Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Book Author(s)
Compiled by Neil Robinson and Illustrated by Peter Scott
Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
AIRfile Publications
MSRP
$28.50

History

Operation Torch (initially called Operation Gymnast) was the British-American invasion of French North Africa, specifically Morocco and Algeria, in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942. Operation Torch was the first Allied amphibious operation of the war

The Allies planned an Anglo-American invasion of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, territory controlled by the Vichy French government. With those nations under Allied control, the Allies could carry out a pincer operation against Axis forces in North Africa. The Vichy French had around 125,000 soldiers in the territories as well as coastal artillery, 210 operational but out-of-date tanks, and about 500 aircraft, half of which were Dewoitine D.520 fighters. In addition there was a strong force of German and Italian military forces available.

Review Author
Jack Kennedy
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.98

A short time ago, I got the Scale Aircraft Conversions landing gear for the T-33/ F/94 in 1/48 scale and was amazed by the fine detail.

Now, I am going to build my second T-33A by Platz in 1/72 and this time I have been given the SAC set. Wow, what a difference.

I thought the 1/48 set was great but this one is better. It includes all the parts in super detail. It even includes the landing lights. I really don’t know how they can get such fine detail in a metal casting, but I’ll take it.

Looking closely, I noticed that the tires need a slight cleanup on the tread part to get rid of a small seam line. This effort should take less than a minute.

I would highly recommend this and all of the SAC landing gears. They add that extra pop to any model.

I wish to thank Russ with Scale Aircraft Conversions and Steve Collins at IPMS/USA for giving me this set to review. Can’t wait to do more.

Review Author
Matthew Cottrell
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$4.50

Contents

Representing the earliest production F-14As, before the addition of a nose-mounted Angle of Attack probe, Master Model provides you with a metal nose tip and fuselage Angle of Attack (AOA) probe. As with other Master Model products, I find myself astonished with both the quality and unbelievably small size of their detail parts. The AOA probe in particular starts out smaller than a #80 drill bit and tapers to sharp point. The nose probe is equally as beautifully crafted.

Book Author(s)
Martyn Chorlton
Review Author
Perry Downen
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$18.95

Most books covering the P-51 Mustang begin with the design and development phase. It’s not uncommon for the books to mention briefly that Mustangs were sent to England early in the war and the deficiencies they had. The authors explain that soon after, the Rolls Royce Merlin replaced the original Allison engine. Generally, from this point forward, the authors describe what a great fighter the P-51 was – and rightfully so, but the original Allison-powered aircraft is all but ignored.

Author Martyn Chorlton doesn’t take that path in his new book, Allison-Engined P-51 Mustang. He describes what a great airplane this was in operations other than those of the high-altitude fighter – e.g., dive-bombing, low-level reconnaissance, and ground-attack.

Review Author
Jack Kennedy
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$5.50

I have just gotten the Airfix 1/48 Sea Vixen FAW.9 and thought it was a great-looking kit. I thought everything was perfect and didn’t even take a close look at the air intakes. Well, along came Quickboost with a very nicely cast set of resin intakes to replace the kit ones. These are so beautiful I’m not even going to take a second look at the kit ones.

Since no instructions are provided, I would test-fit them to get them on the right sides. Other than that, you are all set.

I would highly recommend this detail set to set your Sea Vixen off from the rest. I wish to thank Quickboost and Steve Collins at IPMS/USA for giving me this set to review.

Review Author
Jack Kennedy
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$5.50

I have the Airfix 1/48 Sea Vixen FAW.2 and thought the kit parts were just perfect. Then, along came Quickboost with an aftermarket set of pitot tubes. I always thought they were all round, but Quickboost did their homework and made them the proper oval shape. This was news to me, but I am going to take their word that oval is correct and use them.

I was really impressed with the fact that these resin pitot tubes are straight. Most times on a part that long and thin they are warped. Thank you, Quickboost, for straight ones.

I would recommend these as a replacement for the kit parts. You can tell everyone that they are accurate; since they are oval and not round, I’m sure your modeling friends will be impressed with your knowledge.

I wish to thank Quickboost and Steve Collins at IPMS/USA for giving me this set to review.

Review Author
Jack Kennedy
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$5.50

Now that I have finished my Cyber Hobby Sea Vixen, Quickboost comes out with a beautiful set of landing lights. In 1/72 scale, they are really tiny and care must be taken to remove them from the sprue or they will wind up eaten by the carpet monster.

On close inspection, they are not just blobs of clear plastic but beautifully formed in the correct teardrop shape. I would give them a quick coat of Future to protect them from glue.

I would highly recommend them to any modeler. I wish to thank Quickboost and Steve Collins at IPMS/USA for giving me this set to review.

Review Author
Jack Kennedy
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$10.25

This is a beautiful set of undercarriage doors for the Kinetic (Italeri) 1/32 F-86F Sabre. While the kit doors are nice, these are just wonderful. They are scale thickness and have great detail. They are molded in grey resin and have no seams or flash.

I haven’t started any of my many 1/32 Sabres, but I am looking forward to using them on all of them. I also liked the price of $ 10.25. That is quite a deal.

I would highly recommend this set to put your F-86 over the top. I wish to thank Quickboost and Steve Collins at IPMS/USA for giving me this detail set to review.

Book Author(s)
John Brennan
Review Author
Howie Belkin
Published on
Company
Stackpole Books
MSRP
$26.95

Most modelers prefer that the camouflage and markings on their models be historically accurate, but we rely on someone else to do the grunt research work. Before I went to Vietnam, I was already a modeler and IPMS member. I had a WWII modeler friend and mentor, Joe Lynch, who advised me to take lots of photos of anything I might want to build a model of when I came home. He said there was no way I’d remember serial numbers and exact colors and so on, and he was right. Luckily, just before coming home, I remembered, bought a camera, and took photos from every angle of the helicopter I flew in the most. I didn’t get to take many other photos, as I got the camera too late into my tour. I don’t think it mattered as I didn’t really have many photo ops since my eye was supposed to be looking thru a gunsight, not a camera lens. At this point, I was “getting short” – I only had a couple months left to my tour.

Book Author(s)
John Brennan
Review Author
Howie Belkin
Published on
Company
Hellgate Press
MSRP
$31.95

The most visited site in Washington DC continues to be the Vietnam Wall, listing the almost 59,000 young American men and women who died as a result of serving there. The interest in that War continues unabated for many reasons. For modelers, the many aircraft, military vehicles and ships that served offer many interesting subjects to model. The abundance of excellent 35mm cameras and color film made that war’s camouflage and markings the best documented to that time. The predominance of helicopters earned it the moniker “The Helicopter War,” and indeed, it revolutionized warfare.