Master Models once again provides IPMS USA with examples of machine-shop excellence… We are extremely thankful to Piotr for providing examples of his work to review.
Master Models once again provides IPMS USA with examples of machine-shop excellence… We are extremely thankful to Piotr for providing examples of his work to review.
As you can see by the product photographs, these .50 caliber browning machine gun barrels are exquisite works of art. Designed to fit one of the two 1/32 Lighting models currently available, this nine-part set provides four different length .50 caliber barrels, and one 20MM cannon barrel; all have flash hiders integrally-machined in place, and represent the armament as used on P-38M night-fighter variants of the Lightning. Unlike set 086, this one does not have separate cooling jackets or barrels, so it is a simple finish and install set to replace the kit items. I do not have a night fighter conversion for the 1/32 kit, so this set was not installed. However, attached is a great picture of the actual item and how it would look on the real item…
Scale Aircraft Conversion is known for making white metal landing gear replacement sets for numerous aircraft in multiple scales. I have reviewed a few of these sets before. Normally, the only advantages that I see are that these make for a sturdier model. However, this set I feel is different. The parts are exact replacements of the Airfix parts; instead of plastic, these are made of white metal. There really is no additional detail. The parts do not have the mold seams that the kit parts do, which is nice.
The reason I am very much for this set is that the Airfix parts are very finicky. What I found to be very useful of the SAC parts is the ability to bend slightly some of the parts so that you can fully assemble the landing gear. Once assembled, and thanks to the material (white metal), you are able to manipulate the landing gear so you get the perfect stance of your Wildcat!
Airscale, as usual is a leader in making cockpit enhancing products and this is a new product to their line. Finally the modern cockpit has been addressed with these decals allowing a modeler to get just the right look of electronic flight displays and round instruments. Included on the electronic displays are the bezel buttons surrounding the bezel. The modelers would have to remove any raised buttons if retaining this portion or simply cut the display portion out and paint the buttons.
There is a little surprise and a real bonus in this set, a legend giving the name of each instrument type. Usually if you look close enough you can guess here but this is taken care of with this nice feature.
Airscale, as usual is a leader in making cockpit enhancing products and this is a new product to their line. Finally the modern cockpit has been addressed with these decals allowing a modeler to get just the right look of warning markings and dataplates. Trying to paint the cross hatch lines of two colors is extremely difficult and these decals make it easy to do so. There are also tri-color (black/white/yellow) markings in the selection. In addition to the striped markings, dataplates for the sidewalls and for ejection seats are also provided. There is a little surprise and a real bonus in this set, a legend giving the name of each placard and warning type.
