Introduction

For the past 50 or so years, I have built plastic models and painted them using various types of enamel paints. For the earlier wooden models, before plastic kits became popular, I used regular model airplane dope (actually, lacquer), sometimes laced with talcum powder to achieve a matte finish. I started airbrushing relatively early, still using enamels, and eventually settled on the Testors’ Model Master series, which I have found to be entirely satisfactory. The only problem with using enamels indoors is that my wife constantly complains that the odor is overpowering, although I don’t think that it is really that bad, certainly not as bad as the smell of onions cooking in a frying pan, which has to compete favorably with the Geneva Convention’s definition of “gas warfare”. But that aside, I requested several colors of Italeri’s new acrylic paint series for evaluation.

Packaging and Initial Impression

The paints are contained in 20 ml plastic poly bottles with flip caps. The clear gloss is contained in a 35 ml plastic bottle with a flip cap. The bottles are clearly labeled with simple instructions of “shake well” and “for airbrush dilute properly”.

My sample bottles tended to spit paint a bit when “flipping” the cap open, but that may be a simple consequence of opening them at 7500 ft where I live. The dropper in the cap and a squeezable bottle provide a nice controlled dispensing of the paints and clear coat.

In 1944 the Soviets were starting to take the offensive. The Wehrmacht was still in Byelorussia and the Ukraine, but after Kursk the Russians had taken back almost half of the territory the Germans had won in 1941-42. The Americans and British had invaded Italy, making things even more difficult for the Axis side.

Another pain in the Germans’ side was the continuing partisan activity in Yugoslavia. And someone at Headquarters decided that the way to neutralize this particular threat was to remove its leader, Josip Broz, known as Marshal Tito.

This book is about the special operation, undertaken by the 500th SS Parachute Batallion, which descended on Drvar in northwestern Bosnia, using glider-borne soldiers and paratroops. While much of the book covers the actual landings and subsequent combat, I have to say that as an aircraft modeler, I was intrigued with the use of the DFS 230 gliders, which were towed by Henschel 126s. Never heard of THAT use for the Henschels!

This latest tool from CB Model Products is one of the best yet. This high precision punch and die set consists of 12 hardened steel punches and a clear acrylic/metal guide plate assembly. There is a desiccant included to help keep the rust off the metal parts. These pieces are contained in a compact plastic case with a nice hint and procedure sheet.

The steel punches are machined with a slight angle. These punches are designed to be used on up .030 styrene. The punches come in .040”, .051”, .058”, .069”, .080”, .088”, .101”, .110”, .119”, .127”, .140” and .151”. That should take care of most needs in 1/72, 1/48, 1/32, and 1/35th scales. You may want to wipe the parts down with some WD-40 and a rag to preserve these delicate parts for the long term.

After receiving them for review from Badger, I was very pleasantly surprised at the ease of use and quality of these paint sets. For years, I was a Gunze Guy but the supply of Gunze dried up. I transferred to Tamiya and have used it since the Gunze sunset. I had never used Badger paint until I was given the opportunity to review some of Badger’s paint contained in some of their color sets.

Being an HO scale model railroader, I was very interested in Badger’s “RAILROAD ROLLING STOCK #1701,” which contains Engine Black, Reefer White, Reefer Gray, Reefer Yellow, Reefer Orange, Dark Tuscan Oxide Red, and Light Tuscan Oxide Red. I am now a fan of this particular set of paints and, in particular, like the Engine Black and Tuscan Oxide Red. Both are easily airbrushed and give that wonderful flat and aged color that I treasure when working on a piece of rolling stock or motive power.

Badger also provides several other Railroad related paint sets. They are: