Pablo Bauleo
Reviews By Author
|
Su-7 Pitot Tubes and 30 mm Gun BarrelsPublished:
The Su-7 - in 1/48 scale - has one kit in town: the late 80s kit from Kopro/OEZ recently re-boxed by Eduard. The model is somewhat limited in surface detail and different manufactures offer ways to enhance it. Among them is Master Model which offers a drop-in replacement for the guns and pitot tubes (nose and wing). As you can see in the pictures, the guns are a vast improvement over the originals, which are basically a plastic rod. The metal replacement parts have nice hollow ends and have different lengths to properly reproduce the placement of the guns in the Su-7. The wing’s pitot tube has a much fine shape than the plastic one. Please note that you will have to keep the base of the plastic pitot tube and modify it to receive the turned brass one. Very simple to do… more |
|
Tiger 1 "Tunisia Initial"Published:
Before you read the overall review in this kit, let me start with a disclaimer: I’m not an armor guy. I’m an airplane guy that is that is very timidly exploring the armor genre. This is only my 3rd 1/35 model. Having said that, Dragon is releasing a 1/35 Tiger I “Tunisia Initial”, with an impressive total of 24 sprues, including one clear sprue, a couple of small photo-etch frets and some metal cord to be used as a towing cable. Tracks are of the DS kind. Beware: some sprues have the same letter, so check if in the instructions they are printed in “black” or “light blue” to distinguish between them. I think some (if not several) of these sprues have been released previously. Despite the different vintages of the sprues, all of them are molded in a medium grey… more |
|
Titanic & LED SetPublished:
Academy is re-releasing its well-known 1/700 Titanic, this time in a MPC (Multi-Color-Parts) format with an LED Light Set. Upon opening the box you will find 6 sprues (white, tan, black, brown, bronze and orange), plus the hull –in two parts, black and red hull- and the main ship structure, molded in white. Construction of this kit is simple and broken down into 24 steps. You basically assemble the main ship structure, bow and aft deck, plus the hull as main subassemblies. The instructions are good and easy to follow and the fit is really good. Please note this is not a “snap-tite” kit, you will need glue and many of the parts are actually pretty small so this is not a model for kids. I do believe a young modeler could assemble this kit with some adult supervision.… more |
|
RF-84 ThunderflashPublished:
TanModels is a new company from Turkey and I believe this is their first model in 1/48 scale. They choose the RF-84 as the subject for their first boxing, an airplane often overlooked but that has a proud service history with several NATO air forces, which means many options for camouflage and decals. Before opening the box you will find “Remove before construction” red stickers (keeping the box closed), which make for a fun experience. As soon as you open the box you find yourself looking at several sprues of very cleanly molded parts, with no flash anywhere to be found. Let me be clear, this is not a “limited run” kit. This is a quality injection model kit. The clear parts are extremely clear and present virtually no distortion. They are individual bagged to prevent… more |
|
From the Voisin to the Mirage, 100 years of French Aeronautic Presence in PeruPublished:
This book is very unique in the sense that it covers one century of aviation history, but selected in a particular way: French airplanes in Peruvian Service. Let me be clear, from reading the book you learn -in great level of detail- not just about that topic in the title, but about the overall history of Peruvian Air Force (PAF), with a strong emphasis on French airplanes in the PAF. The book is broken down in four main sections
The first chapter covers mainly the history of aviation entrepreneurs and fledging military aviators in Peru. Well illustrated with period photos it helps to set the tone for the book. The… more |
|
Portuguese Fighter Colors 1919-1956 Piston-engine FightersPublished:
The Portuguese Air Force might have been modest in size before the jet-age, but certainly was rich in the variety of fighter airplanes they flew. Their fighter aircraft inventory included French, British and American designs, some of them acquired and pressed into service through very colorful circumstances! The book has chapters for each aircraft type in detail, including an introduction to the aircraft type and their service in the Portuguese Air Force, before having a section on camouflage and markings for the given aircraft being depicted in the chapter. After the section on camouflage styles and markings, the main feature of each chapter follows: numerous and gorgeous color profiles (sometime even 3-view) of different aircrafts, next to a historical picture of the airplane… more |
|
MB Ejection Seat HandlesPublished:
Eduard Models continue to expand its line of aftermarket details sets. This time is a pre-painted photoetch fret for Martin Baker Ejection seats. In particular you get ejection handles for
In my opinion this is an excellent idea. There are plenty of sets for seatbelts but very limited on the area of handles. The fact that they are prepainted makes it even more useful as those small yellow & black stripes are challenging the paint, to say the least. Application of the parts is trivial. Remove, fold and glue in position. It took me longer to… more |
|
Royal Navy Tow TractorPublished:
Skunkmodel from China has released a very nice and useful kit: Royal Navy Tow Tractor. I’ve believe this particular tractor has seen service with the Royal Navy since the mid-1960’s until the early 2010s so you have a multitude of aircraft that can easily fit into a diorama. The box comes with 3 sprues, two of them are identical – one for each Tow Tractor - and a 3rd sprue with a total of 9 figures, although only one of them is a driver. Six of the figures are wearing short sleeve shirts which means only tropical locations for your diorama (i.e no South Atlantic or Artic operations). You still have 3 figures with long sleeves. Assembly of the tractor is incredibly straightforward, and the fit is excellent. I honestly only had one issue with this kit, and it… more |
|
F4U-5 Corsair Gun Barrels without PylonsPublished:
Quickboost is a company that specializes in drop-in resin replacement parts to enhance the appearance of your models. Being “drop-in” replacements, it is very rare you need you modify the original parts, hence the “quick” name. In this case I am reviewing the Gun Barrels without pylons for the 1/48 F4U-5 day fighter from Hasegawa. In this particular case the set is a “drop-in” conversion, as you don’t need to modify the original parts but there is no F4U-5 kit –that I know- without the rocket pylons. As you can see from the pictures the resin parts have better surface detail plus removal points from the pouring stub are easier to hide than in their plastic counterparts. The diameter of the barrels seems to be a bit smaller in the resin parts. Highly… more |
|
F4U-5 Corsair Night Gun Barrels without PylonsPublished:
Quickboost is a company that specializes in drop-in resin replacement parts to enhance the appearance of your models. Being “drop-in” replacements, it is very rare you need you modify the original parts, hence the “quick” name. In this case I am reviewing the Night Gun Barrels without pylons for the 1/48 F4U-5 from Hasegawa. In this particular case the set is a “drop-in” conversion, as you don’t need to modify the original parts but there is no F4U-5 (NF) kit –that I know- without the rocket pylons. As you can see from the pictures the resin parts have better surface detail plus removal points from the pouring stub are easier to hide than in their plastic counterparts. Also the flash hiders are very delicate, so exercise care when handling. At the same time they… more |