Review Author
Alan Wickham
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$26.95

A very nice new kit from Revell, this is the stock version, issued after the "Starsky and Hutch" version. The kit is a very simple build that almost harkens back to the old screw bottom kits. It was a pleasure to build, as there was basically no flash, and fit and finish were fantastic. Chrome is excellent quality, and the glass are all seperate pieces that fit very nicely. A welcome attribute.

I built my kit mostly box stock, except for the following: I added a distributor and wires and I also added the factory optional quarter "opera" windows and vinyl top, simply to break up the large expanse of roof and quarter panel on these cars. I also used vintage Uniroyal white walls, as the kit supplied white wall tires seem to have too low of a profile. A wonderful kit that I would recommend to anyone, advanced or not. The only problem I found with the entire kit, are the relatively low profile tires, that if used, would look too small on the car.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
January 31, 2018
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$6.49

The porcupine exhaust on the Beaufighter are distinctive and not the easiest thing to injection mold in a kit. So Quickboost has made some resin replacements for the new Airfix kits and they are beauties.

The kit exhaust is made up of two parts where the Quickboost item is just one part. My only concern is the replacement is noticeably bigger than the kit parts. But when compared to the 72nd drawings that I have the replacement part looks dead on.

So, another quick replacement that really will add to your next Beaufighter build.

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review kit.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
January 31, 2018
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$7.00

The Beaufighter had two different types of air intakes on top of the engines, a short one and a long one. This set from Quickboost covers the short version. The resin parts are cast perfectly and should be easy to remove from the block. The short intakes in the new Airfix kits are made up of two halves so there will be a seam to take care of. The resin replacements are single parts with very thin edges and will be that much easier to use.

The other parts in the set are direct replacements for the kit parts and add a lot of detail with the thinness of the castings.

One thing I noticed is out of the 4 versions offered between the TF.X and the TF.10 kits, only one in the later kit uses the short intakes. That said, there are numerous aftermarket decal sets that will need these shorter ones.

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review kit.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
January 29, 2018
Company
Plusmodel
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$10.70

In Plusmodel’s Aero Line is this nice set of rockets for the Beaufighter. Included are 8 resin 3-inch rockets, 8 launch rails and 2 launcher mounting plates. All are beautifully cast with no flaws.

The rockets have extremely thin tail fins and this caused me all kinds of trouble. In fact, it took three tries before I could get a rocket off the sprue without breaking at least one fin off. Those of you with more resin experience than myself should have no trouble but be warned.

Once you have them cut off they are truly great looking with very nice detail and a direct replacement for the Airfix items.

Thanks to Plusmodel and IPMS/USA for the review kit.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
January 28, 2018
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$2.97

This is a brass replacement for the nose pitot on the 1/144 J35 Draken. But wait, there’s more… It’s also an add-on for a tail pitot. But you have to check. Some Drakens have the tail pitot, many don’t, so check a photo before adding the tail pitot.

The brass parts are always a welcome replacement for the plastic parts. All too often the plastic pitots prove to be fragile, and they break or bend. The Master pitots are fine turned brass, and they stand up to age and handling far better than the styrene kit parts.

In this case I had a Pit Road Draken I built last year. I replaced the nose pitot, and upgraded the tail with the new pitot there.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
January 28, 2018
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$5.00

This set for the new Airfix Beaufighter is a bit different. It includes a replacement antenna and pitot tube which are direct replacements for the kit parts. They are, as usual, nicely cast with no air bubbles.

The other 3 bits are position lights molded in clear red, blue, and amber resin. The unusual bit about these is there are no instructions telling you where they belong on the model. The kit doesn’t include position lights and there is nowhere in the kit instructions on where they could be. In fact, looking around the web there is a complete lack of info on Beaufighter position lights. So, what is a modeler to do?

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
January 26, 2018
Company
Squadron Signal Publications
MSRP
$19.95

After many years of being published in enthusiast publications focused on military vehicle restorations, David Doyle ‘graduated’ to full-fledged books in 2003. His first book was a hefty 512 page history of US military vehicles. He has now had more than 100 books published in military vehicles, aviation and naval topics. David and his wife Denise have amassed a collection of ten Vietnam era military vehicles that still displays at shows. In June 2015, was honored with the Military Vehicle Preservation Association’s Bart Vanderveen Award, given in recognition of "...the individual who has contributed the most to the historic preservation of military vehicles worldwide." Be sure to check out David’s website at www.DavidDoyleBooks.com where you can see and buy at a discounted price off of MSRP all his books that are still available.

Book Author(s)
Mark Lardas Illustrator: Mark Postlethwaite
Review Author
Hub Plott
Published on
January 26, 2018
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$20.00

This book is the second in a new series covering major air campaigns in history. This book covers the fight against the Japanese held island stronghold of Rabaul. This island fortress was blocking the allied advance to Tokyo, Home to around 100,000 troops and numerous airfields it was felt that even an all-out assault would not lead to the taking of the island. Thus the Allies began a campaign of aerial assault adding in the use of naval and land forces to reduce the ability of Rabaul to play an important part in the war. This campaign became the blueprint for further combat in the Pacific, showing that it was not necessary to occupy the island to control it.

The book is broken down into 9 sections. The introduction discusses in brief the strategic importance of Rabaul and all the reasons it was such a natural and important base for the Japanese in WWII>

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
January 26, 2018
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$49.95

No one can accuse Eduard of not listening to their critics. First the redid their Bf-109s and now they have started to redo their FW-190 series. The first Focke Wulfs that Eduard released were complicated and over engineered for most modelers. They contained a lot of great detail but the fit was fiddly and could confound some modelers. Well all that has changed with the release of the FW-190A-4.

Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
January 26, 2018
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$11.00

Contents Description

The subject set includes several turned brass pitot tube parts, resin vanes and two 30mm gun barrels for the Su-17, Su-20, Su-22 (Fitter), plus the secondary pitot tubes (optional parts for all versions).

I contacted Master to confirm what material was used for the vanes and is their response: "This material is a resin, but not casting resin. This part is a direct 3D print, so it is UV cured resin used in 3D DLP printers. This material is very similar (chemically and structurally) to Plexiglass (PMMA). It can be easily join using CA glue. The problem is that this material is quite fragile, so we intended to use flexible type of UV resin, so it is not so easy to brake. Of course when it happened our customer service will replace broken parts for free. Piotr Czerkasow "