The sit of the Bf-109 places a lot of stress on the landing gear legs on the real airplane.

Eduard has released a set of brass landing gear in their Brassin range of aftermarket items. This simple set is packaged in a blister pack with foam protecting the four parts inside. There are two brass landing gear legs and two resin gear covers.

The brass legs are perfectly formed with just a little pour nub on the top of the strut that will need to be sanded down ever so slightly. The rest is beautiful detail. The purist of 109 freaks will say that this is only the earliest style of 109 landing gear strut, used on the F and Gs, or the Gustav up to the early versions of the G-6. If you are that much of a stickler for landing gear struts more power to you. You can use this set on any of the models that Eduard has released so far.

This is a photoetch radio compartment set to for the Hong Kong Models B-17 E/F Kit number 01E04a. This set with two photoetch sheets one of which is colored. These sheets add a lot of detail to the radio compartment of the B-17. These parts really add some great additional details to a great kit.

In the packet is:

• 1 colored photoetch sheet
• 1 photoetch Sheet
• 1 instruction sheet

Summary

This is a fantastic set for a kit that is great to begin with; these parts are an awesome addition.

I did find a few minor issues with the set.

The part 32 handle needs something behind it to make it sit correctly on the door. There is some additional detail removal needed from kit part Aa17 on the top left corner to allow the PE to fit properly. You will also need to remove some details form the top sides of the fuselage to allow the installation of parts 38 and 43.

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) continues to be the prolific leader in producing replacement landing gear in white metal. These products are convenient for many multiple reasons:

• Replace inherently weak landing gear (Pro-Modeler F-84G)
• Add strength to a model that has a lot of resin aftermarket
• Replace lost or damaged landing gear

While often their parts are just metal copies of the kit parts, SAC has also made alterations to improve the accuracy of their parts without compromising fit.

The North American Company’s P-51 is well – known for the massive aerial dogfights with the Luftwaffe during World War II. A lesser-known use of the P-51 was a strafing aircraft, shooting up targets of opportunity. This model depicts one of the many armament loads that P-51s used for strafing.

The kit comes with 125 pieces, with most molded from polystyrene. There are three parts molded in metal, and another 10 parts molded in a resin. Decals are included for two aircraft, one based in India, and the second based on Iwo Jima.

Overall, the fit of the basic P-51 kit parts is good. There are some deviations from the kit instructions that I would highly recommend, and the first is in Step 3. Hold off gluing part C34 (the headrest) until the exterior is finished and all antennas and other external details are installed, to include decals. Mine broke off while I was putting the decals on, and it had been getting in the way prior to my accidentally breaking it off.

This H8K Emily was certainly an eye opener for me as it to date is the largest model kit I’ve built and in 1/72 scale that is simply amazing. In scale, the wingspan of the Emily is 0.53 meters (20.75 inches). To give you an idea of its true size, the Emily is just a couple of meters smaller in wingspan than a C-130 Hercules. The first boxing of the H8K by Hasegawa in 1/72 dates back to 1967 and was in need of an update. Fast forward to 2017 and thanks to the good folks from Hasegawa we have a simply amazing new tool replacement to their earlier release. As a nice little bonus, Hasegawa includes a poster of a cutaway view of the fuselage with this boxing of the kit. This may only be a limited run bonus, so check the box top for the bonus item markings.