Guideline Publications is the UK's leading publisher of modeling and hobby-related magazines. With a world-class portfolio of titles and an international Social Media presence, Guideline Publications has a dedicated readership that is constantly expanding into new areas. This English language book, Warpaint 151 Hawker Siddeley HS748 & Andover, is authored by Adrian Balch with scale drawings by Sam Pearson. The latest Guideline’s Warpaint series, 151, was published in 2025. A digital edition will soon be available. News on Guidelines’ publications can be found on Facebook.

ICM has reboxed its B-26 line of Marauders and now offers a B-26C variant.

From the instruction’s history, the “B” variant was built in Middle River, MD (near Baltimore), and to expand production capacity during WWII, the “C” variant was built in Omaha, NE. Physically, they look virtually identical.

The other ICM B-26 variants (B, G, & F) have been reviewed by fellow IPMS-USA reviewers and can be viewed at these links:

https://reviews.ipmsusa.org/review/b-26b-marauder

https://reviews.ipmsusa.org/review/b-26b-marauder-0

https://reviews.ipmsusa.org/review/b-26g-marauder

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS Reviewer Corps with a set of 1/48 scale metal landing gear for Hobby Boss’s Su-17M4 Fitter-K, which will also fit on the Su-17UM3 Fitter-G. These parts are drop-in replacements and provide a more robust landing gear set given its metal properties.

The metal pieces are packaged in a clear blister package with cardboard backing, and no instructions are provided. The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for parts C2, D12, D13, D32 (nose wheel), E20 & E2 (LHS MLG), and E21 & E1 (RHS MLG) for the Hobby Boss kits. The metal used is malleable and has some give to allow for any minor bending if needed. Seam lines will need to be cleaned up prior to painting, just like the plastic kit parts.

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS reviewer corps with a set of 1/48^th scale metal landing gear for Eduard’s MiG-21F-13. These parts are drop-in replacements and provide a more robust landing gear set given its metal properties.

In the Package

The metal pieces are packaged in a clear blister package with cardboard backing. No instructions are provided.

Review Process

The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for parts F16, F17, F15 (Wing MLG), F18, F33, & F34 (nose wheel). Note, part F34 is molded in with F18 to reduce parts count and make assembly less complicated. The metal used is malleable and has some give to allow for any minor bending if needed. Also, seam lines will need to be cleaned up prior to painting just like the plastic kit parts.

Scale Aircraft Conversions specializes in providing aftermarket/replacement landing gear made of white metal. This particular set is of the recently released 1/48 Hs 129 B-2/3 from Takom.

The set includes two main landing gear struts, four sets of brackets to mount the landing gear struts to the landing gear wheel well, a two-part tail wheel (yoke and spinner) plus a foot-rest to help the pilot to climb on the wing to board the cockpit.

All parts are straight drop-in replacement parts, so no modification should be necessary. You can see from the pictures the parts are very cleanly molded and formed, with no visible molding lines.

Some parts will need to be released from their casting frames and instructions on how to work with white metal parts (detaching, handling, painting, safety, etc.) are available at https://scaleaircraftconversions.com/using-white-metal/