History

The 244^th Sentai was formed in 1942 from the 144^th Sentai with their primary mission being homeland defense. The squadron received the Ki-61 in 1943 and gained fame as an elite bomber interceptor unit. Detachments of this unit also served on Okinawa but the majority stayed in Japan for defense. A very good web site dedicated to this squadron can be found here http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~s244f/ and you will need to translate it as it is in Japanese.

Lifelike decals have issued or re-issued decals for the Ki-61s of the 244^th Sentai as parts 1,2 & 3. Initially produced for the Hasegawa kit, they could also be used on the Otaki kit. Now that Tamiya has released their kit you now have one more, and a really nice one, Ki-61 kit to choose from.

Dragon has recently released five new kits, none of which have been available in plastic before, at least not in the released versions. Instead, modelers would have had to scratch build them or buy expensive resin conversion sets.

This review covers one of the kits; the Volllkettenaufklarer (reconnaissance) 38 w7.5cm Kanona 51 L24 Hetzer. This Czechoslovakian 38(t)-based vehicle looks unusual, sporting the short-barreled, 75mm infantry support gun used on a variety of other (mostly larger) German AFV’s. Just imagine the recoil from that gun when fired from the diminutive Hetzer!

Intended as a fully tracked reconnaissance vehicle based on the Bergepanzer 38, several prototypes were tested, including a single vehicle mounting a 7.5 cm K51 L/24 gun. Needless to say, operational history is non-existent. This is an unusual armored vehicle, and promises to build into an unusual subject for German WWII armor fans.

Vallejo continues their line of specially made weathering products called “Weathering Effects”. They are formulated with permanent pigments and water based acrylic resins. All of these products are available in 40 ml bottles. The two types of Weathering Effects reviewed here are “Splash Mud” and “Environment Effects”.

The Splash Mud is very paint-like in consistency but too thick to be airbrushed as is, very similar to Vallejo’s Model Color range. The recommended application is via the splatter method. One does this by loading a stiff bristle brush – where the stiff bristles will snap back very quickly after being bent – and using your fingers to flick the Splash Mud from the brush bristles to the surface you want to muddy-up. For this review, I used a completed Jagdpanzer IV (L48) that had been lightly weathered, but not with any of the thick products reviewed here. This way, the effects of these products can easily be seen.

Thanks to Ross at SAC for sending us improved metal landing gear for the new 1/72 Airfix Jet provost T.3, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it to me.

Another of SAC’s expansive line of white metal upgrades to the basic kit plastic! The set consists of six parts: Two duplicate sets of main struts and nose gear for the kit.

Not much to say here; build your kit, leave off the kit gear, and install the SAC gear. Paint, add the painted wheels, paint the nose tire, and you are done.

You can see by the ‘before and after painting” pictures that I’m getting old and sloppy, but you get the idea. The nose gear has the anti-shimmy tire incorporated along with the gear, which makes it a better option because the kit gear has the tire split to account for the raised side portions of the anti-shimmy tire. It’s easier!

Thanks to Ross at SAC for sending us improved metal landing gear for the ICM/Special Hobby JU-88, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it to me.

Another of SAC’s expansive line of white metal upgrades to the basic kit plastic! The set consists of 11 parts: Two main struts, one tail gear strut/retraction cylinder, wheel/tire assembly, six gear strut supports, and two engine supports for the kit.

The ICM kit contains two complete engine assemblies in addition to the basic kit. I used a set of replacement resin cowing and exhausts for the inaccurate kit cowl intakes, so I was not able to use the engine supports. I did, however, appreciate the strength provided by the metal gear after using the resin parts for the kit. With the thin nature of the gear axles in plastic, this would eventually be a failure point for the completed model. Not with SAC gear.