Tim Hortman
Reviews By Author
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J2M3 Raiden Undercarriage CoversPublished:
Another nice-looking resin detail set in the fine line of Quickboost products. This time we’ll be looking at the resin landing gear covers detail set for the 1/48 Hasegawa J2M3 Raiden “Jack” Interceptor/Fighter. The Japanese WWII Raiden Interceptor/Fighter was designed to combat the high-flying B-29s over the Japanese Home Islands. It had the fastest climb rate of any Japanese aircraft of the war. The allied code-named the aircraft “Jack” and it saw combat starting in 1944. This detail set is designed to fit exactly with any boxing of the 1/48 Hasegawa J2M3 kit. The resin parts are made in a way where they simply fit into place with no surgery required. All one needs to do is carefully remove the parts from the resin ‘plug’ they come on. As shown in the photos,… more |
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LAV-25 - The Marine Corps' Light Armored VehiclePublished:
A recent addition to the growing Osprey Publishing line is this outstanding title: “LAV-25 The Marine Corps’ Light Armored Vehicle.” This book is #185 in the New Vanguard series and is certainly one to add to your collection. This softbound book contains 48 pages which are packed with color photos and some illustrations which tell the history of the LAV-25. Chapters in this book include a brief history on the design and development of the LAV-25 and a section on every combat operation where the LAV-25 saw action. For the modeler, this book is especially valuable for the color photos contained within. There is a good mix of exterior photographs showing different colors and markings, but if you’re looking for a full spread of interior shots – you will be disappointed. There… more |
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J1N1 Gekko Gun BarrelsPublished:
The fine folks at Aires/Quickboost continue to add to their line of resin detail parts. This time we have gun barrels for the 1/48 Tamiya J1N1 Gekko kit. This detail set will work with any boxing of the 1/48 Tamiya J1N1 Gekko “Irving” kit on the market today. Packaging is the standard plastic sleeve we see with the other Quickbooks products. As shown in the photos, this detail set has seven (7) total resin gun barrels to place in different positions around the aircraft. Depending on which variant you are building, you may not use them all. This set contains four longer and three shorter barrels. As you can see in the photos, one of my barrels has a small air bubble at the tip, but that does not really take away from the rest of the set. As I said, you may not use… more |
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J2M3 Raiden ExhaustPublished:
Here is another great addition to the growing Quickboost line of detailed exhaust parts. Here we see a set for the 1/48 Hasegawa J2M3 Raiden “Jack” WWII Japanese Interceptor/Fighter. The exhaust set comes in the typical Quickboost plastic sleeve packaging, and contains separate exhaust stacks which are an exact fit to the kit parts. The great thing about this set is the amount of detail provided. Not only do you get hollowed-out individual exhaust stacks, but the Quickboost parts have the proper seam on each stack – something the original kit parts do not have. In fact, the kit exhaust stacks look like blobs of plastic compared to the detail of the Quickboost parts. I high recommend this detail set to the modeler working on any boxing of the Hasegawa 1/48 J2M3… more |
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JASDF F-2A DecalsPublished:
The Japanese F-2A fighter is loosely based on the General Dynamics F-16, and if one did not know any better, you would think that is what you were seeing. The F-2A is the single seat fighter of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF). This sheet is in Platz’s NBM21 Decal line – “Natural Born Modellers” and arrives in a clear plastic package slightly larger than the standard decal sheet we have come to expect. This great set of decals shows the 50th Anniversary scheme of the F-2A from Tsuiki Airbase 8WG 6SQ in 1/72 scale. The decals were printed in Italy by Cartograf and are in perfect registration, and seemingly contain every stencil mark on the real aircraft! I am not joking here, folks – there are a ton of decals on this 6x9 inch decal sheet! Also included is… more |
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Model Art Profile, #11 Mitsubishi J2M RaidenPublished:
Mitsubishi J2M RAIDEN – Imperial Japanese Navy Interceptor Fighter is the newest book in the series of Profiles by Model Art. This is #11 in the series and is my personal favorite to date. This softbound book contains 136 pages and is jammed packed with vintage photos, line drawings, and color profiles of the aircraft, as well as some color photos of a surviving Raiden. The Mitsubishi J2M Raiden was code named “Jack” by the allies during WWII. It was intended to be an interceptor to counter the threat of high altitude B-29 raids over the home islands. This publication covers the Raiden development and design changes throughout its short operational history. The book starts off with 8 pages of color photographs of the recent 1/32 Hasegawa J2M3 kit. Photos are… more |
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F-18F Decals VX-9 Centennial of Naval Aviation (CONA)Published:
Twobobs Aviation Graphics continues to release decals to celebrate the special paint schemes that the US Navy is using to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Flight (Centennial of Naval Aviation or CONA). Each decal sheet contains markings for these special aircraft, and a 3” sticker with the CONA official logo is included in the packaging. Twobobs actually has an official licensing agreement with the Navy to bring these decals to us in the hobby world! As always, this Twobobs release features decals that are thin, crisp, and in perfect register. Packaging is the usual clear zipper bag we see decals in, and inside is a one page, double sided, full color sheet which contains color information, the decal placement directions, and some images of the actual aircraft. This package… more |
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Model Art Profile, #10, Kawasaki T-4 of JASDFPublished:
Kawasaki T-4 of the JASDF and T-33A, T-1A/B is the newest book in the series of “Profiles” by Model Art. This is #10 in the series and is just as good as the rest. This softbound book contains 136 pages and is jammed packed with color photos, line drawings, and color profiles of the aircraft. As you would imagine the main focus of this book is the Japanese Kawasaki T-4 Trainer. It is covered here in photo detail, and this book will be a great help to anyone building one of the Hasegawa kits. The first 16 pages are full color images of different units operating the T-4. Many of these are very colorful – including the Blue Impulse demonstration team. Pages 18-26 contain some background and development information on the T-4. While the vast majority of the text in… more |
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Tail Codes for WWII Imperial Japanese Navy AircraftPublished:
Tail code markings for the Imperial Japanese Navy in WWII are some of the more difficult things for a modeler to replicate accurately. Aviaeology has come to our rescue! A few years back, I saw that Aviaeology had issued some WWII Japanese tail markings. I was excited at the prospect, but waited too long to order them, and missed out on the offering. They were sold out before I could see what they were like. Aviaeology has reissued their series of IJN Tail Code markings, and has made some improvements in the process. This review is for their RED and YELLOW 280mm markings, but they also sell markings in White and Black. The 280mm refers to the size of the tail markings on the actual aircraft – in this case the markings are scaled down to 1/48 and are about 6mm. … more |
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Kawasaki Ki-61 / Ki-100 StabilizerPublished:
Here is another detail set from the folks at Aires/Quickboost: Stabilizers for the WWII Japanese Army Fighters Ki-61 or Ki-100 Tony. This detail set will work with ANY of the 1/48 Hasegawa Ki-61 Hein “Tony” or Ki-100 kits on the market today. All of these aircraft shared the same basic airframe, and this detail set will work with them all. As shown in the photos, this Quickboost detail set has four resin parts for the horizontal stabilizers on these fighters. The builder must cut the parts from the resin, and remove a little flash before gluing the flaps in place. This is a very quick, easy, and inexpensive way to give your model that little extra detail. The detail of these parts is on par with what you get in the kit. I recommend this detail set to you if you… more |