Retired from active service in 2006, The F-1 was the JASDF’s first Japanese-designed and -manufactured supersonic fighter, and was essentially the same airframe as the two-seat Mitsubishi T-2 trainer, but had a solid “hood” in place of the second canopy, along with assorted weapons capabilities and internal differences. The similarity in appearance to the SEPECAT Jaguar has some merit, though Mitsubishi’s official position states that the only items it has in common with the Jag are its engines.

Platz continues its line of JASDF and JMSDF subjects with this new release. I’ve never built a Platz kit which hasn’t been excellent with beautiful engraved detail and great fit, and this one’s recessed panel lines and thorough detailing throughout was no exception.

Having a few of these kits on the shelf and recently reviewing the kits most recent release I thought I could provide a good perspective on this offering from SAC.

Scale Aircraft Conversions continues to release high quality aftermarket gear sets and this one is no exception. The 4 piece white metal kit is supplied in the standard blister pack and one can immediately see it is far superior to the kit supplied gear in detail. Upon removal, the gear is has some weight to it so it will be sturdy.

The kit supplied gear was adequate, but required considerable work as the halves are not properly aligned to one another. Additionally there are a number of sink holes and ejector pin marks that are quite time consuming to fix. The SAC gear kit is soooooooooo much better in quality and will require much less effort to present an accurate presentation.

Upfront, I want to thank Aires and Quickboost for providing these fine aftermarket bits for our beloved models and to the IPMS USA a big thank you for allowing me to review this Quickboost product.

Admittedly I am proud of the fact I love the stubby World War II fighter. The Rita, Buffalo and certainly the Grumman Wildcat. I have several in my stash including the Hobby Boss 1/48 wildcat and it’s a good looking kit. I snagged the Quickboost exhaust stubs for the wildcat before even looking at the plastic parts. In all honesty, when I finally looked at the original parts, I didn’t think you could improve on them. I was wrong! The original parts are well molded and due to the large diameter exhaust, even the kit parts have an open exhaust. NO need to drill out the opening. Well, where I think the Quickboost parts shine, is the fact the wall thickness is more in line with a scale thickness. The original kit parts are certainly way too thick.

This is the canopy mask for the Eduard 1/72 Bf-110G-4 Night fighter. It’s recommended for the Weekend kit, which is reviewed here: Eduard Bf-110g-4 weekend kit The ProfiPACK kit comes with the mask.

You get the mask and a very good set of instructions.

The mask is die cut on Kabuki tape, nice and thin and it sticks marvelously.

I have one trick. It’s very hard to see the edges of the mask items when they’re on the backing sheet. I slather on a tiny bit of acrylic black, like what’s used for weathering, and it picks out the edges nicely.

Each issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling follows a basic design and format. There are usually two feature articles, an “Aviation in Profile” piece, industry news and a series of “Compact Build Reviews.”

The feature articles for this issue cover the build of a Trumpeter 1/32 Mig-17 in Cuban markings and a 1/32 Revell Bf-109G-6. The Mig-17 build, by Brian Wakeman, covers the construction and painting of one of Trumpeter’s early efforts. He modifies the kit with five Profimodeller sets and one Eduard set. The kit is then finished with a bright Cuban paint scheme and great weathering.

The other feature article is from Jay Laverty, and covers building the Revell 1/32 Bf-109G-6 (early and late) kit. Mr. Laverty concentrates on painting and weathering with some aftermarket being used for both the cockpit and the decals used for adding Swastikas. Weathering is done with oils, and shows excellent methods of getting streaks and subtle weathering.