Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Advanced Modeling
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$11.00

Please note that this product was provided to IPMS directly by Advanced Models. The product is available through “Victory Models”. Also, please note that at the time of writing this review the Victory Models website did not show a page for AMD 148022. There is another product that has decals for the Su-24M, that being item number 148021, which is covered in another revew.

The “Syrian Warriors Pt.1” decal package contains an Information Sheet, a decal sheet, and a set of paint masks. The Information Sheet included in the Decal package is in Russian and English. In some cases, decal sheets produced by companies that are not primarily English speaking can cause the modeler to rely on the images rather than text. That is not the case with A.M. Decals. While the English translation is a little stiff, it is very informative and not at all difficult to understand. English speakers won’t miss a word of explanation and information.

Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$16.95

The SR-71/YF-12 Blackbird needs no introduction and has been produced by a number of manufacturers over the years in both 1/72 and 1/48. Testors produced both a YF-12 kit and an SR-71 kit in 1/72 scale a number of years ago, which was also released under the Italeri label. Earlier this year Scale Aircraft Conversions released a replacement set for kit landing gear for the 1/72 scale kits. The set is comprised of five parts: two main landing gear struts, two main gear retraction actuators, and the nose gear strut.

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
Special Hobby
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$23.70

If you are a fan of US Naval aviation in 1/72 scale, you will likely want to add one of the Special Hobby kits of the FH-1 Phantom to your collection as this was the first operational jet used by both the Navy and Marine Corps. Built up, the kit is a great representation of the Phantom, but I would recommend that the modeler have some experience building kits, as there were some fit issues to overcome. Overall, I would still highly recommend this unique representation of the Navy’s first operational jet.

Book Author(s)
Maciej Noszczak
Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$28.00

MMP’s “Spotlight On” series seems designed primarily around color profiles with a relatively narrow focus on a specific subject. Most of the series covers aircraft, but I have seen at least one armor title in the group. The Ju 88A book, like most in the series, consists primarily of large, full-page color profiles of the subject matter.

Upon opening the narrow, hardcover book, one is immediately presented with an introductory page briefly discussing the Ju 88’s development and a synopsis of the different subtypes within the “A” models. This is immediately followed by over 40 pages of color profiles. The last page of the book has publishing information and shows the covers of several other titles in the series.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Brengun
MSRP
$4.50

This is a replacement canopy for Revell’s 1/144 EE Lightning jet fighter.

Everyone has that moment when they realize that the canopy for their model is missing, damaged, or unusable for some reason. As far as unusable, I’ve had canopies for some kits which were so thick and murky that there wasn’t any reason to put detail in the cockpit.

This one was just an exercise in doing a vacuform canopy. The Revell canopy for their EE Lightning F.6 was usable, but this item had been sitting on the list for a while, and I thought we owed Brengun a review.

I built the Revell Lightning pretty much out of the box, except for the markings which I borrowed from aftermarket sheets, modified from the kit decals, and made my own serials and aircraft numbers.

Review Author
Damon Blair
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$69.99

The Shinmeiwa SS-2 Rescue Seaplane is a development of the Shinmeiwa PS-1 anti-submarine aircraft. The aircraft was used in a Search-And-Rescue (SAR) role, acting as an “Emergency Ambulance” for residents of Japan’s isolated islands.

Hasegawa’s kit of the SS-2 is an older kit that has been updated to represent the SAR version of this aircraft. Overall, the fit of the kit is fair, and there are some problem areas with parts fitting together. The detail on the flight deck is sparse for a kit of this size with a lot of windows to look in. It is a tail sitter, and you will need to add weight into the nose.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$5.00

This is a replacement canopy for Sweet’s 1/144 Hurricanes. The Sweet kit is a really great Hurricane, very nice to build, with great fit. The kit canopy is molded as a solid piece, very thick. Well, for a 1/144 kit it’s very thick. There’s no hollow part inside the canopy, it’s just a chunk of nicely molded clear plastic. But that’s not why I really, really appreciated this review item. When I got the canopies in the mail, I got out a kit I bought at a local swap meet. The kit comes with two complete aircraft. Except this box only had ONE CANOPY!! That’s when I really knew I owed Phil Peterson and John Noack a big thank you for this one.

Review Author
Damon Blair
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$6.50

The Douglas A-1 series of aircraft (known as the AD prior to 1962) was designed as an attack aircraft that could carry a heavy load of ordinance.

Quickboost’s A-1J Tailwheel brings an improvement to the Hasegawa A-1 kit. This part replaces only the bottom part of the strut, and not the entire strut. The wheel itself is separate from the strut.

I cut the bottom portion of the tailwheel strut where indicated in this kit’s instructions, and then glued the replacement strut piece into place using cyanoacrylate glue. Once the glue was dry, I painted the strut, installed the wheel onto the strut, and installed the strut onto the model.

I highly recommend this detail set for the Hasegawa kit. My thanks to Quickboost for the review sample.

Review Author
Damon Blair
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$6.50

The Douglas A-1 series of aircraft (known as the AD prior to 1962) was designed as an attack aircraft that could carry a heavy load of ordinance.

Quickboost’s A-1H Tailwheel brings an improvement to the Hasegawa A-1H kit. This part replaces only the bottom part of the strut, and not the entire strut. The wheel itself is separate from the strut, and you have a choice of two wheel designs, one being spoked and the other is a solid wheel design.

I cut the bottom portion of the tailwheel strut where indicated in this kit’s instructions, and then glued the replacement strut piece into place using cyanoacrylate glue. Once the glue was dry, I painted the strut, installed the wheel onto the strut, and installed the strut onto the model.

I highly recommend this detail set for the Hasegawa kit. My thanks to Quickboost for the review sample.

Review Author
Damon Blair
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$69.99

The Douglas A-1 series of aircraft (known as the AD prior to 1962) was designed as an attack aircraft that could carry a heavy load of ordinance. Both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force flew the A-1H in the Vietnam War. The kit represents two aircraft flown off of the U.S.S. Ticonderoga aircraft carrier during that war.

Hasegawa’s A-1H kit has petite, engraved panel lines. The fit of most parts is excellent, except for the bottom aft wing-to-fuselage joint. That joint requires careful fitting, along with some putty to smooth it out. Most of the other seams required little more than sanding.

The cockpit is sparse in detail, consisting of a seat, an instrument panel, and a control column. Instruments and consoles are represented by decals. With the engine, you have the choice of having the cooling flaps open or closed.