Dave Morrissette
Reviews By Author
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German U-XXIII Coastal SubmarinePublished:
When Bronco first announced a 1/35th scale Type XXIII U-boat, I was fired up. I love U-boats and this scale was only previously available in very, very expensive resin. When it became available for review, I jumped on it. Upon opening the large box, you have lots of plastic to contend with as the finished sub will be as large as the 1/72 Revell Type VII’s. Inside are 113 gray parts with nice detail that make up the sub itself. The hull is split in half and also in front and rear sections. There are 52 parts to build two torpedoes and 21 to build a raft that can be attached to the front. Also included are 9 clear parts, a sheet of photoetch, two magnets and a nice sheet of decals. Being this large, you will notice that the sprue attachment points are pretty thick. Cutting… more |
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Focke-Wulf FW 190D-9Published:
Hobbyboss continues their FW190/Ta152 series with this FW190D-9. The kit consists of 118 beautifully engraved plastic parts, a sheet of 6 photoetch pieces and 5 clear parts. markings are included for:
There is an excellent set of decals with full stencils. The only thing I noticed right up front was the lack of seatbelts which I remedied with a Reheat set. Construction starts with the cockpit which nice with a good representation of the seat, pedals and decals for the instruments on the two panels. No issues came up and as I stated, I just added the seat belts. Also in the fuselage is the rear firewall which has the rear of the engine and several parts.… more |
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Fw 190 Landing GearPublished:
Scale Aircraft Conversions has released a set of main and rear landing gear parts for Hobby Boss Fw 190s in 1/48 scale. The set includes four parts: two main landing gear struts and a two-part rear landing gear (which proves to be a godsend—more on that later). The two main gear are drop in replacements. However, you’ll want to compare them to the kit struts to make sure you install each gear leg on the correct side of the aircraft; you could easily install them in reverse, which would give you an incorrect stance. The easiest way to make sure they are correctly installed, is to ensure that the torque link is facing back, towards the tail. Before painting, I removed the faint seam lines and polished the retraction strut parts to a shiny silver. This was left in natural metal by… more |
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X-47B Landing GearPublished:
Ross MacMillan and Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) continue to put our sturdy white-metal landing gear for many, if not all, of the new releases. This set is for the Freedom Models X-47B, the USN's UAV that is currently undergoing testing. Freedom Models’ kit is awesome and builds into a great representation of the UAV. One thing that hits you when you open the box is its size. It has a 62-foot wingspan, almost double a P-51’s! With that size of plane, white-metal gear could really help support it. Inside the package, you get nine well cast white metal pieces. Two of these are options for the nose gear: one with the catapult attachment up and one down, ready for launch. The remainder include the primary gear legs and retraction struts as well as the remainder of the nose gear… more |
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A6M5 Gun BarrelsPublished:
Tamiya has issued some of the most spectacular 1/32nd scale kits that have ever been made. One of these was the A6M5 Zero (Model 52) which raised the bar yet again. The kit is excellent but Quickboost shows it can make it better. This set includes two perfectly cast gun barrels for the 7.7mm guns above the engine cowling and two 20mm cannons for the wings. There is no assembly, prime and paint the parts and install and you are done. Comparing the parts to the kits parts, several things are evident. First, the two wing cannons are more representative of the real thing as Quickboost has them narrower than the plastic can be made. The 7.7mm guns have beautiful jacket details and much finer muzzle details than the kit parts. For $6.50, this is a superb upgrade to an already… more |
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Wheel Chocks for Russian PlanesPublished:
HAD Models is based in Budapest, Hungary and has an excellent selection of laser cut wood, photoetch and resin parts. This particular piece is a 1/32nd wheel chock for Russian planes. This is four individual pieces of photoetch. The main part is bent six times to get the main shape. The back piece is bent to shape and fit into its spaces. I used a Hold and Fold for the majority of the bends and rolled the back piece around a wooden dowel to get the approximate shape. I let the glue dry thoroughly and the started trimming the bent face piece back. When it was close, I sanded the brass parts back until I could putty them smooth. It then primed with Alclad gray primer. The pictures show a nice orange color so I used Italeri international Orange and got it nice and glossy. I added… more |
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A-7D Corsair Ejection Seat with Seat BeltsPublished:
Quickboost released two seats for Trumpeter's 1/32 A-7 series. This seat is the Escapac 1G-2 Ejections seat used in the A-7D variants. Quickboost previously released a later version of the SJU-8A seat for late A-7E which is reviewed here: http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/7e-corsair-ii-late-ejection-seat-seat-b… The seat for the A-7D is four perfectly cast parts. The seat is the major part with two side cylinders and the tab between the headrest being separate. Cleanup takes almost nothing and the parts glue right in place. For a reference to this seat, you can check out the pictures here: http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/… more |
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GBU-12 Paveway II BombsPublished:
The GBU-12 Paveway II is a laser guided bomb based on the 500 lb. general purpose bomb with an added head and fins. they have been around since 1976 and model have had versions of them probably since about that time. Eduard has issued a set of four GBu-12's in their Brassin resin line. The set comprises four tail sections, four bodies, four seeker hears with 2 different variants and four sets if front fins for a total of 32 well cast resin parts. Also is included is a small but well printed decal sheet with 13 decals per bomb. Preparation of most parts is simple - the bomb bodies are cut off square and the fins trimmed carefully taking care to make sure the pins for attachment are left on the fins. Next, choose which seeker hear you need and trim off the extra. You then need to… more |
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Luftwaffe Camouflages (Air Series) PaintPublished:
AK Interactive makes all sorts of very nice modeling materials from books to weathering items to paints. This review covers their Luftwaffe Camouflages from their Air Series. Inside you will find eight 17 ml eyedropper bottles of paint specifically matched to WWII Luftwaffe colors. The following colors are included:
These can be used on many Luftwaffe planes, for example, Bf 109s, Fw 190s, Me 410s and He 219s. Most of these are early war colors. The paints are acrylic and are made by Vallejo. They are very fine grained and result in a medium-flat finish. AK recommends their AK712 thinner. Not having this, I tried… more |
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A6M2b S.A. Detail SetPublished:
Eduard's set 73467 is meant to detail Tamiya's 1/72 A6M2b. The set addresses the cockpit, the wheel wells, the engine and adds dropped flaps. This is done with two superb frets of photoetch. One is the standard set and addresses the flaps and wheel wells and engine with 61 parts. The second fret is colorized and covers the cockpit and miscellaneous parts with 66 parts. All are beautifully done. Starting with the cockpit, there are three things that make a huge difference. First is the superb seat. it is scale thin and has the needed holes. It takes a little roll to get the right shape. Added to that are fantastic seat belts. Second are the side walls and panels. it is preprinted and also adds to the cockpit. Last is the instrument panel which is a little work of art. All of… more |