What's New

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/12
MSRP
$16.50

One in a series of kits featuring “office furniture and school furniture”, this kit is the most difficult of the five “furniture” items recently reviewed. Even at that, the difficulty factor is very low. The “difficulty” focuses on the small parts found on the officer chair. Note in the attached images that each coaster on the chair is a single piece, and they are fairly small. Beyond the difficulty resulting from the small size of the coasters this kit, like the others in this series is “fit, snap, done!”

Hasegawa advertises that this kit does not require glue, and I found that to be true. I took the time remove the nubs after removing the parts from the sprues, but that was more out of habit than necessity. Those who are more advanced modelers will probably feel better if they remove the attachment nibs with a sanding stick, but it is not critical to the “fit” of the parts.

One gets parts sufficient for one desk and one chair.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$13.00

Eduard has issued Remove before Flight tags before out of colored photoetch. This new set capitalizes on the new fabric material along with their photoetch components. This set is for 1/32 scale planes and has one sheet of fourteen fabric tags with two styles- one with a square end and one with a tapered end. The photoetch fret contains two types of attachment hangers.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Caracal Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$14.99

Caracal Models has released a sheet for the 1/48 Kitty Hawk F-35. This decal set includes two sheets with markings for 2 USMC, one 1 US Navy, 2 USAF and 1 RAF aircraft for a total of 6 airframes.

The options on this decal sheet are:

  • F-35B BuNo 168059, VMFAT-501, US Marine Corps
  • F-35B BuNo 168718, VMFA-121, US Marine Corps
  • F-35B BF-05, VX-23 Strike Test, US Navy
  • F-35B ZM137, Royal Air Force
  • F-35A 08-0746, 58th FS, USAF
  • F-35A 10-5009, USAF

They all are in the “F-35 Gray”, which seems to be FS 36170. No manufacturers have that color in their line (as of April 2014) so you are recommended to use “Dark Slate Grey” as a close alternative. The decal sheet includes airframe stencils for one aircraft.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Caracal Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.99

Caracal Models has released a sheet for the 1/48 Trumpeter Albatross SA-16A. This decal set includes three sheets with markings for a total of 6 airframes.

The options on this decal sheet are:

  • US Navy UF-1 Albatross, NAS Norfolk
  • US Navy HU-16C Albatross, NASU Naha, Japan
  • US Navy HU-16C Albatross, NASU Iwakuni, Japan
  • US Navy UF-1 Albatross, US Naval Attache to Oslo
  • US Navy UF-1 Albatross, NAS Whidbey Island
  • US Navy UF-1T Albatross, USNA - Annapolis

The selection of markings is excellent. From typical “utility” schemes, to SAR –with yellows and oranges, and even one that was used by the diplomatic corps in Norway, you will have one (or more) that you would like to use.

Being a Cartograf decal sheet you know you’ll get good quality, thin, and opaque decals. They are very glossy on the sheet and have very little transparent carrier film around them, minimizing the chances for silvering.

Review Author
Mike Hoekstra
Published on
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/9
MSRP
$34.99

Mention “The Munsters” and instantly the vision of an odd family on Mockingbird Lane comes to mind. Fortunately Moebius has introduced two new kits to bring the 60’s family icons of Herman and Grandpa to life in a pair of kits that combine to make a nice diorama of the duo. Moebius also did a great job with the sculpts, bringing the likenesses of Fred Gwynn and Al Lewis to life.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.95

Thanks to Ross at SAC for yet another outstanding metal gear set; IPMS USA are pleased to receive the support from your contributions!

This set is, the usual, a simple drop-in replacement for the kit items. The set contains a compressed oleo main gear strut, a two-part nose gear, and the retraction strut for the nose gear.

Not much to say; use superglue to assemble; they fit perfectly, and impress with strength and “peace of mind” with attaching wheels/tires to the axles.

As usual, SAC landing gear are an excellent investment. The Harrier, in particular, is noteworthy for having the fragile plastic gear on most kits breaking off during handling; not so with SAC gear!

Thanks again to Ross and SAC for continuing their line of strong metal gear!

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Eduard
MSRP
$9.95

Eduard Models is releasing some very useful tools for the modelers, like this glue applicator, dropper or kapátko (probably in Czech as it is written in the package).

This photoetch fret has a total of 10 applicators. The “jaws” in the applicator comes in two sizes, small and smaller glue drop. The two sizes of drops make this tool useful for different scales or different applications. Each applicator has its own engraved grip for better handling.

I can see this tool being extremely useful while working with photoetch parts (from Eduard, what else!) and it would prevent that ‘blob’ of superglue that we all have dealt with in our builds.

Highly recommended.

I would like to thank Eduard and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/12
MSRP
$16.50

One in a series of kits featuring “office furniture”, this kit is rather easy to assemble, goes together very well, and provides a bit of fun. The kit provides pieces for two tables and four chairs. There is nothing difficult about this kit and I found myself chuckling out loud at least twice as I assembled the parts. Total build time was about 30 minutes.

Hasegawa advertises that this kit does not require glue, and I found that to be true. I took the time remove the nubs after removing the parts from the sprues, but that was more out of habit than necessity.

One gets parts sufficient for four chairs and two tables. The fit is excellent and assembly is very quick and easy. The table surfaces are “brown” as are the seats and chair backs. The tubing for the chairs and tables is gray.

Review Author
Keith Gervasi
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$42.99

History

The twin engine fighter/bomber type of aircraft was a very popular design with the Luftwaffe during WWII. The Me 410 was a late war development of this concept and proved very versatile. The 1st versions were equipped as light bombers, while later variants moved more towards the destroyer style of aircraft. The B-6/R-2 had a Zaunkonig surface search radar array mounted in the nose for anti-shipping raids.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/20
MSRP
$32.49

Background

This is the second Moebius Models kit based on the monster art of Von Franco, a self-taught American artist associated with the Lowbrow art movement and Kustom Kulture. Von Franco’s skill at drawing hot rod and monster art follows in the art style of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Von Dutch.

The inspiration for this kit is Von Franco’s caricature monster painting Stoned Hoods & Crooks. The challenge of this kit is not in the build, but in painting the model in the cartoonish style of the box art. If you ever wanted to paint a fluorescent orange model piloted by a lime green monster driver with bloodshot eyes, then this is your kit!