Dave Morrissette
Reviews By Author
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F-86 Ultimate SabrePublished:
In the last several years, Eduard has had great ideas by taking well done kits from certain manufacturers, adding their beautiful photoetch, masking sets and Brassin resin to it and issuing it as a complete set. This is one of those kits and it is a winner! What you get in the package is Hasegawa’s excellent 1/48th scale F-86 Sabre with a masking set for the wheels and canopy. Also included are excellent resin castings for the ejection seat and two frets of photoetch. One is colorized and is used to detail the cockpit with seat belts, multipart instrument panels, and other small parts. The second fret is not colored and contains replacement parts for the canopy deck and details, more seat details, and other smaller bits. Also included is an excellent color instruction guide and decals… more |
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A-6E TRAM Interior ZoomPublished:
Eduard offers their photoetch in a couple different formats for those that haven’t had the pleasure. They offer the Big Ed sets which are full meal which include multiple frets, masking sets and many, many parts for those that want the ultimate detail on their kits. They also offer the sets in groups which include multiple frets for specific areas such as interiors, wheel wells or exteriors. Lastly, they offer “Zoom” sets which are one fret of colored photoetch to address, usually, cockpits. This set is one of the latter and addresses the kind of barren cockpit in HobbyBoss 1/48 A-6E TRAM kit which is already a wonderful kit. The set consists of one colored photoetch fret with excellent instructions which included a multipart instrument panel, multiple parts for the ejection seats… more |
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German Luftwaffe Pilot WWII with Life VestPublished:
Aires continues their wonderful pilot release, this time in 1/32 scale of a German WWII pilot wearing a Kapok life preserver. The parts are perfectly case and have both arms, the body and a separate head. Also included is a full color painting guide and also a printed map and booklet which can be cut out and added to the models right hand. Assembly is simple. Start by removing the arms and sanding as needed. Same for the head. The body takes a little more work cleaning out along the inseam but nothing too difficult. The arms and can be attached and the head painted separately. I primed with Alclad gray and let dry overnight. I used Scale 75 painted for the face. If you haven’t tried these, they are wonderful with a great range of flesh colors. The body was painted with… more |
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Dropper - Short VersionPublished:
Eduard has been issuing the world’s best photoetch for a long time now and I have watched many of my modeling friends use all sorts of things to add CA glue to the parts - toothpicks, dental tools, sprue parts and many more. The issue is how to apply the minimum amount of glue needed. Eduard has issued a nifty little tool to help apply the glue. The parts come on a photoetch fret with 20 droppers. The droppers have a etched lower part and come to a tip with two small forks. Use is simple- cut the dropper free and make sure not to damage the tip. It is designed to fit into a #11 knife handle. Place it into the handle like a knife blade and tighten it up. To use it, put a pool of glue near where you work. Dip the tip in and place the tip onto where you want it. I tried… more |
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Triple Ejection Racks (TER)Published:
The BRU-42 triple ejector rack (TER) is a weapon suspension unit that attaches to an aircraft's main pylons to allow the carrying of three weapons instead of one on a single pylon. They have been around for a while and can carry multiple types of weapons. Many models have simplified representations of the TER in their kits. Eduard’s set comes with parts to make five separate TERs each is comprised of 2 shackles for the attachment and six sway braces and one central body. The total set is 45 resin parts, color instructions and a full set of decals containing all the markings needed. Assembly is straightforward with a one caveat. You remove the main body from its casting plug. You remove the two top shackles. Here, you need to space them to fit on whatever pylon you are adding… more |
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B-25 Seats with Safety BeltsPublished:
Accurate Miniatures had a great run producing kits that stand up even to this day. Academy has the molds currently and has reissued the kit regularly including the 1/48 B-25B which I was lucky enough to review. The kits has wonderful detail but could use some details here and there. To address one area, Quickboost has come out with an excellent set of pilots chairs with molded in seat belts. These are cast in the usual crisp, bubble free gray resin. One really, really nice thing is that both seats are the same EXCEPT the seat belts are different which is a wonderful little detail. Prep is simple, cut off the casting blocks on the bottom and check the fit into the seat rails. It may require slightly hollowing out the area where the rails attach but it is quick grind. A quick… more |
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Adjustable Mechanic SeatPublished:
Aires and the Aerobonus line continue their 1/32 scale sets meant for modern airfields and workshops. In this case, the set is a 1/32nd scale mechanics chair. This is similar to a backless office chair. The set comes with eight resin parts including five separate casters, a seat adjustment lever, the seat itself and a magnificent casting in one piece of the chair base. Construction is straightforward but there are two things to consider when building the seat. First, the casters and seat adjustment lever are very, very small. Care is needed when removing and cleaning the parts. The same can be said of the chair base. It is a truly remarkable once piece casting. To remove it, I removed the side protectors and carefully used a photoetch razor saw and cut along the… more |
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FOD Buckets, Drums and Flightline FOD PointsPublished:
Aires has come out with three sets under their Aerobonus line which have modelers covered for any situation concerning FOD (foreign object debris). All three 1/32nd scale sets are cast in Aires gray resin and include decals and instructions.
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