What's New

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
AOA Decals
Scale
1/32, 1/48 AND 1/72
MSRP
$13.00

If you enjoyed the movie "Flight of the Intruder" that was released back in 1991 (and now I feel old), AOA Decals now provides you with the ability to replicate the aircraft flown by the Squadron Commanding Officer, or by the main character. Commander Frank "Dooke" Camparelli (as played by Danny Glover) along with Bombardier Navigator Lt. Carl "Hero" Aldana flew in Devil 501 while Lt. Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton (played by Brad Johnson) flew Devil 505 with BN Lt. Morgan "Morg" McPherson (played by Christopher Rich), and later LCDR Virgil "Tiger" Cole (played by Willem Dafoe). Although the movie was not critically acclaimed, and did not make enough at the box office to offset the production costs, it remains an interesting movie to some of us, and it has plenty of scenes starring the A-6 Intruder.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$66.00

MiniArt is certainly getting a lot of mileage of the molds for the GAZ-03 bus. I think this is the 4th boxing of it, this time as an ambulance (previous ones were passenger bus and a military transport).

When opening the box you find a total of 39 sprues, for a total of 280 plastic parts, plus 26 clear parts and 8 photo-etched parts. Keeping track of all those sprues and pieces will make the assembly of this kit a bit of a challenge.

The instructions come in a glossy paper booklet, with very clean and clear drawings.

I have built other MiniArt models previously and I can tell you, the instructions are superb. There are a total of 49 steps, but some have sub-assemblies, so clearly this is an in depth build, not a weekender.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Meng Model
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$73.99

I’ve always had a thing for World War 1 armor. Or perhaps I should say I was into World War One before it was cool. What this means is that for the longest time, if I wanted something in this scale, I had to make it myself. Later, Emhar released a series of lozenge tanks which, although extremely crude, gave you the basic shapes to do something with if you had the skills and inclination. Over time I’ve happily made every kit they issued, and spent hours improving them to reasonable standards.

Review Author
Rob Booth
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions has produced replacement gear for the new Academy release of their 1/72 scale F-4 Phantom kit. The white metal replacements are a clean drop-in for the kit plastic parts. The supplied items include two main gear struts and braces, and one nose gear strut with a separate oleo scissor and retraction strut. Some other SAC packages include replacement wheels, as well, but not the case here. You will need to use the Academy wheels for your build.

A side by side evaluation (see photos) indicates an identical replacement that should provide a greater strength assembly with a significantly improved weight capacity and abuse tolerance. In some cases where original equipment was left in a natural metal finish, painting may not be necessary. As always, check your reference photos

Highly recommended.

Thanks to the IPMS Reviewer Corps and Scale Aircraft Conversions for the opportunity to review this item.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Res-Im
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$20.95

Res-Im (Resin Improvement) is a Czech company that specialized in resin detail sets, mainly in the 1/48 and 1/72 scales.

This set is for the Hawker Hurricane Mk.I gun bay, for the 4 guns wing. Inside a sturdy box you get a total of 18 resin pours for a two full gun bays –starboard and port wings-. The parts are extremely delicate and in some cases there is a very thin resin layer covering a hole or an opening that might need to be cleaned with a sharp blade before installation.

The pours are in a light grey-green resin and the resin itself is a tad brittle. I accidentally broke off a very thin part from the pouring slab (but the part itself was undamaged). My pictures don’t show repeated/duplicates resin pours.

Book Author(s)
Bartlomiej Belcarz, Robert Gretzyngier, Tomasz J. Kopański, Wojtek Matusiak, Marek Rogusz
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$69.00

The Polish Air Force during WWII fought in many fronts, under many different camouflage schemes and with a very large variety of aircraft.

This book covers the Polish Air Force, as an autonomous force in Poland, during 1939, and as an independent Air Force, integrated for operations with the French Air Force (1940) and the RAF mainly for the period 1940-1943.

For each main section –as described above- there is a chapter that describes the general strategic and tactical situation, the overall organization and coordination with French and British Air Forces, plus some high level description of the combat roles.

There is another chapter devoted to the general details of camouflage colors, scheme and markings, and later there are specific chapters for each airframe flown by Polish pilots.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Great Wall Hobby
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$59.99

This is my first Great Wall Hobby kits and I was very curious to see if they are as good as I have read. Well from the moment I held the box you can see the box is high quality and that was just a taste of what was come. The kit inside the box looked great and very well molded and a super finish.

This is a kit of an early production version of the T-33A Shooting star and comes with markings to build a US, German and Spanish Air force machine

In the box is:

  • 10 x light grey sprues
  • 1 clear Sprue
  • 1 decal sheet
  • 1 instruction booklet
  • 1 revision instruction sheet (corrections to the instruction sheet)

All the sprues are extremely well molded and great detail; the instruction booklet is a fold out type and has a loose front sheet showing the Sprues

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$3.99

The highly detailed all metal Pitot tube to replace any 1/32 Hawk 100 Kit part. I had the Kinetic Kit no 3206 in the stash so used it on that kit.

The Assembly is quick and easy. The final part once the plastic piece is replaced with the metal detail part looks so much better. I would recommend this for any 1/32 Hawk kit you may have in your stash.

Thanks go to Master Model for providing this super figure to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions specializes in white-metal replacement parts. Its line of replacement landing gear has been expanded to include a set for the 1/48 Kinetic Super Etendard.

The set includes 8 parts with the following breakdown: two main landing gear struts; a two part nose wheel, plus actuator arms; and a nose wheel fork. The parts are finely molded in white metal. These parts are drop-in replacements for the plastic parts.

I should say that these parts are more than just drop-in replacements. Many of the white metal parts actually are the equivalent to several plastic parts, so you have an easier job of assembling the landing gear, for instance, as you have fewer parts to deal with.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Riich Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$66.00

Even if the German Army was known for their mechanized divisions, they had an incredible number of horses pulling wagons during WWII. This kit represents a horse drawn field kitchen. This is indeed a very valuable kit of an often ignored aspect of military: logistics support for a fighting army.

Upon opening the box you find 12 sprues, two photoetch frets, two 4-inch chains, a piece of thread and a small decal set. Actually it is hard to close the box once you have opened. That is a full meal of a field kitchen model! (pun intended).

Riich is reboxing and adding some sprues to their horse drawn wagon. There are a total of 19 steps for the assembly, but many of the steps include sub-steps, so it is over 100 total steps to fully assemble this kit. Instructions are very clear and well laid out.