First, THANKS SAC and IPMS USA for another review opportunity! SAC has been around for a few years, and to my mind fills a serious need for models. As kits get more expensive, they have more detail, weigh more, and you have more invested in it.

Enter SAC. This set adds structural strength to the fragile gear on a 1/144 scale airliner-sized model, in this case the Minicraft C-54. The C-54 has a fork nose gear with one tire; the kit requires about ½ ounce of nose weight, so there is added stress to the nose gear. The gear is also scale in size, meaning it’s very fragile. Metal makes the difference between gear snapping off on provocation, or gear that withstands handling.

Use of this SAC gear is simple, four parts: two main gear, the nose gear (the fragile part of the kit), and the nose gear retraction strut. Just swap the SAC gear for kit items, and you are done!

Thanks ahead of time to Tamiya USA for providing IPMS USA this review kit, and thanks also to the reviewer corps leadership for sending it to me to build and review!

This kit was originally released by Tamiya back in 2006 as the “Yukikaze”, which was the only survivor of the Japanese Kagero-class “A” of Destroyers in World war II. This new release of the kit is the lead ship Kagero itself. Kagero definied in English translates to “Mirage” or “Heat haze”. The net has a lot on it; I just found it interesting to read the history.

Tamiya has, to my mind, an excellent sales process. The kit box captures your attention; a professionally-painted rendering of the actual ship in action, side-view diagrams of the craft, pictures of the assembled model with or without full hull, photographs of the metal parts, and a feeling that “you really want to buy this model” ensues. It works…

The Dan Fink Metalworks Speedwagon is a wonderful car and Revell has made a terrific kit.

Engine

The small block Ford engine goes together very well but has no alternate parts. I guess because the kit represents an actual car. Parts fit and looks good when completed.

Interior

Interior has separate side panels that can be easily detailed due to the excellent engraving.

Body

The body panels fit like they’re supposed to fit without issues. The fenders, tub and hood are separate pieces. Fenders, hood and grille are probably from the Revell ’32 Ford 5 window coupe kit. I chose to use HOK majik blue pearl while the wood panels were hand painted in a 4 step process.

Chassis

I think the chassis/frame parts were used from another kit – possibly the ’32 Ford 5 window coupe. Nothing wrong with that because it builds just wonderfully.

One of my favorite aircraft is the BAC (English Electric) Lightning and having a few in my stash I jumped at the opportunity to have this pilot figure.

This resin figure is very well detailed and molded with very little flash as is the norm with PlusModels products.

I do not normally get figures as I am not very good at painting faces so avoid it at all cost normally. But this figure was so good so I decided to do a full paint job as best as I could. When finished, I was pleasantly surprised how it turned although the quality of the figure was the reason it looks good not my painting skills when it comes to figures.

This is an excellent figure and I will get more by PlusModel.

Thanks go to Plus Models for providing this kit to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

MiniArt has released a new series of U. S. Army tractors and bulldozers that were used in WWII by the U. S. Army. This particular boxing is simply titled U. S. Army Bulldozer but it appears to be the open top version of the Caterpillar D7 bulldozer, which was used extensively in all theaters in many construction and engineering roles. This is my first MiniArt kit in a very long time, but from my first impression it seems very similar to the others I have worked on. Beautifully detailed moldings, a high part count, and a lot of very small pieces. The total part count in the box is well over 700 for a vehicle with a very small foot print.