This is the third release, by HK Models, of their large-scale B-25, and in my opinion, the most interesting version. The B-25H was armed to the teeth, with fourteen .50 caliber machine guns (eight fixed forward and fired by the pilot) and a 75mm howitzer. The kit comes in a very large top-opening box, with another front-opening box inside. There are twenty-nine individually-packaged sprues, with a total of 563 parts. Slide molding is used to add nice details, like hollow barrels on the MGs and rifling on the 75mm gun.

Molding is very crisp, with good detail and little flash. However, mold lines are prominent on most parts, meaning a lot of cleanup is required. The box boasts over 500,000 rivets are molded into the model. Most of the rivets look very good, but along the top and bottom of the fuselage, they are shallow and elongated- likely due to limitations of the molds. The clear parts are crystal clear, although sprue attachment points are large.

The Product

My sample arrived in the standard blister pack commonly associated with Aires brand resin sets. Its contents were well protected and intact. This multi-media set is comprised of cast resin parts, a photo-etch fret and a small printed acetate film featuring the instrumentation dials and gun sight reflector glass. The small blue fold out instruction sheet is clearly printed and easy to understand. The resin parts have delicate details and look very nice. They include: a seat, seat back pad, oxygen bottles, radio set, armor plate, internal structures, complete sidewall replacement panels, flare gun, control stick, gun sight and forward instrument panel structure. The photo-etch fret is equally as nice and it includes; instrument panel face, complete seat harness, trim wheels, lots of levers, rear view mirror, rudder pedals with straps, charging handles and other nostalgic items.

Windsock World War Centenary Autumn 2014 is the third issue of Volume 30. Albatros Productions bills it as their “packed Autumn edition” because it provides readers with a great variety of top-notch modeling know-how and unique reference material. Packed is not a boast; this issue delivers a wealth of WWI aircraft modeling information along with historical and technical references.

The 737 really needs no introduction, and the modeling community is blessed with everything from the 737-200 all the way up to the 737-800. Both Minicraft and Daco offer 737-300 and 737-400 kits. Daco also offers a 737-500. Brengun has released this little resin detail set primarily for the Minicraft 737-300. The detail set includes new, crisper wheels/tires, landing gear doors, and a plethora of antennas. The molding is very fine.

The wheels and tires look very similar to the Minicraft parts, but they have a slightly finer edge between the wheel and tire, which makes painting much easier. The landing gear doors are very fine and thin. Take special care removing them from their pure stubs; I was trying to be careful and still broke one of the main landing gear doors. The set of antennas includes more antennas than you would use on a single 737. Take a close look at your references before choosing which antennas to use.

A quick word about the images included in this review. The wheels sets with the covers (hiding the spokes and the rim) are the original kit wheels. All other items in the images are included in the Scale Spokes product.

Scale Spokes offers a number of high-quality after-market items for 1/48^th and 1/32^nd wheels for various aircraft. To see a full list, description of each item, and images please visit the Scale Spokes website.

This review features the 32nd scale set for the Nieuport 28. This set is hand-made, and as I’m sure you’ll agree after having viewed the accompanying images, is magnificent! Just like the actual wheels on the Ni-28, these Scale Spokes items have 3 set of spokes. A set connects the inner and outer edges of the hub and another set connects the center of the hub to the rim.