Reviews

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$11.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions, located in Texas, is well known to be a source of high-quality white metal landing gear sets for aircraft. Visiting the SAC Home Page on the internet, SAC states that, “ We manufacture a line of white metal landing gear for 1/18 to 1/144 scale aircraft. Some sets consist of the main gear only while others include the nose gear, tail gear and/or adjacent related components. Some inaccuracies in the original kit gear have been corrected but the mounting points remain identical to the factory parts. With numerous sets we have not sought to duplicate non load bearing component parts where the factory plastic parts are reasonably accurate. “

SAC also notes that they have been in business since 1990, offering white metal and resin parts. The SAC website features a page that will help the “first-timer” to successfully install the white metal parts of the model. Look for the navigation link labeled, “Using White Metal”.

Book Author(s)
Dariusz Paduch
Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$24.95

About the Series

“The InCombat series is aimed for those who would like to quickly learn about fascinating history of specific vehicle, plane or ship. Every tome consists of most important information about history, versions, and service of one combat machine.

Each book has tens of pages in A4 format and consists of dozens of interesting photos, color illustrations, technical drawings, and maps. In every tome, there is a free gift in the form of masks or decals for modelers.”

Review Author
Michael Reeves
Published on
Company
AMT
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$29.99

The popular CW show “Supernatural” just ended its final episode to many viewers’ chagrin. The timing of this car kit’s release couldn’t have been better. Nobody puts “Baby” in the corner…sorry- couldn’t resist. And from what I have been reading online, many modelers who aren’t fans or have never seen the show are really excited as it is the first 4-door version of this popular car model. As I will mention in the review, there is some disappointing aspects of this kit however that would’ve made this so much better. I’m not a highly skilled car modeler, but enjoy one now and again…so keep that in mind.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$14.68

This is a book from a series called Steel Series that covers armor subjects for modelers. This book covers Panzer I and II. The book’s aim is to provide all the distinctive details of iconic tanks. The book has 74 pages and over 190 high quality images. The book is in English, Spanish, and French.

The Panzer I and II were the mainstay of the German army at the beginning of World War II. All the images in the book are an awesome collection that will help any modeler in building a better representation of the tanks. The book will also be a great addition for historians, and anyone interested in these iconic tanks.

Each variant is covered in great detail with extremely high-quality photos. The Profile drawings are a great bonus at the back of the book.

The detailed photos in the book are fantastic and perfect for both tank enthusiast and modelers.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$19.99

Product Description

ICM has released a kit in 1/32nd scale featuring a “crew” of 3 Luftwaffe ground personnel in uniforms that would be worn from 1939 to 1945. The kit also includes a 200 liter fuel drum, a pair of smaller containers for liquids, a fuel pump to attach to the fuel drum, and a toolbox with the lid closed. Two of the figures appear to be wearing the same uniform, while the 3rd figure, standing and carrying one of the aforementioned liquid containers in his right hand, is wearing a slightly different uniform, lighter in color than his crew-mates.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$7.00

Quickboost is a company that specializes in drop-in resin replacement parts to enhance the appearance of your models. Being “drop-in” replacements, it is very rare you need you modify the original parts, hence the “quick” name.

In this case I am reviewing the exhaust engine for the well-known P-51D Mustang in 1/48 scale from Airfix.

As you can see from the pictures the resin parts have hollow ends which would look much better than the plastic parts. The resin parts also have no mold part lines, as the plastic parts do.

The resin parts are cleanly casted, free of bubbles or any other defect. They are protected by two resin “walls” on each end of the cast. I would suggest removing those walls before removing the exhausts themselves.

This simple drop-in part would make a nice kit, into an even nicer one.

Highly recommended.

I would like to thank Aires/Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$16.36

I have been using enamels for many years (decades) now. Enamel hobby paints are getting harder to find and there are the health considerations on enamels, so I have been exploring different acrylics options out there. I was excited to see I had the chance to review the AMMO products, as some of my modeling buddies had good things to say about them.

Readying the AMMO website, you learn that these paints are odorless, water soluble, and non-toxic. All of those above make these paints interesting alternatives as non-toxicity is a great thing and odorless makes the rest of the family happy.

I have to say that I did find a very faint smell on these paints. It is not strong at all and it is not offensive nor headache-inducing as enamels or lacquers. The best I can describe the smell is ‘earthly’. A bit like mud or clay, from a pottery workshop.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$16.36

I have been using enamels for many years (decades) now. Enamel hobby paints are getting harder to find and there are the health considerations on enamels, so I have been exploring different acrylic options out there. I was excited to see the chance to review the AMMO products, as some of my modeling buddies had good things to say about them.

Reading the AMMO website, you learn that these paints are odorless, water soluble and non-toxic. All of those above make these paints interesting alternatives as non-toxicity is a great thing and odorless makes the rest of the family happy.

I have to say that I did find a very faint smell on these paints. It is not strong at all and it is not offensive nor headache-inducing as enamels or lacquers. The best I can describe the smell is ‘earthly’. A bit like mud or clay, from a pottery workshop.

Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$10.95

This set is designed for Academy’s new F-14A kit. The set provides masks not only for the canopy and the windscreen, but also for the tires or wheel hubs.

There are three parts to the windscreen mask, one for each side and the central panel. The main canopy has 4 parts for each section, two for each side. The instructions advise you to cover the rest of the canopy area with liquid masking, but I prefer to cut small strips out of the unused parts of the masking sheet and use these strips to mask off the rest of the canopy.

After masking the canopy and tacking it over the cockpit, I painted the canopy frames with flat black as this is the interior color of the Tomcat canopy. When this had dried, I then painted the canopy light gull grey when I painted the topside color as I was building an early Tomcat. After painting and decaling were complete, I removed the masks from the canopy sections and discovered a perfectly painted canopy.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
AFV Club
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$124.99

AFV Club has released yet another version of Israeli’s rework of the venerable American M60 Main Battle Tank. This time around we meet the ‘Magach 6B GAL’ – a version that, as far as I know, has only been reproduced in 1/35th scale with the help of an after-market Legend set. ‘Magach’, Hebrew for ‘battering ram’, has no less than six origins in Wikipedia, so I’ll let the reader decide where this moniker actually came from. Needless to say, these ‘re-wired’ M48 and M60 tanks proved to be equal to the task of filling the gap between earlier, British and WWII armor and the current Merkava armor types – the final conversion occurring in 2006.