Quickboost now offers model builders an aftermarket detail set that replaces the wing gun barrels and pitot tube found in Tamiya’s 1/72 A6M5 kit. The parts provide a higher level of detail and accuracy, and the gun barrels are molded with open ends. The parts are designed simply to drop-in, in place of the kit part, and provide better detail.

The parts are molded in Quickboost’s familiar resin on a small casting block with protective bars on the ends. The quality of the molding is quite flawless, with no bubbles, pinholes, or flash to deal with. A sharp #11 X-Acto blade or razor saw blade is the only tool needed to remove the parts from the casting block, and a quick swipe with a sanding stick can dress up the cut, if necessary. Because they are resin, they must be anchored with superglue or epoxy cement.

These detail parts will be a very nice addition to the 1/72 scale Tamiya 1/72 A6M5 kit. This set is highly recommended.

Quickboost has produced a set of resin gun barrels to replace the nose armament for the Eduard Bf-110E kit. The only real differences between the kit and replacement parts are that the resin part is one piece, whereas the kit parts need to be glued together, and the gun barrels are drilled out, allowing for more realism. Once installed, the gun barrels are barely visible, although the drilled out muzzles do stand out, and the parts are so small that drilling them out could be a bit tedious at best.

This is a nice little addition to what is already an excellent kit. Recommended. My thanks to Quickboost and to IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review these items.

Following the conclusion of World War II the U.S. Army and the U.S.M.C. were in dire need of a heavy tank to keep up with the Soviet armor force. After many years of development and testing the M103 was ready to go into production. Through the development of the M103 there were several variants developed. The main variant being the M51 heavy tank recovery vehicle. The M103 never served in a war zone, but was deployed in Germany and, of all places, Guantanamo, Cuba. The M103 was retired after only fourteen years of operational service.

The author and Osprey publishing do a very good job of telling how the M103 came to be and then finally being put into service. The writing is very clear and they use photos and artist drawings of the M103 in combat, which it never was, just kind of a "what if" type of artist's rendering.

One interesting side note is that there is a local military museum that has an M103 turret as one of their displays.

Quickboost now offers model builders an aftermarket detail set that replaces the exhaust pipes found in Tamiya’s great 1/72 A6M5 kit. As nice as the kit parts may be, these pipes provide greater detail than those in the kit because Quickboost has molded them with open ends. They are designed to simply drop in, in place of the kit parts. As the photo below shows, they match up with the kit parts exactly so adding them to the model should be a simple matter after they are removed from the casting block.

History

When Ernst Udet brought back two Curtiss Hawk biplanes to Germany in the middle thirties after witnessing dive bombing demonstrations by US Navy pilots, he started a trend that resulted in the development of dive bombing aircraft for the Luftwaffe that eventually resulted in the development of the Junkers JU-87. Capable of nearly vertical dives retarded by very effective dive brakes, bombing accuracy improved dramatically, and during World War II, the Germans, along with the Americans and Japanese, developed dive bombing to a fine art. The Ju-87 was an early attempt at a specialized dive bomber, and although progressively developed during the war, could never keep pace with or coexist in an environment with enemy fighters unless a strong friendly fighter escort was present, a luxury the Germans didn’t always have.