Michael Reeves
Reviews By Author
|
Wehrmacht Afrika Korps Acrylic Paints SetPublished:
ICM is once again providing an excellent product despite soldiering on through an intense war to give modelers a unique set of paints focused on Wehrmacht Afrika Korps vehicles. This set spans the entire war and provides a useful palette of paints for armor or vehicles serving in the desert. ICM provides a diagram on the back of the package showing two vehicle profiles (corresponding to ICM kits of their s.E.Pkw Kfz.70 with Zwillingssockel 36 and Sd.Kfz.251/8 Ausf.A WWII German Ambulance) with painting colors for the featured schemes. This particular set contains six 12ml wide mouth bottles of paint that have the same viscosity to me as Vallejo Model Color paints. I am not a huge fan of the wide mouth bottles here, as I prefer the dropper bottles that companies like Vallejo and… more |
|
WWI and WWII Weapon and Equipment Acrylic Paint SetPublished:
ICM is one of a few Ukrainian companies soldiering on through an intense war to continuously create exciting new products for the modeler. They have been releasing amazing kits and increasingly useful paint sets that are tied to specific themes. This sample features paints that can be used to paint infantry equipment and weapons from both World Wars. ICM provides a useful diagram on the back of the package showing two halves with painting colors for guns, gear, and tools from WWI and WWII respectively. This particular set contains six 12ml wide mouth bottles of paint that have the same viscosity to me as Vallejo Model Color paints. I prefer the dropper bottles that Vallejo and AMMO have as these wider mouth bottles can lead to messes when transferring from your bottle to your… more |
|
Fokker Dr.I - Landing Gear StrutsPublished:
This Scale Aircraft Conversions release for the Meng 1/24 kit is a replacement set for the plastic struts that are the kit parts. I am not an expert on the Fokker Dr. 1a by any means - but there is a definite size discrepancy between the kit parts and the white metal parts in the conversion set. The white metal parts are noticeably longer than the kit parts as you can see from my photos. I am not sure which is more accurate - but I can at least say they got the shape dead on from the kit parts and the width is pretty similar. Alas, shortly after painting the parts to compare them to, I lost the sub wing the landing gear attach to so I can’t necessarily try them out. But basically the set contains four pieces that make up the landing gear struts, two struts for the rear elevator… more |
|
75mm Crates w/Rope HandlesPublished:
Value Gear resin products are well known to most modelers for the excellent quality resin stowage and gear to use on your models and diorama scenes. Owner Steve Munsell is a quality guy who, more often than not, throws in some extra pieces into most of the packages and one package can often inhabit more than a couple builds if used wisely- or you can completely deck out one model if you wish. His 1/16 product lines are growing as more companies release more 1/16 scale kits. What’s Inside the BoxThis set contains a small zip bag with five 75mm ammo crates for whatever 1/16 scale StuG or Panzer is sitting in your stash. A card with preparation and priming instructions are included. The quality is excellent in this scale and one might want to ding them up a bit to add… more |
|
Allied Tank Bits #3Published:
Value Gear resin products are well known to most modelers for the excellent quality resin stowage and gear for models and diorama scenes. Owner Steve Munsell is a quality guy who more often than not throws in some extra pieces to most of the packages and one package can often inhabit more than a couple builds if used wisely- or you can completely deck out one model if you wish. His 1/16 product lines are growing as more companies release more 1/16 scale kits. What’s Inside the BoxThis set is the perfect complement to the Andy’s Sherman kit or to any American tank in the scale you may have. As always, the quality is amazing on this scale and there are exactly 14 pieces as the label says. In the first photo, there are five identical packs that can be strapped to a… more |
|
Grass TuftsPublished:
Green Stuff World is a recent addition to IPMS’ review line, and it is welcome indeed. They make amazing modeling tools and products to aid you with your models and dioramas. In the case of this line, there is a vinyl sheet full of these tufts. I am reviewing the three here:
There are also Light, Winter, and Dark varieties. What’s Inside the BoxThe tufts come in a bubble pack with one sheet of 22 tufts and an instructional card. One side of the card provides instructions for use, while the other lists the other available sizes for the tufts- 2mm, 6mm, 12mm, and 22mm. However, these 22mm versions are perfect for multipole scales- 15mm, 25mm, 30mm, and 54mm for example. Instructions for use are pretty… more |
|
Soldier of the Armed Forces of UkrainePublished:
ICM continues to pump out interesting new kits and paint sets despite being in a brutal war that has lasted 487 days as I sit here typing this review up. The subject here is one in a growing line of 1/16 scale figure kits- Soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Highly praised by military experts around the world, the Ukrainian army is now considered to be among the best trained and skilled in the world thanks to its experience fighting modern combat. What’s Inside the BoxThe kit comes as the standard ICM kit does—with a colorful box top that slides off of an enclosed cardboard box with flap. Parts were packaged well and details were crisp with no flash to speak of.
|
|
Acrylic Instrument Panels for Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 with WFR.GR.21 Rocket PanelPublished:
Red Fox Studio manufactures 3D acrylic resin instrument panels and details for aircraft cockpits in several scales and are now available through the AMMO website for purchase. The parts in this scale are quite detailed for their small size and are even pre-painted! The placement of these bits is easy- one simply has to separate the part from the cardstock and glue it in place using any white glue you have on hand- including that created by AMMO. The parts can also be washed with AMMO enamel or acrylic paints, and varnished with acrylic based varnishes. In addition to adjusting each cockpit detail to the correct scale, each piece features a hyper-realistic finish on the instruments, gauges, and displays, imitating the reflection of the glass bezels. The colors on the parts seem… more |
|
SM.03 Sazabi CustomPublished:
I was very pleased when I heard the news that Casemate was going to be carrying Mike Rinaldi's excellent books. This Single Model series differs from the original books in size and instead of covering a handful of different projects to highlight his techniques, they focus on obviously a single model- in this case a Bandai Sazabi Custom kit. Anyone who has ever watched a Mike Rinaldi seminar in person or on You Tube knows you are getting educated when you take the time to listen and absorb what he is teaching. The text is presented in a format that highlights the techniques and why and how they are being done. Rinaldi bemoans the fact that so many SBSs don't go into enough detail. "Using oils to weather..." or "I applied a wash..." might give one a general sense of what was done… more |
|
British Cruiser Tank A34 CometPublished:
The A34 Comet was a late-war addition to Britain’s armored arsenal of cruiser tanks. With a borrowed chassis from the Cromwell, the larger turret ring allowed for a more compact effective gun in the Q.F. 77mm. Exclusively welded, the larger turret had frontal armor up to 100mm. The heavier design led to the need to update the Christie suspension which was refitted with upper return rollers. Many were outfitted with the Normandy cowling over the rear grill to help cut down on exhaust gases affecting the crew and passengers. With 1,186 being made out of the planned 3000, the 11th Armoured Division was the only division during the war to exclusively use the Comet in combat. It first saw action in March 1945 as the Allies were crossing the Rhine. While not seeing a whole lot of… more |