If you have not dealt with “Zactoman”, and you are in to 1/32 Soviet aircraft, visit his website. Your wallet will automatically open… In this case, Chris graciously provided review items.

When I built the Trumpeter SU-25 back about three months ago, I noted the outboard pylons were not included in the kit. Serious sadness, as I had never seen an SU-25 without these pylons. The holes for the pylon mounts were in the wing, but the pylons were not on the runners anywhere…. Who could figure out why? Cost cutting over 1/100 of a dime…

In steps Chris at Zactomodels. He’s about as crazy about cold war Soviet aircraft as I am… and he has provided a 1 or so-hour solution to the missing pylon. The PD-62-8 Pylon and APU-60-1 launch rail he provides, along with the detail parts to make it more realistic, are for lack of words, perfect resin castings. Suddenly my SU was about to be complete…

Wash the parts with 409 or similar degreaser, let dry, and get busy.

I continue to be amazed at the variety and quality of the product line from Master Models. I have had the pleasure to review their replacement ship gun barrels but this is the first opportunity I have had to review their aircraft accessories. This latest offering from Master Models is a pair of replacement .30 caliber barrels, perfect for the rear gun mount on most two-seater US Navy aircraft. These barrels are little jewels. Okay, I am not a machinist and so I am always impressed by quality lathe work. I was a bit astounded by the perforated cooling jackets. I will not even ask how it was done, but there had to be a computerized milling machine with an indexing arc to even space the dimples in this fine brass. Installation is easy, cut off the plastic barrel, drill a small hole and glue in the replacement barrel. Is the barrel worth the cost and effort?

Many times one of the areas that we find lacking in kits is the wheels. Usually the tread pattern is very shallow, incorrect, or incomplete. Plus, whatever tread is present on the kit parts tends to get removed when smoothing over the seam created from having the wheels in two halves.

Ultracast has recently released a series of 1/48 wheel sets for the P-38 Lightning. This review concentrates on the “diamond tread” version. The parts are cast in flawless cream colored resin and feature beautiful detail including valve stems. Also on the main wheels, the internal brake drum is visible through the open spokes. The tread pattern is good and defined, and is more accurate than that in the Hasegawa kit. Comparing photos of wartime P-38 wheels, the Ultracast pattern looks correct while the kit tread pattern is very small. There is also a very slight flattening effect in the resin parts, which looks far more authentic than the “other” more common resin wheels available.

Quickboost continues to deliver targeted resin details; designed to improve one overlooked aspect of a model, for a wide range of subjects. Here are three recent releases:

Quickboost states on their website that this set is for the Trumpeter Mig-29A. Unfortunately Trumpeter has only modeled the later model Mig-29s, the –K and –M variants. So I reviewed these covers against my Mig-29K build up and Mig-29A kit.

Brief History:

The Junker Ju-87 was developed as a dive bomber for a design competition in the United States in the early 1930’s. Ernst Udet was a leading WWI ace who was part of the new Luftwaffe and had a strong influence on the aircraft performance requirements that the companies had to meet. In 1936 three German aircraft companies competed for a dive bomber. The Ju-87 was most impressive, executing an almost vertical dive and pulling out of it with ease. The competitor He-118 had separated from its propeller and gear box, which was the deciding factor to award production for ten Ju-87A-0 aircraft. The B-2 version used the Jumo 211Da engine with a pressurized coolant radiator, larger propeller and rear pointing exhaust stacks to increase speed. A small propeller mounted on one or both strut boots created a sound during the Stuka’s dive that came to be a psychological effect on people below within hearing range.

In the Box: