F8U-2 Crusader "Jolly Rogers" (2 kits)

Published: January 26, 2020
Company: Platz

The F8U Crusader (later re-designated as F-8) was the first operational supersonic carrier aircraft serving for the United States Navy and Marine Corps in the late 1950s. Often considered the last gunfighter, it was well loved by pilots for exceptional performance. One interesting feature was the movable wing assembly. While it’s often believed that the purpose of the raised wing was to improve lift, the fact is that raising the wing allowed the fuselage of the aircraft to assume a lower angle of attack on landing, permitting greater visibility for the pilot, while maintaining optimal aerodynamic performance of the wing, slats and flaps.

On to the kit – or kits, as there are two diminutive jewels in the box. In keeping with Platz’ usual high standards, parts are crisp, with… more

Monowheel

Published: December 30, 2019
Company: UGears

And now for something completely different! UGears contacted us and offered to send a number of kits; I believe this is the first review of the group. UGears is a Ukrainian company started in 2015, and UB LLC are their US Distributor. Their extensive product line is well worth taking a look at if you’re a fan.

Each of their kits consist of precision laser-cut plywood parts and an extensive, full color assembly manual. In the case of the monowheel, there were 5 large sheets containing 300 parts plus, thoughtfully, a number of spares. In order to nest the parts efficiently, you need to search each sheet for the parts required for one of the 20+ assembly stages, so make sure you have plenty of work space. The laser cutting is so fine that most of the parts punched out cleanly,… more

Wood Airbrush Stencils

Published: March 25, 2021
Company: RB Productions

Price: RB-T028: €7 (approximately $9.23) plus S&H; RB-T043: €9 (approximately $11.87) plus S&H

First off, my apologies to the good folks at RB Productions for a late review. RB were present at this year’s Nationals in Chattanooga and were kind enough to provide us with a number of samples including these two delicate p/e stencils. Each is a carefully etched piece of brass material, the smaller measuring 2” by 3” and the larger, about 4” by 3”. They are easily bent in either axis which comes in handy for use on contoured surfaces, and I suppose one could cut them into smaller sections for use on cockpits. (Beware of some very sharp and fragile edges, however).

The included instructions (replicated online) are fairly straightforward – apply a base color (cream or… more

P-47D Thunderbolt "Bubble Top" (Set of 2)

Published: November 27, 2019
Company: Platz

Platz has been a consistent supplier of new review kits to us, and I’m pleased to be able to review this recent release. Newly tooled and boxed, this kit is a joy to build with 4 great marking schemes available to share between the two complete models. Let’s dive in.

All parts are crisply molded with very nicely engraved panel and control surface lines. Instructions are in full color. The instrument panels are molded in clear plastic – when removing these from the sprue, be careful not to confuse the gunsight with the sprue – I accidentally clipped off the first gunsight in error when cutting parts. I used a toothpick to add white dots to the back face of the panel and then overpainted with black, resulting in a nice-looking panel (very little of which is visible once you… more

Wild Wild West Outhouse

Published: October 15, 2019
Company: Masterpiece Models

John Geigle of Masterpiece Models gave us a number of review items in Chattanooga this year and because I love to build the quirky and unusual stuff, I volunteered to do the dirty work (I’m going to try my best to avoid puns during the rest of this review, as difficult as that is for me.) and put this one together.

This kit is provided as a single sheet of laser cut wood along with two small resin hinges. The wood grain detail is etched directly into each part, and a front and rear mirror image of each component is provided. First steps are to separate all of the parts from the sheet and glue these mirror images together, which I did using white glue and lots of clamps. Allowing these to dry overnight, I then assembled the entire structure using CA glue, which took about 20… more

Medium Punch and Die Set PT8 - Round

Published: September 7, 2019
Company: UMM-USA

Another beautifully crafted tool from our friends at UMM-USA is this new punch and die set, accompanying the numerous other tools used to punch standard shapes out of thin brass or aluminum, or plastic sheet stock up to 0.080 (2mm) thick. In the set you’ll find an aluminum die block with hole sizes ranging from 0.6 mm (0.024”) up to 3.0mm (0.12”) diameter, accompanied by the hardened tool steel punches of corresponding size.

If, like me, you’ve tried slicing round stock to make buttons, access covers, hatches and the like, and never managed to get parallel surfaces, you’ll welcome this fine tool. It’s great for adding subtle detail, for creating instrument glass, access panels, fastener heads, and the like.

Our thanks go out again to UMM-USA and John Vojtech for his… more

Rotachute Mk I

Published: January 8, 2022
Company: Fly Models

Background (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

“The design of the man-carrying machine known as a Rotachute, also known as a Hafner H.8, evolved from November 1940 and throughout 1941. In September 1941, the Central Landing Establishment was renamed the Airborne Forces Establishment. The Rotachute Mark I design initially comprised a tubular steel framework with a single-seat, rubber-mounted rotor hub, hanging control column, skid undercarriage, and a self-inflating rear fairing made of rubberized fabric with integral tailplane. The two rotor blades, of wooden construction, could achieve flapping and coning characteristics via hinges on the rotor hub. Fixed footrests were provided, plus fittings below the seat to accommodate a soldier's weapon, such as a… more

31 Ultra Micro Chisel (0.8mm) Double Beveled Tip

Published: August 25, 2019
Company: UMM-USA

John Vojtech, the genius behind UMM-USA, gave us a nice collection of tools at the Chattanooga National Convention this year. I have the privilege of reviewing a handful of them and here’s #1.

If you’ve never used a UMM product (and why not?), they are exquisitely manufactured. This particular tool is an extremely narrow (0.8mm/0.031 inch) chisel mounted in a sturdy, contoured plastic handle. The blade tip is a grooved, wedge shape.

What’s it good for? Removing minute amounts of material in a controlled fashion – ejector pins, molded on detail that’s to be replaced, flash removal, scribing detail into small parts, etc. I have been attempting to do this with an X-Acto knife all along, now that I have this tool I can actually maneuver the cutting surface into the… more

35 Ultra Micro Chisel 2.5mm Elliptical Tip

Published: August 25, 2019
Company: UMM-USA

If you read my review of UMM’s 0.8mm Beveled Tip Chisel, you’ll have a general idea of the quality of these fine tools. That being said, UMM offers a wide variety of chisel shapes – 14 different tip shapes and sizes by my latest count. UMM 35 is a 2.5mm (0.10 inch) chisel blade affixed to a high quality plastic handle. The tip on this tool is elliptical, and while it will perform a wide variety of tasks (ejector pin removal, opening intakes, etc.) one unique use for the tool is for figure modelers to create or emphasize clothing folds. My figures are cartoonish and I’ll probably never get to that point but the tool is perfectly sized and shaped for my purposes.

Our thanks go out again to UMM-USA and John Vojtech for his generous support to the review team here.

Hughes H-1B Short Wing Racer

Published: August 17, 2019
Company: Special Hobby

I’ve always been a fan of the iconic silver and blue Hughes H-1 Racer. I was familiar with the long wing variant, but as it turns out, two sets of wings were made for this one of a kind beauty - long wings for endurance flights, and short wings for speed records. You’ll have to decide for yourself which one appeals to you, but no worries - Special Hobby/Planet Models provide both in 1/48 resin.

The kit itself is fairly simple and straightforward - resin one-piece wings, fuselage halves and cockpit, engine “cob” and many, many cylinders, etc. Two vacuum-formed canopy blanks are included, good for those of us who need a spare. (Although I lucked out this time). The kit includes decals and a simple but thorough exploded view of the assembly sequence.

Bear in mind that this… more