Joe Porche
Reviews By Author
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Nuts and Bolts 1.6 mm, 2 mm, and 2.5 mmPublished:
Squadron has issued 1/35 resin sets for nuts and bolts to detail your armor and about any other kit needing nuts and bolts. The Three examples review here are:
Each resin set contain 36 nuts with bolt tips and 36 bolt heads, 6 complete separate bolts and 6 separate nuts. There are 84 pieces per set all in blemish and pin hole free resin. Threads are so fine on the nut and bolt that they will actually thread together. Check pictures for proof! The packaging draws reference to 1/35 scale but I am sure that these will look well in whatever scale you chose to use them. Just remember to scale your sizes. All are molded in… more |
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KC-135 Landing GearPublished:
Scale Aircraft Conversions has released a set of white metal front and main gear for the Minicraft USAF KC-135E in 1/144th scale. This set includes a one part front gear strut and two 4 part main rear struts. These nine parts are direct replacements for kit parts # 12, 16, 17, 28, 29 and 36 times 4. During my parts inspection I did discover that on the SAC main landing gear assemblies where the tires are mounted, two tire mounting pins are a rather short (see photo). Modelers of average experience should be able to overcome this deficiency by extending the mounting points with pins. There are really no deficiencies in the kit gear that are alleviated by the SAC replacements. I found the kit gear fully molded with comparable detail to the SAC gear. In fact building the… more |
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CH-46, HH-46 Landing GearPublished:
Scale Aircraft Conversions has released a set of white-metal front and rear main gear for the Academy CH-46 in 1/48 scale. The set includes three parts, a front gear strut and two main rear struts. These three parts are direct replacements for kit parts A-18, B20(r), and B21(l). There are two deficiencies in the kit gear that are alleviated by the SAC replacements. First my kit gear had a pin hole in one of the rear supports with significant shrinkage around it. The kit front gear had a large pin ejector mark prominently in the middle of the piece. Replacing with the SAC gear eliminated having to deal with these issues. The SAC landing gear are easily prepared using an X-Acto knife, pin file, and flex file. After cleaning and sanding my replacement gear, I mounted them… more |
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MV-22 Egg OspreyPublished:
Wow what a fun little kit to build of a modern USMC war machine. The most interesting thing about the model is this kit can be built as a snap/or press tite build. No glue is actually necessary to construct this model. Tenax 7 was used to cement all the parts and reacted well to the medium density Hasegawa plastic. Bondo 907 was used for the few seams that needed filling and again worked well with the Hasegawa plastic. I used Testors Clear Parts cement to attach the canopy and AV Plastic Putty for final seam fills and touch ups. The Model was painted overall using both Model Master Enamels and Tamiya Acrylics. Every part was well and fully molded with no sink marks or pin marks visible. The only clean up on the parts was at the sprue attachment points. … more |
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U.S.S. San Antonio LPD-17Published:
Upon opening the kit I found the plastic to be delicately molded in an easy to paint light grey styrene with fair detail for a model its scale and size. The parts count is rather high because many of the details are molded as fine separate niceties. Very small (less than an 1/8th inch) parts such as the masks, life rafts, antenna, and supports are molded in this fine plastic and make use of magnifying devices necessary. Parts count:
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Peterbuilt 359 WreckerPublished:
Revell graced us with the re-release of the “Can Do” and now the “Will-Do” 14 wheel Peterbuilt 359 Heavy Wrecker. This kit contains close to 700 parts of which nearly 40 are not used. The box alone is massive in size, some 20” x 14” x 5”, which sizes up well with the completed model of 18” long with everything folded up for travel. If you choose to build the kit with all the options in wrecking recovery pose it is well over 30” long and 10”wide and as much as 15” tall. Speaking of options, both of the cab doors, the hood, and the outrigger doors can be posed in the open or closed position, the side and rear outriggers can be set as in use and the boom may be raised, extended and transversed to the left or right. I chose to build my wrecker in the travel mode but definitely… more |
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Candies and Hughes Barracuda Funny CarPublished:
Round 2 / Polar Lights have recently been reissuing many of the drag racing kits of cars that were campaigned in the early and mid seventies calling them the Legends of the Quarter Mile. By today’s standards, these kits are rather dated with many pluses and many more minuses. Kit includes:
My build was first started by removing all of the extra heavy finish from the two chrome parts trees. Then all of these parts were removed from there runners, cleaned up, placed on spure sticks and sprayed with… more |
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The Slingster DragsterPublished:
Prior to its arrival I did some research for my review of this kit and I came across a statement on a social media site. “My best piece of advice when you go to the hobby shop to buy this kit? Three simple words, BUY A CASE!” Made me laugh. When the kit arrived and I opened the box I thought “BUY A CASE.” Well that was short lived. Maybe just a few. Upon further examination I found that this is the “Sizzler” kit first engineered during the 60s, just newly scaled down to 1/25th. Still though, fans of early drag racing (early50s to late 60s) are going to love this kit. The instruction sheet points out 6 different variations to the model. By my calculations there are well over 576 possible combinations to this kit. I can see others kit bashing different motor… more |
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’65 Chevelle SS 396 Z-16Published:
Revell has brought back to us the revered Chevy Chevelle Z-16 with its awesome 396 cubic inch big block. First minted in 1998 and then again in 2007 as the 2 in 1 “California Wheels,” this kit is a must for muscle car collectors. The model itself consists of a total of 121 styrene parts on 8 trees, plus the body. Four sprue and the body are molded in white, two sets in chrome, one in clear, one in clear red, and there are two sets of generic vinyl tires (stock and 22” customs). The decal sheet is in accurate register with 34 pieces, and sports options for both the custom paint and gauges. Also included are decals for the rotors which sandwich between the haves on the custom wheels. NOTE: They are directional, so you must match them to the tread pattern of the tires and… more |