Designed for their Fw-190D-9, this beautiful upgrade set from Eduard is for those who want to show off the detail under the forward cowlings. Featuring six light and dark grey resin pieces, everything is perfectly formed and blemish free. The guns are hollowed out at the ends and the cooling slots are opened as well. There is also a small fret of photo etch that holds seven pieces of nickel plated parts – six cowl fasteners and one windscreen oil cleaning pipe. The oil cleaning pipe will require the most care, as it is very, very thin.

The MiG-21PF and PFM are represented in model form by the Academy kit. This pitot tube is quite simple compared to some of the others in the MiG-21 family.

The set is simple in that it has a single turned metal barrel. The pitot tube is scale thickness, but the thing I like the best is additional strength of the brass tube. The instructions are quite basic and show the proper angle of the pitot tube in relation to the fuselage. A simple .6mm hole in the kit will prep the model for the turned metal pitot tube. Then, it is just as simple as inserting the pitot tube. Painting instructions are included.

This pitot tube is typical quality from Master Model. Its strength and scale thickness make this a required addition to your MiG. Just be careful you don’t poke yourself with the tubing.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Master Model for the review sample and IPMS/USA for the review opportunity.

For those who have been longing to add an early F-102A to their collection, or just a more modern release of a Delta Dagger in 1/72 scale, I would highly recommend gazing in the direction of this new release by Meng. The kit goes together well with only a few minor seams needing a light application of your filler of choice, and will not challenge modelers with some experience in dealing with small parts. Options for this kit include open or closed canopy as well as weapons and landing gear bays, and extended and retracted missile rails. There are also AIM-4C and D Falcon missiles to select from when arming your plane. This was my first experience with a kit by the newcomer Meng, and I will have no hesitation in purchasing their kits in the future.

The set consists of one photo etch sheet. The PE parts are an unpainted natural metal (silver) color. This set is kind of interesting. You use the kit parts and these simply wrap around the existing belts, providing a very good looking ammo belt tray combination. The instructions are quite adequate in explaining the bending and placement of the details.

The down side of this beautiful set is that once the plane is completed, it is hard to see all the work you have done. The new details are a little difficult to apply. I found if you glue the sides first, than wait a little bit for the glue to set, then you can bend the top down to fit. Also, the bottom of the belts are not detailed. This is especially noticeable in the forward bombardier’s compartment.

HIGHLY recommended. One should have experience working with photo etch and using ACC glues or epoxy.

The set consists of one photo etch sheet in an unpainted brass color. You get parts to build complete new seats for the pilot and copilot. I thought the kit seats were nice, but these are really nice. Once completed and painted, they simply dropped in.

The instructions are quite adequate in explain the bending and placement of the photo etch parts. The seats really call out for the additional Eduard Seatbelt Set, 32746…which I would highly suggest getting.

The down side of these beautiful seats is that once the plane is completed, it is hard to see all the work you have done. If you do add the additional seat belts from Eduard, their placement and attachment are a little fuzzy and you will have to figure it out.

HIGHLY recommended. One should have experience working with photo etch and using ACC glues or epoxy.

The set consists of three photo etch sheets. Two of these are unpainted brass color the other is pre- colored for you. You get parts to replace and also detail the upper turret and the rear gun position. Also included are parts to replace the front and rear entry hatches and ladders. Additionally, there are new shelves for the waist gunners’ ammo boxes and new ammo boxes to sit on them. The final parts are new gun barrels for the many machine guns (13 in all).

The instructions are quite adequate in explaining the bending and placement of the details. They also tell you what you have to remove on the existing parts so they will fit.

The package says this mask set is designed for the Trumpeter Seahawk Mk. 100/101. However, it also can be used for masking the canopy in the Trumpeter Seahawk FGA.Mk.6 kit (if you are unable to find Mask set EX220), since these kits share the same clear parts. With a little adjustment here and there, set EX 374 may also be usable for masking the canopies in Classic Airframes1/48 scale Seahawk kits.

Like other Eduard mask sets, this one is made of Kabuki tape (similar to Tamiya’s masking tape) and contains precut masks for the kit’s windscreen, canopy, gunsight, and wheels. The masks will adhere well to any flat or curved surface, so masking is easily accomplished, and the masks can be removed after paining is completed. A simple instruction sheet is included to guide the masking process.

Dragon Models has released the Sexton II Self-Propelled Gun in 1/35 scale. Out of the box, the detailing looks absolutely stunning, even for Dragon. The engineering and detail of the on-board stowage, radio equipment, driver’s compartment, and surface texture is as good or better than any release I’ve seen. Their excellent 25-pdr Mark II main weapon has been pulled from a previous release, and the chassis contains all the good stuff from their equally superb Dragon Models M4. The Commonwealth makeover of the U.S M7 Priest sports over 150 new parts, including a completely reworked driver’s compartment and transmission, radio sets, ammunition lockers, etc. An engine is not provided, but everything that is exposed is brilliantly represented.

Upon receiving this kit, I was thinking why was Trumpeter making one of these? I didn’t know anyone else made one until doing some research, and I found a few companies did. ARK models from Russia makes a Waffentrager, along with Alan Models. Whether or not this is the same mold, I can’t say. Upon opening the box, you get 10 sprues of orange plastic (very similar to that which ICM uses), 10 sprues of gray plastic link-to-link tracks, 5 PE frets, a steel tube, an aluminum barrel, and a sheet of decals. A 16-page black and white instruction booklet, with easy-to-follow directions, and a painting reference sheet with one scheme are also included. The color reference has call outs for Mr. Hobby Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya, and Humbrol paints.

The Mitsubishi Type 73 light truck was based on the Jeep CJ-3Bs. Mitsubishi produced these under license from Willys. Production began in 1973 and ended in 1997 – a pretty good run, I’d say. This light vehicle can be outfitted with a variety of weapons such as anti-tank pods, anti-tank missile launchers, light & heavy machine guns. and the recoilless rifle.

The Kit

This kit is made up of 4 sprues of green and 1 of clear injected plastic, the body, and 1 decal sheet. The parts are flash-free and show no noticeable sink marks. There were a few pin marks but nothing really major, as they were mostly on the underside. The decal sheet gives you markings for multiple vehicles and was printed cleanly.

Moebius has issued this model of Catwoman with the Bat Pod from the 2012 movie The Dark Knight Rises. The kit comes in two builds – the Bat Pod, which is all styrene, and Catwoman (who was played by Anne Hathaway), which is in six resin pieces. The styrene parts are black, crisp, and free of any imperfections. The resin is absolutely flawless.

Years ago, Eduard produced a photo etch set for the Monogram Devastator that really breathed some life into that venerable old kit. With the release of the new Great Wall Hobby Devastator, once again Eduard comes through with a PE set that pushes detailing well beyond the already superb lever that the kit itself provides. I had hoped to receive this set in time to use it with the GWH Devastator that I was building for IPMS review. As it turned out, the Devastator build was nearly completed before this set arrived. Nevertheless, here’s a rundown of what you get.

This new Big Ed set is a combination of four photo etch sheets and a complete set of vinyl canopy and wheel masks. The Flap sheet has supports, bracing, and flap parts for both the upper and lower wing. This is especially helpful, as there is a noticeable gap created with the joining of the kit’s lower wing to the fuselage. These parts should hide that opening completely.

When Steve Collins and Dick Montgomery announced that the 1/72 T-28B was available for review, I jumped at the chance. I have seen T-28’s flying, at Keesler AFB, Mississippi, when I was there in 1967, and my Guard unit flew T-28s in 1957-58 between the F-51s and the F-84s. Alas, both of these were T-28A’s, not B’s. But when I saw the back of the box, I immediately knew I had to build the one from VT-27, as it was based just down the road at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona, in 1983. Some day I’ll find out what the Navy was doing flying out of DM.

THE AIRCRAFT

The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a piston-engined military trainer aircraft used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s. Besides its use as a trainer, the T-28 was successfully employed as a counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft, primarily during the Vietnam War. T-28s were built from 1950 to 1957.

Thank you to Bruce Herke of Osprey Publishing and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me the opportunity to review this in-depth and sobering history of the Army Air Corps’ operational role in the D-Day invasion. Author L. Douglas Keeney provides compelling descriptions of the challenges, dangers, and slim survival odds of European air operations.

Another addition to MiniArt’s ever-expanding portfolio of World War II diorama shells is their Normandy Crossroads kit, depicting a crossroads in the ill-fated city of Caen, ravaged by Allied aerial bombardment in a vain attempt to dislodge entrenched Nazi defenders in June and July of 1944.

Well, being an armor builder, I decided to try the Dragon Leichte Funk Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf. A, or, as I simply call it, “The Funk Wagen”. This was the first armor kit I have ever built that doesn’t have a gun. This review should be titled, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.”

Dateline: February 11:

Review package from IPMS/USA (Dick Montgomery) arrives. After looking at the items, I realized there was an item in the box that I had not wanted. I immediately fired off an email to the Review Delivery Man…

"Dick,
I got my package today and I think there may be an upset reviewer out there! Inside my KODAK carousel box were the three Plusmodel items and an AERO line 1/48 F-105 pilot. Send me an address and I will mail it tomorrow to the rightful owner."

His quick and concise reply…

"Mark,
Well now....I was under the impression that you said you'd review those items assuming that no one else asked for them. There is no one awaiting them...they were meant for you."

DOH!!!!!! I have learned a VERY valuable lesson today! I need to be more SPECIFIC when volunteering to review items!!!! I have learned my lesson, OBI-WAN!

Plusmodel is one of my new favorite model companies from the Czech Republic. This kit consists of 50 parts which completely surprised me with the thinness and extreme quality of the resin castings. Every part was cast perfectly – no bubbles, warping, or unsightly defects in any way. These are all signs of a well-thought out casting process.

The furniture built extremely easily; all the parts fit together with little to no trimming or sanding. I wanted to go the extra mile, however, and experimented with India Inks for the wood grain. There is no wood grain texture on the parts – what you see is done entirely with paint and ink. I added a 1:35 gangster figure from another great resin company, Evolution Miniatures, from Brazil. I scratchbuilt the diorama entirely from plastic, using Grandt Line O-Scale window castings, and painted everything with Badger Minitaire acrylics, some Vallejo Acrylics, and Dr. PH Martin's Bombay India Ink for the wood grain.

The Kit

The kit for the AMC Gremlin X is a reissue. It can be built two ways – either stock or as a pro-stock dragster. This kit has a lot of detail and is very nicely done, very true to the real Gremlin X. The model is nice and heavy and durable.

The instructions are well drawn and easy to read. The instructions have all the parts numbered, but the parts are not numbered on the part trees. You will have to figure it out by the drawings.

The Build

Construction begins with the motor, which can be constructed stock or as a drag motor. Whichever way you choose, it’s highly detailed and true to the real thing.

The kit represents Prime Minister Josef Stalin’s personal Packard V-12. I found it difficult to get information on how this car was acquired. It was rumored that we (the US) gave him dies to make the car, but it’s unknown how true that is. I was able to get a few pictures, but my computer was giving me a fit, trying to get on a Russian site (not ICM’s), so I stopped.

The V-12 engine was a very durable engine. Packard had modified these to adapt them to marine use in our PT boats. Rolls-Royce licensed Packard to build the V-12 framed Merlin, which powered many British and Canadian aircraft, including our own P-51 Mustang, for better performance at high altitude than the Allison engine.

I like this kit, and in the hands of a modeler with greater ability than mine, this car could really sing. There are some problems that need to be addressed, though.

Good news – Hasegawa has re-issued its Skyraider kit, too long absent from the hobby store shelves. Their first boxing comes with decals for an aircraft of VA-65 from the USS Enterprise – featured on the box art – plus optional markings for the CAG aircraft of VA-165 aboard the USS Oriskany. You’ll see two models in an accompanying photo, but note there’s only one model in the box – I thought it’d be a nice comparison to show off the alternate decal markings provided in the kit by building a second A-1, pulled from my kit stash. There’s only one set of common markings in the kit (insignia, wing walks, instrument panel, etc.) so I used these items from the second kit’s sheet.

Comparing the sprues, the re-issue is identical to the first release I built when this nice kit first appeared on the market many years ago. The clear parts are packed in their own separate poly bag to prevent scratching them.

Model Art Modeling Magazine is a Japanese publication that is released monthly. The text is mainly in Japanese with some English subtitles throughout. One attractive feature about these magazines is the high quality of the photographs and the models that are used.

The March issue of Model Art Magazine is slightly different from their normal monthly issues. This issue consists of new kit reviews. They review a little bit of every type of kit to encompass all modelers. For instance, they review the Italeri 1/72nd scale Sunderland Mk. I and the Trumpeter 1/48th scale A3D Skywarrior as an example of some of the aircraft that were reviewed. For the AFV folks, there is a review of the Meng 1/35th scale A39 Tortoise and the Cyber Hobby 1/35th Super Heavy Tank out of the 4 AFV kits that were reviewed in this issue. For the ship folks, there are two reviews, and one review for the car guys – a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-27.

Initial construction of the ZIS-5 truck began in 1933, and ultimately the Soviets produced a million examples of this cargo truck. Wartime shortages of raw materials necessitated much of the truck body to be made from wood. The normally stylish/rounded fenders were simplified to the simple, squared-off examples represented here. I’m sure many of these trucks made the grueling winter crossing of Lake Ladoga to keep Leningrad supplied during the three-year siege by the Germans.

Thank you to John Tintera of Osprey Publishing and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me the opportunity to review this very intriguing aspect of U. S. Navy history. Author Linda Kush is a superb writer, bringing an excellent balance of engaging stories to historical facts.

The Rice Paddy Navy is the unofficial name for the 3,000 or so USN sailors, officers, Marines, and a few other branch members detailed to the Sino-American Cooperative Organization, also known as SACO. Author Kush’s father was a SACO veteran, and this is the first description of this little known operation since the memoirs of the commanding officer, Captain Milton “Mary” Miles, were published in 1967.

This is a neat set! You get enough resin ammo cans, laser-cut wood, brass wire, and decals to make three crates. You can also build the crates empty and use the ammo cans separately to fill an even wider scene or vehicle load. The laser-cut wood is well defined and even has engraved sections describing what is contained inside.

Construction began with removing the resin ammunition cans from the pour lugs; a small swipe of a sanding stick and they were ready. Like all resin, it is best to give the parts a good soap and brush cleansing to ensure all mold release agents are removed. Remember that resin particles are hazardous and you should always complete these tasks using water to keep the dust down and wear a cheap doctor’s mask to keep the particulates out of your lungs.