Dragon has once again cobbled together parts from several of their kits to produce a scale representation of an unusual vehicle used by the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front. This time around it is the Flakpanzer T-34(r), a combination of the Soviet T-34 tank hull, and the four-barreled German 2cm Flakvierling 38. To complete the conversion, the kit includes a selection of extra parts, such as the turret, to produce an accurate replica of this fascinating late-war vehicle. An array of photo-etched parts and Magic track links are also included to enhance the detail.
Reviews
Eduard has released a series of WWII-era seatbelts in the “steel” series. I think that Eduard Models call this product line “Steelbelts”.
This review covers the following items:
Among several integrated sets of Model Air paints produced by Vallejo for common AFV camouflage schemes is their U.S. Olive Drab set, consisting of four color paints, an Olive Drab Primer and a clear Satin Varnish.
Opening the box reveals a vacuform tray holding six half-size (quarter ounce) bottles, each one holding slightly less than half as much paint as one of Vallejo’s standard bottles. The assumption is that the paint set would be one-stop shop, with enough paint for (at least) single project, although my experience with Vallejo paints is that this set could easily be stretched across three or four normal-sized 1/35th scale builds.
I am very appreciative of Acrylicos Vallejo for sending new products for review, and I am equally appreciative of all the Review Corps crew members who take care of all of the legwork to get materials to reviewers and the completed reviews published for the modeling community. It is a privilege to be part of this manufacturer-modeler group effort.
The Aggressors are used to simulate potential enemy aircraft. The 65th Aggressor Squadron painted up their aircraft to visually look like the enemy aircraft. In this case they took on the look of the Su-27.
The decals and instructions are included in a zip lock bag. The instructions are included on a double-sided 8.5 x 11 high quality paper. Both sides of the four aircraft are shown. On the front of the instructions are the left and right side with the individual aircraft peculiarity. As is typical of the level of research that Two Bobs does the instructions give you the FS numbers of the paint scheme and the modifications necessary to make your kit accurate. The back of the instructions gives the color cross-reference for Testors, Humbrol, Gunze and Xtracrylic.
Sincere appreciation to Eduard for providing IPMS USA yet another review item, and to the IPMS reviewer corps leaders for sending it to me!
This set is part of Eduard’s expanding range of aftermarket accessories to use on various aircraft. In this case, you receive four missile bodies with aft fins already cast in place, a set of forward fins (16 total), and four clear resin seeker heads. Also included is a set of resin ground-protective end caps which can be placed over the seeker heads, and a decal sheet to handle all four missiles. There is also a brass etched set of missile nozzles.
A word on the detail: FANTASTIC! These are the first AIM-9’s I’ve noted that have all three rail mounts in place between the fins; the rollerons are extremely well done, and the rest of the missile looks the part.
Contained inside a ziplock baggie is a sheet of high quality, high viz, full color stencils for the A-4 Skyhawk. With the Hasegawa and Hobbycraft kits on the market the need for quality decals cannot be overstated.
These decals from AOA Decals are perfectly in register. Even though the one star and bars looks deformed it is perfectly correct. It is designed to fit over the inflight refueling boom. That is the attention to detail that you get with AOA Decals.
The decals themselves are printed by Cartograf so you know they are the best in the world. They are thin and in perfect register with good color saturation. There are plenty of variations for some of the common stencils. So you’ll have to check your references. The sheet is about 5.5 x 9 inches and contains markings to do a single Skyhawk.
The decals are applicable to the early A-4A, B, C/L and E. They also cover the A-4F and M.
Thanks to Ross at SAC for yet another outstanding metal gear set. IPMS USA continues to appreciate the support! In this case, I purchased the gear, because I really needed it.
This set is, again, a simple drop-in replacement gear for the new 1/32 Italeri F-104C. This is the logical follow-on kit to the previously released F-104G/S, and this kit is great. A bit expensive, but the decal sheets are huge Cartograf items with several options. The basic plastic and the few add-ons like the gear was worth my money.
The SAC set contains the entire main gear beam strut area as one unitary item, and a nose gear. Both are perfectly cast and directly upgrade the kit parts.
Installation is easy. Use superglue and press the SAC gear in place. They fit perfectly, and impress with strength and “peace of mind” when attaching wheels/tires to the axles.
Russian 1/72nd scale modelers rejoice. There are some superior parts available for your aircraft. Advanced Modeling used actual blueprints and prototypes to render these miniature gems in 3D CAD. This set is designed to replicate the bomb rack used on ground attack aircraft holding 250kg bombs.
The packaging is in a self-sealing bag that contains the parts for two racks, with parts contained in two separate self-sealing bags. There is even a small decal sheet for those that have Optivisors, as these decals are small.
The instructions are beautifully printed and attached to card-stock packaging. They are written in Russian and English. The drawings are simply beautiful and extremely accurate. The one sheet shows where the decals go.
Sometime back in 2015 it was announced that ICM was going to produce a new 1/48 Ju-88 series kit. I was rather intrigued as the Ju-88 is one of my favorite aircraft of WWII and that the last time I actually built a Ju-88 was an old Hobbycraft kit back in the late 1980’s. Then sometime in the early 1990’s a new model company DML, later Dragon, came onto the market with a whole series of the Ju-88 family. At the time these were top notch kits but some of the engineering in order to produce a wide variety of variants made things slightly complicated for some, myself included. So with this announcement of a new Ju-88 kit coming out I was excited but at the same time very reluctant as my past experience with ICM not being favorable.
