William Seaman
Reviews By Author
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Magnum! The Wild Weasels in Desert Storm, The Elimination of Iraq's Air DefencePublished:
If you’re a military aviation geek like me, you can’t get enough of books like this. It chronicles the exploits of the authors as they deployed, fought, and returned home from Desert Shield / Desert Storm.
Occasionally, it does tend to get very technical but there’s an excellent appendix that… more |
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P-47D Gun BaysPublished:
Tamiya’s kit practically begs to be used in a diorama and this could make a great start. It has:
Again, some of the pour stubs on the gray parts are thick and you’ll need to be very careful with the cream color .50 gun barrels and feed chutes. They’re extremely fragile. I’d recommend you have some experience with resin, modifying kit parts, and PE before you tackle this one. |
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P-47D Wheel BaysPublished:
Designed for the reigning king of the 1/48 P-47’s, the exquisite offering from Tamiya. There’s no difference between the D and the M wing, so that means they it can be used on any Tamiya P-47 kit. About the toughest thing to do with a Tamiya P-47 is to get rid of the ejector pin marks. This set takes care of that with the landing gear doors and wheel bays. The castings are in Aires standard dark gray resin except for the covers for the gear struts. Those are in a cream color and much more fragile than the gray castings. The pour stubs on the wheel bays are heavy and could be tricky to remove. It’s pretty much a straight drop, except you’ve got to remove the kit’s wheel bays. |
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Famous Pilots of World War IIPublished:
If you haven’t heard of Master Box Ltd yet, you soon will. They’re a relatively new company from the Ukraine, specializing 1/35th scale plastic figures. Although they’re young, they certainly have made a splash. This release is their first entry into the 1/32nd scale market and it encompasses 6 of the most famous Allied and Axis aces of WW II;
The box contains a single sprue of 49 sand-colored polystyrene… more |
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A-1J AntennasPublished:
Quick Boost has quickly built a reputation for excellent resin castings at affordable prices. These two sets are sure to add to that for the already great out-of-the-box 1/72 Hasegawa A-1J kit. Few things are more heartbreaking than finally getting to the last stages of finishing a kit, only to realize that you’ve lost an antenna. Sure, you can try your skills at re-construction from scrap styrene, putty, or both but we all know that’s easier said than done. Again, these are direct replacements for the kit parts. My sample was very crisp and bubble-free As always, make sure you wear a respirator when you make your cuts and vacuum up the residual dust once you’re finished. |
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A-1J Resin ExhaustsPublished:
Quick Boost has quickly built a reputation for excellent resin castings at affordable prices. This set is sure to add to that for the already great out-of-the-box 1/72 Hasegawa A-1J kit. These are direct replacements for the kit parts and my sample was very crisp and bubble-free. They offer a simple solution to the often frustrating, sometimes futile attempt to drill-out exhausts in this scale. |
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F-4E-F-G-J-S PHANTOM II EXAHUST NOZZLESPublished:
While this set is designed for the Fujimi kit, it’s a direct drop in; you can easily use it on any of the Hasegawa offerings (which I’ll be using). It’s an excellent upgrade from the kit parts and requires minimal modeling effort to complete. It consists of a single fret of 2 PE afterburner flame rings and two sets of exhaust “feathers” (long), afterburner cans, and exhaust cones. My sample was cast in dark grey resin and was bubble free. The cut lines are clearly defined and the resin separates easily from the pour stubs with a few swipes from a razor saw. A few swipes with a sanding sick leveled the parts up and they were ready to assemble. Be very careful with the PE afterburner flame rings. They are extremely delicate and are somewhat oversized for the afterburner… more |