The early 1960’s were characterized, in large part, by the “Space Race” between the United States and the Soviet Union to place a man in orbit, with an end goal of a manned lunar landing. Struggling to keep pace with the Soviets in those early years, the United States ultimately forged ahead, leveraging every asset at its disposal. One such asset was the Redstone rocket. Originally designed as a weapons delivery platform, the liquid-fueled Redstone was more stable and reliable than its early solid-fueled counterparts, thus making it a preferred launch vehicle for placing America’s first astronauts into space, although not into orbit. Redstone supported two manned suborbital missions in 1961 – Freedom 7, piloted by Alan Shepard, and Liberty 7, piloted by Gus Grissom – prior to the introduction of the more powerful orbit-capable Atlas rocket.

Eduard has fired up another set of seatbelts to fit in with their PE Interior set for the 1/32 F/A-18E. Aside from their beautiful and accurate seatbelts, Eduard has also included lots of stuff for the enhancement of the seat for this kit. It has colored “padding” which fits to the seat bottom and back. There are also other small items that can be added to the seat for detail that will make this seat really something to look at. The belts and all the other items are painted beautifully with details that can’t otherwise be matched by dry brushing. The instructions are clear and concise and, importantly, not intimidating. Of course, the use of CA glue will be necessary, but using it sparingly and carefully along with a little weathering or a wash should produce great looking results. I definitely recommend this package for this kit, which plainly shows that a little can go a long way. Also, the price is right, which makes it a complete value.

This set contains 5 figures. These are arranged in two groups. The first group is two litter bearers carrying a wounded soldier. The second group is a female medic comforting a wounded soldier.

These figures come on a sprue with 44 parts. The illustration on the box front is an approximation of the 5 figures. There are significant differences in the poses of the two wounded soldiers and the female medic. The computer-generated picture on the back of the box is an accurate representation of the figures.

This set had very minimal flash and no ejection pin marks. What mold lines found were easily removed with a sharp blade. There are no decals, and the painting instructions are just for the major items. The paint colors are coded only for Testors.

When I think of “Blitzkrieg,” I usually think of grey Panzers sweeping across the Polish, French, or Russian countryside, followed in hot pursuit by armored half tracks. The concept of Blitzkrieg required mechanized movement of weapons, men, and supplies. And, while the Germans used more horses than vehicles in the invasion of Russia in 1941, they did have mechanized transport in an attempt to keep pace with the tanks and half tracks. And here for the first time as an injection plastic model in 1/35th scale is the German truck produced in the highest numbers before and during WW2 – 22,000 units, in fact.

When I received the package with this item from Dave Morrissette, I thought the review might be a task, but this one turned out to be just wonderful.

What you get is a turned brass pitot tube which just glues on to replace the Hasegawa pitot. The brass part has the correct shape and fits right into the hole in the kit nose.

Then we come down to the part where this thing really paid off. I was fiddling with some fit issues with the canopy, and I hit the pitot with my sleeve. The plastic part would have been in about 4 pieces. The brass part just turned the nose (and the whole airplane) slightly. Zero damage.

Highly recommended. The caveat here is that the Hasegawa kit is quite old, and there’s no interior, the seat is sub-standard, and the aftermarket for the kit would be a seat and this pitot. So it’s up to you on what level of detail you want to install. This is a good start, though.