German Bordkanone 5cm

Published: July 12, 2011
Company: Master Model

Oh where were you when I did a review of the Dragon Me-262 A-1a/U-4? Master Models has released a four part set to replace the large 5cm canon which was added to the Me-262 U-4 and also was part of the Me410 in one variant.

The set consists of a turned aluminum barrel, a turned aluminum barrel head and two brass parts. The brass parts are the end of the barrel which has a perforated tip and a cap. You place the cap on the end and add the parts together and drill a hole in the kit part and you're done. Couldn't be simpler.

The holes drilled in the business end of the barrel are a work or art. I included several pictures and borrowed one from the Master Models site to show size.

In summary, this has superb detail, a very reasonable price, will make sure you don't… more

The Amazing Spiderman

Published: June 5, 2011
Company: Polar Lights

Spiderman, Spiderman- does whatever a spider can..... Can't get the song out of my head. When this offering came up for review from Round 2, I really wanted it being a huge fan of the Marvel comics. We are in the great age of styrene for modelers of figures with lots of companies reissuing old kits and many new ones coming out!

This kit is not just Spiderman; there is a second figure, Kraven the Hunter, a full diorama base and a backdrop for it. All for $24 - a great price. The kit itself is molded in red plastic and is only 24 parts. The biggest problem was how to do the webbing on the spider suit- more on that later.

Spiderman is a dozen parts and the fit is overall good with a little putty at the leg joints and some work on the arm joints. I rescribed any missing… more

F-16I Sufa, Part 2

Published: March 4, 2022
Company: Academy Models

This has been a long time coming and that fault lies with me. First, like a lot of modelers, I couldn't leave well enough alone and decided to add Aires 1/32nd scale wheel well to the kit and also the Wolfpack 1/32nd scale F-16I Exterior Set (Part 32031) which includes two corrected pylons and the front fairings. I elected to use the wheel well set as the kit part has lots of ejector pin marks and the Aires set has even more detail. I placed the part in and had to do a little spacing with strip but it fit well and looks great. The exterior set is much less necessary but does have some slight shape corrections to the pylons. I also elected to add intake and exhaust covers to the kit. There is nothing wrong with the intake trunk (it is fully complete) or the exhaust- I just liked the way… more

MiG-21 Pylons

Published: April 29, 2011
Company: Zactomodels

While Trumpeter has come out with a lot of large scale Soviet kits, there are usually some things that could stand improvement with these. Their 1/32^nd scale Mig-21 is a solid kit and I have seen it built up into a nice finished kit many times. That being said, one of the deficiencies of the kit is its weapons pylons. They have minimal detail and like a lot of injection molded pylons, no detail whatsoever on the bottom.

Zactomodels has two varieties of these to select from, early and late, and there are differences between the two. The modeler needs to research the particular aircraft to determine which one is needed. The pylons for the Mig are designated BD3-60-21, early or late.

Let's look at what's in the box. The set comes with 4 pylons- two inner and two… more

Su-27 Missile Pylons

Published: April 28, 2011
Company: Zactomodels

Chris "Zactoman" Wilson provides another much needed update for the 1/32 Trumpeter Su-27 with the release of a full weapons pylon set - ten [weapons] in all. In the set, you get replacement for the both wing tip pylons, 2 APU-73 pylons, four AKU-470 pylons with separate actuator rods, and two APU-470 pylons. The difference with between these pylons and the kits is phenomenal. All have the correct shape so the missiles added will sit at the correct angle. Detail is provided on the bottom of each pylon so if they are left empty, there is not just the flat bottom provided by the kit pylons. Detailing is incredible and I have pictures of the kits and the Zactomodels sets together - there is no close comparison.

Instructions are excellent and as always with Zactoman products, you… more

De Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.2

Published: April 27, 2011
Company: Airfix

Oh boy- is this great!!! (Stolen from a famous movie.) I have been waiting patiently since Airfix announced the first 1/48 scale styrene kit of the Sea Vixen and the kit delivers in spades. A quick background shows that the De Havilland Sea Vixen entered service in 1959 and served until the 1970's. It was the first British fighter to be designed without guns relying solely on its missiles.

On to the kit- the basics show very crisp molding with engraved panel lines and are molded in light gray styrene. There are three large sprues in total. A very nice clear sprue rounds out the plastic and has the canopies and windscreens as well as the seeker heads, HUD glass, etc. One thing that hits you right off is the instruction manual: detailed and with 20 pages of instructions and 2… more

Adjustable Stand for Model Aircraft and Collectibles

Published: April 20, 2011
Company: Flightpose

One of the long time problems modelers have had is what to do if they want to pose an aircraft in flight- after all, that's their natural habitat, in the air. Another problem we modelers have had is how to show off the underside of our exquisitely detailed airplanes or the like while they sit on their gear.

Carlos Laos and Flightpose have come to the rescue with a simple yet brilliant idea! Flightpose stands consist of three soft-tipped, moveable rods attached to a base. The rods are repositionable and can be used to support a good size kit. I tried it on Airfix's new Sea Vixen and also Academy's 1/32 F-16I Sufa and the large version supported each of them with no problems. The tips are very "grippy" so there is good firm support. The sizes mentioned above in the pricing are… more

Me-262A-1/U-4

Published: March 30, 2011
Company: Cyber-Hobby

A little quick history. As the Germans got deeper into trouble at the end of WWII, the started trying more and more desperate things to try to stem the inevitable. One of these was to "up" gun the Me262 with a 50mm Mauser Mk 214A V3. That is what this kit depicts. Now to what's in the box: life for this kit started out in the Trimaster range many years ago (late 1980's or so) and the molds went to DML/Dragon who got rid of the white metal with plastic and now on to Dragons bargain line, Cyber-hobby. At the time of the initial release, the Trimaster kits were the most detailed Me262's around with, at the time, revolutionary photoetch included and extensive detailing.

The build starts with the cockpit and wheel wells and there are not issues. For the wheel wells, a large part is… more

P.K.H. 103 Nutcracker

Published: March 22, 2011
Company: Hasegawa

The Maschinen Krieger universe is a SciFi series created in the 1980’s by Kow Yokoyama and ran as a series of stories in Japanese Hobby Magazine Hobby Japan. Many of the creations are permutations of WW I and WW II tanks and aircraft upgraded and all started with powered armored suits. In 2009, Hasegawa received the license for the kits and entered the market with the Falke, Lunadiver Stingray and now the P.K.H. 103 Nutcracker, a hover tank. After building the Lunadiver Stingray, when this came up for review, I wanted to add to the collection I am building.

Inside the box are 8 tan sprues and an upper and lower hull for the Nutcracker. Molding is superb with fines detail. Also included are 5 sprues to build two of the powered suits, a Gustav and Melusine. Finishing out the box… more

U-Boat Biber

Published: February 6, 2011
Company: Italeri

Most people are aware of the large WWII German U-boats as they appear in movies, video games and on TV very frequently. These are typically the large Type VII and Type IX boats. Many don’t realize the Germany also had a very active midget submarine effort going where one or two man subs attacked and sunk shipping.

While there are several different types, the one we are looking at is a one man sub named Biber (Beaver). There were 324 built towards the end of the war. While not very successful (they sank or damaged 9 ships versus losses of 70 subs), they do hold a spot in the history of the Kriegsmarine.

Italeri has produced the first injection molded kit of the Biber in a nice 1/35^th scale. The kit comes with 2 excellent sprues of plastic for the sub, a sheet… more