In the past few months ICM has been producing some long sought after kits, as well as some unexpected, such as the WWII German Torpedo with Trailer. This kit would be ideal for those who want some extra diorama detail for a German maritime bomber or just a nice simple stand alone kit.
This book compiles the 4-view color profiles, scale plans, and photo details of the single variant of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 (Early).
The “Single” series of monographs from MMP books is very familiar to most modelers, and continues with this most recent entry concerning the equally familiar Messerschmitt Bf-109G-6. Containing scale plans in both 1/72 & 1/48 scales, black & white period photos, diagrams from the aircrafts’ “Handbuch”, and a full color profile, this 24-page monograph should be of serious interest to the Luftwaffe modeler.
Focusing largely on Rumanian (changed to Romanian after WWII) ‘109s, there is one photo of a captured machine sporting RAF roundels, and a few Luftwaffe ones as well. Numerous, up-close detail photos are helpful to the modeler in a “walk around” sort of way. Zu fasteners, weapons, canopies (and their retention mechanisms), landing gear, fuselage bulges and other details are covered.
Before we begin, a few words from our sponsor...
The Value Gear Details idea is to give model builders (me included) a more useful spares box! Creating and casting sets of Generic/Universal stowage. No helmets, no weapons and nothing to keep you from using it in a wooden cart, a chariot, a truck, or a Panther tank. "Any Army, Any Era!" is my motto.
They won't work on everything but so far I have seen people use them on so many different trucks and tanks and even some War Hammer tanks and dioramas. Stowage are accents to help give your model some story or a lived in realistic look. Armies live under canvas...
The Generic/Universal idea is one that bounced around in my head for years, but I never had time or energy working 12 hours a day in USA, to get started. Moving to Ireland for the past 2 years gave me the chance to be a daytime dad (priceless chance of a lifetime) and a night time sculpting and resin casting machine.
There are certain things that seem to define some nation’s armor in WW2. The Soviets had their political slogans painted on vehicles, and the Americans had lots of personal equipment stacked and hung on the vehicle. If you are modeling the US Army in WW2, you have wall-to-wall Olive Drab in your display case. Value Gear provides the modeler with a wide selection of low-cost stowage to break-up that OD.
Value Gear from the USA specializes in stowage sets for military vehicles. Many are generic tarps and boxes that will work for any county and almost any period. Others are specific to an Army, era, or vehicle. In this review, I will be covering three sets for USA vehicles in WW2
As the product description says, this is an upgrade set to convert the Hobby Boss A-10A to an A-10C cockpit. The base kit comes configured as an A model and the analog instrument panel provided reflects that. In the late 1990s A-10s were upgraded with GPS navigation and other capabilities that required multi-function displays in a reconfigured instrument panel. For that reason, the kit finishing schemes may not be accurate so check your references. This set reflects those changes but the “upgrade’ doesn't stop there. Taking full advantage of 3D printing technology, in addition to the cast cockpit tub, the set includes 3D printed interior frames for the canopy and windscreen, the HUD frame, rear deck and canopy actuator and integral instrument panel and shroud. The detail of these parts is stunning. In particular the inter frames for the clear parts take canopy finish to a new level. The fit of these parts is spot on. As the set is designed, the canopy must be open.
A focal point of any A-10 build is all of the ordinance hanging from eleven hardpoints across its wingspan. While the Hobby Boss A-10 has a lot of strong points, the kit provided weapon pylons are not one of them. The surface details consist of dimpled rivets and some raised boxy panels. Phase Hangar corrects that for us with this set of replacement pylons with separate bomb rack inserts. Each pylon includes a raised station reference on the casting block that corresponds to the weapon station diagram in the kit instructions. As with the other parts Phase Hangar produces for the Hobby Boss kit, these have fine surface details. There are no instructions on the Phase Hangar site for this but you don’t need them. Identify the weapons station, remove the casting block and drop into the recess on the kit wing. After minor cleanup to remove the casting sprue, the bomb rack parts drop into recesses under the pylon and include sway braces.
AMMO has added a new way to apply some products already in their extensive collection of “liquids” for weathering our models. The Effects Brushers come in an elongated 10 ml bottle 4.25” tall and 0.625" in diameter with a special cap 1.5” long. This cap houses a narrow, pointed brush 3.5” long and sports a painting tip with long bristles. My review samples are: Fresh Engine Oil (1800), Fuel Stains (1801), and Wet Effects (1802). There are currently 20 different effects supplied by these Brushers. Being enamel based, they allow the modeler a lot of time to “work” the effect. AMMO suggest using their Enamel Odorless Thinner to thin the product and clean up afterwards. Although these particular weathering effects are available in other containers, the advantage here is the built in brush with an inherent ease of application. With everything ready to go in one bottle, applying these different effects will be easier, faster, and cleaner and with little waste.
The Hobby Boss 1/48 A-10 kit can make up into an impressive kit right out of the box. As with another production kits however, it has some areas that need detail upgrades to represent the aircraft in scale. One of those areas in this kit are the engine exhausts. The Hobby Boss parts C8 & C9 make up the turbine section of the engine. There is no internal detail so you end up with a black hole inside the exhaust.
Luckily, Phase Hangar has developed a solution. This detail set includes one piece -3D printed exhaust cones with amazing surface detail inside and outside. Two other parts create the internal turbine details one would see if looking into the exhaust of the real thing. Phase Hangar provides detailed instructions online that take the builder through the steps to incorporate this set into the kit parts.
Phase Hangar provides a nice upgrade of the engine inlet for all A-10 variants. Before we get deeper into using this set, the inlet parts Hobby Boss provides are impressively thin and detailed for injection molded parts. However, A-10 builders always encounter the same issue, how to mask and paint the inlet interiors, fan blades and center cones. Phase Hangar has solved those issues by separating these parts making access and painting a lot easier.
That’s not the only advantage of this set. The fan blades are scale thin with gaps that allow a view of the structures behind. As with other complex Phase Hangar sets, the instructions are provided on their website and include detailed descriptions and photos to modify the kit parts for a realistic view behind those beautiful fans.
Phase Hangar resin provides a very nice correction set for the Kitty Hawk SH-60B Sea Hawk which I built a few months ago for an IPMS USA review, I really wish I had this set back then as it adds some nice additions to the kit.
The set comes with
I did have an issue when I went to the website for the instructions as they were not available when I first looked, but once I e-mailed them, they replied very quickly and sent them to me. They are now back on the website as I did check. Great customer service!
All the four parts are very well cast and very crisp and detailed. The operators Console is an awesome addition on its own!
