This is another of SAC’s marvelous landing gear replacements for 1/144 scale aircraft. One of the worst things to fix on a finished aircraft is the broken landing gear which occurs from either a move or less than careful handling, usually by a friend of spouse. I was at a display when a spectator started to pick up one of Brian Baker’s planes. I tried to stop him, but he said “I know what I’m doing!!” and then proceeded to remove the antenna, landing gear and rigging in one grab.

The Kit

You get two sets of nicely cast metal gear legs. This is cool, because Eduard has two Spitfires in their 1/144 kits. Well, there IS a single kit, but I haven’t seen that one yet.

I show in the photos below that the SAC parts match the Eduard parts pretty closely. In 1/144, it’d be hard to say exactly. Even with a magnifier, I’m not that good.

Background

The Polikarpov I-16 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to have attained operational status, and as such "introduced a new vogue in fighter design." The I-16 was introduced in the mid-1930s and formed the backbone of the Soviet Air Force at the beginning of World War II. The diminutive fighter, nicknamed "Ishak" or "Ishachok" ("Donkey" or "Burro") by Soviet pilots, prominently featured in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, and the Spanish Civil War. The Type 24 replaced the skid with a tailwheel, and featured the much more powerful 670 kW (900 hp) Shvetsov M-63 engine. The Type 24 also featured four ShKAS guns, proper landing flaps replaced the drooping ailerons, and a second cockpit door was added on the starboard side.

A perfect addition to your diorama is this Aires Aerobonus US Army Load set. Aires Aerobonus provides you with two resin pieces, perfect for a load in the back of a 1/48 scale 2-1/2 ton truck or a 1/48 cargo aircraft. The first piece consists of 12 sacks strapped to a wooden skid with the second piece consisting of four crates strapped to a wooden skid. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that Quickboost uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely.

Aires Aerobonus has molded the parts in light grey resin with no discernable bubbles. There are no mold seams to sand off and the resin plug is easily removed from the bottom with a razor saw or Dremel.

Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash the parts to remove any remaining mold release and prime them first. I painted the sacks and the crates with Vallejo acrylic paints.

Highly recommended.

America's first manned space program was best summed up by Deputy Administrator, Hugh L. Dryden in the foreword to the book, Project Mercury: A Chronology (NASA SP-4001) where he wrote “ Project Mercury is now history In its short span of four years, eight months, and one week as the Nation's first manned space flight program, Mercury earned a unique place in the annals of science and technology. The culmination of decades of investigation and application of aerodynamics, rocket propulsion, celestial mechanics, aerospace medicine, and electronics, Project Mercury took man beyond the atmosphere into space orbit and confirmed the potential for man's mobility in his universe. It remains for Projects Gemini and Apollo to demonstrate that potential.” There are many fine books on Project Mercury, you can use your computer's search function to find them or go to your local library.

Background

Originally designed with breathing and wading apparatus to support the Wehrmacht’s amphibious invasion of Great Britain during Operation Sea Lion, the Panzer III Tauchpanzer never had the opportunity to wade ashore on the British Isles following the Luftwaffe’s defeat in the Battle of Britain. Despite the denial of the opportunity to tread on British soil, Tauchpanzer III’s saw duty on the Eastern Front against the Red Army.

The Kit

Based on earlier Dragon Panzer III releases, the introduction of the Tauchpanzer Ausf. H brings a somewhat obscure Panzer III variant to the modeler’s workbench. Molded in light gray styrene, the Tauchpanzer III kit is a mix of Panzer III, Panzer IV, and unique Tauchpanzer III sprues, with three frets of photoetch and two decal sheets.

History

Due to a urgent need for tank destroyers towards the end of WWII the United States took the turret from the M36 and mounted it on a M4A3 hull and chassis. The reason for the use of the M36 turret was that it packed a 90mm gun that could destroy German armor from a distance.

Kit

When you open the box, you will find it packed with ten sprues of green plastic, one photo etch sprue, several loose parts in green plastic and one section of rope. For you spare parts lovers, there is a plethora of leftover parts. Sherman fans may find these most useful.

History

In response to the USAF’s 1970’s initiatives to launch new fighters, the F-15 and F-16, the Soviet Union fielded their own modern equivalents, the Su-27 Flanker and Mig-29 Fulcrum. All these aircraft are still in service with their respective, and other, countries. During the last twenty years, the Mig-29 has even seen service in several nations that are now part of NATO. They mostly operate as interceptors. In the plastic modeling world, the F-15, F-16, and Su-27 have been well represented in kits, but the Mig-29, not so much. Trumpeter has filled the void with a quality model of an early production version, Product 9-12, of the Fulcrum.

Aires has come out with a nice upgrade for the Hasegawa A6M series of kits with their horizontal control surfaces set. The Aires parts allow you to alter the position of the elevators and provide improved stabilizer to elevator detail. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new Aires replacements.

Aires has molded the stabilizer and elevator perfectly in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles. The Aires stabilizer and elevator are supplied on a single resin sprue with thin resin attachments to the parts that should minimize any cleanup.

Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash the parts to remove any remaining mold release and prime them first. They will need to be installed with your favorite CA (super glue) or epoxy, as the normal plastic glues or solvents will not react with the resin.

Highly recommended!

Background

Despite early and overwhelming success of its armored and mechanized forces during initial conquests in western and eastern Europe early in World War II, the German Wehrmacht found itself in urgent need of an able tank destroyer capability as it began to encounter Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks following the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Initial response was to repurpose obsolete tank designs, such as the Panzer II, and refit them as tank destroyers. An incarnation built on the Panzer II chassis, Marder II’s were initially fitted with rechambered Soviet 7.62 cm guns, and were designated Sd. Kfz. 132. Follow-on production examples were fitted with 7.5cm PaK 40’s and designated Sd.Kfz. 131. Their open-top configuration and thin armor limited their utility in urban environments, but their mobility and firepower made them a notable improvement over fixed and towed anti-tank weapons they were designed to replace.

Many thanks to Mr. Ross MacMillan of Scale Aircraft Conversions and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to try this neat substitute and replacement set for the Special Hobby AF-2 Guardian. I am pleased to report on another sweet add-on and upgrade. The Guardian has a somewhat spindly appearance and having skinny but strong metal “legs” really helps!

The white-metal parts arrived in a blister pack, backed by the distinctive SAC company logo. The weight of the parts is very noticeable. All parts are free of sprues with the exception of two retractor struts. The parts require very little buffing, cleanup and polishing. I did use a Dremel tool to buff some of the parts and brought a very nice natural metal tone to them. But blue paint covers all of that shine.

Hauler has produced a nice World War Two Japanese Pre-fabricated Steel Pillbox. These were mainly used on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll. They had two internal levels, the upper was an observation area where the top opened to give a higher view. The lower area had to machine gun ports, a small arms port and a door. This is a very nice resin set.

In the box is:

• 1 x Resin Pillbox
• 1 x Photo Etch sheet
• 1x Instruction sheet

The Pillbox is very crisp and well molded with great detail.

Construction

The build starts by removing the excess resin form the lower part of the pillbox using a razor saw. The next stage is the Photo Etch gun port shutters. The one thing missing from the kit was the door which these Pillboxes did have; I will make one myself to add later.

A perfect addition to your diorama or display base is this Aires Aerobonus figure. This German or Austro-Hungarian Pilot figure is designed to be used with any German or Austro-Hungarian WWI aircraft (Albatros D.III / D.V, Berg D.I / D.II, Fokker E.III / E.IV, E.V, D.VII, Oeffag D.III, Pfalz D.III, D.XII, Phonix D.I / D.II / D.III, Siemens-Schuckert D.III / D.IV, etc.) Aires Aerobonus provides you with a resin figure with side bars to protect the figure. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that Quickboost uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. The supplied instructions provide color drawings for painting.

Aires is known as the producer of excellent after-market and detail items, and this product lives up to that standard. Designed for use on the Hasegawa P-40M/N this product provides for both of the horizontal stabilizers and control surfaces. There are four parts in all, cast in a durable resin material.

Looking at the accompanying images, note that the image labeled, ” 2 Parts 1” shows the parts after having been removed from the package. One will notice some “flash” between the parts and the part carrier. Not to worry, that flash is easily removed with a sharp blade or a pair of cutters. All four parts were removed and cleaned up in under 5 minutes without the use of sandpaper. Study the image labeled, “3 Aires Parts Removed from carrier” to see one set of parts after having been cleaned up.

Floyd Werner has come to the rescue with a correction to the Kitty Hawk 1/48 AH-1Z Viper kit by issuing a resin linkless ammo box for the right (starboard) side. Now, this is not an absolute must have, as you can always leave the ammo door closed, but it is necessary if you are going to open the door. Floyd Werner provides great instructions showing exactly what to modify on the kit along with color photos of the linkless ammo box being installed in an AH-1Z. A re-sealable zip lock bag holds the part and the instructions. This part can also be used in any AH-1W kit as well since many AH-1Ws have been retrofitted with the linkless ammo box. If you happen to have the Italeri 1/48 AH-1Z, the linkless ammo box can also be used there, but the Italeri kit does not have an ammo bay so you would be creating the bay on your own.

If you’ve built a weekend edition of an Eduard kit you would think that is as cheap as you can get an Eduard kit. Well then you haven’t seen an overtree. Eduard occasionally release an overtree kit for a limited time of their new items and it is only available through the Eduard Store online. The thing about an overtree kit is it only comes with the plastic pieces. It does not come with instructions, decals, masks, or photo etch. You can download the instructions online from the Profipack or weekend kit. You have to be careful and order the correct kit. Like me I chose to review a Bubbletop Mk.XVI with Late Wings. I should have ordered the Bubbletop with Early Wings. So note that you only get one set of wings and one fuselage. You need to know what you are going to build before you order it. More on that shortly.

Quickboost provides you with one set of Lavochkin La-5 exhausts. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that Quickboost uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new Quickboost replacements. These Quickboost parts are specific replacements for the kit parts found in the Zvezda 4803 kit and Eduard’s re-issue as a limited edition kit (1148).

Quickboost has molded the exhausts perfectly in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles. The Quickboost exhausts provide you with only minimal mold seams to sand off along with a hollowed out exhaust. Be very careful removing the parts from the resin block. I used a photo-etched saw along with a couple swipes of a sanding stick to have great looking parts. Test fitting revealed no discernable difference compared to the kit parts that should cause any problems