David Wrinkle
Reviews By Author
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World War Toons M5 Stuart Light TankPublished:
For me this kit seems like a match made in heaven. I have always liked the Stuart tank as well as have been looking to trying building one of the toon tanks from Meng. When the opportunity arose to do this review, I jumped on it. I was intrigued after Meng had released several Meng Kids aircraft kits and now, they have released at the time of this review 12 World War Toons tank kits. I also discovered while researching the kit for this review there is apparently video game utilizing the tanks in the series. At the time of this review the game is apparently in beta form. Now, on to the kit itself. There are approximately 60 parts on two sprues with pair of rubber band tracks. The tracks are molded in a loop so it isn’t even necessary to join them together. Assembly is broken up… more |
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B5N1 Kate ExhaustPublished:
Upfront, I want to thank Aires and Quickboost for providing these fine aftermarket bits for our beloved models, and to the IPMS USA a big thank you for allowing me to review this Quickboost product. Admittedly I have a few passions in modeling and the past few years I’ve focused on Japanese subjects and recently I added the Airfix B5N1 Kate to my stash. Seeing the Quickboost exhaust resin for review, I snagged the exhaust parts up before even looking at the kit plastic parts. In all honesty, the original parts look pretty good but I believe you will see how much improved the Quickboost resin is compared to the kit plastic. To my eye the nicely faired exhaust exit, not to mention the hollow exhaust is certainly worth the minimal cost for this accessory. Like other… more |
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Mitsubishi F-15J Eagle 40th Anniversary Special MarkingPublished:
Most of you should be at the least generally familiar with F-15 Eagle in its role as a twin engine all-weather tactical fighter. The F-15 was introduced into service in the United States in 1976 and just two short years later in Japan. The Japanese government made its initial purchase of F-15J “Peace Eagles” built by McDonnell Douglass in the late 1970’s before continuing to build additional J models and Pratt-Whitney engines under license. The F-15J is based on the US F-15C/D model for those of you familiar with the Eagle. Making a quick search I found that if you want to build an F-15J in 1/72 scale you are limited on your choices. Hasegawa has produced two molds of the J. The earlier tooling dates to the mid-1970s and its follow on was released in the late 1980s. The handful… more |
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Mitsubishi A5M Part 2 DecalsPublished:
The A5M “Claude” known internally to Mitsubishi as the KA-14 and formally as the Navy Type 96 Navy Carrier-based Fighter was the first all metal monoplane to enter service as carrier-based aircraft. The Claude is the direct predecessor to the A6M “Zero” and did see combat through the beginning of the Second World War but had been pretty much removed from combat by 1942. Late in the war a few were even used as kamikaze aircraft. There are a few 1/48 A5M Claude kits on the market in 1/48 scale with the most prominent player at the moment being the new tool Fine Molds kits. Other Claude kits in 1/48 scale include the Wingsy, an old tool Fine Molds A5M, Eagles Talon (vacuform) and an Classic Airframes kit. Thankfully Lifelike has come to the rescue with a timely re-release of their… more |
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Submarine Project 613 / Whiskey IIIPublished:
After having published someone else’s review on a Mikro Mir 1/350 submarine kit I was intrigued to build one for myself. After a quick review of the available models, I opted for the Whiskey III kit. I can say I’m very happy to have built my first ship model in over 40 years. The Whiskey Class of submarine was conceived in the late 1940’s with a design heavily influenced by the Russian analysis of a captured Type XXI U-Boat. During the 1950’s approximately 220 – 240 Whiskey class boats were built (Class I through V). Wikipedia reports that by the end of the cold war, all Whiskey class boats have been retired by the Soviet Navy. As far as the quality of the model with regards to fit and finish I was very impressed by what you receive in the box. To my eye, the recessed lines and… more |
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Rumpler C.IV Landing GearPublished:
Upfront, I want to thank Scale Aircraft Conversions for providing outstanding aftermarket bits for our beloved model kits, and to IPMS USA a big thank you for allowing me to review the Scale Aircraft Conversions metal gear. I’ve had a chance to build two Wingnut Wings kits now and let me assure their kits are TOP NOTCH and fit and finish is unrivaled. In my humble opinion though, the weakest point of these large 1/32 scale kits are the beautiful scale landing gear, and the most obvious place to add some aftermarket metal bits. My personal opinion regarding heavier 1/32 aircraft and smaller scale kits with fiddly landing arrangements, metal gear is the only way to go. Metal gear is more forgiving and has the wonderful ability to be gently adjusted, unlike their polystyrene… more |
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P-40N WarhawkPublished:
This release from Eduard is part of a limited edition series of kits that, in addition to all the fine extras we’ve come to expect from Eduard, also includes a fantastic 3D metal printed plate of the same box art graphic. In the case of this fine P-40N release, the plastic is very familiar to many of us. The plastic in this kit comes directly from the Hasegawa Corporation. Additional features of the kit include the following items:
There really isn’t much to say about the overall build of this fine model. A build of the Hasegawa P-… more |
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JGSDF Komatsu LAV Detail SetPublished:
Hauler has chosen to support a very fine kit with this release of a photo-etch & resin parts for the 1/48 Tamiya LAV. Please note, Tamiya also makes this LAV in 1/35 scale. Like the 1/48 HUMVEE kit Tamiya also produces, this kit can benefit from a bit of bling to really make the finished model pop! This set from Hauler includes a large photo-etch fret, one small photo-etch fret and two pour stubs of resin parts along with a detailed set of instructions to help you to install this array of parts on the Tamiya JGSDF LAV model. What a liked about the detail set is it addresses many issues that are noticeable on many smaller scale kits. I find that many parts suffer from being non-scale thickness and can are easily corrected with the use of photoetch parts. On this kit the… more |
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P-40 E–N DetailsPublished:
Yet again Master Model has hit a home run with this with this very affordable upgrade to your existing 1/32 P-40 E through N aircraft kits. Master Model has released a detail set that addresses the Browning 50 caliber blast tubes, iron gun sights, and the pitot tubes. Included in the set are six beautiful brass blast tubes, a photo etch sight ring (and spare), one iron sight post and a brass pitot tube with two pitot probe variants. Available kits in the P-40 (E – N) range included Hasegawa (Eduard), Revell and Trumpeter. For earlier P-40 (B – C) models, Master Model produces details sets AM-032-097 and AM-032-098 Installation is very straight forward. With the iron sights and pitot, it will be a very simple matter of pre-painting the parts and drilling two appropriate holes on… more |
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Mitsubishi A6M5c/A6M7 Zero Fighter Type 52 Hei/Type 62 'FUYO Unit'Published:
The Mitsubishi A6M7 Type 0, according to Wikipedia, is based on the A6M6, which in turn is based on the A6M5c. The bottom line for this variant of the venerable Zero is that it was designed for a role as a fighter bomber. It was fitted with 3 - 13.2mm Machine guns (1 in the fuselage and 2 wing mounted) as well as 2 wing mounted 20mm canons. Additionally, it has hard points to carry various combinations of external bombs and or external fuel tanks. This release of the A6M Zero by Hasegawa is based on the 1994 tooling that has been used in the past for other sub-variants of the late model Zero fighter. Don’t let the age of the tool fool you, this is a superb kit. This kit allows the builder to choose from one of three aircraft: one A6M5c Type 52 Hei or one of two A6M7 Type 62s… more |