History

The Stinson Reliant was a popular single-engine, four to five seat, high-wing monoplane manufactured by the Stinson Aircraft Division of the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation of Wayne, Michigan. The Reliant is a three-place high-wing fixed tail wheel land monoplane powered with a variety of radial engines.1,327 Reliants of all types were made from 1933 to 1941, in different models, from SR-1 to SR-10. The final commercial model, the Stinson Reliant SR-10, was introduced in 1938.

Aires has added a pair of detailed Spitfire Mk.V 5 spoke wheels/tires to their aftermarket parts line that can be used to replace the ones that come in the new Airfix 1:48 scale kit. The wheels have excellent hub detail and fortunately none of the bulged and flattened look popular with other brands. The tires are smooth with no discernable tread. They also have an opening on the backside of the hub with a recess that matches the locating tab on the Airfix landing gear so everything will align correctly.

The wheels are cast in a very smooth gray resin that will polish up nicely after removal from the casting block. Parts can easily be separated from the block with a razor saw or xacto blade and smoothed with sanding sticks. Because the material is resin, it will be necessary to use superglue (CA) or epoxy cement to attach the aftermarket parts to the kit’s styrene plastic landing gear legs.

The set consists of 5 one-for-one replacements for the kit landing gear on the new Eduard MiG-15 kits. The nose gear is a single casting of the strut and the nose wheel, and incorporates the spoked effect on the tire seen on the kit part. The main gear each consists of a main gear strut and the retraction/extension actuator. As with the other SAC sets the parts are finely cast and need minimal clean-up before being painted and installed. My set had a bit of flash on each of the small struts coming off the main gear struts, that initially looked like part of the gear, but I have been unable to find any photos showing this to be part of the gear, so I clipped it off.’’

A nice touch to add to a great little kit – recommended. Thank you to Scale Aircraft Conversions for the review sample and to IMPS-USA for letting me review it.

The SAAB JA 37 Viggen was designed during the Cold war to be a rugged short take-off and landing interceptor for the Swedish Air Force. It first flew in early 1967 and production ended in 1990 after 149 airframes were delivered. It has always been a favorite of aircraft enthusiasts and modelers due the distinctive delta wing and canard design. This highly anticipated new kit from the Swedish company Tarangus is the first new kit of this awesome fighter in 1/48 scale since the old ESCI kit from the 80s.

Tarangus is a small Swedish company that specializes in new, beautiful kits of very interesting Swedish subjects. Most of their kits are short run kits but this new Viggen is not. The kit was taken back into development for nearly a year to make mainstream moldings that would be more durable. I am a huge fan of the Viggen so I had high hopes for this kit and it did not disappoint.

A newer addition to Scale Aircraft Conversions ever-expanding line of metal landing gear is this set for the Zoukei-Mura 1/48 scale Focke Wulf Ta 152.

Like most of SAC’s sets, this is meant as a drop-fit replacement for the kit’s plastic landing gear. The set comprises of both main gear legs, the tail gear (with molded-in wheel/tire), and the accompanying actuators. All are made out of sturdy, white metal.

I could see no appreciable difference in the detail between the kit items and those in this set. They look to be almost exactly the same. All the brake lines and other details present on SAC’s gear are there on the original kit items as well. The kit and SAC both include the tail wheel molded onto its strut, something I am not a fan of.