Mike Howard
Reviews By Author
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JAS-39 Gripen Pitot TubePublished:
Aires and Quickboost (a division of Aires) continue to provide us modelers with very nicely detailed additions to many new and older kits that can greatly enhance the final appearance of the build. This installment will look at the Quickboost replacement pitot for the fairly new 1/48 Kitty Hawk Saab Jas-39 Gripen (kit #KH80117). This replacement pitot tube, with associated nose cone tip, is a very simple, two piece addition to the excellent Kitty Hawk Gripen. Quick Boost is kind enough to supply two complete pitot assemblies, just in case something goes wrong on the first try. Assembly is straightforward, though some attention must be paid to the bottom of the nose cone cap. There is a D-tab molded in here that will fit into the kit nose cone. If you cut the cap… more |
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JAS-39 Gripen Wheel BayPublished:
Aires and Quickboost (a division of Aires) continue to provide us modelers with very nicely detailed addition to many new and older kits that can greatly enhance the final appearance of the build. This installment will look at the Aires replacement wheel wells for the fairly new 1/48 Kitty Hawk Saab Jas-39 Gripen (kit #KH80117). Kitty Hawk does a reasonably nice job in detailing their injection molded main wheel wells, though the placement of several of the tiny parts, on the inside wells is somewhat vague. By comparison, the Aires rendition of these parts adds substantially more of the details and also replicates them much more accurately. This is true in also in the nose gear wheel well. Here though, the stock kit part lends itself to easier painting due to the well… more |
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F-5E Nellis and PACAF "Gomer" AggressorsPublished:
The Northrop F-5E found a home with both the USAF and USN as a dissimilar air combat training aircraft, more commonly known as an Aggressor or Top Gun Adversary aircraft. A former brother-in-law of mine was kind enough to invite me to Nellis AFB in the late 1980’s as he was going through his Aggressor pilot training before being posted to Bentwaters, UK. Getting a chance to see a group of “cheap” F-5E’s “shoot down” a flight of F-15’s was quite an impressive achievement, but then that was the purpose of these highly trained adversary pilots, to teach tactics used by Eastern Bloc pilots and their satellite air forces. I previously was a big fan of the uniquely painted aircraft and getting to see them in person and watch them in action just solidified my interest in them. (Yes, I know… more |
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Ion Nebulizer and VOX CommunicatorPublished:
Dad's (Mike Howard) IntroductionMy 11 year old son is a big fan of space and science fiction, so I thought this would be an enjoyable model building exercise for him. I'm also planning to put some simple electronics inside the Nebulizer (at a later time) that will tie some lights and sounds into the trigger. Here is Andrew's review of the kit: Andrew's ReviewThe Ion nebulizer and VOX communicator was an interesting set, fun to build and rather easy too. I started on the VOX communicator first, and it took me about half an hour to build. It took me a few tries to get the spring in the exact position, and I had to pop it open a few times to get it to work right. Then I started the construction of the Ion Nebulizer, putting the trigger… more |
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Sparco Blue Racing HarnessPublished:
Having recently gotten back into car modeling, more specifically Group "C" type cars, I jumped at the chance to review this pre-painted (blue) 5-point Sparco harness set. As with most high speed racing endeavors, the rules require some very stout driver to seat retention systems (seat belts), but these are poorly represented by either molded-in details or by decals. Eduard has come to the rescue with these excellent looking seat belt/harness sets. I had to do a little research and stash cross-referencing to see what Group "C" car model that I had that would use the blue harnesses. After a short search, I found that the 1988 Le Mans winning Jaguar XJR-9LM (the Tamiya kit) used this color harness. The belts have a very nice texture to them and the colors are quite brilliant. As… more |