Pablo Bauleo
Reviews By Author
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Beaufort Mk.1 – WWII British Dominions Air ForcePublished:
ICM from Ukraine has reboxed its Bristol Beaufort Mk.1, this time for service with the British Dominions. In the box you get their already known Beaufort, including a torpedo and torpedo cart. There are markings for Royal New Zealand, Royal Canadian and South African Air Forces. The New Zealand aircraft -one marking- was based in the UK, as well as one of the two from the Canadian forces. The other Canadian aircraft saw service in British Columbia. The South African options (two) saw service in Cape Town and, while not explicitly listed in the instructions, they also saw service in Operation “Ironclad” (the Madagascar invasion). Being brand new molds (released in 2023) the overall fit and surface detail is excellent. Construction is relatively simple, but with the high part… more |
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Tru-Color Paints – Selected ColorsPublished:
Tru-Color Paint is a manufacturer of model paints based in the US. They have an extensive line of railroad and car paints and they are continuously expanding their military line (aircraft, naval, armor). This review includes the following colors, all of which are part of recent releases:
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Agusta Westland A109 and the Belgian Air Force A109 Display TeamPublished:
HMH Publications has released another installment of the Duke Hawkins series and it is being distributed in the US by Casemate Publishers. The 24th installment of the series is devoted to the Agusta Westland A109 helicopter. In particular this book includes images of helicopters serving with the Belgian Air Force Demonstration Team, plus images of Italian, New Zealand, South Africa and British examples. The book is organized in the following sections: Types, Belgian Air Force (BAF) Demonstration Team, Forward Fuselage, Fuselage, Main Rotor, Tail Rotor, Cockpit, Main Landing Gear, Vertical Tail, Horizontal Tail, Maintenance and Action. Most of the sections are of the walk-around type, focusing on a specific area of the airframe. The Maintenance section… more |
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F-35 B Lightning IIPublished:
Italeri has released a brand new mold F-35B, the STOVL (short-take-off and vertical landing) version of the F-35 family currently in use by the Italian Navy, Royal Navy and US Marine Corps. Current military planning assumes that in any conflict, stealth capabilities are needed during the first few days of combat which will see action against enemy radars and later on aircrafts can trade-off “stealthness” for payload by using external pylons. When the F-35B is carrying a full payload -ie with external pylons-, it is known as “Beast” mode and Italeri provides you everything you need to have your model in “Beast” mode, even adding a couple of trolleys to show the extra ordnance in a mini-diorama or vignette, but no figures are included. Upon opening the box, you find 11… more |
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Focke Wulf Ta-154 Detail SetPublished:
Brengun continues to expand its line of accessories this time with a photoetch set for the Revell 1/48 Focke-Wulf Ta-154 The fret includes a single fret focused on details for the cockpit of the aircraft with a photoetch seat, seatbelts, instrument panel (including a piece of clear film used for the dial faces) side console details and gunsight. In addition, this set includes the dipole from the radar antenna and other radar-altimeter and navigational antennas. Replacing the plastic parts by this PE set will provide a more-to-scale looks, while simplifying the overall assembly of the radar antennas given that the dipoles and braces are a single piece. Well done Brengun! Recommended. I would like to thank Brengun and IPMS/USA for the review sample… more |
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Visual Modelers Guide #2 – IA 58 PucaraPublished:
AMMO by Mig has recently started a reference guide line “Visual Modelers Guide”. This is the second installment on the line and is devoted to the IA 58 “Pucara”. The release of this book is matched with the 1/48 Kinetic Pucara and given that the Pucara reference guide material is pretty succinct, this book is a God-send, even more when considering the very affordable price of it (other reference materials for this airplane -being out of print- cost at least 5 times if not 10 times the price). This book has a very brief historical section of the airframe in the first few pages before it turns into a “walk-around” book, with both external and internal pictures of wings, landing gear, fuselage, tail canopy and cockpit. All images are in full color, with very sharp and well-defined… more |
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F-104A/CPublished:
Kinetic Models is expanding its line of F-104 Starfighters. Having released the late markings already (-G, -J, -S, including some trainers) they are adding to their line the early variants: -A and -C. The kit arrives in a large sturdy box (where you can comfortably keep the model in between sessions while you are working on it) with a total of 4 sprues -one molded in clear- and a small photoetch fret. There is a brand-new sprue for the fuselage and the wings. Two of the sprues have already been released as part of their latter markings boxings. This means you get extra parts, like ejection seats, a radar set and a few other details for the spare box. The decal sheet is printed by Cartograph and it is designed by 104Graphs. It includes markings for 4 aircrafts, two in… more |
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39/40M Csaba Armored Cars in World War 2Published:
Casemate Publishers has released a book on the Hungarian Armored Car Csaba 39/40M. The book is organized as follows.
The flow of the book is chronological by the nature of how it was written, starting with the design of the vehicle by Nicholas Straussler (while living in the United Kingdom) and quickly moves on the production, units organization and operational history with the Hungarian Army. There are some color profiles which highlight the different camouflage schemes used by the… more |
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SU-76MPublished:
Casemate Publishers is the distributor of MMP Books and they have started a new line on their series “Single”. This new line is focused on vehicles and the first installment of the series cover the self-propelled artillery SU-76M, a mainstay of the Soviet Army during World War 2. As all the books in the “Single” series, it is devoted to a unique subject. The book has some period pictures of the SU-76M in service during World War 2 and it has an extensive walk-around style section, including detail images of the running gear, gun, hull, fighting compartment, etc. The book also includes a 3-view line drawing in 1/35 scale and some color profiles as well. Recommended. I would like to thank Casemate Publishers and IPMS/USA for the review sample. |
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D-704 Buddy Tank Early TypePublished:
Brengun continues to expand its line of accessories this time with a resin set for the air-to-air refueling system known as the “Buddy Tank”. This set represent the “Buddy Tank” used in A-1, A-4, A-6, A-7, and S-3 airplanes. Given that some of those airplanes were exported, this ordinance was also exported to many countries. This set is cast in grey resin, free of bubbles and surface imperfections. There are a total of 12 parts, some of which are small and delicate. The cast plugs are of reasonable size and the attachment points are minuscule for all the small parts, only the two larger part (which represent the fuel tank) have medium to large attachment points. Cleaver design of the molds means that even with medium to large attachment points to the parts,… more |