FW-190D-9 Late

Published: July 4, 2020
Company: Eduard

History

The Focke-Wulf 190D-9 was a superb aircraft but situations in the war prevented it from being really effective. The production of the aircraft was done by sub-contractors with final assembly taking place at various locations. Occasionally, the sub-contractors couldn’t keep up; such is the case of this version of the 190. It appears that approximately five aircraft received the Ta-152 type tail at the Mimetall factory, but the exact number is not known. There is photographic evidence of at least two aircraft. The Germans did not see the quandary that they would cause model builders in the future but they didn’t have any different designations to denote the new tail.

Eduard’s FW-190s are in my opinion are the best ones on the market. They were criticized for… more

Messerschmitt Bf-109F Propeller

Published: May 17, 2011
Company: Quickboost

Trumpeter’s lastest 109 is the Bf-109F-4, it is nice but has some issues besides depicting a G-2 more than an F-4 version. One of those things that really needs to be addressed is the propeller. Quickboost offers three perfectly formed light grey resin propellers that are perfectly formed and blemish free. Replacement of the kit part is quite easy just remove these blades and substitute the kit ones.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Quickboost, Aires Hoddy Models and IPMS/USA for the review copy.

Focke Wulf Ta-154 Night Exhaust

Published: May 17, 2011
Company: Quickboost

This little gem of a set contains four resin stubs. I know you’re thinking what is so special about them. The stubs are not straight pipes. They have a bulge middle and tapered end. The jewel in the crown is the flame dampeners inside the realistically thin end pieces. Designed for the Dragon Ta-154 kit I’m sure these could be fitted to the Promodeler one as well. Simply remove the pour block leaving the attachment stub and paint then add to the model.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Quickboost, Aires Hobby Models and IPMS/USA for the review copy.

Instrument Dial Decals- WW2 Luftwaffe

Published: April 25, 2011
Company: Airscale Model Aircraft Enhancements

Ever since the days of Waldron Instrument Bezels I’ve wanted to be able to build instrument panels like I saw the pros do. The biggest thing preventing me was the lack of instrument decals. Well those days are over. Airscale has now released a sheet of Luftwaffe instruments designed specifically for fighters. You get a small sheet of approximately 1”x 2” which contains enough instruments to do a couple of instrument panels.

Printed by Fantasy Printshop, every instrument is accurately reproduced with some exquisitely fine range markings and numbers. Airscale recommends cutting out the instruments. I think you can use your Waldron Punch and Die set as well if you are careful.

Also included in the set is a piece of clear acetate to help you replicate the instrument faces on… more

Arado Ar-196A Wheels & Paint Masks

Published: April 25, 2011
Company: Aires Hobby Models

Aires has an obvious love affair with the Ar-196 from Italeri. They offered up no less than two cockpits in their own range. In their Quickboost range they have a corrected cowling, exhausts and weapons. Now the only thing missing from those sets is addressed, the wheels.

Aires provides two main wheels with perfect circumferential tread. They are cast in light grey resin with no bubbles. They are suitably bulged but not overly flat. There isn’t much more to say about the wheels themselves as they are just perfect.

Aires also includes a set of masks which will prove useful in the painting process. There are four masks for both sides of each wheel.

Adding the wheels is as simple as substituting the kit wheels with the resin ones. Simple, easy to use and perfect in… more

World War II German Aircraft Weapons

Published: April 22, 2011
Company: Italeri

Ever have to rob a perfectly good kit for just the bombs? I have and I regretted it later when I either wanted to build it or sell it. Italeri has a solution to this problem, bombs and lots of them. The latest release contains two identical sprues of 53 parts each and the decals that go with them. You can build AB70, AB-250, AB500, the ER-4 Bomb rack, ETC 50 bomb rack, PC1400, PD500, SC50, SC250 with Dinort fusing, SC500, SD250, SC1000, SD1700, Pfeife Geraete, 300 and 900 liter Fuel Tanks and WB81 gun pods from the kit. That is a lot of ordnance. There are multiple aircraft that can be armed with this set. Included in the instructions are the load out plans for various aircraft such as the Ju-88, He-111… more

Arado Ar-196A-3/A-4 Cockpit Set; Ar-196A-5 Cockpit Set

Published: April 20, 2011
Company: Aires Hobby Models

Editor's note: P/N 4498 = $35.50; P/N 4503 = $37.50

The Italeri (also boxed by Tamiya) Ar-196A-3/A-4 and Ar-196A-5 are beautiful kits. They have huge canopies though and the kit cockpit while nice really just screams out for more detail. Enter Aires. What they provide is nothing short of phenomenal. Comprising resin, photoetch and film pieces this set is comprehensive to say the least. While marketed as a cockpit set this set also includes parts for other parts of the model, such as the engine, gun cowling and pontoons. It really is a kit upgrade set not just a cockpit set.

The resin is molded in both light grey and light yellow resin. All of it is blemish and bubble free. My example had a couple of pieces broken off of but it was nothing that was drastic and the… more

Remove Before Flight- Israel

Published: April 19, 2011
Company: Eduard

This fret of photo-etch is pre-printed on both sides with the Hebrew rendition of “Remove Before Flight”. Included in this release are covers for ejection seats, seventeen yellow warning tags for the interior, and twenty three exterior red flags. I’ve used similar items before the US “Remove Before Flight” tags. These are easy to drape for a realistic look. You have to be careful to not chip the pre-painted print so you can’t fold it back over on itself but by using your fingers you can give a candid look to them to the flags.

The printing is of the quality I’ve come to suspect from Eduards pre-painted sets, very clear and perfectly printed. Using them is easy enough. Drill a hole where you want it on the model and insert the ‘string’ into the hole and add a small drop of glue… more

Messerschmitt Bf-109F Wheel Bay

Published: April 19, 2011
Company: Aires Hobby Models

I love the Hasegawa Bf-109s and the newest Bf-109F-4/Trop is no exception. One of the areas of the kits that could be better is the wheel well. As provided the kit wheel wells have the G-6 kidney shaped areas which obviously isn’t correct for the Friedrich. Aires provides you with the correct wheel wells by providing you with two pieces of light grey blemish free resin and a fret of photo etch.

This set requires that you remove the molded on wheel well and thin the upper wing. Then Aires replaces it with the resin one with the photoetch on top of it. The resin wheel wells have superb detail inside, including the zip in liner. The photo etch will require you to build it up in layers for the proper thickness of the stiffeners but this is easy enough to do.

Although… more

Messerschmitt Bf-109F Wheels and Masks

Published: April 19, 2011
Company: Aires Hobby Models

I hate using rubber tires on my model kits. So whenever anyone such as Trumpeter comes out with a kit that has them I cringe at the thought of using them. Luckily for me, Aires offers a replacement set of wheels. You get two main wheels, a tail wheel and the strut.

These perfectly cast replacement parts are simply gorgeous. These are some of the best wheels for the Friedrich I’ve seen. They are beautifully cast in light grey resin. Of course just having wheels is not Aires style, so they include a set of masks for them. The tail wheel itself is as good as a casting as you are ever going to see. The area between the forks and tail wheel is hollow and simply perfect. The pour stubs are easy to remove.

Although designed for the Trumpeter kit you could easily use this set on… more