Ultracast has added a 1/32 scale RAF Battle of Britain pilot to their growing line of resin figures. With the recent releases (and rereleases) of numerous 1/32 scale Spitfire kits, it’s not surprising that this manufacturer has chosen this time to offer a kit that builds into an appropriate figure for this aircraft.

Five light cream-colored resin parts make up this kit and, as with all other offerings from Ultracast, the parts are beautifully cast and bubble free. As the photo below shows, the kit provides the main torso, head (with flying helmet and goggles), left and right arm and legs that are attached to pour blocks by thin connecting sprue that are very easy to remove and clean up. Overall, the details are crisp and the proportions are believable. The flight uniform, boots, helmet and goggles are well sculpted and face is exceptionally well rendered.

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:

Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s Beatnik Bandit was introduced to the automotive public as the May ’61 cover of Car Craft magazine. The second in his series of show cars, it became popular as it toured the custom car show circuit in the early 60’s. In the next years, “Big Daddy” Ed Roth continued to improve the breed of custom show cars with his creations. The “Fiberglass Wonder” is now permanently housed in Reno, Nevada in the National Auto Museum.

This kit was originally released in the 60’s and has been re-released multiple times. In this incarnation, there are 128 parts, some of which are not called for in the instructions. The kit includes a detailed chassis and suspension, with a blown V-8 engine. The bubble top is hinged and the front wheels are positional. Molded in solid white and clear plastic, there are also numerous chrome-plated parts and soft black tires. The decals are for the authentic Ed Roth designed paint scheme.

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.

Master Box continues to release some really nice and different figure sets. These rests are very different than other sets on the market and usually very “in action” type poses. They also make a series of dual sets. These are designed to be easily made into a combat action series of figures. On their website, this is listed as #2 which means the German figures should be #1. The only issue is that there currently is no #1 set. There is however, an Italian Infantry in Africa set #1 and this must be the set to be used in conjunction with the #2 set.

• ALC 311Klear Kote Light Sheen 4oz/120ml
• ALC 312 Klear Kote Semi-Matte 4oz/120m
• ALC 313 Klear Kote Matte 4oz/120ml
• ALC 314 Klear Kote Flat 4oz/120ml
• ALC 408 Armoured Glass Tint 1oz/30ml
• ALC 600 Aqua Gloss Clear 4oz/120ml

As has been the case for as long as I have known him, Tony Hipp seems to be on an endless quest to develop and bring to market still more excellent products for the discriminating modeler. For years, we’ve searched for the ultimate natural metal finishes, and when Alclad first came on the market, every other product took a distant place far behind. Tony’s products, my estimation, have become the benchmark to which all standards are measured.

These new offerings are not aluminum paints, but will go a long way to make whatever your modeling project is more realistic.

First released in 1974, the Tamiya M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage still holds up reasonably well to more modern offerings by this company, as well as some of the new folks on the block. This is one of several 1/35 scale kits that Tamiya has decided to re-release this year, and I for one certainly enjoy having another opportunity to build some of the kits that I missed out on back when they were originally released, as I had not yet picked up the armor modeling bug. A few years ago, I recall seeing a photograph of an M8 built by another modeler, and I started a search that took me a little over a year to fulfill in finding one of the original kits. That one is still on a shelf (along with a Verlinden update set), but this was a great opportunity to build what is a very well designed kit, even by today’s standards.

In this set Quickboost offers a drop-in replacement set of exhaust pipes for the Trumpeter C-47. This set eliminates pesky mold seams and provides a deeper more realistic exhaust opening. The exhaust pipes in the kit and the QB replacements appear to have built-in mufflers. My guess is that Trumpeter depicted a later style exhaust. The Monogram kit, on the other hand, has a short pipe with a more turned out opening. This earlier style is more appropriate for the WWII aircraft. Working on the hunch that the QB pipes are a later style, I went through my reference and I have found pictures of Vietnam era Gooney Birds with such a pipe, including the AC-47 gunships. This also includes the C-47s the Army used for VIP transport in CONUS. So if you are modeling the later aircraft, including the Monogram AC-47 release, these mufflers would be more appropriate for your model. Highly recommended.

I like the Mirage family of jets, they just look fast. An interesting feature is the bulbous nose probe out in front of the radome. In plastic this is a hard part to clean up – I have suffered these trials with the Heller Mirage 2000 and the Italeri Mirage F.1. The Mirage 2000 was the Eduard re-release that I built for IPMS review. Well, the nose probe was a casualty of the road on my way to its first contest entry! I made the repair, but it looked a bit short and then it was subsequently lost. The Model Master probe is far more petite and prototypical, so I was eager to try this brass replacement and restore my Mirage to its visual glory!

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.

Description

Another excellent issue from the folks at Happy Medium Press with high quality production materials and a variety of articles to suit to suit many themes and interests of the Sci-Fi and Fantasy modeler. Between the heavyweight glossy covers are 98 color glossy pages containing 13 articles. There are fewer than 6 advertisements so the content is very high.

The articles are well researched and relevant to the topics they cover.

What I like about the articles is the balance of Sci-fi and fantasy along with a lot of subject matter variety within each genre. Also, there are OOB builds, kit-bashing, scratch building (both partial and complete), painting, in-depth background articles and enlightening interviews.

Editor's note: Dragon Models USA is the Fine Molds Models Importer in the USofA but this review author provided his own kit, out of pocket, for this review. The kit is currently very difficult to find on the retail market.

Pros:

• Superbly engineered kit, very little filling or correcting will be needed.
• Best kit of this subject ever released.

Cons:

• Expensive, now increasingly hard to acquire. (I apologise for teasing you with the review)
• Instructions in Japanese (note: may not actually be a con if you *are* Japanese)

Overall

A pricy kit but you get what you pay for in this case. Given the cost and the fact that viable alternatives are around, this not for a casual SW fan or model builder. Instead, this kit is for somebody who wants to do a really nice job on a Y-Wing fighter with a maximum of detail and a minimum of grief.

After producing several 1/400^th U-boats, Mirage is now offering U-boats in the increasingly popular 1/350^th scale. The U-511 was a Kriegsmarine long-range IX-C type submarine. The Turm-I variant included trial installation of a six tube Wurfkörper 42 artillery rocket launcher rack and improved 37mm and 20mm anti-aircraft armament. The kit features a 2-piece full hull, detailed exterior surfaces, conning tower with 2 periscopes and wintergarten, 10.5cm deck gun, display base, photo-etch parts (railings for all deck levels, anchor, cable cutter, WGr42 launcher base, ladders, screw blades and nameplate), and decals (U-511 bow placards and ensign). The completed model is approximately 8.6" long.

Bombshell Decals are a new product to me. I was pleasantly surprised to find the set I received for review to be very colorful and in good registry and covering two aircraft of one of my favorite modeling subjects, the Republic P-47 D Razorback.

One is an aircraft of the 352 FG at two different periods of World War Two. The main difference between the two is that one has the national insignia with a red border and the other with the blue border plus the number of kills.

The second aircraft is the Belle of Belmont of the 56 FG with invasion stripes, not included on the decal sheet. Both aircraft have the very suggestive and colorful nose art common on warplanes of the era.

The instruction sheet is in full color and showing the port side, top and bottom placement of the decals as well as an FS 595 color guide. Your model kit will provide the required stenciling decals.

Seventy-one years after the French capitulated to the Wehrmacht in the summer of 1940 the French Army still seems to the butt of jokes. Regardless, the campaign still generates a great deal of interest in the academic and hobby community. With Tamiya’s release of the Char B1bis and the UE Armored Carrier, there is still a tremendous amount of interest in the modeling community for French subjects.

Not too long ago I reviewed a different set of decals from Bombshell with the same theme but for a different aircraft and they proved to be everything good I wrote about them and more. This series of decals are specifically for these particular P-47’s, which incorporate two separate sets – Part 1 and Part 2. I am reviewing Part-2, which contains more of the famous icons in the field of “Nose Art”. This set depicts “Rain-Dear” and “Phil Darling” and has a couple of beauties ready to be displayed and to enhance your scale model. Looking very close at these decals, you can see that the registry is spot on and the colors are fantastic with no bleed through and the details are sharp and crisp. As with other sets from Bombshell, the decals have minimal carrier film and are somewhat thin which allows them to conform easy but strong enough to not tare with proper handling.

Editor's note: decals sheets reviewed are shown in photo starting at the bottom and moving up in display: 1/24 Generic Luftwaffe - AS24LUFT; 1/24 Focke-wulf - ASA24FWA; 1/32 Generic RAF - AS32RAF; 1/24 JU-87 - AS24JUA .

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has been releasing a large selection of metal replacement landing gear that are essentially metal copies of the kit landing gear. These are helpful when you have a lot of weight bearing down on the plastic landing gear. This set is a direct copy of the detailed landing on the Revell (ex-Monogram) Frogfoot. SAC generously provided a review sample to replace the landing gear in the Eduard Kit (KOPRO/Ex-OEZ Plastic) which is rather under-detailed.

With the SAC set you receive all of the same parts as are provided in the Revell kit and they are a direct copy. I did notice that one pair of actuating rods were not completely molded, missing the attachment point. This was a minor issue and easily fixed. You will need to clean up the mold lines with a fine needle file.

Two Mikes has built a business by offering details for jet aircraft that few if any companies offer. As I undertook a build review of the 1/48 Eduard Su-25 kit (ex-OEZ, now KOPRO plastic), owner Mike Reeves generously provided two of his details sets toward the effort

The boys from New Zealand have again moved forward with their line of World War I products. This time it is the release of a series of decals sheets intended for kits already on issue. These decal sheets are of the same quality as the kits from this manufacturer and are printed by Italian company, Cartograf. Cartograf is well known as a premier decal printer and these are no different. If you want something other than the kit supplied decals then any of these kit specific sets will suit your needs.

This specific set represents 5 different aircraft from JG1 “Flying Circus”, which was a mobile group of machines piloted by, ostensibly, the best pilots in the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkrafte). The term “Flying Circus” rises from the colorful schemes of each pilot’s aircraft. This decal set contains markings for the following 5 pilots:

This incredibly detailed and finely crafted set of replacement aerials for the Funk Gerate 220 SN-2 Liechtenstein radar has to be seen to be believed. My poor modeling skills simply do not do them justice. The first photo shows the package, and inside one finds 14 brass pieces, 5 for the horizontal portion and 9 for the vertical, which assemble into 4 aerials. There is one each extra piece for oopsies. The instructions are clear and simple. To get the best results, these must be assembled by soldering

History: The Junkers Ju 188 was a German Luftwaffe high-performance medium Tactical bomber/Reconnaissance aircraft built during World War II.

Review:

The quality of the casting is perfect and bubble free. The tips of the exhaust pipes are hollowed out for added realism. Most resin parts are likely to need more work on them than the more normal injection molded plastic parts that you may be used to. Why you ask, well Resin is a much harder material then the standard molded plastic in your kit. This is what gives it the fine details you are looking for. In some cases the greatest challenge can be cutting the part from the casting block without damaging it. I have found that it is better to cut away the bulk of the casting block, leaving just a small amount behind so that it can be trimmed away with a hobby knife.

A little quick history. As the Germans got deeper into trouble at the end of WWII, the started trying more and more desperate things to try to stem the inevitable. One of these was to "up" gun the Me262 with a 50mm Mauser Mk 214A V3. That is what this kit depicts. Now to what's in the box: life for this kit started out in the Trimaster range many years ago (late 1980's or so) and the molds went to DML/Dragon who got rid of the white metal with plastic and now on to Dragons bargain line, Cyber-hobby. At the time of the initial release, the Trimaster kits were the most detailed Me262's around with, at the time, revolutionary photoetch included and extensive detailing.

Description:

2 resin 265-gallon tip tanks and mount fairings. Ex-KMC mold. For the Revell/Monogram kits.

Inspection:

Packaged is in a clear face, white backed, poly bag stapled to a folded card along with a note sheet. It was clear the vintage KMC molds seem to be holding up pretty well despite the years. Upon opening the package I found the resin almost flawless, detecting only a few pinholes and heavy pour stubs. The details include nice gas caps and mounting points on the tanks. The wing tip fairings appear to be a tad small otherwise they look fine. Squadron included a note warning of “possible resin shrinkage” installing these fairings will require minor surgery of the kit, the wing tips will need to be trimmed to the panel line while remembering you must compensate for ‘resin shrinkage’.

For any modeler, but especially ship modelers, it is hard to achieve a realistic effect when gun barrels are out of round, warped or fail to have the right taper and shape; which is often the case with styrene injected or resin barrels. With smaller caliber guns and in smaller scales the barrels are often too fragile to handle. For these reasons turned metal barrels are an attractive alternative. Master Models continues to release well-priced brass barrels for the discriminating ship modeler.

Without a doubt, Dragon’s Smartkit of the Scharnhorst is a real gem with a superb level of detail thanks to its CAD designer. The gun mounts are very detailed and the molded barrels, with the slide mold technology, are quite nice in this scale, including bored muzzles. Dragon has packed the kit with a significant amount of aftermarket detail including injection molded blast bags; a nice touch given how difficult they are to make from scratch.