Dave Morrissette
Reviews By Author
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Spinner Car From "Blade Runner"Published:
When Fujimi announced a group of vehicle kits based on the 1982 movie Blade Runner, I was excited. This is one of my favorite movies, with great actors like Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer, moody lighting, and great special effects. The first release in this series is a 1/24th scale Spinner Police Car. The Spinner is one of the iconic cars in the series, as it is a flying police car which can also change to a normal driving car. Inside the box are eight sprues. Five of these are molded perfectly in white styrene with one perfectly clear sprue for the windshield and parts. Lastly, there is one sprue molded in transparent blue and one in transparent red for the police lights. There is an excellent decals sheet and a small PE fret with “Spinner” logos. The build… more |
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OPFOR Superpack - Resin and DecalsPublished:
Creators
From Bob Sanchez at Twobobs Decals and Mike Reeves at TwoMikes Resin comes an instant classic – the IPMS/USA 2012 Nationals OPFOR Super Pack. Why list the Nationals? This item was only offered at the Nationals and sold there. A few were sent out afterward, but as of now, this item is gone, never to be released as a package again. Let's open the tube and see what's inside. First, there is a comprehensive 24-page color book detailing the OPFOR program of Adversary and Aggressor aircraft programs, TOPGUN, and the history of the entire program. There are also full-color diagrams and painting instructions for the remainder of the contents.… more |
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MiG-21SM/M/MF Fishbed J Pitot TubePublished:
From Master Model in Poland comes a well made add-on to Trumpeter’s 1/32nd MiG-21 kit (although I think it might work on the older Revell kit, too). This set is a replacement pitot tube consisting of two brass parts and a set of photoetch fins for the probe. The two pitot tube parts are sleeved and fit into one another perfectly. There are also locating holes for the fins and even two extra fins (which I needed when I lost one). I assembled the part and attached the fins. The fins are fiddly but look great one attached and you can see how much finer the detail is than the kit part. Once assembled, the base from the kit is used and a slight bend is induced in the probe to align it. Overall, an excellent improvement to a nice kit, and at an excellent price. Highly… more |
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He-162 Pitot Tube, Gun Barrels and Landing Gear IndicatorPublished:
From Master Model comes an excellent and quick detail set for the Tamiya or Dragon He-162. Included in the set are two brass barrel ends for the MG151 guns, a replacement pitot tube, and a landing gear indicator. All of the parts are turned brass and perfectly made. Use is simple. The gun barrels are direct replacements for the plastic parts and slide into the holes in the fuselage. The pitot tube is added directly to the nose and is thinner and better detailed and much less breakable. The remaining part is the indicator for the landing ear. For those who don't know, when many planes in WWII had their landing gear lowered, an indicator rod or something popped up so the pilot cold see it. For the He-162, this indicator is directly to the front and slightly left of the windscreen… more |
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Sino-French Naval War, 1884-1885Published:
Like many modelers, my knowledge of history is never as complete as I want it to be, and when MMP issued The Sino-French Naval War, I found a great opportunity to learn more about the conflict that occurred in 1884-1885. For those of you unfamiliar with these actions, during this time colonization was the policy that many countries pursued to expand growth, secure mineral and trade rights, and protect their people and interests. In this case, the French wanted Vietnam also to protect their Catholic Missions. Piotr Olender has researched the war in depth, including the ships and people involved and also the reasons behind the start of the war. The book starts with a description of the actions leading up to the start of the conflict, including the bombardment of… more |
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Boots on the Ground - The Fight to Liberate Afghanistan 2001-2002Published:
Zenith Press has published and excellent read with Boots on the Ground. The book covers the build-up and start of the war in Afghanistan during 2001-2002. The book starts with coverage of the Soviet involvement prior to their invasion, including their poisoning of the Afghani President and his subsequent execution, as well as coverage of the Soviet invasion and their loss of 15,000 troops and thousands of vehicles. There are great explanations of the Mujahedeen philosophy of "Death by a Thousand Cuts" where, in one year, the Mujahedeen conducted 5,236 attacks on the Soviets, one small attack at a time. There are great descriptions and pictures of the weapons used, from Stinger missiles to the Hind helicopter. This background history continues up through 9/11 and the decisions… more |
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Romulan WarbirdPublished:
Star Trek. Like a lot of people my age (the other side of 50), I was raised on the show and then the long running reruns. Of course, you have the movies, Deep Space Nine and more. The series is as iconic. This kit represents a Romulan D’deridex class ship which appears in STTNG series which aired between 1987 and 1994. This kit was first released by AMT a number of years ago and has become scarce in the last few years, so the rerelease is welcome. And there are improvements! The basic kit is the same with nice molding and relief. There is a round base with parts to make the kit appear in flying pose. If you see the miniatures in the series, there are two things the original kit didn’t have included. First, the warp nacelles always glowed a greenish color which… more |
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MiG-21MF Fishbed J Air ScoopsPublished:
Quickboost is known for its quick, easy and very well done add-ons to kits. The set reviewed here is a set of six air scoops present on the Trumpeter 1/32 MiG-21 series. One problem with a lot of kits is that the many of the cooling, air, etc. scoops come in two pieces. To get them correct, you need to glue them together and then sand both the inside and outside for a good fit. On this MiG kit, there are six such scoops. Quickboost has a great time saving idea. They have all of the scoops with a nice recessed depth and no seams. You simply remove the scoops, a light sanding to remove the seam and make it fit and glue in place. It provides the correct cross section for the opening- no worrying about sanding a seam flat. Also, there are no problems on the inside as they are good… more |
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Air Modeller #42, June/July 2012Published:
I have loved these magazines since they first arrived. Great photography mixed with great builds. This issue is no exception and has feature articles on:
As an example, the Wellington build is an example of what can be done with photoetch parts as Zbenek Sebesta use Eduard photoetch on the exterior, bomb bays, interior, cockpit, flaps and engines. He uses resin on the Quickboost exhausts, guns and flaps. Griffon parts are used on the wheels and flaps. Various parts were also used from… more |
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Lo-Viz Rhino's - RF-4B, F-4N, F-4J, F-4S DecalsPublished:
Furball Designs fourth issue is a set of markings for Hasegawa's 1/48th series of F-4's including the RF-4B, F-4N, F-4J, F-4S versions. There looks to be enough markings for two kits and there are ten total available. If you add stencils, you could use the entire sheet. The markings include:
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