Eduard Models from the Czech Republic keep expanding its line of detail sets for its line of 1/48 MiG-21s. This time, they added a resin cockpit from their Brassin line for the MiG-21MF (early).

As with most Brassin line sets, there are resin and some photo-etch parts. The photo-etch fret is pre-painted and includes many details, like instrument dials, besides the traditional seat belts.

For some reason, there are two kinds of resin used in this set. One is darker than the other. I’m not sure what the difference is. Something that might be a first for Eduard (at least, it’s the first time I’ve seen it) is the inclusion of a part molded in clear resin for the gun sight. Another added value is the addition of a mask set for accurate painting of the interior detail.

A nice detail to have included is a pilot’s helmet among the resin parts. It would look really cool either sitting on the seat or hanging from the cockpit side.

First of all, I would like to state how excited I am to do this review of the Dark Shadows Barnabas vampire model. Dark Shadows has long been an obsession of mine and I jumped at the chance to build my second model. Dark Shadows, developed by Dan Curtis, was a well-loved soap opera with a 5 year run, starting in 1966. The original plot revolved around an orphan girl who came to a small New England town to serve as governess at Collinwood, a large, haunted Victorian manor. The theme included all things spooky, with many story lines borrowed from classic gothic novels of the day: Frankenstein, Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Grey, the Wolfman, Turn of the Screw, H. P. Lovecraft, and others. Jonathan Frid, a Shakespearean actor, played Barnabas Collins, the “reluctant vampire”. His addition to the cast brought the ratings through the roof, to the delight of the show’s fans.

The Kit

I’m not a big fan of Dark Shadows, it’s too much “Soap Opera” for me. I can’t follow who’s who, and what they’re doing from one episode to the next. But I really enjoyed the Round 2/Polar Lights 3 Stooges figures, so I went for this one.

The kit is pretty standard for a large-scale plastic item, with only a few parts: head (2 pieces), body (also 2 pieces), two arms (2 pieces each), two 2-piece feet, and 2 hands. There are also an extra set of vinyl arms, which can be set up with a wire to allow changing poses. The joyful moment in this build came when I was reading the instructions and discovered that the optional extra “glow in the dark” head, hands and feet could be used to make a Midget Werewolf!! Yeah, I gotta do that.

David Doyle has given us another excellent walk around publication. This one covers the M26 Dragon Wagon tank transporter, used by the United States Army during World War II. Those of us who have the Ampersand Publishing Dragon Wagon book, by David and Pat Stansell, will find 80 pages of new pictures with cover art by Don Greer. This book is filled with captioned color pictures of expertly restored vehicles.

The tractor portion of the Dragon Wagon is an M26 or M26A1 tractor. The trailer portion is the M15 or M15A2 Tank-Recovery Semi-Trailer. Together they become the M26 Dragon Wagon.

The M26 tractor is the hard top version seen in the Tamiya kit. It had an armored cab, so that it could be “buttoned up” when under fire, but it was heavy and hard on the power train, and was rarely used under fire. The M26A1 was a soft-skin version, unarmored, with lower maintenance requirements.

After masking the black for the boot topping, the red was masked and the upper part of the hull sprayed with Italeri acrylic gray. This was a frustrating experience. The paint will just not behave properly in my Badger double-action airbrush. I tried various thinning ratios, but was not able to hit a mix that would perform for more than five or six seconds before splattering and running, or clogging up the works. I did manage to finish painting the hull, but resolved to brush paint the remainder of the gray parts. It does brush paint much better, but do not attempt to thin it with water (as the paint label calls for).

Removing the masking from the hull revealed that I am not as good at ship masking as I thought. The boot topping stripe in particular was not uniform – some of that gray paint had seeped underneath the tape and you know what that means. Touch up. I did that and got it looking respectable again.