Max Welliver
Reviews By Author
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USN F/A-18F VFA-2 Bounty HuntersPublished:
Stemming from Academy’s excellent 2013 F/A-18 Super Hornet kit releases, they have yet again pleased Naval Aviation fans with the colorful VFA-2 Bounty Hunters Super Hornet CAG! The kit offers two marking options, both from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 2, Bounty Hunters, out of Lemoore, California. The scheme shown on the box is the colorful CAG 100 bird BuNo 165916. The second option is line number 104, BuNo 165920. The decals are by Cartograph and are of extremely high quality. The BuildThe box contains six sprues molded in hard light grey plastic, and one sprue in clear for the canopy and HUD. The nose cone, rear fuselage, and front fuselage are sitting by themselves in the box. For those who have built Academy’s Super Hornet or Growler releases from… more |
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F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornet Landing Gear (Hasegawa)Published:
A nice addition to Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) already impressive array of aftermarket landing gear is the set for the F/A-18 A, B, C, and D. The parts are made of white metal and include three separate landing gear pieces, as well as a metal tree with two landing gear support pieces. A few mold seams are apparent on the shock absorbers of both the main and the nose gear, but they can easily be sanded or scraped off carefully with an X-Acto knife. Be careful to not bend the soft metal when cleaning up the parts. Also, the molded plastic nose gear cover that comes in the Hasegawa kit will have to be glued to the metal. A touch of super glue does the trick. I primed the gear with Vallejo black primer before painting them in flat white. If no primer is used, the base… more |
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E-2C Hawkeye 2000 "VAW-115 Sayonara" Limited EditionPublished:
Hasegawa has recently released a limited edition E-2C Hawkeye “Sayonara Atsugi” featuring two marking options:
The marking options are of the same plane, just a few changes in terms of paint over a period of time. The E-2C Hawkeye 2000 is the fifth generation production E-2C Hawkeye and incorporates significant enhancements in data management, system throughput, operator interfaces, connectivity, and situational awareness to support the Navy's evolving Theater Air and Missile Defense mission. With its massive rotodome, it can see for hundreds of miles… more |
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IDF M3 Halftrack Nord SS-11 Anti-Tank Missile CarrierPublished:
Dragon, in its Six-Day War series, has already produced a 1/35 scale kit of an Israel Defense Forces M3 halftrack, and now another interesting variant is available for modelers. This new kit features an M3 with Nord Aviation SS-11 wire-guided antitank missiles, which was done to strengthen the offensive capability of IDF halftracks. This kit will attract a lot of interest when sitting in your model display. Opening the BoxThis sturdy Dragon box is filled with lots of plastic, a lot of it going to the spares bin. The kit includes:
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M4A2 76mm Red ArmyPublished:
The next Cyber-Hobby Orange Box offering is a Red Army M4A2(76) tank. A total of 4,102 M4A2 medium tanks were sent to the U.S.S.R. under Lend-Lease during WWII. To make the kit more valuable, the kit includes a fine 1/35 scale Maxim machine gun as well! Opening the BoxThis thin, side-opening Dragon box is filled with a nice amount of parts. The sprues are molded in light grey plastic and have some really detailed cast textures and weld seams. The kit includes:
They provide decals for two tanks:
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Aichi E13A1 Type 0 Jake Model 11 & Catapult Limited EditionPublished:
Hasegawa has recently released a limited edition, re-box kit of the Aichi E13A floatplane, featuring a separately molded catapult and two marking options.
Nicknamed "Jake" by the Allies, the Aichi E13A floatplane made long-range recon a reality for the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) during World War II. E13As were typically launched by catapult off of ships, and many were used for kamikaze missions during the latter half of the war. Several E13A1 pilots were from the Kashima Naval Flying Group, which had begun as a flight training group in 1938. The BuildWhen I first opened the box, and studied the pieces, I noticed that there were some small, light scratches in… more |
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Sd.Kfz.181 Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.E Tiger I Mid Production w/Zimmerit s.Pz.Abt.506 Eastern Front 1944Published:
This is Dragon’s eighth and latest release of the Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger 1. The kit contains many parts, great detail and a nice finished product. It is a re-box of Dragon’s 6700 Tiger 1 released in 2014. A lot of the sprues have unused parts from the 6700 kit, as well as some other kits. The Zimmerit looks very realistic and there are many other goodies in the build. Opening the BoxThe sturdy Dragon box is filled to the top with parts, and is quite heavy. Each sprue comes in a plastic bag grouped with similar parts. Looking closer at the parts, they are highly detailed with molded weld seems, and molded Zimmerit. The contents of the box include:
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