Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Kitty Hawk
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$54.95

If you are like me, natural metal aircraft give you the shakes. But they are so awesome looking and the color schemes are fantastic, so when the KittyHawk Model F-101 came out, I could not resist. Let say a few things up front. If you are looking for review saying things are silly or ridiculous with the kit or how the third minor inlet was left off, you might want to go elsewhere. I am not going to use childish language in a review of the kit. On the other hand, if you want to find out how it fits, how to correct some issues, and how to get some paint on the plane, let’s dive in together.

KittyHawk’s kit comes on seven light-gray styrene sprues which have great surface detail, however, there are large sprue gates, and the plastic is fairly soft. In the box there are also kit decals, a photoetch seat, and a clear sprue. Looking at the parts breakdown, more variants are definitely coming. There are also several options for the modeler:

Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$26.50

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.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$13.00

Anyone who has tackled the old Trumpeter MiG-15 or MiG-17 can tell you that these are not models that fall together easily. They are quite challenging and need quite a bit of care to achieve something reasonably accurate. However, since they don’t typically cost an arm and a leg, they can be fun to tackle. Personally, I like the challenge.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Albatros Productions, Ltd.
MSRP
$15.00

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.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Academy Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$24.00

Many moons ago, long before Roden or Wingnuts, Hobbycraft made the first generally available, inexpensive plastic kit of a World War 1 aircraft in 1/32 scale. As an avid large scale aircraft enthusiast, I was thrilled to see the Sopwith Camel model hit the shelves and was delighted by the Nieuport 17 and Spad XIII that followed. Unfortunately, they didn’t pursue this line very far, ultimately releasing a Fokker Triplane that proved virtually unbuildable. Since then, of course, other companies have jumped on this bandwagon and done very well, although the prices asked have more often than not deterred me from adding their offerings to my collection.

Review Author
John King
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$9.00

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.

Book Author(s)
Andrew Thomas; Illustrator: Chris Thomas
Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$22.95

Osprey has produced so many different “Aces” titles at this point, that the remaining subjects are becoming very narrow indeed. This new volume, as the title says, covers Spitfire Aces of Northwest Europe during 1944-45, and even more specifically the Spitfires covered are limited to Marks V, VII, IX, and XVI (all Merlin-engined).

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Scale Spokes
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$26.95

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 1/48th and 1/32nd 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.

Review Author
Matt Quiroz
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$17.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has been around for several years now, and I must say that I love what they have done. A lot of kits that come to us today have rather spindly landing gear legs on them, and over time I have seen some of my older builds begin to show a noticeable sag in their landing gear as the plastic starts to succumb to gravity and the weight of the model.

Well, you can wave goodbye to those days with a set of SAC’s white-metal landing gear. Their products are a direct replacement for the kit parts. Their casting is top shelf and virtually flash free, with just minor cleanup of seam lines being needed.

Review Author
Matt Quiroz
Published on
Company
HAD Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$14.35

HAD Models (HungAeroDecals) is a new company, at least to me. Printed in Hungary, HAD Models brings us a sheet of stencils for the ubiquitous MiG-29. Although the sheet is small in size (6.5ʺ x 4.75ʺ) it is packed with decals; 136 to be exact. The decals are well printed, in register, and easy to read, even in 1/48 scale, with the aid of my Optivisor.

The decals comes with two foldouts that show the plane in profile from both sides with large call out numbers to aid in placing the many stencils on your model. The second sheet features the same clear placement guide for the top and bottom of the plane. Additionally, the second sheet provides placement instructions for the stencils that appear on the assorted missile rails your MiG might carry. Some color pictures are provided of an actual MiG in service with placement callouts on these as well.