Eduard continues to expand its series of WWII-era pre-painted seatbelts in the “steel” series. Eduard Models call this product line “Steelbelts”.
This review covers the following items:
The Armstong Whitworth Whiley was a British twin-engined bomber that was in service at the start of WW2 and was the first to drop bombs on a German-held territory. Although it was slow and could only reach 15,000 feet loaded, it was a significant contributor at the beginning of the war.
The kit comes molded in a light gray plastic that is somewhat soft, but has a sturdy box. Looking into the box one sees that the elevators and rudders come as separate pieces, but the ailerons are molded to the wing. The tires have the flattened look and there are some sink marks in the bomb bay doors. Not knowing much about this plane, I followed directions and found that part D.32 did not fit well. It needed to be cut in half to allow it to fit in place.
The Dassault Aviation company of France has been producing and exporting delta wing aircraft for 50 years. The first production series, the Mirage III, 5 and 50 started production around 1960. By the time production had ceased, over 1400 of these first-generation had been produced and various versions were in use in around twenty countries. The aircraft had a reputation for good performance, the ability to fulfill many different tasks and reasonable cost. In many cases, some components were produced in the customer country.
Matthew Willis was born in the historic naval town of Harwich, Essex in 1976. Matthew studied Literature and History of Science at the University of Kent, where he wrote an MA thesis on Joseph Conrad and sailed for the University in national competitions. He subsequently worked as a journalist for Autosport and F1 Racing magazines, before switching to a career with the National Health Service, where he wrote everything from press releases to consultation papers. His first non-fiction book, a history of the Blackburn Skua WW2 naval dive bomber, was published in 2007. He currently lives in Southampton with his University lecturer wife Rosalind, and writes both fiction and non-fiction for a living. This is Matthew Willis fifth book, and fourth with Mushroom Model Publications. Matthew has also been published in four short-story anthologies with author J. A. Ironside. He has also authored many feature articles in aviation and scale modeling magazines.
To those who model Soviet era and modern Russian aircraft there has been a welcome proliferation of weapons which have emerged on the market, so we have something to hang on aircraft models other than rocket launchers and dumb bombs. Unlike the west, the Soviet, and now Russian military is not known for the use of smart ordnance, and rare were the pictures of them fitted. But a wide range of weapons exist for specialized missions and the pictures coming from Syria show smart weapons being hung.
A new manufacturer from Russia has come on the scene to offer perhaps the widest range of munitions than we have seen so far on the market – Advanced Modeling (AM). Multi-media kits with cleanly cast in gray, durable resin; the detail is superb.
To those who model Soviet era and modern Russian aircraft there has been a welcome proliferation of weapons which have emerged on the market, so we have something to hang on aircraft models other than rocket launchers and dumb bombs. Unlike the west, the Soviet and now Russian military is not known for the use of smart ordnance, and rare were the pictures of them fitted. But a wide range of weapons exist for specialized missions and the pictures coming from Syria show smart weapons being hung.
A new manufacturer from Russia has come on the scene to offer perhaps the widest range of munitions than we have seen so far on the market – Advanced Modeling (AM). Multi-media kits with cleanly cast in gray, durable resin; the detail is superb. The casting are so well done that I could see faintly detect lathe marks when the masters were turned.
Back in ’77 the AMC Pacer was arguably ahead of its time. The expanded windows were a definite safety feature allowing greater visibility, and the sub-compact (now the same size as some mid-size cars) had great fuel consumption. Unfortunately, it was “too far ahead” and people described its odd look as an upside-down fishbowl.
To those who model Soviet era and modern Russian aircraft there has been a welcome proliferation of weapons which have emerged on the market, so we have something to hang on aircraft models other than rocket launchers and dumb bombs. Unlike the west, the Soviet and now Russian military is not known for the use of smart ordnance, and rare were the pictures of them fitted. But a wide range of weapons exist for specialized missions and the pictures coming from Syria show smart weapons being hung.
A new manufacturer from Russia has come on the scene to offer perhaps the widest range of munitions than we have seen so far on the market – Advanced Modeling (AM). Multi-media kits with cleanly cast in gray, durable resin and the detail is superb.
Furball; a dogfighters’ term for a fighter-themed modeling company. We sincerely appreciate Furball Aero-Design’s support of IPMS USA and their providing one more of their great products for review. And thanks to the reviewer corps leaders for sending this set to me to review!
Everyone who loves to mask flaps and slats on white-belly marked F-14’s, raise your hands. (Not you, Scott, I know you hate Navy stuff and won’t touch them). Long story there...
Anyway, for the other hundreds who didn’t raise your hands and laboriously mask off the white slats and flaps on your Tomcats with bits of masking tape and swearing profusely, Furball has a simple solution: This very fine vinyl mask set!
To use: assemble Tamiya’s F-14 wings, and do all your prep work (seams, etc). Stick the wings on a holding fixture (I found the kit runners had some candidates), then primer with white.
From The Casement Publisher's website:
