Thanks to Piotr at Master models for providing these incredible static dischargers to improve our models, and thanks to IPMS Reviewer Corps leaders for sending it to me…

What is in the packet: an instruction sheet, and 14 very-tiny, jewelry-quality Static dischargers used on most F-16’s.

Static dischargers are frequently molded on our models. And we modelers, being who we are, frequently break them off during construction. I personally remove them and install replacements or the kit items at the end of the build. Sometimes I won’t even bother; they are just fragile or are just way out of scale. Here is where Master’s turned metal items shine…

As on my recently-reviewed Sukhoi 1/48 dischargers, these little 1/32 jewels for the F-16 are great. They have the proper 3-diameter steps machined for you. Again, Piotr, this is excellent machine work!

This is a multimedia kit comprised of 470+ styrene parts on 24 sprues, DS tracks, one photo etched fret, decals and the set of instructions that need to be reviewed very carefully before gluing any parts together. The DS tracks were packed well enough to not be misshaped with the guide horns flattened as it has been noted in the past.

Most Dragon models today are a collection of old sprues and new sprues added to create a new kit variant. In this case, Dragon has done so and you will have some sprues with the same letter but are called out by the color and sprue letters in upper and lower case.

There are not many options for you to choose between and none require you to do so before you start. You can pick as you go along.

Airfix has re-released their Mosquito PR XVI, this time on a D-Day Anniversary edition. Make no mistake this kit is no “new molds” from 2015. In the box you have a full Mosquito FB VI (dated in 1980) with extra sprues molded in the mid-2000s to be able to finish it as a PR.XVI. As such you have a mix of vintage molds (1980, mid-2000) with some parts having raised panel lines; other parts having recessed panel lines.

Construction starts, like most airplanes do, with the cockpit. Note there were a few ejection pin marks that I choose to fill and sand in the inside of the fuselages. They might not be visible once the canopy is in place but I wasn’t sure so I choose to be worry rather than sorry. You are provided a mix of new (IP) and old parts for the cockpit (seats and some radio boxes). The truth is that with a bit of paint I cannot tell the difference between the new and the old parts inside the cockpit.

The 1972 Oldsmobile that graced the Indianapolis 500 race as the pace car that year was a stunning anomaly. It was the first time a car was provided by someone other than an automotive manufacturer. The auto giants were reluctant to provide one because of the previous year’s accident so Hurst stepped in to fill the void. Miss Hurst (Linda Vaughn) helped kick off the race too.

Aires Resin has produced a set of replacement flying control parts for the Airfix 1/72 scale Spitfire Mk 22. The resin horizontal stabilizers are a superbly detailed drop-in for the kit’s plastic parts. The supplied items include a firm greenish-grey resin casting block with the horizontal stabilizers attached. A side by side evaluation (see photos) indicates identical replacements that will provide poseable control surfaces for this nice little kit from Airfix. As always, check your reference photos.

You will not need to do surgery to the kit to use these beautifully cast pieces in your build. The resin fixed wing parts can be attached the same as the kit parts. The resin moveable parts can then be posed as desired. Attach them to the plastic with some super glue, and don’t forget to pose the control stick in the cockpit in the appropriate position!

Very highly recommended.

The B-17 Flying Fortress was one of the best-known bombers of World War Two. Being able to withstand large amounts of battle damage and still come home endeared the aircraft to its crews.

This release by Hasegawa is an aged kit but still a joy to build. It features a new set of decals, overall good fit, and lightly raised panel lines. The light grey plastic has some sink marks, the worst being the backs of the propeller blades. The kit contains 97 parts and comes in a nice box with a sturdy card stock bottom and a nice glossy top with beautiful box art.

Although this kit was received in good condition, one of the propellers had a blade broken off. While I was able to fix that one, my kitten Amelia decided to chew up another. I had to go to the spares box to find a replacement for that one.

Eduard has issued this kit based on the Roden model kit with the additional the Eduard accessories.

In the box is:

• 6 x light grey sprues
• 1 clear sprue
• 1 photoetched details parts
• 1 mask set
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 instruction booklet

All the sprues are well-molded, although there is some flash and a few sink marks which are easily fixed. The detail is very fine and crisp.

The kit can be built as any of eight versions, you need to decide between before commencing the built which you are going to do. I went with Version B, one of the Swedish Volunteer force which was sent to Finland to assist in the winter war against Russia in 1940.

Master Model from Poland continues to expand its 1:48 Air Master line. This time with a detail set covering the weapons for the P-38M Night Fighter.

Master Model does not specify for which P-38 kit this set is. I know of two kits of the P-38M: Academy and Monogram. I did a side-by-side comparison with the Monogram one.

As shown in the picture, the respectable (but quite old) Monogram kit has all flash hiders molded the same size, closer to the size of the cannon than to the size of the machine guns.

As you can see from the pictures the metal parts for both the machine guns and the cannon are very delicate with extra thin edges in the conically-shape flash hiders.

This set is an easy way to enhance the looks of your model, either the Academy or the Monogram one.

Highly recommended.

I would like to thank Master Model and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

This set is part of the Brassin line and provides an upgrade for the wheels on the Hasegawa/Eduard F-104G kits.

Many of the US fighter pilot figures are depicting older style safety equipment like helmets and oxygen masks. PJ production released a nice version of current military “fast jet” pilot with a Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) and Gentex MBU-20 oxygen mask.

The product contains a single pilot figure and is marketed to work with F-16 or F-18 aircraft but after test fitting, it can be used in the F-15 as well. As with most figures, there may be places that need to be altered. When test fitting, the legs would need to be separated slightly to fit around center instrument panel and knees bent to rest on the rudder pedals. Some seats may also require the torso to be adjusted to fit the seat but nothing to great, just small adjustments. With all the variations of kits out there, nothing is simply drop in fit.

Recently Brengun has released a series of interesting accessories in 1/72 scale, most aimed at those looking to add a little something different and to spruce up the display of our recent builds.

This set fits squarely in that category and provides a tow bar currently used by the US Navy on its carriers and other aviation ships. The tow bar is used to move or re-spot an aircraft or helicopter when its engines are not running. The tow bar is attached to the nose gear of the aircraft of the tail wheel of a helicopter and then hitched to a flight deck tractor so that the aircraft/helo can be moved around.

This set provides belts for the F-104G using the Mk. GQ7A ejection seat. The F-104 also used a C2 ejection seat and one is provided in the Hasegawa kit I used (stock #PT 20) but the seats are very different designs and this set won’t work on the C2 seat. In general, the export versions of the F-104 used the Mk. GQ7A seat.

I would consider this a “must have” since the base kit doesn’t provide any kind of harness for the GQ7A seat. Eduard makes two harness sets for this kit, the FABRIC set reviewed here and SUPERFABRIC (Eduard #49 073) set that I’ll share with you in separate review. The FABRIC set is a little more difficult because you have small PE buckles and restrainers to thread the tiny belts through. This was my first exposure to this type of belts from Eduard. The details are very refined and the PE parts add a nice dimension of depth to the finished assembly.

Accurate Miniatures had a great run producing kits that stand up even to this day. Academy has the molds currently and has reissued the kit regularly including the 1/48 B-25B which I was lucky enough to review. The kits has wonderful detail but could use some details here and there. To address one area, Quickboost has come out with an excellent set of pilots chairs with molded in seat belts. These are cast in the usual crisp, bubble free gray resin. One really, really nice thing is that both seats are the same EXCEPT the seat belts are different which is a wonderful little detail.