Thanks very much to Ross at SAC for providing IPMS USA this review accessory, and to the IPMS Review corps leadership for entrusting me to use it.

Here is the latest in SAC’s line of gear to improve the kits we build. Consisting of two main gear, two retraction arms, two gear braces, and a replacement tail gear, it is a simple set with vastly improved strength.

How do I know this? During my marathon building session over the Columbus Day holiday weekend, I was able to build the Hobbyboss BV 141 kit. And dropped it twice after installing the SAC gear. It stayed on, bent, but was bent back into shape. Resilience personified.

While the P-51 B-, C-, and, certainly, D-models are well known and feature in plenty of references, that is not the case for the Allison-powered versions of the Mustang. SAM Publication’s new book The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang: Part 1 Allison Powered is meant to fill the void.

The first 74 pages of the book cover the history of the early versions, from inception and design, to early combat with the RAF, USAAF, and a few other minor operators. These sections pack an incredible amount of research and are paired with period black-and-white pictures illustrating the design, construction, and service of the early Mustangs. Reading these pages is very interesting, as they cover all sorts of details from armament philosophy, to the political situation within and between the US Army Corps and North American Aviation.

The next 12 pages are devoted to period pictures of the Mustang and the Apache A-36 in RAF/USAAF service. They also feature 25 color profiles.

This is one of three photoetch sets provided by Eduard for the Meng 1/35 scale D9R Armored Bulldozer kit. The Meng D9R kit itself has previously been reviewed [Meng D9R Review]. The Eduard Cooling Slats set has also previously been reviewed [D9R Cooling Slats Review], as well as the Eduard Interior Photoetch set [D9R Interior Photoetch Review].

There isn’t much to say with this one. These are a direct replacement for the Trumpeter kits air scoops; parts C-18/19. As you can see they are well cast and feature a hollow opening as opposed to the kits solid appearance. The kit piece is on the top in the picture. Well packaged at an affordable price. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Quickboost for providing this review item

I have built the Eduard 1/48 scale Mirage IIICJ in the Weekend Edition boxing (Mirage IIICJ Kit Review), and while it is a nice model out-of-the-box, it actually can be enhanced by using Eduard’s supplemental photoetch set. The single-fret set concentrates on the cockpit interior and adds just a handful of exterior details.

As you can see from the pictures, the cockpit looks much more realistic and has a great depth due to the sandwich of photoetch parts representing the instrument panel. While it might sound complicated, it is actually very simple to assemble. I only used a pair of tweezers and a #11 blade to position the parts. I used Future as my glue, which also provided a bit of a glass look to the dials.