MiG-21bis Pitot Tube

Published: February 20, 2013
Company: Master Model

The Eduard MiG-21bis is a very nice kit right out of the box; however, the pitot tube could be better. There are limitations that plastic can’t overcome, not even with the best injection molded technology. Even so, the pitot tube sticks out so far on the MiG-21 that it’s bound to be broken off in handling. Besides, you can get a scale thickness with brass that you couldn’t get any other way.

Master Model has set the standard when it comes to these pitot tubes. This pitot tube is the same quality I’ve come to expect. This pitot tube has two perfectly turned brass barrels, one that fits inside the other. Then there is a fret of six photo etch vanes. If you look really, really close, you will see there are super tiny holes on the pitot tubes to mount the photo etch vanes in. This… more

MG-131 Mount for the Fw-190D-9

Published: February 20, 2013
Company: Eduard

Designed for their Fw-190D-9, this beautiful upgrade set from Eduard is for those who want to show off the detail under the forward cowlings. Featuring six light and dark grey resin pieces, everything is perfectly formed and blemish free. The guns are hollowed out at the ends and the cooling slots are opened as well. There is also a small fret of photo etch that holds seven pieces of nickel plated parts – six cowl fasteners and one windscreen oil cleaning pipe. The oil cleaning pipe will require the most care, as it is very, very thin.

The set is contained in very secure thick plastic packaging that prevents any damage to the delicate parts. Including the set into your build should prove no big problem as it follows the basic kit formula, except with richer detail. You will… more

He-219 Uhu Decals

Published: February 20, 2013
Company: Eagle Editions Ltd.

The Tamiya He-219 is the standard for 1/48th scale models of this airplane. However, marking options have been a little sparse for this kit. Eagle Cal has released a new sheet that covers the three basic paint schemes seen on the Uhu. This set is released in conjunction the Eagle Cals 1/32nd scale decals covering the same aircraft. The 1/48th scale decals cover the A-0, A-7, and the A-2 versions. To build the A-0 and A-2 versions, the modeler would be advised to get the Vector resin conversion set, also available from Eagle Editions.

The decals are printed on a 5 x 5½ inch sheet. The decals don’t indicate who did them, but they look the same quality as Microscale. These aircraft are as colorful as the real aircraft. Most He-219s were fairly plain-looking, but that was norm for… more

A-37 Dragonfly FOD Protection Covers

Published: February 3, 2020
Company: AMS Resin

The diminutive A-37 Dragonfly by Monogram/Encore is a nice kit, but the engine intakes and exhausts leave a little bit to be desired. One way to fix this is to hide the see-through with these covers from AMS Resin.

Molded in light grey resin, these four pieces are beautifully formed. They simply have to be painted red and added to the intake and exhausts. You may want to add Remove Before Flight tags which aren’t included but readily available. Because they are tapered, these are easily added after the model is done so if you already have a built kit, don’t fret, you can add these at any time.

These simple plugs are easy to add, inexpensive, and they do what they are designed to do, cover the intakes and exhausts.

Highly recommended

Thanks to AMS Resin… more

Fw-190A Stencil Decals

Published: February 19, 2013
Company: Eduard

It comes as no surprise that I love the Eduard Fw-190A series of kits. Having had the pleasure of building quite a few of them, I have often remarked at the quality of the decals. These decals are printed by Eduard and typical of Eduard’s quality; these decals are actually as good as any other aftermarket decal in the world. They rival the quality of Cartograf.

The stencil decal themselves are all contained on a 4” x 3 ¾” decal sheet. The decals are crisp, perfectly printed, and in perfect register. They are suitably thin with minimal carrier film. One of the nice things is that the decals have wing walk areas in grey and black. There are options throughout the sheet, like the two different versions of black and two white versions of Nicht anfassen on the sheet. The landing… more

Bf-109E Stencil Decals

Published: February 19, 2013
Company: Eduard

Eduard’s Bf-109E is a very nice kit. One of the nicest things about the kit is this additional decal sheet. Printed by Eduard, the actual sheet is a 3” x 4” sheet of decal film. There are decals for one complete airplane with all the stencils being included. You get three Nicht anfassen decals for the ailerons in white and black. I thought that there should be at least one more for the elevators but Eduard indicates that they are carried on the elevators so that may be an error on my part.

The instructions are on a double-sided half A4 page sheet and are very clear in showing you where the decals belong. Remember that sometimes the stencils were oversprayed and not every aircraft carries every stencil. I really liked that Eduard provides you with red and black wing walk areas… more

Bf-109E-3 and Detail Sets

Published: November 13, 2020
Company: Eduard

Brassin Detail Sets

• Cockpit/Radio Compartment – Stock No. 648074, $28.99
• DB-601 Engine – Stock No. 648059, $28.99
• MG-17 Mount – Stock No. 648060, $28.99
• Wheel Set – Stock No. 648058, $5.99

Eduard’s Bf-109E series has released all the variants of the Emil. This is the first time, other than the Royal Class, that the E-3 version is available. The Profipack release is typical Eduard quality with the suitable extra items, such as photo etch and masks. While a good deal and adequately detailed right from the box, what happens when you add all the Brassin items designed for the kit?… more

Focke Wulf Fw-190A-9

Published: January 28, 2013
Company: Hasegawa

Hasegawa continues to offer easy-to-build Focke Wulf 190s; the latest one is the last short-nosed 190 to be produced during the war, the Fw-190A-9. The BMW-801TS-powered A-9 variant is identified with a larger propeller, an extra cooling fin on the fan, and a bulged canopy. This limited edition release is the basic A-8 kit from Hasegawa with some white metal parts – the cooling fan and a wider chord wooden propeller which are all that are needed to convert the A-8 into an A-9.

The kit is molded in typical Hasegawa quality light grey plastic that is flash free with subtle panel lines. There are four sprues of grey plastic, a sprue of clear plastic, one set of poly caps, and the two white metal parts. I did notice that the wings had three strange holes on the upper surface. These… more

US Pilot – F-16

Published: November 14, 2012
Company: Plusmodel

This is the second pilot figure I’ve had the pleasure to review from Aero Line. If you are like me, you like to add a figure outside your model for scale and visual interest. Well, probably also like me, you aren’t a figure modeler, so you don’t want a big hassle doing it. Happily, Aero Line produces scale resin figures.

My example was perfectly molded in light grey resin with no blemishes or bubbles anywhere. The figure is a one-piece affair on a small pour block with some minor pour wedges that will need to be removed. The single piece ensures that the figure is easy to remove. The detail is quite impressive. The proportions look perfect to me. The pose is natural and will look great next to an F-16. The face is exquisitely detailed, as are the speed jeans and equipment. This… more

MS.406 Gun Barrels and Pitot Tube

Published: November 14, 2012
Company: Quickboost

Hobbycraft’s Morane Saulnier 406 is not a new kit, but that doesn’t mean that Quickboost has ignored it. The M.S.406 has a large pitot tube. This would be hard to keep round when removing the mold lines. Well, hard for me, anyhow. The gun barrels are again something hard to keep round, let alone hollow out the end. Quickboost does this perfectly in every example that I’ve had the pleasure to look at.

The three pieces are perfectly molded in light grey resin. The gun barrels are hollowed out perfectly, as I said before. The cross section on all the parts is perfectly round. These parts will add to the look of your French fighter. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review copy.