Most of the time, Figures in small scales, such as HO (1:87) are armed with weapons that roughly represent their 1:1 scale real-world counterparts at best, and more often than not, look like sticks or worse.

If you have any 1:87 scale WW2-era Soviet troops that need improved weapons, this is for you.

The kit is composed of 1 sheet of photo-etched brass, containing 10 WW2-era Soviet Small Arms, and 1 instruction sheet

The small arms are very highly detailed, historically accurate, and are folded in half to represent both 3D sides of the weapon. Iron sights and bolt-action levers, as well as magazines, and even triggers and trigger-guards are represented very well on the models.

As seen in the picture below, I have assembled the Mosin-Nagant standard infantry bolt-action rifle.

This is a photoetch bomb bay upgrade set to for the Revell Ventura MkII which has very simple molded details in the kit part and really needs them. One reason I put off buying the Revell kit was my disappointment in the bomb bay detail, this set make it very simple to really improve the kit.

In the packet is:

• 1 large photoetch steel sheet
• 1 instruction sheet

Summary

This is a fantastic set and the kit really needs this as it’s a major improvement. The set does require a lot of work removing the simple molded details on the kit parts especially part B6. But it’s well worth all the effort. The set also includes the bomb fins and spinners. I really loved the finish look of the bomb bay once this was done. If you have the Revell kit you have to get this set!

Thanks go to Eduard for providing this set to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Last we left off, the airframe was together with the parts and we were ready to paint. In preparation, I added the landing gear. To me, this allows the plane to sit up off surfaces while drying and these were sturdy and fit perfectly with the best attachment points I have seen. To start, I used Tamiya acrylic high gloss white thinned with lacquer thinner and sprayed the bottom and slightly up the sides. I masked off the intakes as they had a great demarcation line from the previous painting and the great design. I also shot the flaps, the rudder on the tail and all the landing gear doors. This dried quickly and I masked off for the Gull Gray. I masked around the edges and the rudder and used my Gyrocut to get some wavy lines. Tamiya yellow tape was used for all masking. I sprayed the top with Xtracolor thinned with lacquer thinner and set the plane aside to dry for a few days. I also gave both horizontal stabs a coat of gloss white.

The movie Top Gun, love it or hate it, raised a lot of interest in the Navy Fighter Weapons School and that interest was not lost on modelers, with the markings of the Adversary planes standing out. Furball has given us an enormous sheet of markings covering thirteen different schemes covering 12 different of F-5Es and F-5Fs between 1976 and 1986. Note that this is different from the smaller schemes as they just couldn’t fit the T-38’s on the sheet. There is great news in that the markings included are all airframes so you could build all thirteen planes included.

The schemes included are:

The Panhard VBL is a French light armored reconnaissance vehicle developed by the Panhard company with a steel-armored body and bulletproof glass. The VBL can also run on water with a propeller which is part of the rear axle. This version of the VBL includes a roof mounted Milan Anti-Tank Missile Launcher. This kit is a reissue of Tiger Model's kit of the Panhard VBL light armored reconnaissance vehicle with 7.62 mm machine gun, #4603. Tiger has also produced a version with a 12.7 mm M2 machine gun, #4619.

All six of the kit’s vehicle hatches can be modeled open or closed. The kit includes a complete interior with weapons, gear, and communication equipment. The tires can rotate. The kit also includes a metal tow cable and missile launcher with six spare missiles. The roof mounted missile launcher can rotate. The kit does not include an engine or transmission. A roof-mounted machine gun is provided with the kit parts, but not used on this version.