With the recent release of the updated Meng 1/35 D9R Armored Bulldozer to include slat armor, Eduard has released a number of photo-etch detail sets to update the kit and add new details. This is a Meng kit so the detail is fantastic, but there can always be some room for improvement. This set includes replacements for all of the cooling slats and a few other parts.

The Somme by Richard Van Emden was originally published in England by Pen and Sword as a hard cover book on May 24, 2016 and a soft cover on June 6, 2016. Casemate released this soft cover edition on August 19, 2016.

London resident Richard van Emden has written profusely on the subject on World War One. He worked as a journalist after graduating from Newcastle University in 1988. He books focus on World War I and include: Tickled to Death to Go, Prisoners of the Kaiser, The Trench, Sapper Martin, Last Man Standing, Britain’s Last Tommies, Famous, Veterans, Boy Soldiers of the Great War, The Soldier’s War, and Tommy’s Ark. He has interviewed over 270 veterans of the Great War and many of those interviews are used in this book. Richard Van Emden also is heavily involved in television programs about The Great War and includes Veterans, Roses of No Man’s Land, The Boy Soldiers of the Great War, and The Real War Horse.

If you are building any of the host of Russian military trucks from the Great War, you may find yourself mumbling at the rather iffy rubber tires frequently included with the kits. Although a number of manufacturers have come out with really excellent kits of these workhorses of the Soviet Army, the tires included seem to be a regular stumbling block.

MiniArt has addressed this problem with a series of new detail sets that create beautifully detailed renditions to replace the soft tires included with most of these kits. This set, for instance, not only provides 12 complete tires, but the various hubs, bolts and brake drums needed as well. Each tire itself is composed of five individual “wafers” that when assembled create a realistic and detailed tread pattern. Finely molded manufacturer’s logos are included, of course.

Thanks to Eduard for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it to me!

This set vastly improves the appearance and detail of Revell’s 1/72 halifax B III. The kit consists of all the requisite improvements for the forward crew section on the Halifax: a new pilot seat, seat harnesses, instrument/control panels, engine throttles and control levers, radio and bulkhead details, and sidewall details.

This set is simple to use and improves the kit cockpit with little fuss. The parts are not self-adhesive, so there is a need to use your favorite cement/glue to attach things. I use Gator Loups’ polyurethane “Gator glue” for the instrument lamentations, and superglue to attach everything else.

Thanks to Eduard for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it to me!

Early British bombers were designed with wing bomb bays; these have been overlooked in the past, but this set brings the mystery of this equipment out of the darkness and improves the appearance and detail of Revell’s 1/72 Halifax B III; Consisting of all the requisite improvements for the wing bomb bays, including bomb racks, doors, and mounting hardware.

This set is simple to use; Revell provides convenient guides on the inside of the lower wing sections to make it easy to remove the closed kit doors; use a straight edge and #11 blade to do so. I used thick superglue to attach everything on this set.

A bit of simple folding is required for the bomb interior frames, just be careful of alignment while the glue dries and don’t push them too far out past the exterior of the wing. Take your time, and everything fits.

The Kit

Round 2 Model Company purchased the rights to the entire Lindberg line and they have been releasing selected kits gradually. In the past, “real modelers” disparaged the Lindberg Line as being inaccurate and simplistic, but these kits were never designed to be the be all and end all of accuracy, even at the time long ago when they were released. They were designed to generally represent the subject and do so in a kit that was easy to assemble and reasonably priced. By today’s standards, they are not what most ship modelers are looking for, however if you’ve got a youngster you’re trying to get involved in the hobby or maybe a Brownie or Cub Scout group, they would make great projects and teaching tools. Or, maybe you want to try out some new techniques. These kits would make great test beds for that.

I am very appreciative of Acrylicos Vallejo (AV) for sending new products for review, and I am equally appreciative of all the Review Corps crew members who take care of all of the legwork to get materials to reviewers and the completed reviews published for the modeling community. It is a privilege to be part of this manufacturer-modeler group effort.

Background

Of the many consumable items available to the modern-day modeler, pre-cut masking aids are perhaps one of the most useful types on the market. Originally targeting aircraft areas of interest, recent years have seen a tremendous proliferation into other genre – including military vehicles.

The Product

A recent and pleasant surprise was to see Hauler offer a masking set for Tamiya’s 1/48 scale US Staff Car kit. Having that model on the near-term build list, I just had to jump at the chance to try some Hauler masks for the first time. The set contains two sheets of finely cut, super-thin vinyl masks for glass areas and wheel hubs, and stencils for national insignia stars. A single sheet of placement diagrams is more than sufficient for applying the masks.

We thank Mushroom Model Publications for providing this book for review.

The De Havilland Mosquito was arguably the most versatile and successful twin-engine aircraft of World War II. It was originally designed as an unarmed bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. However, it excelled in other rolls that included day and night fighter, fighter-bomber, pathfinder, and high-speed military transport. It was constructed mainly of balsawood sandwiched between sheets of birch and covered with a fine woven cotton fabric and painted with a coat of silver dope. Its two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines gave it a maximum speed in the 380 mph range. Its beauty and war record has made it one of the most popular RAF aircraft of World War II.

Thanks to Eduard for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it to me!

This set is simple to use; Kabuki tape masks for all the clear bits! Included are masks for all the windows, canopy parts, and gun turrets, and wheels. One benefit of these sets is the ability to mask off VERY tiny windows; in this case, all the 1/8” round porthole windows, and some of the intersecting canopy window bits. These can be less than 1/16” across, and are VERY difficult to mask; same with the turret frames, because of the complex curves. Eduard utilizes multiple small tape masks to make sure you cover all the areas without wrinkling, which leads to paint creep under the tape.

The Introduction is appropriately named ‘The Legacy of Shep Paine’ written by Jim DeRogatis. These four pages offer a wonderful view into the late Sheperd Paine’s life’s work and modeling history. Many of us older modelers first became aware of Sheperd’s work through his tip sheets that came with select Monogram kits of the 1970's then later with Tamiya kits during the 1980's. Shep was also an avid military historian and collector of military artifacts.

The book's contents are divided into two sections, 'The ‘Basics’ by Sheperd Paine and ‘Projects’ featuring eight projects by different modelers. The ‘Basics’ covers all the bases from the fundamentals in chapter one of ‘Assembling Armor Kits’ including a helpful ‘Parts of a Tank’ tutorial.

Researching the subject, its uses, its environments are explained by Shep in ‘Doing Research’ chapter two. Shep also addresses working with scale drawings and evaluating conflicting references.

Eduard continues to bring out superb sets meant to help modelers detail kits. This set consists of 100 individual instruments meant for 1/32 WWII Luftwaffe planes. There are multiples of each instrument. The printing on the instruments is awesome and clear.

The instructions show the needed folds and the like. This set will require the modeler to research and determine which instrument goes where. These will let you replace or fabricate a new instrument panel easily. To test them, I sprayed a piece of styrene with RLM 66 paint. I then added the instruments and folded them. You’ll note in the pictures that I got a little heavy-handed with the glue. Once attached, I folded and glued the needed instruments flat. This gives them a nice three-dimensional look. Once glued, I flat-coated the instruments and then added a drop of Kristal Kleer to the instruments to look like the glass.

This is a nice set of jerry can holders that can replace the usually over-scaled plastic holders on military vehicles. The photoetch comes on one small fret that is about 1 ½ in. x 1 5/8 in. Four holders are provided with the photoetch. Each holder consists of seven parts: the holder, four bolts, and two straps for the jerry cans.

The bolt heads are actually six-sided hexagons and are microscopic. I soldered the first bolt head into place, but the solder obscured the shape of the head. The subsequent bolt heads were glued into place with superglue, which worked much better.