Dave Morrissette
Reviews By Author
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McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II - The Finale, Part 3Published:
Last we left off, the airframe was together with the parts and we were ready to paint. In preparation, I added the landing gear. To me, this allows the plane to sit up off surfaces while drying and these were sturdy and fit perfectly with the best attachment points I have seen. To start, I used Tamiya acrylic high gloss white thinned with lacquer thinner and sprayed the bottom and slightly up the sides. I masked off the intakes as they had a great demarcation line from the previous painting and the great design. I also shot the flaps, the rudder on the tail and all the landing gear doors. This dried quickly and I masked off for the Gull Gray. I masked around the edges and the rudder and used my Gyrocut to get some wavy lines. Tamiya yellow tape was used for all masking. I sprayed the… more |
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F-14 Bombcat Weapons Decal SetPublished:
So, you want to build an F-14 Bombcat in 1/72nd scale and you look at the kit and the weapons look plain. You look at the real items and they have markings all over them. What to do, what to do. The fine people at Furball have you covered in spades with the issue of set 72-006 which includes markings for 84 different things that go under the wings. Inside the set, you get a wonderful, large decals sheet in excellent register printed by Cartograf. The remaining three pages are detailed marking and painting instructions for both active and inert weapons. All paint colors are denoted in FS format. Alternate colors are also mentioned in notes for each weapon. All the instructions are also in color which is a great help. There are decals for each of the weapons listed… more |
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U.S. Marines Pilot WWII - Pacific TheaterPublished:
Aerobonus is part of Aires and produces a line of items meant not to enhance the actual airplane model but to add to a diorama or vignette. This can include figures or simple diorama accessories. This set is a WWII USMC pilot in 1/32nd scale describing his exploits in a nice action pose. The set is in four parts, the body, the head and two arms. All parts are cast well in Aires traditional gray resin with nice crisp details. Take care removing the parts and assembly will be a snap. I added the arms to the body and in hindsight, I should have left them off. I did keep the head separate and mounted all the parts to toothpicks for ease of painting. I primed the kit with Alclad gray primer and let dry overnight. I started with the skin tones and used Scale 75 paints… more |
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F-5E/F and T-38A TOPGUN Tigers and TalonsPublished:
The movie Top Gun, love it or hate it, raised a lot of interest in the Navy Fighter Weapons School, and that interest was not lost on modelers with the markings of the Adversary planes standing out. Furball has given us an enormous sheet of markings covering twenty-two different schemes covering both the F-5E, F-5F and the T-38A between 1976 and 1986. There are options for twelve F-5Es, four F-5Fs, and six T-38s. As noted in the header, there are separate sheets for the 1/48th and 1/72nd scale planes and both cover the same subject. AND, there are complete markings for all 22 planes! Here’s a complete rundown of the aircraft that are included in this set:
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F-4 Seat Belts Grey, SteelPublished:
This Eduard set is for F-4 Phantom seats which need gray seat belts. There is also a set for green belts. The photoetched fret is colored and has 22 pieces on thin metal. All of the seat belts are gray in color with top straps being olive drab. All buckles are bare metal give a great color to the set. There is also a nice set of instructions for installing the belts. Installation is easy, but first you need to get the seat prepared. I chose a couple of seats from Tamiya’s 1/32nd scale Phantom. I built and painted the seats per the instructions and weathered the cushions and metal parts and then gave everything a nice flat coat in preparation for the belts. I started with the two top straps, by pre-bending them to fit close to the need. I glued the top in place and… more |
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Mk.82 BombsPublished:
Eduard continues their Brassin series armament releases for 1/32nd scale aircraft with Mk. 82 low drag, general purpose bombs which are in use around the world. This set is your basic dumb bomb with a low drag configuration with no guidance systems or retardation fins. This set is comprised of thirty parts; twelve of which are the bomb fronts and the fins. The remaining eighteen are fusing/plugging options. There are three choices- standard fuse and the extended fuse and lastly, the plug installed to the nose to cover the internal parts. Casting is excellent with no pinholes and great definition. There are no seams on the parts to sand. Preparation is simple. The tail fins and the main body need to have their casting block removed and this is where planning pays off… more |
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F9F Panther Control SurfacesPublished:
Aires continues its releases with this excellent set to make the horizontal stabilizers moveable on Trumpeters 1/48th scale F9F Panther. The set is comprises four perfectly molded parts with two for each side. Casting is perfect and prep work takes about five minutes. Carefully cut the four parts free with a razor saw and then sand the edges smooth that were cut loose. They are already keyed to fit directly into the kit parts. A little clean up and they fit perfectly. One thing to note too, the set duplicates the kits surface detail very well with all the needed rivets. To finish, glue to the kit and angle the moveable parts to the same angle and paint. This is a wonderful quick to add set from Aires and will give you kit more visual interest. Highly… more |
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R-2600 Engine FrontPublished:
Resin 2 Detail produces some really great and unique resin parts to enhance kits. This set is part of their “Fast Fix” series. They are single part upgrades which enhances the kits quickly and simply. This set is two R-2600 engine fronts which are suitable as upgrades to any 1/48th scale Helldiver, Avenger, A-20, or B-25’s. They are direct replacements with almost no preparation needed. The set comes with two engines so you could do two avengers or one each of the A-20 or B-25’s. The castings are perfect and very detailed and include two engine faces along with two magnetos for the top. Preparation is simple by grinding off the back casting block of the engines, cut the magneto off and glue to the top of the engine per the instructions. I primed the engine… more |
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SBD-5 Dauntless Undercarriage CoversPublished:
Quickboost is well known for making simple, well detailed, drop in replacement parts. This set is for the Accurate Miniatures (now Italeri) SBD-5 and replaces the undercarriage covers. The set includes two replacement doors which replace the kit parts. The molding is perfect and as you can see in the comparison, the Quickboost parts are much thinner that the kit parts on the edges. One thing to note- the kit parts have a tab which goes up into wheel well and establishes the angle while the Quickboost parts are more accurate and attach only to the landing gear struts. Preparation is simple; I used a photoetch razor saw to cut the parts free and primed the parts with Alclad gray. I was installing these on an Atlantic scheme kit so interior and exterior color was white. I added… more |
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McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II, Fuselage and Wing Assembly, Part 2Published:
In Part 1, We worked through the cockpit and assembly of the basic fuselage. In Part 2, we’ll get the wings done and the fuselage finished and button up things for its first set of paint. The fuselage includes several pieces indicating future variants of the Phantom. The rudder top cap is a separate piece and glues easily in place. Make sure your alignment is straight with the rest of the rudder on this part. There are two different rudder caps so make sure you select the correct one. The front radome is added and with a light sanding fits wonderfully into place. It is keyed but make sure it is in the correct orientation. If not, it will look really weird. Lastly, the top spine of the fuselage can be added. Not the need to add a hole for an antenna. This part took a light… more |