Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$5.60

This set provides a replacement pitot tube for the Trumpeter Su-24 Fencer kits. The set includes two brass parts and one resin part. The brass parts provide the circular tubes of the front and back of the pitot tube and the resin part replicates the fine vanes and protrusions commonly seen on Soviet pitot tubes.

The packaging for the set is really well thought-out as the brass parts are in separate pockets from the resin part and the resin part is contained in a small foam square that is lined with good sticky tape on the back side to keep the resin part from floating around, which is good as the resin parts are very delicate.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.95

Masking sets first started making their appearance a while back and have been made in several materials including vinyl and tape. Eduard has settled on the kabuki style thin yellow tape for their masking material and makes a wide assortment of masks for many different subjects. I think tape is the best item as it is thin, conforms to the shapes well and provides a good seal.

Review Author
Jim Coatney
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$65.00

The Grumman E-2 Hawkeye has been in service with the United States Navy since the 1960s, as well as serving in other nations’ militaries, including Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Egypt, and France. The distinct look of the Hawkeye, with its high-wing, twin turboprop engines, multiple vertical stabilizers, and most noticeably, 24-foot rotating radar dome, make it readily recognizable. The ‘C’ version of the E-2 was first operational in 1973, and further improvements to the version continued into the 21st century, most noticeably to the eight-blade propellers, which were incorporated to improve the harmonics with the critical electronics of the aircraft.

Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$5.75

Whenever an aircraft or helicopter is not moving on a US Navy flight deck, it is attached to the deck with tie down chains which are connected to several tie down points scattered across the flight deck. While the real tie down points are sturdy enough to restrain a fully loaded Tomcat or Phantom, in 1/72 scale they would be a real bear to make. Thankfully Brengun has come to the rescue with two new photo-etch sets depicting the two styles of tie down points used by the US Navy.

This set is the “cross” or “+” style of tie down point. These were used on the USS Midway and several of the helicopter assault ships such as the USS Belleau Wood LHA-3.

Review Author
Chris Gibson
Published on
Company
Zoukei-Mura
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$185.00

The Build Part 2: Continuing with the build is the 2 Daimler-Benz DB603 inverted V-12 liquid cooled engines. It starts with the two halves of the block with molded in pistons and rods. There are two halves of each bank of pistons that all get put together, then the upper sections are glued to that and the top cap of the whole assembly to finish it off. The valve covers are next along with the front gear box and propeller shaft and also the rear engine accessory components which are very well detailed. Next is the ignition piping and wiring, some oil tubing and the supercharger, all well detailed. The engine mounts are next along with the exhaust pipes, shrouds, cooling fluid tanks and related tubing. There are many tubes and piping that must be put together in this step that must be painted and applied and again all go together very well. That was the front engine now you have to do it all over again for the rear engine.

Book Author(s)
Charles Stafrace; Illustrator: Richard J. Caruana
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Guideline Publications
MSRP
$30.00

Warpaint’s latest is their standard A4 format softbound publication that is 92 pages (excluding covers) on the Douglas C-54/R5D Skymaster and DC-4. I counted 213 photographs (141 in color) along with 34 of Richard J. Caruana’s color profiles. Richard J. Caruana also contributes the centerfold (eight A4 pages) that features nine line drawings, all in 1/72 scale.

Review Author
Timothy Gidcumb
Published on
Company
RESIN2 Detail
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.99

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). The B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the daylight strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The United States Eighth Air Force, based at many airfields in central and southern England, and the Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, complemented the RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing in the Combined Bomber Offensive to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for the invasion of France in 1944. The B-17 also participated to a lesser extent in the War in the Pacific, early in World War II, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields.

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$18.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions celebrated their Silver Anniversary last year, and now have over twenty-five years of supplying resin and white metal parts to model builders. This is the eighth landing gear set from SAC that I have reviewed, and once again, they have provided an excellent metal option for kit-supplied landing gear. This set is intended for the 1/48 scale F-14 Tomcat that was recently released by Tamiya (kit 61114). The purpose of this replacement set is to provide stronger landing gear that is adjustable if necessary to obtain the proper angles. Even with no previous experience in using white metal parts, this set will provide an upgrade that most modelers will have no issue installing.

Review Author
David Wrinkle
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$9.43

Over the past few years Airfix has been turning out some stunning kits and thankfully the detail community has been stepping up to the plate to provide details for those new kits. No exception is the Czech company Brengun who has released a nifty detail set for the new tool Airfix DH.82a Tiger Moth series of kits.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.33

THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires/Quickboost for this excellent improvement set for the Tamiya P-51 series! And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making the set available to me to review.

This set takes the kit components and improves them in a major way. If you follow the Tamiya P-51 kit instructions, the kit prop blades are cemented to the spinner back half, then you cement the front half of the spinner to the back, trapping a poly-grommet in the spinner so you can press everything onto the front of the model at the end. It works, but there is a seam at the front of the spinner, and how to paint the whole thing comes into play. I have assembled the spinner and painted it and the props separately in the past; it worked, but the propellers are difficult to set at the proper angle using this method.