Airfix continues its 1/48 line of military vehicles from Operation Herrick in Afghanistan. This new release is the warrior infantry fighting vehicle fitted with slat armor and jamming devices for IEDs. Like the American Bradley and the Russian BMP, the Warrior first entered service in 1984 and has been updated as time as gone on. Armed with a 30 mm cannon and a 7.62 mm machine gun, it carries seven fully armed infantry men. It has seen action in the last years of the Cold War, both Gulf wars, Afghanistan and peace keeping in Kosovo. The model presented here includes slat armor and electronic countermeasures to IEDs.

Trumpeter’s recent 1/200 scale Bismarck is a gigantic kit at over four feet in length! Using plastic for her guns is, frankly, a serious disservice. Fortunately, Master Model has fired a salvo of several metal barrel upgrade sets aimed squarely at this large-scale Bismarck.

The three Bismarck sets being reviewed are:

• SM-200-06 - 1/200 German battleship Bismarck - main gun barrels - 38 cm (15in) SKC/34 (8 pcs) - $24.00
• SM-200-07 - 1/200 German battleship Bismarck - secondary and heavy AA armament barrels - 15cm (12 pcs), 10,5 cm (16 pcs) - $15.00
• SM-200-08 - 1/200 German battleship Bismarck - anti-aircraft armament barrels - 37 mm SKC/30 (16 pcs), 20 mm C/30 (12 pcs), 20 mm C/38 (8 pcs) - $15.00

Master Model has excelled in creating amazing turned metal products at reasonable prices, and these upgrades are no exception. The main guns are huge, well machined, and beautiful. The secondary and AA guns have astounding detail.

Master Model is an aftermarket supplier that offers modelers the opportunity to add exceptional turned metal parts to their models. Generally, the sets are available for builders in 1:72, 1:48 and 1:32 scale. Most builders who prefer to add aftermarket gun barrels, refueling probes, antennas and pitot tubes to their aircraft models are quite familiar with Master Model’s line of excellent detail parts.

This set (AM-72-066) provides highly detailed 1:72 scale Hispano Mk. 1 cannon (with flat recoil springs) for the Hawker Hurricane Mk IIC. The parts may be used to replace the injection molded ones in Revell, Airfix, Hasegawa, Academy, Smer, Matchbox and Heller kits. In some cases, they simply will drop into place, in others a little surgery may be required. Holes may need to be drilled in the leading edge to accept the fairing and barrel combination or a kits’ molded wing fairing may be drilled to accept only the cannon barrel.