for speed but strength and there are hundreds of rivets all… more |
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F-35A Lightning IIPublished:
Tamiya caught everyone by surprise with its announcement of a 1/48 F-35A Lightning II. The kit is out now and it is fantastic. Let’s take a look into the box. The sprues are classic Tamiya, perfectly formed with great panel lines, no flash and the great Tamiya plastic. Starting off with the sprues, the top and bottom of the fuselage cover the majority of the fuselage with a total count of nine gray and a clear tinted sprue. Options include:
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A-5/RA-5 VigilantePublished:
Phoenix Scale Publications is a partnership of four people that have many years in the modeling world. They produce magazines (Scale Modeling and Aviation Modeling), Books (Red, Blue, White and Airmark series). The books are dedicated to specific planes and for this review, we look at the Airmark in Profile and in Scale series No.4, the North American A-5/RA-5 Vigilante. The contents of the book show the layout:
The Vigilante is one of my favorite planes due to its size and the fact that it’s carrier based. The introduction covers… more |