Upfront, I want to thank Scale Aircraft Conversions for providing outstanding aftermarket bits for our beloved model kits, and to the IPMS USA a big thank you for allowing me to review the Scale Aircraft Conversions metal gear.
The Hasegawa Eggplane Series is just plain fun. They assemble quickly, are generally well engineered, and for me provide an immediate platform to practice my budding modeling skills. I “assembled” plastic models as a kid; messy tube-glue seams and hand brushed finishes. I reenter the hobby a few years ago by joining the local IPMS chapter and enrolling in the club’s Adult Building Course. Since, then I have built a few successful projects with the skills learned in the ABC and practice on my Eggplanes.
The F-2 & T-4 “ADTW 60th ANNIVERSARY” box set are my 4th and 5th Eggplanes. The box set is a reissue of previous releases of the F-2 and F-4 with special ADTW 60th Anniversary decals. The 2 kits are packaged separately with individual instruction sheets and a combined decal sheet. I proceed as two individual builds.
Quickboost provides you with a product to replace your one-piece Po-2 horizontal tail surfaces with the capability of displaying the elevators in alternate position. Please note this set does not depict elevator tabs that are present on some aircraft. The packaging is the standard polyethylene bag secured to a header card with staples. There are no supplied instructions but then again, the three parts are a direct replacement for the kit’s horizontal tails surfaces.
Although this product is designed specifically for the ICM 1/48 kits (48251, 48252, and 48253) it should take zero- to minimal-modification effort to mount this set in the Admiral kits (4807, 4808, 4809), the Gavia kits (002/0399, 004/0600), the AZ Model kit (AZ4870), the Jadar-Model resin kit (48 001), or even the older Sierra Scale Models 48-46 vacuform kit.
Hasegawa continues their fantastic line of small scale airliner aircraft, with this release of the military Boeing KC-767J tanker and E-767 AWACS versions. I have built a number of their other civil airliners, and they are designed to build easily and fairly quickly, by all levels of modeler. I have included pictures of the instruction sheets that cover the history and details of these ex-airliner, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force aircraft.
The two kits come in Hasegawa’s standard sized box, and packaging. Inside are two clear plastic bags, each of which contain the individual model sprues, clear parts, large ballast screws, a stand and poly caps. Loose in the box are two sets of instructions and one good quality decal sheet. Each kit also includes the extra parts specific to the tanker and AWACS.
One of the latest releases from Eduard in their rapidly expanding Brassin line are a set of late wheels intended for use on the new Tamiya F-14A (kit 61114). Consisting of eight resin parts along with a set of masks to aid in airbrushing the wheels and tires, the set can be used to dress up the appearance of the Tamiya kit, especially for modelers that like the representation of weight on their tires.
This set consists of resin main tires with separate inserts for the outer and inner wheels as well as front wheels, which are cast as single assemblies. The Tamiya kit provides main wheels that are molded as front and back halves, while the front wheels are molded as single pieces. Assembly and installation instructions are provided on the inside of a bi-folded sheet of paper that include the calling out of only two Gunze paint colors, Tire Black and White
Aires continues its releases with this excellent set to make the horizontal stabilizers moveable on Trumpeters 1/48th scale F9F Panther. The set is comprises four perfectly molded parts with two for each side.
Casting is perfect and prep work takes about five minutes. Carefully cut the four parts free with a razor saw and then sand the edges smooth that were cut loose. They are already keyed to fit directly into the kit parts. A little clean up and they fit perfectly. One thing to note too, the set duplicates the kits surface detail very well with all the needed rivets. To finish, glue to the kit and angle the moveable parts to the same angle and paint.
This is a wonderful quick to add set from Aires and will give you kit more visual interest. Highly recommended
My thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great set.
Resin 2 Detail produces some really great and unique resin parts to enhance kits. This set is part of their “Fast Fix” series. They are single part upgrades which enhances the kits quickly and simply. This set is two R-2600 engine fronts which are suitable as upgrades to any 1/48th scale Helldiver, Avenger, A-20, or B-25’s. They are direct replacements with almost no preparation needed.
The set comes with two engines so you could do two avengers or one each of the A-20 or B-25’s. The castings are perfect and very detailed and include two engine faces along with two magnetos for the top. Preparation is simple by grinding off the back casting block of the engines, cut the magneto off and glue to the top of the engine per the instructions.
The kit comes in a fairly thin box that has a nice painting of a Coastal Command Wellington bombing a U boat. The scheme seen on the box is number one of the 6 choices that Italeri gives you. Upon opening the box you find a single bag of 5 gray sprues, and one clear sprue. Inside that bag is also a note saying that the kit was made in the Czech Republic. This kit is the MPM kit reboxed. Along with the sprues come a nice large instruction booklet and a very nice decal sheet by Cartograf. Under all that is an addendum to the instructions telling you step 6 is wrong for this version of the kit, and to use the updated parts for the exhaust. (The hedgehog exhaust of the original MPM kit were replaced by regular tubular exhausts.)
Up front: Sincere thanks to Italeri and their U.S. distributor, Hobbico USA, for this Boeing -Licensed model of the long-serving F-15C. And thanks to IPMS for sending it to review.
First off: This is not a “Strike Eagle” but a standard “C” model with parts which would fit on the F-15E. This original kit hails back to around 1990 or so; it’s a mixed bag of older technology, and improvements that we now take for granted. Engraved exterior detail is very petite but there is little in the way of fasteners, etc., which is ok! Fit of the parts is a bit “loose”, as you can tell by the copious quantity of putty I used on assembly. Flash is present. But it’s an Eagle!
The Box art will sell the model; the decal sheet and options will redeem it.
Quickboost provides you with the capability to open up your MiG-21 parachute housing and display the tail end of the packed parachute. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that Quickboost uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. The supplied instructions graphically depict where you cut off the existing closed parachute housing and add the three resin parts included in this set.
Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash the parts to remove any remaining mold release and prime them first. The parachute and parachute housing will need to be installed with your favorite CA (super glue) or epoxy, as the normal plastic glues or solvents will not react with the resin.
