Rod Lees
Reviews By Author
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Tornado IDF Undercarriage CoversPublished:
THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires/Quickboost for another improvement set, in this case for the Revell DE Tornado IDS/GR-4 undercarriage doors. And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making them available to me to review. This set improves the kit components by replacing them with fine, pressure-molded resin parts. These are very thin and fragile. Included are five doors in gray resin, (two main, three nose gear) and two clear taxi lights. Remove the parts from their pour stub, and superglue in place. These fit in place of the kit items, no additional sanding or kit plastic removal required. Quick and improved kit appearance with scale size and thickness. The kit parts are good; the Aires parts are better. Improved, more “scale” detail,… more |
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Panavia Tornado IDS Electronic BayPublished:
THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires for this excellent improvement set for the new Revell 1/48 Tornado! And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making the set available to me to review. This resin upgrade takes the kit and adds a simple electronics bay improvement. Included in this six-part set are two electronic bays, two bay brackets, and two doors. Detail on everything is superb, and is just the thing for a diorama or servicing display on the Tornado. Use of this set requires the modeler to remove the avionics bay doors molded on the side of the model, and install the bays. As the kit was already assembled, I had to devise a way to Install the bays from outside the opening and cement the doors in place afterward. This set is highly… more |
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He 51b AntennasPublished:
THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires / Quickboost for another improvement set, in this case for the Roden He 51b series biplane (which was also released by Eduard in a double set along with their ME-109 for the 1936 Spanish civil war. And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making this set available to me to review…. This set provides seven antennas to directly replace the kit items. The detail provided is an improvement in that the antennas are more scale in size than the kit items, are very fine in appearance, and you don’t have to clean up mold lines, etc. on these antennas. Quick installation: Remove the parts from their pour stub, clean up with a sanding stick, and superglue the antennas in place. Paint and move on! This set is a most… more |
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Panavia Tornado IDS Air BrakesPublished:
THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires for this excellent improvement set for the Revell tornado! And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making them available to me to review…. Revell continues to be one of the companies that provides excellent value for modelers; any addition to their kits is worthwhile in that the basic kit is a canvas for improvement. Revell’s 1/48 Tornado kits are perfect examples; a bit complex, and you have to work carefully as they tend to be a bit modular, but at the end of the day you have the best of the lot, if you will, of the 1/48 Tornado series by price, value, and finished product. This set takes the kit components and improves them in a major way. Aires provides additional, third-dimension rivets and hydraulic detail… more |
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He 51b Control SurfacesPublished:
THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires for another improvement set, in this case for the Roden He 51b series biplane (which was also released by Eduard in a double set along with their ME-109 for the 1936 Spanish civil war. And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making this set available to me to review…. This set provides two stabilizers and two elevators.. The detail provided is an improvement in that the stab has a recess for the elevators, and the elevators are rounded on the front. The stabs and fin have drill locating holes in them so you can prepare for rigging; only requires a bit of microbit work and they are ready to install. The rib and fabric detail appears a bit more refined, so you don’t have to sand them down to make them look better. … more |
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Metal Landing Gear for Roden C-141BPublished:
More metal gear from Ross at SAC; another winner… THANKS VERY MUCH for sending IPMS USA another of your expansive line of metal landing gear, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it on to me to review…. This is the SAC-standard metal landing gear improvement over the kit plastic. Roden, bless’em, makes kits nobody else does. WE NOW HAVE A 1/144 C-141B thanks to them! Buy them up so they can finance other models (Hint: a decent 1/144 C-5A next we hope… the “R” re-engined version with the CF-6 can come later!) I’m impressed with this kit; fit is ok, few locator pins, but the exterior is definitely the right aircraft with the right appearance. The engine intakes are very well done, with positive installation for the nacelles into the wing. The ‘141B is a… more |
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He 51b GunsPublished:
THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires for another improvement set, in this case for the Roden He 51b series biplane (which was also released by Eduard in a double set along with their ME-109 for the 1936 Spanish civil war. And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making this set available to me to review…. This set provides two gun barrels with a center web for directly replacing the kit items. The detail provided is an improvement in that the gun barrels are (1) more scale in size than the kit items, and (2) have microscopic holes drilled in the front of the barrels, as well as cooling holes, so they look like functional gun barrels. Quick installation: Remove the parts from their pour stub, clean up with a sanding stick, and superglue the barrels in… more |
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P-51B/C/D Mustang Propeller w/ToolPublished:
THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires/Quickboost for this excellent improvement set for the Tamiya P-51 series! And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making the set available to me to review. This set takes the kit components and improves them in a major way. If you follow the Tamiya P-51 kit instructions, the kit prop blades are cemented to the spinner back half, then you cement the front half of the spinner to the back, trapping a poly-grommet in the spinner so you can press everything onto the front of the model at the end. It works, but there is a seam at the front of the spinner, and how to paint the whole thing comes into play. I have assembled the spinner and painted it and the props separately in the past; it worked, but the propellers are… more |
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A-20G Havoc CowlingsPublished:
THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires/Quickboost (“QB”) for this excellent improvement set for the re-release by Italeri of the old AMT/ERTL A-20! And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making them available to me to review! This set takes the kit components and improves them by saving the modeler the trouble and frustration of trying to drill out all the radial exhausts on the A-20G series. The exhaust stubs on the kit parts are separate triangles of plastic as we would normally find from a mid-1990’s kit, remove and place on lightly-marked locating lines. Hmmm… and in each case, the exhausts are not drilled out. A great way to slash your fingers and test your patience. Moving into the new century: 20 years later, the Italeria kit is the only game… more |
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SU-25 (Frogfoot) - Pitot TubesPublished:
Another in a long line of excellent turned metal (brass) and resin items from Master Model. IPMS USA sincerely appreciates Master’s support of our reviewer corps! Up front, Master provides turned-metal pitot probes and a resin vane set for the ultimate Su-25. As usual, Piotr provides a highly-detailed, more scale pitot replacement for the kit item. Metal and resin combined make for an unbeatable combination! In side by side comparison, you can see the difference in the Master pitots and vanes verses the Kit provided plastic versions. The Master pitot is far more scale in appearance, and since it’s extremely thin, it pays to be careful with this set. Bend it and cry…. But at least it won’t break off! This package contains two turned metal probes in a double-bag… more |