Master Model has come to the rescue of big scale Typhoon modelers with their latest releases in 1/24 scale. Both the Hawker Typhoon Mk IB Early Type Cannons with Uncovered Barrels with Flat Recoil Springs (24-014) and Round Recoil Springs (24-015) have been released. Despite the large scale, Airfix’s 20mm Hispano Mk.II cannon barrels can still be significantly improved over the injection plastic offered in the kit. This set is specifically applicable to the Airfix 1/24 Hawker Typhoon and provides an option not included in the kit, the flat recoil springs. There are currently two releases available. The Hawker Typhoon Mk.IB was released in 2014 with a second release in 2016 featuring additional parts for the ‘Car Door’ option. The first production batch of Typhoon Mk.Ib used the uncovered barrels featured in this set.
September 2017
Want an easy upgrade to the new 1/48 Airfix Curtiss P-40B? Step right up to the new Quickboost P-40B exhausst set that provides a beautiful replacement to what is supplied in the kit. The parts are packaged in the standard Quickboost re-closable packaging with a paper stiffener along with the description card. Although these parts are specific to fit the 1/48 Airfix P-40B injected plastic kit, they might be able to be modified so that they would also work for older 1/48 P-40B/C kits (Monogram/Hasegawa/Revell [1964], Academy / Hobbycraft [1996], Bronco [2016], Pegasus, Trumpeter [2004].
Master Model has come to the rescue of Blackbird modelers with their latest releases in 1/72 and 1/48 scale. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Alpha-Beta probe measures incidence and yaw and is mounted to the RF isolation segment of the nose cone. The pitot tube branches off to the side of the alpha/beta probe. The size and detail are quite difficult to realize due to molding limitations. You can find many releases of the Blackbird from Italeri, Tamiya, and Testors; all using the same plastic that was originally released in 1982 by Italeri. I used the Testors kit 4055 ‘Famous Spy Planes’ that was kitted with the Testors U-2.
Many or maybe even most know of the Mk.82 bomb- it’s been used for many years as the primary unguided, general purpose low drag bomb. It is convertible to precision guided with a seeker head and fins (which can make it a GBU-12 Paveway II or a GBU-38 JDAM) and this has seen use for many years. To make the bomb available for use at low level bomb runs and not have the plane hit by bomb fragments, the Mk.82 can be fitted with a special tail unit (the Mk. 15) which opens in a cruciform shape and slows the descent enough to allow the plane to be gone when the bomb explodes. This bomb is the Mk.82 with Mk.15 tail unit but it is commonly called the Mk. 82 Snake Eye. And that is what this review is about.
The Bf-109F is considered by some to be the perfect version of the venerable fighter. It certainly has its share of unique camouflage. Because of that it is a favorite of modelers. As a pilot, I love to detail the cockpit so this set was a natural for me.
The Big Sin sets are designed to bring separate sets together in one box with a significant savings. These allow the modeler to add some really nice detail at a good price. This set contains three separate Brassin items. The first item is the cockpit which completely replaces the kit cockpit with resin, photo etch and clear film. The other two sets are for the landing gear and wheels.
The Danton Class represented six pre-dreadnought battleships of the French Navy, built in France between 1907 and 1911. Outclassed before they were completed, and obsolete by the end of World War One, the five surviving ships were relegated to second-line roles by 1920. The ships included the Danton (sunk by U-64 in 1917), Condorcet (Scrapped 1949), Diderot (Scrapped 1937), Mirabeau (Scrapped 1921), Vergniaud (Scrapped 1928), and Voltaire (Scuttled 1938, scraped 1950). The main battery consisted of four 305mm/45 Modèle 1906 guns in two twin gun turrets. The secondary battery consisted of twelve 240mm/50 Modèle 1902 guns in six twin gun turrets. Torpedo boat defense was supplied by sixteen 75mm (3.0”) Modèle 1908 Schneider guns and ten 47mm (1.9”) Hotchkiss guns.
Master Model has come to the rescue of big scale Typhoon modelers with their latest releases in 1/24 scale. Both the Hawker Typhoon Mk IB Early Type Cannons with Uncovered Barrels with Flat Recoil Springs (24-014) and Round Recoil Springs (24-015) have been released. Despite the large scale, Airfix’s 20mm Hispano Mk.II cannon barrels can still be significantly improved over the injection plastic offered in the kit. This set is specifically applicable to the Airfix 1/24 Hawker Typhoon. There are currently two releases available. The Hawker Typhoon Mk.IB was released in 2014 with a second release in 2016 featuring additional parts for the ‘Car Door’ option. The first production batch of Typhoon Mk.Ib used the uncovered barrels featured in this set.
The American Civil War was a time of transition, both materially and tactically. On the material side of the equation, metallurgy and weaponry were seeing huge advances. The tactical side struggled to keep pace. When war first broke in 1861 commanders saw the battlefield as a linear environment. That is; long lines of men advancing toward each other to get close enough for the smoothbore weapons of the day to reach maximum efficiency. Technology moved forward with rifled weapons that were more accurate at longer ranges. And coupled with advances in sighting and powder, the ability to reach out and touch your foe at longer ranges meant linear battlefield tactics were becoming obsolete in a deadly way.
Master Model of Poland produces small brass parts for detailing models, be they aircraft or ships. They have parts for aircraft in 1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/72, and 1/144, mostly pitot tubes, refueling probes and gun barrels.
The pitot part is a very fine piece of brass. The brass pitot is much finer than the kit part. Note that in the photos at the bottom, the pitot on the kit has already bent. While I was putting on decals it completely broke off. This saved me having to cut off the pitot to put on the Master brass part. It also shows why the Master part is superior.
Pitot Installation
The installation is pretty simple. I drilled a hole in the nose where the kit pitot had broken off. I test fitted the new part to make sure it fit OK. I put a small drop of gel-type super glue on the base of the pitot, and put it in that hole. I used a bit of accelerator to save some time.
This is Michael Rinaldi’s third book in this series, the first being on the Industria Mechanika 1/35 FichtenFoo's Fantastical Fish-shaped Submersible resin kit with the second being the Trumpeter 1/35 Stalinetz S.65 Russian Army tractor kit. This issue focuses on the Bandai 1/100 Sazabi Gundam Mecha that has been customized. The Single Model (SM) series represents a focus on a specific kit and as such is a limited edition (i.e. Only One Print Run!). This singular focus permits Michael Rinaldi to tackle topics outside of his successful TankArt series and allows him to address finishes that he has not attempted before. A core premise of the new book series is to explore and redefine artistic and creative finishes for each subject.