Brengun continues to bring out interesting accessories that fill in gaps overlooked by mainstream manufacturers. This set is a 50 gallon external tank and the rack for mounting it on a Spitfire. The set consists of a two piece resin tank and small photo etch fret of the mounting rack.

Construction starts with removal of the two resin parts of the tank from their casting blocks. Take some time in lining up your cuts so that they are perpendicular to the tank as the two parts butt join just behind the aft tank strap. If you are off in your cut, you will need to spend some time with a file to square up the ends so that they meet correctly and the tank does not end looking like it has a kink in it. Next I attached the tiny etched filler cap to the front of the tank – this is a very tiny part, so be careful trimming it and getting it in the right place.

This set (SAC #72120) replaces the main gear legs and retraction struts along with the tail wheel. You have to use the kit main wheels and fenders. You get five metal reproductions of the kit parts in the usual soft white metal. That’s where my difficulty with this set started. Airfix has done an excellent job of reproducing very delicate landing gear parts in plastic. The main gear legs trap the main wheels and the flexible properties of the plastic parts help. It also really helps when you install the gear parts into the finished gear wells. There’s a lot of fiddling once the parts are the bay and again the plastic assisted by snapping back to its original shape. The metal parts on the other hand, bent and were very difficult to realign once the glue set. For that reason, I preferred the plastic parts. This is the first SAC set I’ve used that created more work than it was worth to have metal parts.

Hauler is a Czech Republic company specializing in producing high quality resin and PE after market accessories including resin kits. In their line of products are the Euro Pallets. Actual Euro Pallets are standardized by the European Pallet Association which must meet the specifications such as size and number of special nails in a designated pattern. The sizes of the Euro Pallet in 1:1 scale are 47.2" (1,200mm) x 31.5"(800mm) x 5.7"(144mm).

The Package

5 resin sprues are contained in the package enough to make 2 complete pallets. Upon close inspection one can see the wood grain detail cast into the resin. The only flash seen is located between the wood planks which are easily cleaned up in a matter of minutes by using a Xacto knife and sandpaper. There are no instructions included in the package but, a quick check at Hauler's website shows downloadable pictures of the completed pallets. Each pallet consists of 4 parts.

This is the British decided that they needed a less expensive tank so the Medium Tank Mk. A Whippet was developed. This had a crew of three and was armed with four Hotchkiss machine guns. It first saw battle in March 1918.

The kit contains

• 7 sprues molded in tan styrene
• 1 Main hull
• 3 Sprues of track parts in Black Styrene
• 2 Stings for tow cables
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 instruction booklet.

Construction

The kit is not too complex and assembles in 16 stages which are not to complex.

Thank you PJ Production for providing this elegant aircraft accessory pilot figure, and thank you to the IPM Reviewer Corps for letting me review it! I am very appreciative of all you do for the scale modeling community.

The pilot arrived in a small blue cardboard box, with a small plastic bag inside holding both the pilot figure and a casting plug with arms. The light tan resin showed no sign of mold release and the minimal flash was easily removed without compromising the fine surface details. The separate arms allow custom positioning to suit the application, and the arm-torso join surfaces are flat, easily allowing drilling or flexible wire or pin to reinforce the joint. The resin is not too brittle or too soft. Many detail surfaces, such as harnesses and straps are slightly undercut, allowing highlighting washes a good place to pool and do their job.