Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
October 9, 2021
Company
Pavla Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$14.00

First, thanks to Pavla for first producing and then providing this kit to IPMS/USA for review; your excellent products continue to amaze me!

This is an extremely simple kit; yet it has complexity in the fact that it is a limited production item and therefore has ejection pin towers for cleanup. Fortunately these are all on the inside of the kit parts… it also has extremely small photoetch; be forewarned if you are an old guy like me. The overall presentation is excellent; I had little or no issues with getting things in place. The instructions are basic diagrams, showing where everything is supposed to go. I caused a minor problem in that the rear cockpit needed to be installed a bit higher than I installed it, as there are no locating pins or rails. The kit contains a runner of parts, one Photoetch fret, two excellent clear canopies, and a decal sheet with optional Luftwaffe and Soviet “captured aircraft” markings.

Book Author(s)
Eduardo Cea, (English translation by Sally-Ann Hopwood)
Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
September 24, 2021
Company
AF Editions
MSRP
$30.00

This 104-page soft cover book is the fourth title in Casemate’s AIR COLLECTION series about Japanese military aircraft. Like its predecessors, it is an English translation of a Spanish title originally published in Spain in 2008. The book includes 170 full-color aircraft profiles, beginning with a twin-seat 1913 Nieuport NG and continuing up to such naval aircraft in service at the end of the war as the Yokosuka D4Y2 Judy and Model 11 Koo Nakajima J1N1-Sa Gekko. It is obvious the author/illustrator has a great knowledge of the subject and the artistic talent to present it visually. Sixty-nine different aircraft types are represented and the nicely rendered illustrations display the variety of color schemes and national markings that were used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the period. There are no photographs, but they are not necessary.

Book Author(s)
Eduardo Cea
Review Author
David Goudie
Published on
December 8, 2010
Company
AF Editions
MSRP
$30.00

This is a very interesting publication. First of all, the title is misleading. This may be caused by the translation from the original Spanish and my lack of ability to do the same. If the word “Aircraft” is changed to “Aviation of the Japanese Imperial Navy” it would be more accurate.

Secondly this book is a continuation of Volume I. The interesting thing here is that the book apparently begins where the previous volume left off. By this I mean no preliminaries, such as a table of contents, publication data, or an index in the back. There is not even a prolog or introduction. It's like walking in when the movie is half over.

Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
December 6, 2010
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$38.99

The Revell 1/32 Panavia Tornado is a nice kit, but now approaching 20 years old, it is somewhat lacking in detail. Various resin and PE detail sets have been created for it, but until now, no-one has tackled the complex exhaust area – Aires have come to the rescue with this new set.

The exhaust detail in the kit is not bad, but the jet pipes are a bit short and the detail overall is a bit soft. The Aires set solves both these issues and then some! Each exhaust comes in three parts – the burners, the jet pipe and the can and externals. Detail is excellent, even deep down in the internals of the afterburners. The jet pipes are at least half as long again, and the external detail is excellent.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
October 14, 2021
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$6.50

Quickboost now offers 1/32 scale builders a set of resin exhaust pipes for Hasegtawa’s Ki 44 Tojo kits. They are accurately sized, cast in Quickboost’s typical gray resin and feature remarkably thin sidewalls that capture the appearance of the Prototype’s exhausts quite nicely.

Unlike the kit parts that require modelers to glue together two halves to end up with a single hollow pipe, the Quickboost exhausts are already hollow and ready to use without any assembly. They are cast so they may be painted while still on the casting block. After removing them from the casting block, they will fit in place with absolutely no modification required. Just remember, because they are resin, they will need to be attached with super glue or an epoxy adhesive.

This set is recommended. My thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

Book Author(s)
Ian Robinson, MBE
Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
February 21, 2020
Company
Grub Street
MSRP
$39.95

The Handley-Page Halifax was one of Britain’s best 4-engined bombers but, like the Hurricane to the Spitfire, was overshadowed by the Avro Lancaster as a media darling. It didn’t help that no original Halifax airframes existed in the world, outside of a sorry example pulled from a Norwegian fjord in the early 70’s and displayed in an un-restored state at the RAF Museum in London – a pitiful state of affairs.

Review Author
Fred Wilms
Published on
December 5, 2010
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$15.95

History

The Hawker MK1B Typhoon is a British made aircraft and one of the most formidable used in WWII. It was used as a bomber/interceptor and also as a ground support aircraft. Top speed of this aircraft was 417 mph. and it could climb to 20,000 ft. in 7.6 min.

The Kit

The kit is made up of injection molded gray plastic parts. The details were excellent with minimal flash and no defects.

In construction, I started with the cockpit, adding details and painting the interior portion. Prior to assembling the wing halves, the wheel well areas were painted. After assembling the fuselage and wing halves, I proceeded to put the completed fuselage, wing and tail surfaces together.

Review Author
Bill Schwarz
Published on
December 1, 2010
Company
Encore by Squadron
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$19.99

Editor’s note: “Luft ‘46” are hypothetical Luftwaffe aircraft which may have been available had the war continued into 1946 and beyond. They are broad-brush extrapolations and probably not connected to reality.

This is an in-box review of this hypothetical German fighter from Encore.

First up is the box with great artwork on the front. It shows pictures of the model with alternate paint schemes on the back. Encore has been doing a lot lately, and this kit shows it! The instruction sheet is well done, and it is both informative and easy to follow. It shows potential pitfalls during the build, though I do not anticipate any.

While the plastic is nicely scribed 9 of the 16 pieces are not used. Those used are complemented by additional parts made in cream-colored resin, including pulse jet engines; cockpit; nose-guns, tail surfaces, and ailerons. There are 21 resin parts in all, as well as your choice of a vacuformed or an injection plastic canopy.

Review Author
Bill Schwarz
Published on
December 1, 2010
Company
Pavla Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$14.95

This is an in-the-box look as well as a little building info. The I-207 was a neat little fighter that never became of anything. I think there were only 3 made. They had good performance for the day but were already being outclassed by other designs. The instruction sheet gives you a brief history as well. The kit is a re-pop from AZ. It's the same as one I built several years ago, but this time Pavla has done it justice in the form of 6 resin pieces, a new decal sheet from Tally-Ho, as well as a neat Vac windscreen! Nice job guys!

Book Author(s)
Tim Ripley
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
December 1, 2010
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$70.00

Middle East: just the term reminds me of fighting. The air forces play a significant part in the balance of power throughout the reason. This hardback book is written by a correspondent from Jane’s Defense Weekly so you know he has access to some great information. Luckily for us he shares that information with us on 256 high quality pages. The photos are mostly full color and very nice, many from the author’s collection.