During World War II, the concept of creating airfields in days, rather than months or years, came about with the use of what was called “Pierced Steel Planking”. These were segments of metal, linked together to form runways, taxiways, and parking areas, to name a few. Its modern day equivalent is the M8A1 Landing Mat.

This is a fairly simple, straight-forward kit. Six sprues, each containing one section of matting, comprised the entire kit. The instructions show two different ways of creating a rectangular mat, and I build the 2^nd version.

The only downside I have to mention is that when I assembled the kit, there was a minute gap down the center seam – although I cannot discount the possibility of an erroneous assembly procedure on my part.

Painted and weathered well, this would be a great little addition to any diorama in 1/72 scale. Best of all, each kit can combine with other landing mat kits for bigger aprons and parking spaces.

This ResKit 3D printed resin set includes three crew members: pilot, copilot, and a rear facing crew chief or flight engineer that controls the hoist. The figures come in three incredibly detailed resin blocks. The first includes the three figures seated in CH – 54 seats. The second block includes four heads for the figures. There are options for the pilots’ helmets to have visors down or up. The headsets on the helmet are printed with a gap between the figure’s face and the headset. The crew chief head is molded on the body with the visor up. The third block includes the control levers for the CH – 54.

The ResKit figures are produced in cooperation with ICM so they will fit perfectly into the ICM cockpit.

Scale Aircraft Conversions has been creating parts for modelers since 1990 and has long supported the IPMS-USA Review Corps with their items for review. The white metal parts are meant to replicate the original kit parts, but with the additional strength of being metal instead of plastic. There is also an advantage in that the metal gear can be slightly bent, if necessary, once installed to allow for improved positioning.

After reviewing the Scale Aircraft Conversions metal landing gear for the Fine Molds Ki-43 III I knew exactly what I was getting into with this set. My sample had castings that seemed rough along with mold part lines and parts slightly bent in the package. I cleaned up one main gear leg and the tail wheel leg as best I could. A coat of Mr. Surfacer black followed by a layer of Testors Steel Metallizer did not seem to completely cover some issues I had identified. A few layers of watercolors highlighted the details.

The IPMS-USA recently began receiving items for review from Gaahleri. The company is relatively new and first introduced airbrushes and has since expanded into the production of their own line of paints. In addition to their individual and sets of paints, they have also released their own Cleaner, which can be used on both paint brushes and airbrushes. This cleaner is advertised as being non-toxic, odorless, non-flammable, and safe for the environment by Gaahleri.

The Kaleido ColorWorks Cleaner used in this review came packaged in a 210ml (7.1fl oz) bottle that sells reasonably at $9.99, which is comparable to other airbrush cleaners. I have successfully used the Cleaner for the Gaahleri ColorWorks Metallic paints as well as several of their Auto Colors. While the Cleaner does a nice job with initial cleaning, I continue to use a Lacquer Thinner for the final cleaning, and when I first added this to the “clean” color cup, I did force out a small amount of paint residue.

When I received this set, I thought the parts were too small to be 1/32 scale. Turns out the Tunnan has a round fuselage with all the gear contained within it. This allows for very short landing gear legs. SAC appears to have duplicated the kit parts in their usual soft white metal. My research indicates the landing gear in the base kit is tricky to install, so don’t expect the fit you might get from other brands these days. I also read comments about the need for stronger main gear legs since the completed model has a bit of heft to it.