What's New

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Air Modeller
MSRP
$14.95

Contents:

  • Protecting the Motherland’s Airspace – modeling a 1/48 Chinese MiG-19s
  • Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.1 – building and detailing a 1/48 Classic Airframes kit
  • Vickers Wellington Mk.X Coastal Command – building and detailing the Trumpeter 1/48 kit
  • Scale Modelworld 2010 – photo feature
  • Fw 189A-2 – building the new Great Wall Hobby 1/48 kit
  • Air Born – New Product/Publication Releases
  • B-17G – building Revell of Germany’s 1/72 kit

This publication has become a premier showplace for some wonderful model aircraft. The publication’s cover banner “SHOWCASING THE VERY BEST IN SCALE AIRCRAFT MODELLING” is an accurate promise. Everything David Goudie said in his review of Issue Number 32 can be said of Issue Number 34. It is Quality…I’d go so far to declare it as High Quality.

Book Author(s)
Author: Richard Doherty, Illustrator: Henry Morshead
Review Author
Gary Telecsan
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$17.95

“This is #177 in the New Vanguard Series which explores the design, development, operation and history of the machinery of warfare through the ages.”

So says the tag line of Osprey’s advertising copy, and it is a fair description of the contents of this volume. The author, Richard Doherty, has a number of books to his credit, the most notable of which are about the reconnaissance corps which used the Humber car during the Second World War.

Review Author
Mike Hinderliter
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$5.95

Quickboost just keeps adding to their line of resin aircraft accessories. The latest addition is for the Tamiya Mosquito. It is up to their usual standards; molded in grey resin, smooth, seamless and bubble free. One thing of note is that they are really easy to remove from the mold block because of a nice perforation. It only took me a couple of minutes with my saw blade to remove them. Another plus is that the exhausts are bored out, which would be a real pain if you tried to do it on the kit part.

The exhausts that come in the Tamiya kit look alright and would make an acceptable model but the Quickboost replacements are superior because of how they are bored out which makes for more realism, especially in a photo. These exhausts are very easy to install, and they just fit right in.

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Ed Harm
Published on
Company
Squadron Signal Publications
MSRP
$18.95

From Vietnam to the present day, and many conflicts in between, the M108/M109 and its many variants have been the backbone of the Field Artillery’s axiom, “Shoot, Move, and Communicate.” It’s presence on any field of battle has provided the ground commander with unparalleled, timely fire support throughout many years, and continues to this day.

Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$7.00

Description:

1 pair of intake FOD covers designed for the Academy MiG-29A. And will also work on the Academy MiG-29UB (dual controlled two place trainer).

Inspection:

Packaging is the typical orange-labeled Quickboost clear envelope along with a piece of card stock and a simple instruction note sheet.

Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
Company
Fujimi
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$36.95

Bottom Line: New molding for 1/700 scale IJN Nagato as she appeared at the beginning of WW2 (1941). Excellent detail, excellent fit, accurate appearance.

IJN Nagato

Review Author
Charles Landrum
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$5.00

For any modeler, but especially ship modelers, it is hard to achieve a realistic effect when gun barrels are out of round, warped or fail to have the right taper and shape; which is often the case with styrene injected or resin barrels. With smaller caliber guns and in smaller scales the barrels are often too fragile to handle. For these reasons turned metal barrels are an attractive alternative. Master Models continues to release well-priced brass barrels for the discriminating ship modeler.

Review Author
Charles Landrum
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$17.00

For any modeler, but especially ship modelers, it is hard to achieve a realistic effect when gun barrels are out of round, warped or fail to have the right taper and shape; which is often the case with styrene injected or resin barrels. With smaller caliber guns and in smaller scales the barrels are often too fragile to handle. For these reasons turned metal barrels are an attractive alternative. Master Models continues to release well-priced brass barrels for the discriminating ship modeler.

Without a doubt, Dragon’s Smartkit of the Scharnhorst is a real gem with a superb level of detail thanks to its CAD designer. The gun mounts are very detailed and the molded barrels, with the slide mold technology, are quite nice in this scale, including bored muzzles. Dragon has packed the kit with a significant amount of aftermarket detail including injection molded blast bags; a nice touch given how difficult they are to make from scratch.

Review Author
Charles Landrum
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$20.00

For any modeler, but especially ship modelers, it is hard to achieve a realistic effect when gun barrels are out of round, warped or fail to have the right taper and shape; which is often the case with styrene injected or resin barrels. With smaller caliber guns and in smaller scales the barrels are often too fragile to handle. For these reasons turned metal barrels are an attractive alternative. Master Models continues to release well-priced brass barrels for the discriminating ship modeler.

Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
Company
True Details
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.99

Description:

2 resin 265-gallon tip tanks and mount fairings. Ex-KMC mold. For the Revell/Monogram kits.

Inspection:

Packaged is in a clear face, white backed, poly bag stapled to a folded card along with a note sheet. It was clear the vintage KMC molds seem to be holding up pretty well despite the years. Upon opening the package I found the resin almost flawless, detecting only a few pinholes and heavy pour stubs. The details include nice gas caps and mounting points on the tanks. The wing tip fairings appear to be a tad small otherwise they look fine. Squadron included a note warning of “possible resin shrinkage” installing these fairings will require minor surgery of the kit, the wing tips will need to be trimmed to the panel line while remembering you must compensate for ‘resin shrinkage’.