The Aircraft

The BV-40 was one of those ideas that never came to full operational capability. It was conceived in 1943, when the bombers were hitting all over the Reich, day and night. The concept was to build a small, light wooden aircraft which didn’t use much in the way of strategic materials but could shoot down bombers. Its small size would make it very difficult for bomber gunners to hit it. The armament was to be 2X 30 mm MK108 cannon, one in each wing root. The pilot lay on a mat in the armored cockpit. The BV40 was to be towed to altitude, above the bombers by a Bf-109, then released. The BV would then dive on the bomber stream and do as much damage as possible, then glide home. The wheeled landing gear were dropped on take off to save weight, and there was a skid under the belly.

Eduard has done it again. This time, releasing an outstanding resin super detail kit to add to their long list of other detail parts for the HK Model kit of the B-17. Included in this set are four resin highly detailed superchargers and two exhaust pipes to replace the existing models parts. The superchargers are designed to be direct replacement part, so no modification to the kit is required. The only cutting that is needed is to remove the exhaust header coming from the engine cowling and attach this to the superchargers. Remember measure twice and then again before you cut. The instructions are very good in showing what and where the cuts are required.

The only hard part in the kit that I found was to remove the casting carriers from the parts. I use a four inch bench mounted belt sander to quickly remove most of the carrier, then fine tune with a little whittling with the razor knife. It’s ok to mess up a little, it will not be seen when they are installed.

This is another fine set of replacement details form Quickboost, this set for the Tamiya 1/72 Ilyshin IL-2 Shturmovik. The details include replacement gun barrels and pitot tube.

The Tamiya kit details are nice, but the Quickboost details are more refined and have no flash. The gun barrels and pitot tube are thinner than the Tamiya parts and don’t require any cleanup other than removal from the casting block.

The Quickboost details will add nicely refined detail to the Tamiya kit and are a great value for a low price.

Thanks to Quickboost for their continued support of the IPMS review program and for providing the review sample. Thanks also to the great IPMS review staff for letting me review the details.

The Northrop Grumman X47-B is the demonstrator vehicle for the United States Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System or UCAS. It was developed from the X-47A Pegasus and will be developed into the X-47C UCLASS which will enter service by 2019

The Kit is from the manufacturer Platz, a Japanese Company, and is 1/72 scale. They have made other UAV’s including the Global Hawk. Don’t let this small scale deceive you though, this model is almost 11 inches across with the wings extended. The wings can be built in the extended or folded position with no cutting, something you don’t see on many kits. This boxing also adds two options for weapons, either the GBU-27 or GBU-32 JDAM. I chose to have the aircraft carry one of each.

The kit itself is molded in light grey with recessed panel lines and very faint rivet detail. It has 65 parts and an extensive decal sheet. The box is sturdy and has a nice glossy front. In fact it took me longer to decal the x-47 than it did to build it.

Packaged in a sturdy cardboard box with the resin pieces protected inside a ziplock bag this offering from PJ Production is perfectly cast in creme colored resin with no defects noted. Three figures, one on each of the three ‘sprues’, these new figures from PJ Productions will make an attractive addition to the Airfix Sea Lynx kit.

Each figure is on a separate pour block with upper body and head, two arms and the lower half. The door observer has two separate legs. All the poses are as if the aircraft is in flight or ready for takeoff. The pilots are looking off to the side to clear the helicopter. The faces, which to me are essential to a good figure, are all nicely sculpted. The figures look to be of a good scale size.