Frank Landrus
Reviews By Author
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Hemi: A History of Chrysler's Iconic V-8 In CompetitionPublished:
Geoff Stunkard provides an insight into his decades of experience as a photographer, writer and editor. If you have ever lifted a copy of Mopar Muscle magazine, you know who he is. Currently he is the owner of Quarter Milestones Publishing based in Johnson County, Tennessee. Geoff Stunkard has delivered what is perhaps the definitive history of the development and racing of the Chrysler 426 Hemi engine. Geoff Stunkard traces the history of the Hemi engine’s development at Chrysler, from the first Hemi installed in the Republic XP-47H in 1945 to the last in 1969, the A279 project. Of course, Chrysler’s merger with Germany’s Daimler-Benz AG in 1998 has since resurrected the Hemi for street and competition, but Geoff Stunkard focus for this book is the first and second generation… more |
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RAF SE.5a "Hisso" Main Landing GearPublished:
Scale Aircraft Conversions has released replacement landing gear for the Wingnut Wings 1/32 Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a “Hisso”. The supplied items include two main gear legs and the main gear axle. All three parts are loose in the blister package. You will need to remove the metal sprue from the main gear legs. This replacement set will provide stronger landing gear that won’t sag over time, and are somewhat adjustable if necessary to obtain proper alignment. Even with zero previous experience in using white metal parts, this set will provide an upgrade that most modelers will have no problem installing. Scale Aircraft Conversions does not use lead in their white metal mix, so the builder does not have to be concerned with that perceived hazard. There are no supplied… more |
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Russian Battleship Tsesarevich 1917 ArmamentPublished:
Tsesarevich (Russian: Цесаревич) was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy, built in France at the end of the 19th century. The ship's design formed the basis of the Russian-built Borodino-class battleships. After repairs were made following the Russian-Japanese war, most of the small-caliber guns (47mm and 37mm) were removed. Tsesarevich was not very active during the early part of World War I and her sailors joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet in early 1917. This Master Model set provides you with 20 barrels: Four machined aluminum 305mm/40 (12”) barrels; twelve machined brass 152mm/45 (6”) barrels; two 47mm (1.85”) Hotchkiss Gun barrels; and two 37mm (1.5”) Hotchkiss gun barrels and a single page instruction sheet. As you can see in the… more |
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Spitfire Mk. V Gun BarrelsPublished:
QuickBoost provides you with four 20mm Hispano Mk. II cannon barrels with the smooth barrel fairing removed and replaced with a vented fairing to cover the recoil spring. Please note that there was quite a bit of variety in the exposed barrel of the 20mm Hispano Mk. II cannon depending on what type of wing it was installed in. The Spitfire Mk Vc and Mk Ve wing had different style fairings. The Hurricane, Typhoon, and Mosquito installations and fairings were also quite different. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that QuickBoost uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new QuickBoost replacements. These QuickBoost parts are specific… more |
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P-51D Mustang Control SurfacesPublished:
Wanting to make your P-51D just a bit different by showing the elevators in action? Aires has come to the rescue with a beautiful set to replace the horizontal tail surfaces for the North American P-51D Mustang. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new Aires replacements. These Aires parts are specific replacements for the kit parts found in the Tamiya series of P-51D kits. Aires has molded the stabilizer and elevator perfectly in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles. The Aires stabilizer and elevator are supplied on a single resin sprue with thin resin attachments to the parts that should minimize any cleanup. Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash the parts to… more |
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Polikarpov I-16 Control SurfacesPublished:
Looking at all those photos of Polikarpov I-16s sitting on the grass and noting that the elevators are both drooping? Aires has come to the rescue with a beautiful set to replace the horizontal tail surfaces for the Polikarpov I-16. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new Aires replacements. These Aires parts are specific replacements for the kit parts found in the Eduard series of I-16 kits. Aires has molded the stabilizer and elevator perfectly in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles. The Aires stabilizer and elevator are supplied on a single resin sprue with thin resin attachments to the parts that should minimize any cleanup. Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you… more |
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I-16 Gun Barrels and Pitot TubePublished:
Quickboost provides one pitot tube and two ShKAS 7.62mm gun barrels. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that Quickboost uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new Quickboost replacements. Quickboost has molded the pitot tube and gun barrels perfectly in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles. The Quickboost pitot tube and gun barrels have no mold seams to sand off on these tiny parts, and superior detail of actually hollowing the barrel as opposed to a flat face to drill out. Be very careful removing the parts from the resin block as the pitot tube is small and fragile. Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I… more |
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Windsock Centenary Datafile 169 ‘Hawa’! (Vol. 2)Published:
Ray Rimell’s follow up to ‘Hawa’! Volume 1 dives deeper into the Hannover CL. II and its variants. The cover features a Stan Stokes painting of a Hannover in action over the front lines. Ronny Bar contributes nine color side profiles, all up to his normal high standards. Mick Davis grabs the pullout centerfold with general arrangement line drawings of the Hannover CL.IIIa and the Hannover CL. III (Merc.). For those of you that still dabble in that odd 1/72 scale, Mick Davis also provides you with drawings of the same two aircraft. I counted seven color photos of the 180-hp Opel (Argus) motor located at the Science Museum in London. There are also an additional 54 black and white photos and over 150 drawings of the airplane components. Ian Stair provides a 1/48 general arrangement… more |
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Ki-61 and Ki-100 AcesPublished:
This is at least Nicholas Millman’s third title with Ronnie Olsthoorn illustrating for Osprey Publishing. Aircraft of the Aces 100 – Ki-44 ‘Tojo’ Aces of World War 2 was published in 2011 and Aircraft of the Aces 103 – Ki-27 ‘Nate Aces was published in 2013. Nicholas Millman is one of Britain’s leading researchers of Japanese military aviation. In addition to publishing articles in specialist journals, his own range of reference materials and supporting the research of other authors, he runs a website dedicated to the subject which attracts visitors from 194 countries. This 96 page book contains 36 color profiles illustrated by Ronnie Olsthoorn along with a paragraph description located in the Appendix. An additional six 1/72 scale drawings are included to highlight the… more |
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Cross & Cockade International Autumn 2015 Volume 46/3Published:
The latest journal of Cross & Cockade International - Autumn 2015, features a color painting by Geoffrey Watson of the Vickers FB.19 A5227 on the cover. A5227 carried interesting armament in the form of two extra Lewis machine guns on the lower wing just inboard of the wing struts, bringing its total armament up to four machine guns. This issue also includes a separate A2 size sheet in color covering Ordnance Survey maps that are marked up with the location of WWI aviation interest sties in Ireland. Cross & Cockade International is a non-profit UK based group known as the First World War Aviation Historical Society that publishes their journal four times a year. They also provide a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI themed books… more |