Tsesarevich (Russian: Цесаревич) was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy, built in France at the end of the 19th century. The ship's design formed the basis of the Russian-built Borodino-class battleships. This set represents what she carried prior to an attack in the night of February 9, 1904, in the Russian-Japanese war. She was one of three ships to be struck by Japanese torpedoes and limped back to Port Arthur. There she lost four of her 75mm, two of her 47mm, and two of her 37mm guns to reinforce the port defenses. After the Russian-Japanese war, Tsesarevich, helped suppress the Sveaborg Rebellion. Around 1906, her fighting top was removed and her superstructure was cut down, in the process losing more guns, mainly most of her 75mm guns. In time, ~ 1914, all of her 75mm guns were removed.

History

The Handley Page Victor was conceived as a nuclear bomber in the late 1950s. It was the third and last of the “V Bombers”, following the Valiant and Vulcan. As the Royal Navy took over the nuclear deterrent mission with submarines, the V Bombers became aircraft without missions. The Valiant had already been reconfigured as an airborne tanker, but when the airframes became worn out, the Victor bombers became the tanker force.

In 1982 the Victor K.2 tankers participated in one of the most complicated missions ever conceived. Operation Black Buck used 11 Victor K.2s and a single Vulcan B.2 to deliver a bomb load from Ascension Island to Port Stanley Airport in the Falklands, a distance of 3900 miles.

The next, and last big deployment of the Victor K.2 was the 1991 (First) Gulf War, The RAF called their participation Operation Granby. This was the operation to force Iraq out of Kuwait

Thank you PJ Production for providing this elegant aircraft accessory pilot figure, and thank you to the IPM Reviewer Corps for letting me review it! I am very appreciative of all you do for the scale modeling community.

The pilot arrived in a small blue cardboard box, with a small plastic bag inside holding both the pilot figure and a casting plug with arms. The light tan resin showed no sign of mold release and the minimal flash was easily removed without compromising the fine surface details. The separate arms allow custom positioning to suit the application, and the arm-torso join surfaces are flat, easily allowing drilling or flexible wire or pin to reinforce the joint. The resin is not too brittle or too soft. Many detail surfaces, such as harnesses and straps are slightly undercut, allowing highlighting washes a good place to pool and do their job.

This is the British decided that they needed a less expensive tank so the Medium Tank Mk. A Whippet was developed. This had a crew of three and was armed with four Hotchkiss machine guns. It first saw battle in March 1918.

The kit contains

• 7 sprues molded in tan styrene
• 1 Main hull
• 3 Sprues of track parts in Black Styrene
• 2 Stings for tow cables
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 instruction booklet.

Construction

The kit is not too complex and assembles in 16 stages which are not to complex.

Hauler is a Czech Republic company specializing in producing high quality resin and PE after market accessories including resin kits. In their line of products are the Euro Pallets. Actual Euro Pallets are standardized by the European Pallet Association which must meet the specifications such as size and number of special nails in a designated pattern. The sizes of the Euro Pallet in 1:1 scale are 47.2" (1,200mm) x 31.5"(800mm) x 5.7"(144mm).

The Package

5 resin sprues are contained in the package enough to make 2 complete pallets. Upon close inspection one can see the wood grain detail cast into the resin. The only flash seen is located between the wood planks which are easily cleaned up in a matter of minutes by using a Xacto knife and sandpaper. There are no instructions included in the package but, a quick check at Hauler's website shows downloadable pictures of the completed pallets. Each pallet consists of 4 parts.

This set (SAC #72120) replaces the main gear legs and retraction struts along with the tail wheel. You have to use the kit main wheels and fenders. You get five metal reproductions of the kit parts in the usual soft white metal. That’s where my difficulty with this set started. Airfix has done an excellent job of reproducing very delicate landing gear parts in plastic. The main gear legs trap the main wheels and the flexible properties of the plastic parts help. It also really helps when you install the gear parts into the finished gear wells. There’s a lot of fiddling once the parts are the bay and again the plastic assisted by snapping back to its original shape. The metal parts on the other hand, bent and were very difficult to realign once the glue set. For that reason, I preferred the plastic parts. This is the first SAC set I’ve used that created more work than it was worth to have metal parts.

Brengun continues to bring out interesting accessories that fill in gaps overlooked by mainstream manufacturers. This set is a 50 gallon external tank and the rack for mounting it on a Spitfire. The set consists of a two piece resin tank and small photo etch fret of the mounting rack.

Construction starts with removal of the two resin parts of the tank from their casting blocks. Take some time in lining up your cuts so that they are perpendicular to the tank as the two parts butt join just behind the aft tank strap. If you are off in your cut, you will need to spend some time with a file to square up the ends so that they meet correctly and the tank does not end looking like it has a kink in it. Next I attached the tiny etched filler cap to the front of the tank – this is a very tiny part, so be careful trimming it and getting it in the right place.

The short version - I liked the kits. The new molds that the current Airfix products have shown are on display here. These were pleasing to build.

Now, the details.

History

The pairing in the set is based upon an air battle that took place on the 9^th of February 1945. A force of thirty one Bristol Beaufighter long range fighter bombers took off from their bases in Scotland to attack the German Narvik-class Destroyer Z33 at anchor in a Norwegian fjord. The attacking force and its escorts of Mustang fighters was also intercepted by twelve Fw-190s of Jg5. Over 50 aircraft were involved making it the largest air battle over Norwegian skies during the Second World War.

Warpaint’s latest is their standard A4 format softbound publication that is 64 pages (excluding covers) on the Sikorsky Chickasaw and Westland Whirlwind helicopters. The book is split into two, with the first half dedicated to the Sikorsky Chickasaw and the second to the Westland Whirlwind. I counted 187 photographs (136 in color) along with 46 of Richard J. Caruana’s color profiles. Richard J. Caruana also contributes the centerfold (four pages) that features twenty drawings, all in 1/72 scale.

The Product

Nothing beats Eduard’s brass, like the slogan says “Best Brass Around” and I’m a believer. The large sheet of shinny brass photo-etch is a work of art and could be matted, framed and hung on the wall as such. My sample arrived in pristine condition with a comprehensive fold out instruction sheet.

Teodor Liviu Morosanu and Dan Melinte author the sixth book in Mushroom Model Publications’ series that presents detailed illustrations of celebrated aircraft (and in one case, AFV). This volume’s focus is on the Messerschmitt Bf 109E and Bf 109G fighters that display a variety of authentic Romanian camouflage schemes and markings. This is also one of Teodor Liviu Morosanu’s last books as the back cover shows a photo of him with the tagline of “1956-2011”

The Product

The set is made up of two frets: one brass and one tin printed self-adhesive. First let’s look at the brass one, it mainly supports the mini-guns and ammo boxes with just a few parts for the cockpit and forward cabin pieces. Next the printed tin fret, it’s loaded with radio faces, console panels, and the instruments panel. It also has a complete set of seat harnesses and assorted placards. My sample arrived in perfect condition and included an easy to understand fold out instruction sheet.

Thanks to Airfix from supplying this kit for review and to IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it.