Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
RESIN2 Detail
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$9.99

This upgrade provides a 1//32 scale improved seat for the HK B-17. It comes in three different options, with two seats to a package. One is the plain seat, one has basic seat cushions and backpad, and one has seat cushions, backpad, and the lap-belt, as the B-17 was (from my references) rarely equipped with over-the shoulder harnesses until later versions. The lap belt is the ultimate in final detail. As you can see in the side-by side view, the kit seat (in basic gray plastic) is about 3/8” taller than the Resin2detail seats; I believe the Resin 2 detail seats are more accurate.

Review Author
Unknown
Published on
Company
RESIN2 Detail
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$10.99

This upgrade provides a 1//32 scale improved Oxygen (O2) tanks for the HK B-17. It comes in two different options, with four each (eight total) O2 Tanks. Four tanks have mounts and brackets, and four are just O2 tanks with no brackets or mounts.

When held next to the kit O2 tanks, the size difference is very noticeable. The HK tanks are all too small; the Detail2Resin tanks are correct. Remove the tanks from their pour stubs, then primer with gray or white , (I used Tamiya White) and then paint gloss yellow(again, I used Tamiya Camel Yellow) . Weather a bit, then paint the mount straps silver or steel; the mount itself was usually interior green.

As this is a basic seat with all parts molded in place, the overall work goes very quickly, with no parts or additions required. The detail really stands out once all the drybrush work has been accomplished. Much easier than making your own mount and straps out of foil In my opinion!

Review Author
David Wrinkle
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$14.00

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Gladiator, as in my opinion it is one of the best looking biplane aircraft ever designed. The Gladiator prototype first flew in 1934 and entered service in 1937, just a year and a half ahead of the Hawker Hurricane. The Gladiator was utilized by 18 nation’s air forces during the war, and its last recorded combat operation being flown by the Finns in February of 1943 ended with a Soviet R-5 recon plane being shot down.

This resin set by Aires is not my first experience with their products. Like their other products, the resin is smooth, bubble and blemish free. What I really like is that the part includes the attachment tab for locating the stabilizer to the fuselage. As a builder, you really only need to know that the part will drop right in and a resin friendly glue will be necessary to attach the fuselage. Certainly don’t forget to wash the part clean before priming and painting.

Review Author
Timothy Gidcumb
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$99.99

Dive-bombing. Torpedo-bombing. Night fighting. The Junkers Ju 88 could do it all - and then some. Over the hot, dusty battlefields of North Africa, the A-5 tropical relied on extensive air filters to keep out sand and dirt. Rommel's Afrikakorps relied on the Ju 88 for support strikes against Allied armor and positions. The broad-winged Ju 88 could carry 3-4,000 lbs. of bombs to targets at moderate range. Used effectively as part of Rommel's combined arms strategy, the Ju 88 helped Germany reverse Italian losses in North Africa and nearly carry the continent.

Review Author
Mark Costello
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$41.99

This kit is a re-release from Hasegawa of the #38 Denso sponsored Toyota 88C that ran in the 1989 Le Mans race. The car finished in 53rd place and did not finish the race due to a crash. This is a curbside kit and has no engine or suspension details.

Kit

The kit comes packaged in the usual Hasegawa cardboard box and contains 1 bag of clear parts with the tire marking decal sheet inside and 1 bag of white parts with 4 rubber tires and polycaps separately bagged inside of it. There is a total of 7 sprues of white parts plus the chassis and body and 1 sprue of clear parts. All together there are 97 parts in this kit, although 14 of those parts are for other versions of the car. My kit had quite a bit of flash on the parts, but none that was difficult to remove. Just be careful to clean up the parts before assembly. There were also some ejector pin marks that will need to be taken care of or they will be seen.

Review Author
Len Pilhofer
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$72.99

Germany’s Jagdtiger was the behemoth of the Second World War and was the largest AFV to ever reach series production. The production version of this tank destroyer sported the 12.8cm PaK 44 L/55. According to Dragon’s website and their description of this model, Krupp engineers proposed to make this tank destroyer more lethal by fitting an even longer 12.8cm PaK 80 L/66. This design was never fielded, however. In essence, this model is a “paper panzer” version of the formidable Jagdtiger…and with this monster of a gun, even more fictionally formidable.

Dragon’s Jagdtiger has, of course, been around for a number of years in several forms. This latest is the basic Henschel version with the upgraded, prototype L66 gun. In addition to the gun Dragon has included more photoetch goodies, clear periscope parts, metal tow cables, and Magic Track individual track links.

Book Author(s)
Marat Khairulin, Boris Stepanov
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Stratus
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$75.00

Following up the first book in this series, The Russian Aviation Colours 1909-1922: Camouflage and Markings, Vol. 1 Early Years, comes MMP’s latest tome. This book, focused on the ‘Great War’ is planned to be followed by at least two additional volumes on ‘Red Stars’ (Volume 3), and ‘Against Soviets’ (Volume 4). The authors leaned heavily on Russian private archives, as well as archives, libraries, and museums.

The book is a nice hardbound, with a nice glossy cover, and 176 pages on high-quality stock with a matt finish. Mainly clear black and white period photos are supplemented with modern day color photos, color period posters and postcards, color side and top views, and color unit emblems and personal markings. The text is in English and quite readable.

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$26.95

Revell put together a pretty wild kit with this Beretta. It’s almost straight out of the TV show “Street Outlaws”.

Engine

We have a supercharged small block with nitrous. Real life would be putting out massive amounts of horsepower. Instructions were a little fuzzy on the distributor angle. Straight up won’t allow the body to sit correctly, so it must be angled. Provides a pretty nice Lenco transmission.

Interior

There’s not too much to the interior. Very nice bucket seats are provided, a full roll cage, ton of gauges, fire extinguishers, nitrous bottle, and shifters.

Body

Body is a simple affair and has the Chevy bowtie molded in on the engine bay. After shooting the body with HOK black followed by a quick clear coat, I wasn’t able to get the decals to set as well as I thought they should. I even used decal solvents to try get them to lay down.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
RESIN2 Detail
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$9.99

This upgrade provides a 1//32 scale improved seat for the HK B-17. It comes in three different options, with two seats to a package. One is the plain seat, one has basic seat cushions and backpad, and one has seat cushions, backpad, and the lap-belt. As the B-17 was (from my references) rarely equipped with over-the shoulder harnesses until later versions, the lap belt is the ultimate in final detail. As you can see in the side-by side view, the kit seat (in basic gray plastic) is about 3/8” taller than the Resin2detail seats. I believe the Resin 2 detail seats are more accurate.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.90

With the release of the new Bf-109F-4 from Eduard we are treated to numerous ways to upgrade the kit should you want to. Eduard has always been known for their photo etch so it is to be expected that they would offer something in photo etch for this kit.

This set of photo etch comes in the normal Eduard resealable package with card stock keeping the photo etch safe. The actual fret is brass with really good detail. The primary areas addressed by this set is the wheel wells, landing gear doors and the flaps.

The wheel well portion offers an accurate rendition of the wheel well insert with the appropriate cutouts. The landing gear doors provide you with two different styles of landing gear covers. I chose to use the ‘normal’ doors. They worked out just fine but you will need to curve them slightly to be accurate. They are suitably thin too. Also to the landing gear are the brake lines and the tie down rings on the bottom of the landing gear strut.