David Wrinkle
Reviews By Author
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Pz.Kpfw.III (5cm) (T) Ausf.GPublished:
The KitThis is my first Dragon Pz. III build and my overall impression of the kit is very favorable. The parts are very well molded with fine, delicate detail and no flash to speak of… almost. I found only a few small fit and engineering issues that take away from the overall build experience. In general the kit builds up like any other newer Dragon armor kit. The other thing I noticed was a bunch of parts. However, you will notice that nearly half of them are not used in this version of the Pz. III. The Hull comes with no interior detail other than the hull mounted MG and the torsion bars for the suspension. With an aftermarket interior, you wouldn’t see much if any of the bars anyhow. The turret does have some detail, but it is limited to the gun breech, spent… more |
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Infantry Tank Mk. III “Valentine” Mk IXPublished:
The KitThe Bronco offering of the Valentine tank comes fully packed in a sturdy box. Inside you will find 17 grey sprues, one clear sprue, 18 track sprues (12 links per sprue), two decal sheets, two photo etched frets (including an addendum instruction for the smaller fret), a box sized color poster of the Valentine tank, and a very well done instruction booklet. With a couple of exceptions the sprues are individually bagged. It should be noted there are no figures included with the kit. QualityI have to say that upon opening the box I was amazed at the quality of the molding. This is my first Bronco kit and I will be looking for another soon. The part detail is very fine and flash free. The links look to be top notch as well and as an added bonus the kit… more |
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Yak-1 ExhaustPublished:
The Yak-1 kit originally manufactured by Accurate Miniatures and now re-boxed by Eduard is a fine little kit but could certainly use a bit of aftermarket sparkle with this Quickboost exhaust kit. The original kit parts are ok but lack the bored out exhaust stubs. The Quickboost kit contains a pair of well molded exhaust parts in grey colored resin. Removal from the pour stub is easy by simply making a few scores with your favorite sharp hobby knife. Please be careful - it is easy to score through the part (ask me how I know), and slice the part in half. Once separated from the pour stubs, a few scrapes with my hobby blade cleaned up the part and I was able to place it relatively easily in the fuselage opening. These two parts have a good fit and it looks good when installed.… more |
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Japanese Type 3 Medium Tank “Chi-Nu” – “Girls und Panzer” seriesPublished:
I must begin this review by giving a big thank-you to one of my fellow IPMS Wright Field Scale Modelers, Robert Cobb, who at our January 2013 modeling retreat got me hooked on Japanese Anime. “Thanks, Bob!” Specifically, Bob introduced me to the “Girls und Panzer” series. (And yes, it has snowballed from there.) “Girls und Panzer” follows several characters from the Ōarai Girls High School in Japan. The Ōarai girls participate in the sport of sensha-dō (tankery) along with several other all-girls high school teams located worldwide. The schools participate in non-lethal tank battles fought in World War 2-era tanks. The Ōarai Girls team runs a very eclectic mix of tanks, including the “Chi-Nu” tank operated by the school’s computer nerd team (The Anteater Team). The… more |
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Hasegawa J2M2 Raiden (Jack) PrototypePublished:
The J2M series of aircraft were designed by Dr. Jiro Horikoshi who also was responsible for the Zero / Zeke design. The J2M (Allied code name “Jack”) was designed in 1939 and first flown in March of 1942. A total of 621 J2M Raiden (Japanese for Thunderbolt) series of aircraft J2M1 through J2M6 were produced with the M2 and M3 accounting for 438 of the total built. I’m a big fan of all things Thunderbolt including this fine Japanese aircraft that shares the nickname with our beloved P-47. The box arrived at my house and what greeted me inside the standard issue model box is what I would expect from any Hasegawa kit. A quick inspection of each individually bagged sprues again yielded no surprises. The parts were all flash free and the detail was what I expect from Hasegawa kits.… more |
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Xuntong TU-2T Torpedo bomberPublished:
The Tupolev TU-2 was introduced into service in 1942 and produced as several variants to include a high speed bomber, dive-bomber, interceptor, recon and as represented in this review kit, a torpedo bomber. The TU-2T torpedo bomber began it service in early 1945 with overall production of the TU-2 continuing until 1948. Russia retired the TU-2 in 1950 but sold many of them to other nation's air forces. China used the TU-2 until the late 1970’s. Xuntong Models is new to the modeling scene and they started off with three TU-2 variants as their first releases. Thanks to Stevens International, I was able to have a chance to review one of these fine kits. I cracked open the sturdy box and was pleasantly surprised to find individually bagged sprues and a nice instruction booklet… more |
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Soviet Military Truck ZIS-5VPublished:
Initial construction of the ZIS-5 truck began in 1933, and ultimately the Soviets produced a million examples of this cargo truck. Wartime shortages of raw materials necessitated much of the truck body to be made from wood. The normally stylish/rounded fenders were simplified to the simple, squared-off examples represented here. I’m sure many of these trucks made the grueling winter crossing of Lake Ladoga to keep Leningrad supplied during the three-year siege by the Germans. The KitZvezda provides a very sturdy box, one which I would kill to see other manufactures follow suit and provide. The interior box is a corrugated design featuring an attached lid and a standard thin slip-over box cover. Opening the box reveals a very beefy set of sprues with some of the parts… more |
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Soviet D-30 122mm Howitzer – Early VersionPublished:
History / BackgroundThe Soviet D-30 (122mm howitzer) entered service with the Russian Army in 1963 as a replacement for the M-30 and M-1942 artillery pieces. Nearly fifty years on, the D-30 is still in active service in over fifty armies today, including the Afghans under supervision of US forces. Unlike a conventional artillery piece that utilizes two trail legs the D-30 uses three, and when deployed, the trails are placed into a very stable configuration separated by 120 degrees. In travel mode, the D-30's rearmost legs fold forward alongside the forward leg, and the entire gun is pulled via the tow ring on the muzzle. With this build, I broke one of my cardinal rules for modeling: avoid equipment made after 1946. Why did I break this rule? For one, the gun has been in… more |
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Fw-189 Wheels and Paint MasksPublished:
A relatively new company on the modeling scene, Great Wall has released a handful of kits to date and, with reference to this review, they have two variants of the FW-189, an A1 and an A2, along with a third ski-equipped A1 version. Aires has stepped up to the plate and has released a resin wheel set (with paint mask) for the trio of kits. Typically, I buy a resin wheel set for a single reason and that is to obtain a set of weighted wheels for the kit I'm building. Many of you (and you know who you are) prefer the kit’s un-weighted round wheels, and that fine, too. In the case of the Great Wall kits, they ship with weighted wheels. What is a modeler to do? In this case, Aires is your answer. Unlike the kit parts, the resin set they provide is the round, non-weighted wheels. Problem… more |
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The Black WidowPublished:
I want to start the review by saying this is my first journey outside my comfort zone of building aircraft, so keep that in the back of your mind. What may be very obvious to the hard core figure modeler may not be to me. Anyway, the Moebius figure is a wonderful representation of Scarlett Johansson, AKA “The Black Widow," as she appeared in the Iron Man 2 movie. The kit is touted as being for ages 15 and up and is presented in 23 pieces molded in a fleshy-colored polystyrene. The base of the kit is a nice representation of a simple tile floor. The various figure parts are generally broken into halves and are assembled as such. Like building an aircraft, it seemed necessary to plan out how far to take the figure before painting the parts. My logic path led me to think it would… more |