I used this instrument panel and seat belt set in conjunction with a full build review of the latest release of Eduard’s 1/48 scale F6F-3 Hellcat, Kit # 8227.

I applaud Eduard for their innovation and the thought of simplifying build cockpits. They are pre-painted and ready to install in your cockpit.

While the instrument panel is very nice, compared to their photo etch equivalents I find the pre-painted markings are a little thick, and make some instruments look like mostly white circles.

The steel seat belts are wonderful and bend easily around the seat edges to conform naturally like the real belts would.

Both the instrument pane and belts make a great addition to the Hellcat cockpit.

Thank you Eduard and IPMS for the opportunity to review this great product.

The Airfix 1/48th scale Blenheim is another in a growing line of new kits from Airfix that reflect a high level of detail and sophistication that are proving highly popular with modelers. Molded in slightly soft, light grey plastic, this first Blenheim out of the gate represents the Mk.1F night fighter adaptation of the standard medium RAF bomber. A separate tree of parts is provided to assemble the ventral 4-gun pack that provided the forward punch for this fighter, plus various radar antenna. The gun pack is attached directly over the closed bomb bay, with a single part provided to represent the closed bay doors. It’s obvious from the extra parts included on the main parts trees - large and small bombs, a full bomb bay, as well as doors for an open bay - that a standard bomber version is in the works. As it is, a Mk.1 bomber version can be built from the included parts. All you need are the appropriate decals.

Reskit is a Ukranian manufacturer of resin accessories for 1/32nd, 1/35th, 1/48th, and 1/72nd scale modern aircraft. Products include wheels, weapons, electronics pods and exhausts for various modern aircraft from the United States, France, Great Britain, Japan, and Russia.

The web site is Ukrainian language but includes English translation. Select the scale and several product pages are shown.

Contents Description

This set includes five, individual castings: two main wheels with separate rear hubs and two nose gear wheels. The resin is a very dark, glossy grey color, and the detail is quite nice. All the tires have raised lettering on both sides. Each wheel must be removed from a small casting plug and the burr sanded smooth, while the main wheel rear hubs require a saw cutting on the hub rear side.

A newer addition to Scale Aircraft Conversions large line of metal landing gear is this set for the Wingnut Wings Junkers D.1.

Like most of SAC’s sets, this is meant as a drop-fit replacement for the kit’s plastic landing gear. The set comprises of both main gear legs, the landing gear “wing” between the legs, and the main axle. All are made of sturdy, white metal.

I could see no appreciable difference in the detail between the kit items and those in this set. They look to be almost the same. If anything, I believe the SAC details were a bit softer than the kit items. The “wing” had a bit of a molding mishap and there is some excess metal on the top port side (see the photos). I think this will be a bit challenging to clean up and retain the details of the rivets and corrugation. The axle came slightly bent (which I know is common with white metal pieces, but still annoying).

Two Bobs Aviation Graphics is one of leaders in aviation decals with an impressive variety in 1/32, 1/48 and 1/72 scale. This latest release, which has very large amount of markings, fifteen to be exact! Each of the fifteen subjects of the 494^th Fighter Squadron have colorful nose art that are real attention getters like "Dead Pool" "Texas Ranger" and one of the markings, "2-Oh-40oz" which has an image of a red tail P-51D dropping bombs. The aircraft and nose are included is: 00-3001 "Jenny"; 00-3002 "Devils Darlin"; 00-3003 ""Gears of War"; 00-3004 "Bulls Eye"; 01-2000 "Valkyrie; 91-1311 "Lady Liberty"; 91-1313 "Texas Ranger"; 91-1314 "Chief"; 91-1324 " White Walrus"; 91-1326 "Ravage"; 91-1329 ""Deadpool"; 91-1335 "Megalodon"; 96-1602 "A-Bombinator"; 96-0201 "Firebird" and 96-0204 ""2-Oh-40oz".