Hauler produces photo-etched and resin upgrade sets for armored fighting vehicles (AFVs), airplanes, cars, railway vehicles, and dioramas. They also produce a few resin kits. Their products are in most of the common scale sizes, 1/72, 1/48, and 1/35, but they also produce a number of other items in common railroad hobbyist scales.

The kit for this review is a small set of photoetch designed to upgrade Revell’s 1/72 T-80 kit. The most obvious pieces of photoetch parts in this kit are designed to replace the plastic grills over the engine and exhaust, as well as the side skirts covering the lower portion of the tank’s hull. However, there are also parts to replace the stowage basket on the turret, the commander’s machine gun mount and ammo box, as well as the headlight mounts and covers. In all, there are 25 parts included on one small sheet of photo-etch and a small set of instructions in the package.

Here is the description from Ammo’s website:

“The Synthetic Brush range made of high-quality fibers, offers great spring and color carrying capacity, making them an excellent option to paint medium and large areas of our models. The ideal brush for working with military vehicles, aircraft, groundwork, and all manner of scale models. Thanks to the fine point, smaller sizes are also suitable for detail painting.

They are solvent-resistant and can be used with any paint type including acrylics, enamels, and oils. These are heavy duty brushes at a very economic price, making them a great option for all types of painting and weathering techniques and tasks. Both round and flat shapes can be used to apply washes, filters, pigments, splashes, mud, and a wide range of weathering effects.”

History

The Type UB I was a class of small coastal submarines (U-boats) built in Germany at the beginning of the First World War. Built to meet the need for small maneuverable submarines able to operate in the narrow, shallow seas off Flanders, the vessels were intended to be quickly constructed, then shipped by rail and assembled at their port of operation. The design effort began in mid-August 1914 and by mid-October the first 15 boats were ordered from two German shipyards. The German Imperial Navy subsequently ordered an additional pair of boats to replace two sold to Austria-Hungary, who ordered a further three boats in April 1915. A total of 20 UB Is were built. Construction of the first boats for Germany began in early November 1914; all 20 were completed by October 1915. Several of the first boats underwent trials in German home waters, but the rest were assembled and tested at either Antwerp or Pola.

When Phil Peterson sent out an announcement that there were new items for review, I went to the list with only a certain amount of excitement. There are very few 1/144 scale items available for review, and that’s my scale. I was glad to find a new 1/144 item from Minicraft. A P-51D Mustang. I sent an immediate email begging and pleading for this kit. And I got it. And I’m glad I did.

This is volume one in the Orange Series from MMP. The Gloster Gauntlet was the last open-cockpit fighter of the RAF entering into service in February 1935. In addition to the RAF, it saw service in the Commonwealth with the South African Air Force, Southern Rhodesian Air Force, and Royal Australian Air Force. Foreign users were Denmark and Finland.

The book is broken down into 10 main segments beginning with an Introduction and Development and Production chapters. The original Gauntlet design with the 450hp Bristol Mercury IIA engine but due to this engine’s unreliability the Gauntlet lost out top Bristol’s own design, the Bulldog. Five years later after steady design improvements and multiple engine installations the Gauntlet now being 40MPH faster than the Bulldog won a production contract.

The Gauntlet served the RAF well for about 3 years before in 1938 being removed from frontline service. 616 Squadron still had Gauntlets at the outbreak of WWII!