Mc.200 Saetta Exhaust

Published: February 3, 2011
Company: Quickboost

The exhausts on the Italeri Mc.200 are solid piece of plastic with little detail. Quickboost’s offering features deep hollowed exhaust stacks which only need to be removed and painted to bring them to life. The exhausts are direct replacements for the kit items.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review copy

You can obtain your copy from your local hobby shop or by contacting Quickboost at www.quickboost.net.

Messerschmitt Bf-109G-14 Exhaust

Published: February 3, 2011
Company: Quickboost

The Academy kit is a nice kit but could benefit from some resin upgrades. Quickboost offers an easy way to upgrade the exhausts with this little set. The set is molded in light grey resin and contains two exhaust stubs. The ends are hollowed out and include the molded on weld seems. These are drop in replacements for the kit parts so adding them is easy.

Because of the size of the parts these will not fit the Hasegawa kit without some modification, but on the Academy kit they will fit perfectly. Just some paint and these will be ready to go.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review copy

You can obtain your copy from your local hobby shop or by contacting Quickboost at www.quickboost.net.

Henschel Hs-126 Exhaust

Published: February 3, 2011
Company: Quickboost

The ICM Hs-126 is a nice kit. The exhausts on the kit are just solid pieces of plastic. These little gems, molded perfectly in light grey resin, feature hollowed out ends that I would not be able to do on my own. There is no doubt these will add to the look. Simply remove them from the pour blocks and paint. A simple, yet effective, upgrade set for the Hs-126.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review copy

You can obtain your copy from your local hobby shop or by contacting Quickboost at www.quickboost.net.

SBD Dauntless Life Raft Container

Published: February 3, 2011
Company: Quickboost

Now here is something you don’t see everyday, a life raft for an aircraft. Designed for the Hasegawa SBD you have to open up a hole in the side of the kit. This should be fairly straight forward as it is a round access panel. This set is ideal for a diorama idea.

The set contains three pieces of light grey resin. One is the life raft itself, the receptacle in the fuselage and the access panel. Drill the hole and a quick paint job later and your SBD will stand apart from the others. I’m sure you could add this to the Accurate Miniatures kit as well.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review copy

You can obtain your copy from your local hobby shop or by contacting Quickboost at www.quickboost.… more

Messerschmitt Bf-110C/D Radio Equipmen

Published: February 3, 2011
Company: Quickboost

One of the problems of plastic is the lack of detail that can be achieved with it. That is where resin reproduces the finest detail. That is what this set does, provide exquisite detail where plastic can’t. This set is a drop in replacement for the kit part. Molded in light grey resin without a bubble anywhere this little set is a very nice addition with lots of molded in detail. Sand the back of the part and a paint job is all that is required to make this part jump to life.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review copy

You can obtain your copy from your local hobby shop or by contacting Quickboost at www.quickboost.net.

P-51B Mustang Exhaust

Published: February 3, 2011
Company: Quickboost

The P-51B is one of my favorite aircraft. One of the problems is the exhaust stacks are small. The Trumpeter kit was one kit I was waiting for a long time. Quickboost’s offering features hollowed out ends and are direct replacements for the kit items. I can’t drill out the exhausts on the kit plastic with any precision so the only thing to do is to use the Quickboost set.
Removal is quite easy with a few swipes of the saw or knife blade. Painting is all that is required to make this update set perfect for your model.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review copy

You can obtain your copy from your local hobby shop or by contacting Quickboost at www.quickboost.net.

Messerschmitt Bf-109G-14 Cockpit Set

Published: February 2, 2011
Company: Aires Hobby Models

Anyone who knows me knows I love the Bf-109 so when given the opportunity to review this set I jumped. Aimed at the Academy G-14 this is molded in light grey and clear resin, the cockpit set consists of ten grey resin pieces, one clear resin piece, a fret of PE and a clear acetate film. The level of detail is exquisite.

The resin side walls contain some of the best looking detail I’ve ever seen in a 109 cockpit. The modeler will have to do very little to get a great looking cockpit. Simply adding some PE parts and a good paint job would make this a good first upgrade for someone breaking into the aftermarket for the first time. One unique thing is the inclusion of a clear resin piece for the head armor. This ensures that the thickness of the armor panel is quite appropriately… more

F4U-7 Corsair Wheel Bay

Published: February 2, 2011
Company: Aires Hobby Models

Designed for the Hasegawa kit this wheel well set is molded in light grey blemish and bubble free resin. The set includes two wheel wells and the six landing gear doors. Not included is the tail wheel well. The detail inside of the wheel wells is remarkable and suitably impressive. The hydraulic plumbing is very well represented. The actuators are represented and the modeler will have to use a wire to show the moveable part but that is very easy for any modeler.

Although designed for the Hasegawa kit this set should fit the Academy F4U-5 as well. I’m not familiar with any significant differences in the wheel wells. With careful painting the detail included should be quite noticeable.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review copy

F4U-7 Corsair Cockpit Set

Published: February 2, 2011
Company: Aires Hobby Models

Molded in light grey and cream colored resin, the cockpit set consists of eight resin pieces, a fret of PE and a clear acetate sheet. The level of detail is exquisite. How they molded the control stick to the floor I will never know. These guys are incredible.

The parts breakdown is very logical. The instrument panel is a three piece affair incorporating a resin background, clear acetate film and a PE front. This makes for quite a nice looking cockpit. The rest of the cockpit builds up pretty conventionally, however the detail is anything but conventional. It is superb.

The cockpit will add dramatically to your Corsair. With a little bit of work I’m sure you can use this set in other kits as well.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the… more

Bf-109 Late Versions-Camouflage and Markings

Published: January 24, 2011
Book Author(s): Krzysztof W. Wotowski
Company: Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books

I love late war 109s so this book was right up my alley. This book is printed in MMP’s White series which is an A4 sized softbound book with 112 pages.

The book focuses on late war 109s starting with the Bf-109G-5/AS to the K-4. The book starts off with a discussion of the tail units used on 109s. I found the differences very interesting and easily understood. Then a small section on late war Erla Haube canopy is discussed. A discussion of the colors and a color chart is next and especially helpful is the callout for CMYK and RGB colors. The first thing I noticed was the great drawings and color profiles. Gunther’s Speck G-5/AS is particularly striking.

One benefit of the larger format book is that 1/48^th scale drawings are provided for each version. This… more