Dave Morrissette
Reviews By Author
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Bela Lugosi as Broadways Dracula Deluxe KitPublished:
On the heels of all the other great releases, Frank Winspur and Moebius have added a "Deluxe" version of Bela Lugosi as Dracula; IPMS reviewed the kit. I'll concentrate this review on the differences and there are quite a few. The first obvious one is that our friendly neighborhood vampire has found himself a lovely female victim. She is passed out from fear in a lovely gown and fits right up against Bela. This did necessitate a change in the position of Dracula's arms and cape to accommodate the second figure. last, the base has an added column and a bat and rat. The victim in this case is a young lady and constructed from 18 pieces with the arms, legs, head and hair being multiple pieces. The pieces were all assembled and pieced together. It… more |
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P-61 A/B Compressed Air CylindersPublished:
Quickboost has issued this set of 12 Compressed Air Cylinders for the Great Wall Hobby P-61A/B. There are 12 cylinders perfectly case in grey resin and attached to a single carrier at the bottom. Cast guards are in place to make sure no damage is done. Removal is simple in just cutting the cylinders from there base with a sprue cutter and removing a few faint seam lines. I ran into something unusual at this point. Most Quickboost parts are drop in replacements for the somewhat deficient kit parts. I went over the GWH kit instructions several times looking for the parts to be replaced and found nothing. A couple visits to Internet sites located nothing showing where the cylinders belong. I was lucky enough to have a pilot handbook and started going over it in earnest. I think I… more |
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Luna Tactical Reconnaissance LUM-168 CamelPublished:
As a bit of background, and from Wikipedia, the Maschinen Krieger universe is a science fiction universe created by Japanese artist and sculptor Kow Yokoyama in the 1980s. The franchise originally began as the science fiction series SF3D which ran as monthly installments in the Japanese hobby magazine Hobby Japan from 1982 to 1985. To develop the storyline, Kow Yokoyama collaborated with Hiroshi Ichimura as… more |
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Ju87 Stuka Seats with BeltsPublished:
Hasegawa's 1/48th scale kit of the Stuka is a gem with great fit and detail and there are several aftermarket parts available for it. One thing that is lacking in the basic kit is seats with belts. Quickboost latest issue has that covered and is a two piece set with the pilots seats and gunners seat as separate parts. The parts are Quickboost's excellent, bubble and flash free gray resin. To use the parts is simple, cut the mold block off of each and sand. I want to address the two parts individually. The attached photos of the pilot seat show the enormous improvement that the Quickboost seat is with its corrected shape, seat belts and much finer detail. in a word, the kit part is wrong and Quickboost fixes it in spades. The gunners seat has the seat belts and the open… more |
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F-5E/F Ejection SeatsPublished:
AFV surprised a lot of people with a aircraft release as they normally do military vehicles. The f-5E/F series us superb and has all the needed detail for a great build. As with a lot of kits, the one thing they have trouble replicating is the ejection seat. Quickboost to the rescue with two sets of seats. one is for the single seat F-5e and one set for the two seat F-5F. The seats are the same in both sets which is why I combined the review. The casting quality is all the we have come to expect with no flash, zero bubbles and that nice firm dark gray resin. The comparison in the photo of the kit seat versus the Quickboost show just how much better the Quickboost seat is and it includes all the belts. The addition to the kit is simple, cut of the casting block, paint the seat… more |
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Quickboost F3H-2 Demon Ejection SeatPublished:
Hobbyboss has an excellent series of hits coming, and their line of F3H Demon kits is most welcomed with their foldable wings and engraved lines. Like most modern planes, the kit suffers from the ability to do a really good ejection seat. Quickboost gives modelers an option with a perfectly cast five piece seat with molded seat belts. The seat comes with the main body, headrest, center stick and two loops for the sides of the seat. This is an early seat, those early seats being replaced by the MB series. Assembly is straightforward after removing the parts from the mold block. Notice in the comparison pictures that the kit parts do have some large ejector pin marks and that there are no seat belts. The Quickboost seat is a direct drop in and much better in shape and… more |
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S2F Tracker ExhaustsPublished:
It's amazing to me how many of the kits that were not around at all are actually being produced now. One of the companies coming out with a great selection of kits is Kinetic and their S2F Tracker is a lovely kit with options for wing folds and nicely engraved panel lines. One small deficiency of the kit is that it ignored the engine exhausts which are above and below the wings on the nacelles. For a lot of modelers, this is no big deal and the kit still is wonderful. View the images in the slideshow which clearly illustrate the location of the exhausts, with arrows indicating where they should go. Installation is easy. I used a small drill bit to open the holes and then refined them with files and a knife. Once the holes have been opened and cleaned up, the exhausts were added… more |
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Quickboost Saab J-35 Draken Ejection SeatPublished:
Hasegawa’s 1/48th scale J-35 Draken kit is an excellent representation of the plane. Like most injected kits, the ejection seat is not as good as the rest of the kit due to molding limitations. Now Quickboost comes to the rescue with a highly detailed resin Saab ejection seat with molded belts. I have enclosed pictures of the Quickboost seat as well as Aires seat and the kit seat. Aires has a set of PE seat belts that need to be built prior to installing the seat, Quickboost's belts are molded onto the seat and the kit seat has no belts at all. The Aires and Quickboost seat are similar with excellent detail on the fabric and seat. The Aires seat comes with an entire replacement cockpit. Modelers now have three choices- the kit seat; the Aires seat with the PE buckles/… more |
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Creature from the Black LagoonPublished:
When Moebius announced a kit of the “Creature from the Black Lagoon with Victim”, I was excited. I have always been a fan of the 1954 movie creature, story and Julie Adams. It got even better when they announced Adam Dougherty, the "Kreature Kid". It was a wonderful day when Review package arrived in the mail. Out came the DVD and straight to the basement. I broke the kit down into three builds- the creature, the girl, and the base. The kit comes with an excellent sandy base with lizard, fossil hand, stones and a nice tropical fern. I started with the creature himself, and the first thing that hits you is how nice the sculpting is with everything accurate down to the zippers on the back of the legs and on the arms. I built and sanded the arms and the head with no… more |
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F4D-1 Skyray Part 2 – The BuildPublished:
The first thing to realize when building a resin kit is you have to read and reread the instructions. Paul Fisher does an excellent job of not only writing the instructions but also adding tips, painting instructions, and any other needed information for the build. First, the main wheel well bays needed to be cleaned and the openings trued up. The gear bays were then glued in place. The detail on the wheel wells is phenomenal. The engine face was also painted and glued in place. The exhaust was also painted and added at this point. Once done, the inside of one scoop was glued in place and the top and bottom were sealed. The best way I found to do this was to use thin super glue, letting it flow into the seam an inch or two at a time and immediately accelerating it. This took a… more |