IPMS/USA thanks the Eduard team once again for sending us this simple, excellent set for use with many UK fighter aircraft. And thanks to Phil and John for obtaining the sets for the team…

An extremely simple, but useful upgrade of any kit utlizing these unique cluster munitions. Consisting of four bomb bodies with fins cast in place (THANK YOU EDUARD), and four sets of fusing windmill vanes. I have only seen one or two sets of these bombs in plastic from modeling companies, and usually these wind vanes are molded as circles. Yep, circles. Kinetic’s bombs have actual vanes, but they are subject to the limits of plastic injection; the resin on Eduard’s set is far better! These vanes look the part and are delicate but take the minor sanding of the backside to remove the pour stub well (if you do it carefully). Also included are accurate decals.

Veteran Models in Taiwan has been producing finely detailed multi-media aftermarket replacement parts for ship modelers for quite some time. Nicely crafted, their parts are a significant upgrade to model warships. They started in 1/350 Modern USN systems and have since branched into other Navies. Now they are offering modern Soviet/Russian systems.

If you have noticed Soviet and later Russian ships are busy, some would say crowded, with sensors and weapon systems. While functional, none of these are elegant in design, and the number of each provides redundancy to ensure survivability and reliability. Each one is hodge-podge of small detail not easily duplicated in the ejection molding process, no matter how sophisticated the molds. So Veteran Models move into this area is welcome by at least this modeler.

The Heinkel He-111 is one of the most iconic symbols of World War Two, as well as a major feature of the Battle of Britain. The aircraft was developed under the guise of a passenger airliner as most of Germany’s other armaments at the time. During the late 1930’s the aircraft and its German aircrews participated in the Spanish Civil War and the He-111 began its wartime career. During World War Two various modifications were made throughout the aircraft ranging from the cockpit layout, wing shape, engines, offensive and defensive capabilities and many more. The aircraft was the second most produced bomber aircraft of the Luftwaffe behind the Ju-88 and served in the Spanish Air Force until 1958. The are only 4 surviving aircraft remaining in various museums around Europe.

History

The Hasegawa 1/72 Ki-61 dates back to the early 1970s and is still a nice kit, but basic. CMK has come out with some detail sets to spice up these old kits.

What You Get

17 crisply molded resin parts and a clear film of instrument faces are provided along with a 9 X 3.5 folded sheet of instructions. Some of these parts are very fragile so please be careful when handling them.

One of the bug-a-boos of a lot of aircraft models for me is all that glass that needs to be masked in order to paint. I’ve read several tutorials and tried lots of methods, but it’s all tedious and with my skill level brings about at best mediocre results. Then along comes pre-cut masks and my life is changed.