Master Model produces some fine metal components for aircraft kits. The metal pitots are really super, especially after you’ve broken the plastic one provided in the kit. In this case I found the pitot had totally broken off the Buccaneer. I had to replace it with a part from a new kit.

The pitot was a direct replacement.

The instructions give a very good idea of what needs to be done and how to do it. I’m very glad that at one point I bought a set of metric drills, so I have a .5mm drill bit. I used a pin vise. I had to work a bit to get the pin vise to go small enough to hold that small drill.

I cut the pitot off the mounting part and used a #11 blade to make a little depression so the drill bit didn’t slip. The drilling went pretty well, although it was a tedious process drilling by hand. Once the hole was deep enough, I glued the new pitot in place with gel-type CA. This worked just fine. I painted the pitot mount RAF Gulf War pink and the pitot silver from an old bottle of Testors paint. The age of the paint is shown by the 19 cent price on the lid.

The refueling probe was a slightly different process, as it was still attached to the model. No problem. As soon as I removed the old probe tip and began to drill the probe detached from the fuselage. I had trouble getting the drill centered on the probe, both because it was shaped differently from the pitot base and because I failed to use the #11 blade to make a starting point. As a result, the hole wasn’t as straight as it should have been. I also had to use some of the CA to fill in around the probe. A little touch up paint and I reattached the finished probe assembly.

OVERALL EVALUATION

Recommended. The metal pitot is a welcome addition to just about any model. The refueling probe tip looks better than the blobby Airfix item. The parts fit nicely, and I was happy with everything except my craftsmanship on the refueling probe.