For those of you that have never heard of Aerobonus, they are a line produced by Aires that includes various RBF tags, munitions carriers, and some select weapons. The product for review today is a set of six resin seeker head covers in 1/32 scale for any of the AIM-9L/M/N variants. In this case, the RBF tags are printed on yellow vinyl and are marked in white letters in Hebrew specifically for the Israeli Defense Force.
Assembly is as easy as it gets. Trim off a seeker head which is already cast in the correct yellow resin. Sand any nubs. Wire is provided, so cut a piece off and thread through the hole in the resin piece. I doubled mine over and twisted it like a bread tie. The vinyl parts are solid colors and peel off easily. Fold it over on itself and thread the other end of… more
Designed for the Trumpeter/Hobbycraft 1/32 F-105G is Aires’ new cockpit set, which is comprised of 33 gray resin, one clear resin and almost 100 photoetch parts. Casting is flawless, which is normal for Aires. The photoetch has nice relief.
I sanded the cockpit and sidewalls down and test fit them in the Trumpeter kit. The fit is good and not much thinning will be needed. You will need to sand the pour area off of the bottom of the cockpit. The test fit did show that the back of the cockpit interferes with the bomb bay in the kit. This was easily remedied by cutting the back bottom portion off of the kit at an angle and the fit tightened right up. The sidewalls required a slight trimming but fit tight and looked great.
The seats have a lot of pour material below the legs… more
Master Models continues their excellent line of replacement pitot tubes with one designed for the Trumpeter/Hobbycraft F-105. The part is a single milled aluminum piece. The first picture shows how it compares to the Trumpeter kit part – no seam and much finer on the end. Also, it will be a lot harder to break off. I then compared to the Trumpeter kit nose and the old Cutting Edge replacement nose. Fit to the Cutting Edge pieces was superb and to the kit not bad, as I did have to open the hole a little.
For as many times as I have broken kit pitot tubes either prepping them for a build or after the build going to contests, dusting , etc., this is a great bargain at $7.00. It is a drop-in fit and is tough and better detailed. Highly recommended!
Many modelers were excited with the release of the 1/48th scale Demon series from Hobbyboss, as the only kits available prior to this were limited run kits from Grand Phoenix, Collectaire, and a vacuform, too, I believe. For those desiring that extra shimmer to a nice kit, Aires has come to the rescue with five sets to add even more detail. The sets, prices and part numbers are listed below:
Dragon has started producing kits in 1/200th scale of larger planes. This is a great idea for those who want a replica of a specific plane but don't have the shelf space for larger kits. This issue is the Avro Vulcan B.2 and comes with three grey plastic sprues and one small clear sprue. Molding is excellent and there are a little over 50 parts and half of it is landing gear and wheels. There is the option to build in-flight or on the ground. Two sets of markings are provided:
No. 617 Squadron in overall white
Scampton Air Wing, Lincolnshire 1970, in Green/Grey over white.
Work started with prepping the upper and lower fuselage sections. There is a two-piece cockpit to install (and teensy pilots if you want them). The bottom requires a plate for… more
Wow – this is such a great first release by new company Furball Designs and its chief cook and bottle washer, Geoff Martin. The decals are for the new Hobbyboss 1/48 F3H Demon and include markings for 9 (yup, NINE) planes:
F3H-2M, 1957, VX-4 (with the Playboy bunny logo)
F3H-2, 1963, VF-14
F3H-2, 1962, VF-21
F3H-2, 1963, VF-54
F3H-2M, 1958, VF-61
F3H-2, 1959, VF-101
F3H-2M, 1958, VF-24
F3H-2, 1961, VF-31
F3H-2, 1959, VF-41
The decals come in two sheets – one is color and is 8" x 10" and the other is all black and is 7.5" x 8". Printing is by Cartograf and is superb, is in register, and is colorful. One thing that is excellent is the decals are separated for things like the speed… more
When Kinetic announced the release of a C-2A Greyhound, I was very interested after having seen VRC-40 Rawhides above the USS Carl Vinson last summer. When the opportunity came up to build one, I jumped at the chance.
Looking at the plastic, much of the kit is a carryover from their excellent E-2C Hawkeye kits, with the wings, engine and props duplicated. Included are a new fuselage and full interior, along with a back ramp. Molding and panel lines are excellent and I dove right into the interior.
Unlike the Hawkeye, this kit includes a full interior which is visible with the ramp in the lowered position. There is a full cockpit which is part of a one-piece molded floor to the plane and cargo area. I added only belts to the seats. Here I got confused when building the… more
This is going to be the easiest review I have done in a while. This is the best styrene figure kit produced...at least to date. Now for the why's. The kit is 1/8 scale and includes Bela Lugosi in the Broadway version of Dracula (it looks like the movie a lot). The kit can be broken down into 4 parts. First is an excellent base with dungeon floor and walls and the door to the dungeon. This includes rock piles, skull, obligatory rodent, lit torch, and an excellent door with its hardware. Second is the figure in a good pose wearing a tuxedo with shoes and gold chains. Third is the cape, which is molded in such a way that it can be added to the painted figure and still drapes naturally. Last, and the most for me, are the head and hands. This is the best likeness of Lugosi around. That… more
Skunkmodels continues its run of excellent diorama items with a 1/48th scale Nimitz class carrier deck including the blast deflectors. When complete, this will be about 24" x 14" in size. The parts count is large to get an accurate deck with 112 styrene parts and a 5-piece PE set. In addition to this, you can get the PE tie down set which includes over 160 etched tie downs for about $6.00 (and it is worth it). Options include two open or closed hatches, a shuttle for the catapult, and, of course, a positionable blast deflector. Lastly, there are four very nicely molded deck figures.
Construction starts with the deck which consists of 10 large parts. The trick here is to get them as even and smooth as possible. The deck is molded with the correct anti-skid coating, so the better… more
Aires continues releasing excellent resin sets for the series of 1/32nd Revell Tornadoes. The latest set is replacement wells and speed brakes and includes the actuating pistons. Molding is first rate with no flash or air bubbles.
To install the parts, cut out the kit bays and smooth the openings. Install the parts from the inside and add the speed brakes. Detail on the parts is excellent and is somewhat better than the kit. The speed brake is deeper and finer than the kit’s. This set is an improvement but with a couple of caveats – obviously, if you are going to close the speed brakes, this set is not necessary. Second, the improvement in depth and detail is there but will set you back $27 ($24 from Great Models) and this is a decision for the modeler. It is a simple… more
