Many thanks to Mr. Ross MacMillan of Scale Aircraft Conversions and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to try this neat substitute and replacement set for the newly-released Zoukei-Mura F-4J Phantom II. I am pleased to report on another sweet add-on and upgrade from this company. The target kit has excellent detail and complexity making it a bit heavier than most, and having strong metal “legs” really helps!

The 7 white-metal parts arrived in a blister pack, backed by the distinctive SAC company logo. The weight of the parts is very noticeable. All parts are free of sprues and are nearly ready for priming and painting. The parts require very little buffing, cleanup and polishing. There are some barely-noticeable seams that readily retreat at the advance of a #11 blade!

The SC 50 was a small general purpose bomb used by the Luftwaffe in World War II. The bomb weighed between 48 and 55 kg and was produced in several different variants. It was carried by Luftwaffe bombers and fighter-bombers during the war. The bombs could be equipped with “screamers” which look like long whistles to make noise during flight.

This set provides eight SC 50 bombs and thirty-two very tiny screamers. The bombs are single piece units which are easily separated from the pour stubs. The screamers are provided in sets of 8 on 4 separate pour stubs. After removing the bombs from the pour stubs, I lightly sanded them on a piece of sandpaper taped to a small piece of glass from an old picture frame, making sure to keep the bombs vertical. This removed the remains of the pour stubs. Work slowly as the bombs are small and the fins are delicate. Fortunately I only broke off one of them, but it was quickly reattached with superglue.

THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Brengun for this sending us review items like this fuel tank cap set! And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making them available to me to review….

This set takes the kit components and improves them by providing a more 3-d effect after installation. This simple set has different fuel caps for use on aircraft and, most assuredly, on other items in 1/48 scale. Included are 50 caps of various designs, sufficient for several WWII fighters

To use this set is actually simple; prepare the kit fuel cap area by removing any detail, and use a spot of gel or thick superglue (a VERY SMALL SPOT or you will have ooze) to hold the part in place.

I never would have thought a set like this would have utility, but when placed next to the kit part, I see the improved appearance.

History

In the late thirties, the British Royal Air Force was in the process of re-equipping its bomber units with new, high performance monoplanes. The goal was to outperform existing fixed gear fighter biplanes, such as the Hawker Fury and Gloster Gladiator. Bristol contributed a design for a twin engine monoplane called “Britain First”. This airplane was privately financed by Lord Rothmore, and was intended primarily as a business executive plane. The RAF tested the type, and was impressed, so after considerable redesign, the type emerged as the Type 142 bomber. Tests were completed by 1936, and full production was ordered under the name Blenheim Mk. I.

This is a much larger photo etch sheet providing exterior details for the Blenheim kit. In reality, it really contains some exterior parts, such as access panels and some engine details, and also has many parts which fit inside the wheel wells, including most of the bulkheads, panels, some struts, etc. One problem here is that if you are going to use a lot of these parts, you’ll need to start using them at the first stages of the construction of the model. Unfortunately, I didn’t do this, so when the time came to use these parts, I couldn’t get them into the wheel wells, so I will save them for the next Blenheim I build, probably the Frog kit I’ve had next to my workbench for a long time. Probably most of this set is devoted to the wheel wells, but some very nice wing radar antennas are included, but strangely, not the one on the nose. Also, some engine detail is provided. One set of parts confused me, however.