Jim Pearsall
Reviews By Author
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MiG-29 PitotPublished:
Master Model of Poland produces small brass parts for detailing models, be they aircraft or ships. They have parts for aircraft in 1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/72, and 1/144, mostly pitot tubes, refueling probes and gun barrels. This product is for the MiG-29. It's more complex than many other pitot tubes because it's got two tiny vortex generator fins, one on each side of the pitot tube. So the package contains the pitot plus a PE fret with the vortex generators. Installation of the pitot tube is pretty simple. I used the Academy kit for this review. The Academy MiG-29 has a flat spot at the tip of the nose for the pitot. So it was fairly easy to drill a .3mm hole in the center of the spot and glue the pitot in place. The vortex generators were more complex, as they… more |
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Spitfire WheelsPublished:
Here’s another nifty little “add on” or “fix-it” for your 1/144th Spitfire. The envelope contains 18 main wheels for Spitfires. I had to look closely, but there are 3 different types of tires in the envelope. There are 6 with no tread, 6 with a tread that runs around the tire, and 6 with a diamond tread. When I said I looked closely, I had to use the headband magnifier to see the tread. But they are there. As far as using these wheels, they’re slightly better in quality than the wheels in the newer Spitfire kits such as Eduard or Mark 1 so you may want to replace the kit items. But if you’re looking at one of the “older” kits (Crown/Revell/Academy), the Brengun wheels are far superior. And then there’s another need for wheels. The wheels are sometimes knocked off the landing… more |
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US Staff CarPublished:
The VehicleIn December of 1941 the US Government put all manufacturing on a wartime footing. Many of the factories which had been producing civilian cars went over to producing Jeeps, pickups, cargo trucks, ammo carriers, tanks, guns, and other wartime necessities. There were still a few assembly lines which continued to produce a few cars, and most of these were sold to the Army or Navy for use as “staff cars”. Because it wouldn’t do for someone as important as an Admiral or General to ride around in a canvas topped jeep. It might seem that it was tough on civilians to not be able to get a new car, but with gas rationing they couldn’t drive much of anywhere anyway. The KitYou get two resin staff cars in the kit. There is a photoetch fret, an instruction… more |
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P-39 D/F/K AiracobraPublished:
The AircraftThe Bell P-39 Airacobra was a beautiful design. It had an innovative layout for the fuselage, with the engine mounted in the center fuselage, behind the pilot. The P-39 was also the first US Fighter with a tricycle undercarriage. With these advantages came one large disadvantage. The engine did not have a turbo supercharger, which prevented the aircraft from performing well at high altitude, above 12,000 feet. Because of this, the RAF rejected the P-39. The Soviet Air Force did accept the Airacobra, as most of their combat took place at low to medium altitudes. The P-39 also had a solid weapons system. The central mounted engine allowed the mounting of the T9 37mm cannon in the nose. This weapon could penetrate 8 inches of armor at 500 yards.… more |
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TBF AvengerPublished:
The AircraftThe Grumman Avenger (TBF) was first used at the Battle of Midway. It was a carrier based torpedo bomber, but was also used as a light bomber, carrying one 2,000 pound bomb or 4x 500 pound bombs. The Avenger was the heaviest US single engine aircraft of WW 2, weighing in at 400 pounds more than the P-47. In 1943 Grumman began phasing out Avenger production in favor of Hellcats. Production was taken over by Eastern Aircraft, a division of General Motors. The designation for these aircraft was TBM. There were 4,600 TBMs produced, but most of the aircraft used in WW2 were TBFs. In June of 1943, George HW Bush, the future president of the US was shot down over Chichi Jima, parachuting from the TBF and landing in the Pacific Ocean. He was rescued by the… more |
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DC-8 Landing GearPublished:
The AircraftThe DC-8 was Douglas’ version of the Boeing 707. I reviewed Minicraft’s DC-8-73 back in 2014. Unfortunately, sitting on the shelf for 5 years has taken its toll on this model. It’s still quite good looking, and when Phil Peterson, who manages the sending of review items, said there was a landing gear set available, I took it. When I picked up the model from the shelf to see how tough it would be to remove the original gear, one of the main gear legs fell off. OK, SAC to the rescue. There are also kits of the DC-8 61 and -71. These are pretty much the same kit, with a different fuselage. Minicraft also released their DC-8 63 and -73 as a bagged kit with no decals. The big advantage to this kit is that it has the engines for either the -63 or-73, which… more |
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B-52 D/FPublished:
The AircraftThe B-52 has been in service since 1955. Which means that in about 2 years they should start sending them Social Security checks. Because there are still 58 B-52s in service, the type may still participate in combat again. It’s expected the BUFF will still be in service in 2050. The aircraft in this kit are the types used in the 1960s and 70s in Vietnam, for Operation Rolling Thunder, Operation Arc Light and Operation Linebacker II. 31 B-52s were lost in the war, 17 shot down, one written off due to combat damage, 11 lost to accidents, one burned at the airport and one ran off the end of the runway and ran into a minefield. The KitThis kit is a rework of Minicraft’s B-52H. Several of the sprues are marked for B-52H. The fuselage is new… more |
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Ju-88A/C JunkersPublished:
The AircraftWhen the Luftwaffe came to Junkers Aircraft in the mid-1930s, the concept they were looking for was a schnellbomber (fast bomber) which would be faster than a fighter or interceptor. When the prototypes were built, the fast part was true, but as time went on, the fighters got faster. The Ju-88 was used as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter, and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb. It was certainly versatile and performed very well for its crews. The newest version of the Minicraft Ju-88 is for the A or early C model. The A was the bomber version, with a glass nose for the bombardier. The C version was originally a heavy fighter or fighter/bomber, with the glass nose replaced by a solid nose… more |
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F4U Corsair (Folding Wing)Published:
The F4U Corsair was first deployed in 1943. Because of the long nose, which made forward visibility for carrier landings a problem, Corsairs were given to the US Marine Corps. The Marines did a pretty good job with the Corsair, getting an 11 to 1 kill ratio. Corsairs were used as a ground attack and air support aircraft and continued like this into Korea. HobbyFan is a Taiwanese company which produces several lines of models. AFV Club has armor in 1/35 scale, but also 1/350 and 1/700 ships and aircraft in 1/32, 1/48, 1/72 and 1/144. The KitAlthough Corsairs were built by Brewster (F3A) and Goodyear (FG), this kit only covers F4U-1, F4U-1A, F4U1C, and F4U-1D Corsairs. There are 8 marking choices, including one set of markings for a Fleet Air Arm F4U-1. AFV… more |
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BAC Lightning Vacu CanopyPublished:
This is a replacement canopy for Revell’s 1/144 EE Lightning jet fighter. Everyone has that moment when they realize that the canopy for their model is missing, damaged, or unusable for some reason. As far as unusable, I’ve had canopies for some kits which were so thick and murky that there wasn’t any reason to put detail in the cockpit. This one was just an exercise in doing a vacuform canopy. The Revell canopy for their EE Lightning F.6 was usable, but this item had been sitting on the list for a while, and I thought we owed Brengun a review. I built the Revell Lightning pretty much out of the box, except for the markings which I borrowed from aftermarket sheets, modified from the kit decals, and made my own serials and aircraft numbers. Once I got the… more |