The Yak-9 was a development of the successful Yak-7, which was itself a development of an advanced trainer in use by the Soviet Air Force. Fast and robust, it came into fighter regiments on the Eastern Front in late 1942 and directly challenged the best the Luftwaffe was able to throw at them, although it suffered at first due to poor training.

This set is designed for use with Modelsvit’s Su-17, Su-20 and Su-22 kits and fits both the 2017 and 2014 kits.

The set provides replacement parts for both the nose landing gear and both main landing gear and is comprised of thirteen parts, five for the nose gear assembly and four for each main landing assembly. The nose gear parts include the nose wheel, but the main gear parts do not. The cast parts are designed to be drop-in replacements for the kit parts.

This set from Brengun provides parts to build ten 100lb bombs. Each bomb consists of a resin main body and four photoetched parts to represent the fins and the fuse arming prop on the nose. Separating the bombs from the pour gates is quickly done as they have a pouring extension on the front and are attached to a runner of five at the back. Attaching the fin assemblies requires removing three parts from the photoetch fret. These parts are done in brass and are not only thin, but easy to cut off and clean up. The fin assembly requires the builder to cut a cross hatched slot on the back of each resin bomb. The instructions suggest using a knife, but I found it easier to use a very thin saw blade. Interlocking fin legs are inserted into the slot and a fin “box” is formed by folding the PE part into a square and inserting it into the fin legs. The trick is getting all these parts to align. I didn’t get a usable copy till the third try.

The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter held several world record “firsts” in 1958: airspeed, altitude, time-to-climb, and becoming the first aircraft to hold all three simultaneously. It was also the first aircraft to be equipped with the M61 Vulcan autocannon, the first production aircraft to achieve Mach 2, and the first aircraft to reach an altitude of 100,000 ft after taking off under its own power. With all these records, it lasted a brief time with the USAF (until 1969 in the USAF and 1975 with Air National Guard). It did; however, serve with distinction with fifteen countries during the Cold War. It was built to intercept, hit with missiles, and run. Born during the end of the Korean War, it was the first aircraft to hit twice the speed of sound with pilot Joe Ozier flying a FY-104A (serial number 55-2955).

The Zoukei-Mura 1/32 Henschel Hs 129 B-2/RIII was first released in 2019. A new tool version of a Hs 129-B3 was released in 2022.

This SAC landing gear kit is formed of white metal and has excellent detail, as is customary with all SAC products. There are a total of 16 parts. Very little clean up is necessary. There is no visible flash on any of the pieces. After detaching, a light sanding of the spurs is all that is needed. Prior to priming and painting, it is recommended to wash the parts in a mild dish detergent solution to remove any mold release, finger oils, etc.

This replacement set is very nicely detailed and for a large kit such as the Hs 129 B-2RIII, it is an excellent way to increase the sturdiness of your model. I highly recommend this replacement set.

Thank you to Scale Aircraft Conversions for supplying this sample, and thank you for IPMS for the privilege to review it.