Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.50

The landing lights under the wings on the MiG-21 is quite a visible feature. The Eduard kit has you just add a plastic piece over the area. It may be adequate for some but for others it will just beckon those to detail it. Enter the Quickboost set.

Two resin blocks are included. One is crystal clear with outer part of the light and then the other part is a very tiny filament part. It is as realistic as the real thing. The other resin block is molded in light grey resin. This is the housing for the light. Just paint this part gloss silver, add the filament and you will have a perfectly realistic landing light housing.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review copy. You can get yours directly from Aires at www.aires.com or at your local hobby shop or online retailer.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.50

The MW-50 and GM-1 were used to raise the operating altitude and provide more power for the DB-605. The storage area behind the pilot had an access panel inside it to allow the Schwarzmann a place to service the system. This unique setup has never been available before in model form as far as I know.

Molded in light grey resin with the minimal resin flash, there are four parts for this set molded on two pour blocks. There is minimal flash on the one part but nothing that a knife blade and five seconds couldn’t take care of. The instructions are simple enough and show you how to add the parts. It really is a no-brainer. The storage area is provided in a single piece with the additional compartment cut out of the bottom of the area.

This set will work perfectly for your 109G if you want to do something different. I’ll add it to one of my future Eduard 109s.

Highly recommended

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.00

The MiG-19PM is the missile version of the short lived MiG-19 family. The PM had four pylons which allowed the aircraft to fire beam riding AA-1 missiles.

This set is packaged in a Ziploc bag. There are five parts in the package. The large pitot tube is beautifully rendered out of turned aluminum. There are four turned brass missile rails that are designed to fit on the front of the missile pylons. These will hang out the end of the pylons so you know they will break off during handling, unless you replace them with these metal extensions.

So you have an easy to install upgrade for a reasonable price. This simple and effective upgrade offers strength and perfectly round cross section with minimal work. What more can you ask for? The set is indicative of the quality that I’ve come to expect from Master. Another winning product.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Master and IPMS/USA for the review copy.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$6.50

The Revell Bf-109G-6 is an inexpensive model but it does come with its flaws. One of the most noticeable flaws is the anemic gun bulges. Quickboost offers a chance to replace them.

Molded on a single pour block, the light grey resin is perfectly cast of two bulges. Removal of the bulges from the pour block does not seem too difficult. They are properly bulged and direct replacement for the kit parts. Simple and easy.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review copy. You can get yours directly from Aires at www.aires.com or at your local hobby shop or online retailer.

Review Author
Charles Landrum
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/48 and 1/32
MSRP
$7.00

Master Model continues to “turn” out metal details for the model maker. Here they are offering the static discharge whips that you see on all high performance Eastern Bloc built jets. You know - the ones on the trailing edge of the wings and tail surfaces that, if they are molded, quickly snap off never to be seen again. Plus molded discharge whips are often out of scale. Previously I stretched sprue and then quickly exposed the tip of the rod to heat to cause it to mushroom slightly. This is a good solution except the whips always were too big and quickly snapped of at the slightest touch.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.00

Master Model is an aftermarket supplier that offers modelers exceptional miniature turned metal parts to add detail to their models. These sets generally are available for builders in all popular scales. This set (AM-48-095) provides parts to assemble highly detailed 1:48 scale Hispano 20mm cannon with uncovered barrels for the Fairey Firefly.

The parts may be used to replace the injection molded ones in the Special Hobby kits without significant surgery. The kits have holes on the wings’ leading edge so it is likely the Master-Model barrels will literally drop in place. (Although the size of the holes may need to be increased to 1.5mm diameter to accept the small extension on the end of the fairings). Note that two types of fairings are provided in the set.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.50

With any jet the most obvious thing about the cockpit is the ejection seat. If you were to do anything to improve the look of your model cockpit then just add an ejection seat or two in this case.

Packaged as usual for Quickboost in a self sealing package with card board backing sheet this protects the parts while still allowing you to see them. This set has two seats with molded on seatbelts. The resin pieces are molded on pour blocks that will be easily removed. They are flawlessly cast in light grey resin. The belts are perfectly draped and look very realistic. I could find no flaws. There was a little bit of resin that will have to be removed from the seatbelt as it is draped realistically, but to cast it there is a very, very thin membrane of resin that will need to be cleaned up. It will take less than a second to do it. It is not a flaw but designed that way.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$12.75

Brengun is a fairly new company in Brno, Czechoslovakia. They make resin and photoetch kits in various scales. They have some VERY interesting kits and PE detail sets. I recently reviewed their 1/72 shopping cart. It’s got to be part of a street diorama, as soon as I find a 1/72 young lady to go with it.

The Aircraft

In the late 1920s - early 1930s France was very much taken with aviation. If it flew, a lot of people were fans. Henri Mignet decided that he wanted to design and build an airplane that everyone could fly and almost anyone could afford to own. The concept was a “Model T of the Air”. Because the ubiquitous Ford Model T was called “Pou de la Route”, which translated to “Louse of the Road”, his aircraft became the Pou du Ciel, or “Louse of the Air”. The common English translation became “Flying Flea”.

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$18.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions is marking their Silver Anniversary this year, with twenty-five years of supplying resin and white metal parts to model builders. This is the fifth 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 1/32 scale F4F Wildcat that was released by Trumpeter in 2002. The purpose of this replacement set is to provide stronger landing gear that is adjustable if necessary to obtain 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.

Book Author(s)
Jaroslaw Dobrzynski
Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$29.99

The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was a supersonic fighter-interceptor- bomber and fourth in line of the iconic Century Series aircraft. Author Jaroslaw Dobrzynski describes the Starfighter evolution and technical history in great detail. Mushroom Model Publications is highly regarded in the modeling world for providing top quality books at a fair market price. Written specifically with the scale modeler in mind, Mushroom Model Publications has released another illustrated masterpiece. Featuring 40 beautiful color profiles including data from the original technical manuals plus photographs of contemporary and surviving examples. The author examines and presents a completely documented, comprehensive coverage from the prototypes to the final export and license-built versions. They are all fully described and beautifully illustrated plus he listed all the changes in specification, equipment and performance records.