Designed for the Fujimi 1/24 scale Ferrari 458 ITALIA, this photoetch set comes with two photoetched sheets covered with a plastic film. The film helps keep from losing the part when cutting them off the frets. Some of the parts are new brake disc; new Ferrari emblems; gas and brake pedals and air vents, to just name a few.
Hobby Design makes a number of detail parts for automotive subjects from metal parts, to resin wheels, and photo etched detail sets for a wide variety of modeling subjects.
I reviewed the HD07-0057 1/24thAntenna Set [C] which comes in a pack of 2 priced @ $4.25 USD. These are all metal and nicely machined.
Assembly is pretty straight forward: I removed the molded plastic antenna holder on top of a Tamiya 1/24 SAUBER-MERCEDES C9 with a photo etch saw; then, using my pin vice and a 0.5mm drill bit I drilled a hole into the plastic. That’s pretty much it. The antennae come in to parts making it easy to paint any color you like. Some CA glue is perfect to hold the antenna into its base.
Wingnut Wings has released two decal sheets that provide multiple marking options for their Pfalz D.IIIa kit. The decals, like others from Wingnut Wings, are packaged in zip-lock sleeves along with a comprehensive full color 4-page instruction booklet that includes application instructions, aircraft profiles, top and bottom wing plan views, historical information and a number of period photos of each of the aircraft covered by the decal sheets. These sets exhibit a high level of quality, on par with all of the products marketed by Wingnut Wings.
Set 30019 provides markings for six Pfalz D.IIIa fighters from numerous Jastas. Some of the subjects will require upper and under wing lozenge patterns (and rib tape) not included in this set, but is available from Wingnut Wings in sets they sell separately.
The markings are for:
Masterbox has been a godsend for the plastic figure world by releasing subjects beyond the traditional standing or “in-action” military figures. This latest release of WWII civilians is a fantastic set and fills a much needed gap. Civilian subjects had previously been only available in resin, and then fairly limited.
Within this set are parts for four civilian figures, Western Europe, ranging from young children to older men. A single sprue contains all 48 parts, which are nicely molded with no flash. You still get a little of the “low tech” molding with large sprue gates, but the parts themselves are crisp and full of detail. The faces are very well sculpted capturing the age of the figure very well. I would be hard-pressed want to replace them in resin, as they really are perfect. The four figures comprise of:
1/32 scale has seen a bit of a renaissance of late with a very large selection of new kits hitting the market. Among them are many cold war to modern era US aircraft including F-4, A-4, F-8, F-16, and F-18 just to name a few. All of these aircraft, and many more, use the ubiquitous Mk 82 500 LB bomb. These bombs are commonly seen carried signally, on a Triple Ejector Rack (TER) or on the Multiple Ejector Rack (MER) and have been used in every conflict after Korea.
Though there are a lot of these type of bombs available in some of the plastic kits, none are as detailed or as accurate as this resin item from Master Details. In the bag you get enough parts to complete two bombs with a full selection of fuses including the “daisy cutter” fuse extender. A total of 30 resin parts plus a small jig to align the fins is included. Fuse types are:
The Grumman TBF Avenger was designed as a torpedo bomber to replace the TBD Devastator. The Devastator had been one of the first modern torpedo bombers for the US Navy but it was lacking is speed, firepower and armor protection. The Avenger entered production in 1942 and soon proved itself to be the perfect fit for the job. To meet production demands, General Motors’ Eastern Aircraft Division started production and eventually produced the majority of all Avengers. These were designated TBM.
Late in its production life, the Avenger was modified for anti-submarine warfare. Some of these featured an AN/APS-4 radar pod under the starboard wing and a searchlight pod under the port wing. In some cases, the rear turret was removed and the radar operator was housed in an extended rear canopy.
This is another superb kit from the guys at Wingnut Wings. According to the detailed history on the instruction booklet, the Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 was allegedly designed by Ernst Heinkel on the back of a cabaret wine list and was basically a W.12 biplane with the top wing removed. This advanced monoplane had markedly improved performance due to the reduction of drag afforded by the loss of the upper wing as well as the lack of guy wires. The solid construction was achieved because of the rigid strut arrangement for the floats. Three prototypes were constructed in January 1917 and each was powered by a different engine for the comparison purposes. When production began in April of 1917 it was decided to use the 150hp Benz Bz. III. A total of 199 W.29s were produced in two versions. 156 planes were built with 3 machine guns (C3MG) and another 43 were built with 2 machine guns (C2MGHFT) and a wireless radio.
Since all the sets and decals mentioned below go to one aircraft model, I decided to combine all the reviews into one. Hopefully making it easier to follow. I will not review the Revell Ar 196A-3, but this has to be one of the nicest models I have ever built. The fit was very good with minimal putty required for the ever present (all model airplanes have it) nasty fuselage seam. Detail throughout is very nice but by adding the Eduard Photo Etch Sets greatly enhances an already outstanding model.
To briefly describe the aircraft, it was a single sweater pusher, bi-plane, powered by a 100 HP Gnome rotary engine. The lack of synchronizing mechanism made this necessary to have a forward firing machine gun allowing the pilot to "aim" with the aircraft and gun at the same time.
The kit is composed of 62 plastic parts, 36 photo-etched parts, a clear acetate sheet with a choice of two windscreens, depending on which version of the aircraft you choose to build; painting masks are also provided plus a decal sheet for four different aircraft. The detailing on the plastic parts is up to the usual superb Eduards standard.
Czech manufacturer Eduard continues expanding its “Brassin” line of detail parts for aircraft. This time they are offering the UB-16 and UB-32 rocket launcher which has seen widespread use in Soviet designed aircraft, like L-39, MiG-21/23/27, Su-7/17/20/22, and Yak-28/38.
The detail kit includes 10 resin parts (casted in two different resin colors) and a small PE fret with another 6 parts. Resin parts are nicely detailed with great surface detail and very cleanly casted, with small pour stabs. Photoetch parts are exquisitely thin and very easy to work with.
It took me a total of 30 minutes to get all four rocket launcher assembled. The assembly is simple and straightforward but releasing the parts R3 and R4 (rocket launcher back cones) from their pour stabs requires some dexterity and a very thin razor or saw. Those parts are most fragile parts of the whole detail set.
