Review Author
Steve Collins
Published on
January 17, 2016
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$10.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions is known for making replacement landing gear for a wide variety of kits in virtually every scale in which model aircraft are available. This set is designed to replace the plastic gear in the Airfix Folland Gnat T.1/F.1 kit.

The set includes both main gear legs with their integral retraction struts and the nose gear. The struts are very sturdy and are made to be drop-in replacements for the kit parts. The parts require very little clean up, though some parts do occasionally become a bit bent during shipping. No worries there, though, since they are very easily straightened. Recommended, especially if you’re adding a bit of weight to make sure your Gnat isn’t a tail sitter. You’ll probably need it, too, considering the normal tail-low stance of the diminutive fighter.

Thanks to Scale Aircraft Conversions for the review sample and to IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review it.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
January 17, 2016
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$4.39

Brengun has come out with a spiffy idea for making your US Navy 1/144 carrier-based aircraft base look even better. It’s a set of PE tie down anchors for the carrier deck.

The tie downs in this set are the “older” cross style. The newer ones, on newer ships are star type. The original tie down anchors on wooden deck carriers looked kind of like a grating which ran from one side of the deck to the other. I found pictures of these with B-25s tied down on the Hornet for the Doolittle Raid.

When the Navy went to angle deck carriers, they had a steel deck. The tie downs were the cross type. They were painted black, and later yellow. There’s a picture below of me standing on the deck of the USS America in 1996, on the ship’s last cruise. The tie downs are cross type, painted black.

Later carriers used the star type, painted yellow, and later white.

Review Author
Steve Collins
Published on
January 17, 2016
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$11.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions is known for making replacement landing gear for a wide variety of kits in virtually every scale in which model aircraft are available. This set is designed to replace the plastic gear in the Academy and Italeri F-84E/G kits. I think with a bit of work it could be used on the Tamiya kit.

The set includes both main gear legs and the nose gear made in one piece with the nose wheel. The struts are very sturdy and are made to be drop-in replacements for the kit parts. The parts require very little clean up, though some parts do occasionally become a bit bent during shipping. No worries there, though, since they are very easily straightened. Recommended, especially after you’ve added a bit of weight to make sure your Thunderjet isn’t a tail sitter. The nose gear being metal will help with providing enough weight, which is a bit difficult with the nose intake.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
January 17, 2016
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$29.95

This is another issue of Eduard’s marvelous 1/144 Spitfire IXe kit. This time you get FOUR Spitfires in the box, with eight possible markings.

I was curious about what the Czech language phrase means. I tried several translation sites, but none of them worked. I finally went to Eduard’s web site and contacted them, asking what Naši se vracejí means. I got an almost immediate answer from Libor Havranek of Eduard support. It means “The boys are back”. Cool. Thanks very much for the info.

Since all 8 of the schemes offered in this kit, and they’re all late WW2 or post war, it makes sense. They’re all Czech nationals who flew Spitfires, either for the RAF or the Czech AF. And Eduard pays homage them.

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
January 17, 2016
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$5.00

Quickboost provides you with Su-9 Fishpot antennas consisting of four parts. 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 address the replacement of the corresponding Trumpeter parts.

Quickboost has molded the antennas perfectly in tan resin with no apparent bubbles. The Quickboost antennas provide you with no mold seams to sand off on these tiny parts along with the superior detail.

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.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
January 17, 2016
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$20.30

ModelArt is a high quality Japanese language modeling magazine. This edition is a Japanese AFV Database plastic model guide for Japanese military vehicle kits in 1/35, 1/48, and 1/72-76 scales. The guide shows kits of Japanese vehicles, including AFVs, softskins, and figures. The kits are illustrated as built models or an Out-of-the Box view of the kit parts. The text is in Japanese, but there are many high quality photographs that illustrate the kits. The kits have English titles that give the name of the vehicle, kit manufacturer, scale, and name of the modeler.

The sections of the guide are organized by vehicle type. The start of each section includes a few in-action photos of the real vehicles, and at the end of each section is some modeling tips or a sampling of completed kits.

Book Author(s)
Prezemyslaw Musialkowski
Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
January 17, 2016
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$29.00

The MiG-17 is a subsonic fighter aircraft developed by the Soviet Union as a follow-on to the very successful MiG-15. The MiG-17 was flown by numerous air forces around the world and several countries, such as Poland were licensed to build MiG-17s.

The book focuses on the various MiG-17 variants operated by the Polish Air Force from 1955 onward. While the initial batch of MiG-17F and MiG-17PF aircraft operated by the Polish Air Force were purchased from the Soviet Union, the majority of the aircraft it used were actually built by Polish industry under a license obtained from the Soviet Union. The license-built aircraft were designated Lim-5 (fighter/interceptor) or Lim-6 (fighter-bomber) and there were a number of variants of each which were differentiated by letter suffixes to the designation.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
Academy Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$46.00

Sincere appreciation to Model Rectifier for providing yet another review item, and to the IPMS USA reviewer corps leaders for sending it to me!

The progeny of this kit goes back to 1992, when it was first released by Academy. It has been available on several occasions with different markings, and parts of it (Most notably the wings and stabilizers) have been re-released as a B-50 and a KC-97 with appropriate additional sprues to address the major differences on these aircraft. I originally reviewed this kit back then, and can say the same observations on that kit are valid today.

Review Author
Steve Collins
Published on
January 19, 2016
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$11.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions is known for making replacement landing gear for a wide variety of kits in virtually every scale in which model aircraft are available. This set is designed to replace the plastic gear in the Wolfpack T-2C Buckeye kit.

The set includes both main gear legs with their retraction struts, and the nose gear made in one piece with the nose wheel. The struts are very sturdy and are made to be drop-in replacements for the kit parts. The parts require very little clean up, though some parts do occasionally become a bit bent during shipping. No worries there, though, since they are very easily straightened.

Recommended, especially if you’re adding a bit of weight to make sure your Buckeye isn’t a tail sitter. Thanks to Scale Aircraft Conversions for the review sample and to IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review it.

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
January 19, 2016
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$21.50

Aires Hobby Models has come out with an excellent upgrade for the Trumpeter MiG-23 MF / ML kits with their Correct Air Intakes set. There are six parts cast in a durable resin material along with four resin clear parts. The Aires parts provide improved air intake detail. The instructions show where the additional parts go and then its simply a swap out for the Trumpeter intakes.

Aires has molded the air intakes perfectly in tan resin with no apparent bubbles. The Aires air intakes are supplied on a four 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 washing 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.