Rod Lees
Reviews By Author
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Me 163B Seat with Safety BeltsPublished:
Quickboost’s latest item is a detailed seat, with the harness installed, for the Meng 1/32 Scale Me 163B. All you need to do to use this seat is paint to it, remove it from the pour stub, and install it. This seat is well worth the investment, as it will save you the time of building a seat with harness. In person, it looks a lot better than under a digital camera’s lens. This item is, like all Quickboost parts, worth every penny! Thanks to Aires for providing IPMS/USA with this review set and to the IPMS/USA leadership for passing it my way! |
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Cockpit Set for ME 163BPublished:
Thanks first to Aires/Quickboost for providing IPMS USA this review set and IPMS leadership for passing it my way! OK, here we go. The Meng ME163B is a very nice kit; the addition of a bit of resin is applied in this case to the cockpit. I believe this set could also work in the 40-year old Hasegawa powered-egg… have not tried it yet. The overall presentation is excellent. The tub itself is well detailed as is. Mounting straps for the “S” stoff tanks on either side of the pilot are there; the back bulkhead has rivet and seat mounting details. A yoke for the rudder pedals mounts in the forward tub, to which are attached massive foot pedals with standard boot harnesses. I recommend you remove about ¼” of the lower cheeks off the forward cockpit tub, because it will not… more |
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USAF / US Coast Guard SA-16A Albatross DecalPublished:
Thanks very much to our friends at Caracal decals for providing us this sheet and to the reviewer corps leadership and team who continue to keep me straight on my review efforts! DECALS! One of the reasons I really enjoy plastic modeling. The decals usually mean “We’re almost done”; the final markings are what I look forward to in the build. (anyone out there willing to confess to really enjoying filling and sanding seams?). Caracal are a relatively new company; they jumped in early, knew the market, and are delivering in a big way. The vast majority of their sheets sell out fast; if you want them, you need to preorder. On their website you can see what is coming, and plan accordingly. On to their new 1/48 SU-16A sheet. The subject decal sheet has markings for… more |
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Dornier Do 215 Main Landing GearPublished:
I’ll start by continuing my line of thanks to Ross at SAC for providing one more set of his gear and to the IPMS/USA leadership for shipping the item to review! This will be a really simple review; the SAC set for the excellent new ICM 1/48 Dornier series provides an equally excellent upgrade to the kit’s landing gear. Consisting of four parts, this set is, as usual, an attractive and worthwhile acquisition to use on the kit. The set is useful, if for no other reason, in that the kit items require extraordinary care in removal from the parts tree. See the pictures for an example of the kit items still attached to the injection runner: the broken kit arm is an example of the scale (but delicate) nature of these items. In this case, the complex retraction and extension… more |
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British FA 2 Sea HarrierPublished:
First: Sincere thanks to Lucky Model for sending us this most excellent kit, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for once again believing in my ability to deliver within a deadline…. The FRS 2, (later changed to FA 2) Sea Harrier was a logical 1990’s upgrade to the combat-proven FRS 1 SHAR (Sea Harrier). An improved SEA VIXEN Doppler radar was installed, pilot-friendly cockpit displays, and changes to avionics and defensive systems were integrated. As this is not a political forum, let’s just say governments decided to use defense funds for other things, and the SHAR fleet is no longer… I also confess to being a fan of the SHAR; it acquitted itself well over 30 years ago in the Falklands conflict, and the FA 2 was a logical follow on… the testament is how the British Defense… more |
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Sea Harrier Landing Gear (Kin)Published:
Once again, thanks up front to Ross at SAC for sending us another of your expanding line of metal landing gear, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it on. This is (once again) a basic upgrade to the kit plastic. The kit landing gear consists of two halves for the forward gear, a one-part aft main gear, and two outriggers with actuators and doors integrated as one item. As usual, SAC gear replaced these. The kit nose gear requires taking care of a seam, after the nose wheel and tire is inserted. The kit wheels should be inserted carefully into the tire, but the plastic could possibly break or deform permanently. The SAC solution is more elegant. Superglue the upper strut and lower fork together, let it cure, then spray with metal primer. Paint gloss white… more |
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Propeller with Tool for the ICM Dornier 215Published:
Thanks again to Aires/Quickboost for providing these excellent review items to review; and to IPMS leadership for shipping the item to me… Once again, a simple upgrade with serious improvement. Look at the Kit supplied prop and spinner; if used, they will look OK, but you will have a fillet on the back side of the props that doesn’t exist on the actual aircraft. Look at the difference on the QB prop and spinners when installed. These took all of ½ hour to do. First, Cut off the back of the spinner pour stub. I used a razor saw to cut around the circumference, then final cut to the center. Easy to do, and WEAR A GLOVE to prevent personal injury. Next, use the prop and spinner shaft jig supplied with the QB set. Appropriate drill bits were used… more |
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Exhausts for ICM Dornier 217Published:
Thanks go to Aires/Quickboost for providing IPMS USA this review set and IPMS leadership for passing it my way! Not much to this one; replace the kit items with the Quickboost exhausts and save yourself the serious pain of clearing out the kit exhausts… it’s a no-brainer! I took the QB set, painted them with Testor’s Burned iron metalizer (I used a brush) and cut them off the pour stub… installed with superglue, Fantastic! This set rates 10 of 10; Worth every penny! Thanks again to Aires/Quickboost for another great review opportunity, and IPMS for allowing me to do the job! |
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Douglas C-47/Dakota/DC-3 Landing GearPublished:
First, my thanks to Ross, the CEO of Scale Aircraft Conversions, for providing IPMS/USA with so many examples of his new products. I am certainly not paid to say any of this, but Ross and his crew have taken the metal landing-gear market by storm. Their cautious first releases were met with a chorus of “whys?” That was, until their metal was proven (a bad pun, but true). My personal epiphany came after building the Revell 1/32 Ju 88 kit. The owner of my local, now-defunct, hobby shop tried to convince me to use a set of SAC gear, but I passed based on the cost. Of course, the kit’s plastic gear failed after two months. I had second thoughts, but I was not convinced to try the SAC products until a similar fate befell my 1/48 Roden T-28; the kit’s gear legs were so accurately… more |
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T-2 Buckeye Metal Landing GearPublished:
Ross, you and your company do it again…. Thanks to SAC for developing a metal gear set for this new kit; and thanks to the IPMS leadership for sending it on! These stronger, metal versions of the kit’s gear, continue the “form/fit/function” replacement mantra. Short-run plastic is a bit soft, so metal gear becomes crucial with the larger kits. In the case of the buckeye, the nose gear is an offset single-arm strut, which makes the metal even more appropriate. Continuing the line of full-build reviews so we could see how the gear actually looks on a final product… As reviewed by others, the basic kit is a computer-enlarged version of Special Hobby’s 1/48 kit released a few years ago by Two-Bobs. Outline, detail, and appearance are catered for with plastic for the most… more |