What's New

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$9.95

Eduard starting producing resin recently and started producing some superb wheels for different kits. This set is for Me-262's and can be used on Tamiya, DML or Monogram kits.

In the package, you get 9 beautiful resin pieces- there add shows different resin for the wheel and hubs but they are all perfectly cast dark gray resin. All you need to do is remove the pour stubs and you are ready to go. The hubs are cast separately and I love this. Typical German wheels were black hubs and dark gray rubber wheels. This makes painting that scheme simple. Also, the tread pattern is beautiful as shown in the close-up shots.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.50

Quickboost adds another set of upgrade part to its line for the Roden T-28 series. In this example, the add two upgraded control stick and four upgraded rudder pedals. the parts are cast perfectly in Aires gray resin. The control sticks have a web of film that has to be removed. No instructions are included as these are direct replacement parts.

Removal is simple. Cut the parts free and trim as needed and use. I will warn you, the control sticks are very thin and fragile and even with the good quality of resin, I snapped one off at the base. Its an easy fix but still, a light touch is required.

I have included comparison shots of the Roden parts. The Quickboost sticks are finer and have no ejection pin marks. The rudder pedals from Quickboost have a better tread pattern on them and better attachment points.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$65.25

First, a little background. The He-219 Uhu was a purpose designed night fighter and also the first operational aircraft to have ejection seats. The plane had an advanced VHF radar, a 385 mph top speed, excellent armament and good range. It was not available in quantity however which is probably a blessing for the bombers flying at night.

Revell's kit consists of 12 light gray sprues of medium soft styrene with 2 clear sprues. There is a large booklet of instructions and a large decal sheet. There is some small amount of flash on the sprues. The decal sheet gives you options for four planes:

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
SuperScale International
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$14.40

Super Scale International through Squadron Products continues its decal releases for HobbyBoss' excellent 1/32 P-61 with a set for three options for P-61B's. Inside the package, you get a page of full color instructions and a nicely done decal sheet printed by Cartograf.

The instruction sheet contains paint and more black. The planes are:

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
SuperScale International
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$14.40

If you want to dress up HobbyBoss' excellent 1/32 P-61, Superscale decals give you three options for P-61B's based on Iwo Jima from the 548th NFS. Inside the package, you get a page of full color instructions and a nicely done decal sheet printed by Cartograf.

The instruction sheet contains paint and marking schemes for three planes all of which are black with red spinners and cowlings which match the red plane numbers. The planes are:

  • "Lady in the Dark", P-61B-1-NO, S/N 42-39408
  • "Midnight Madness", P-61B-1-NO, S/N 42-39404
  • "Cooper's Snooper", P-61B-2-NO, S/N 42-39454

There are placement guides for the excellent nose art and unit markings and also the national insignia. The nose art in two cases are very well done pin-up girls.

The decals are beautiful and perfectly in register and also include propeller markings, plane data and pilot data. Cartograf makes excellent decals and I am sure these will apply very well.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Two Six Decals
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$14.50

The Aircraft

The Boeing 720 is a “downsize” of the Boeing 707, with a smaller fuselage. It was used for short-haul routes where the 707 wasn’t economically feasible. It was built from 1958 to 1967. The 720 was a money-maker for Boeing because all of the development and testing was done on the 707.

The Two Six decal set.

You get markings for one of three Aer Lingus B-720s, EI-ALA, EI-ALB and EI-ALC. The decal sheet is complete down to the little shamrocks on each side of the jet intakes. These are laser printed decals, but they are separated on the backing sheet, so you don’t have to do a lot of trimming and cutting to get the markings off the sheet.

Instructions

The instructions are a little on the sparse side, but I found a great photo of EI-ALC on Airliners.net, which was larger than the instructions, and gave me a pretty good idea of what went where.

Book Author(s)
Various
Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$12.00

In the Novembers issue of Model Art they start as usual with the special feature. This months special feature is on weathering techniques and painting of aircraft. The article starts of with Tamiya's beautiful 1/32 F4U-1 Corsair. With this model they incorporate post shading, exhaust staining and fuel stains. The next model is the Hasegawa 1/48th A6M2b Type 21 "Junyo Fighter group". This aircraft was originally finished in IJN gray but then was over sprayed with one of the greens that Japan used during the war leaving a blotchy finish. They show you how to achieve this in this section. Next up is the Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire Mk.1. This section covers chipping, masking and some general weathering. Zvezda Yak-3 1/48th is used next. This section deals with general weathering and details of the kit. The next section covers dust. They use the Eduard 1/48th Bf-109E-7 Trop for this demonstration. The last next article uses the Hasegawa 1/48 Henchel 129B-2 "Winter Camouflage".

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Squadron Signal Publications
MSRP
$18.95

As quoted from Squadron/Signal Publications " In Action books, despite the title of the genre, are books that trace the development of a single type of aircraft, armored vehicle, or ship from prototype to the final production variant. Experimental or "one-off" variants can also be included. Our first In Action book was printed in 1971".

The M-1 Abrams was designed to fight multiple Communist manned tanks in the forests of Europe. Even though the "Abrams" has been in combat, it has been limited to desert warfare. The M-1 was designed to be technologically superior and to provide the crew the best protection possible. During the M-1's career it has gone through many upgrades and modifications, both in technology, armor and armaments.

Review Author
John Kelly
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.49

These resin parts are designed to replace the exhaust nozzles in any of the first-generation Harrier kits from a number of manufacturers. They are advertised to fit the Italeri and Hasegawa Sea Harrier FRS.1 and the Italeri and Hasegawa Harrier GR.3. Since the Italeri kits are reissues of the ESCI AV-8A/GR.3 and FRS.1 kits, these parts will fit those kits as well. They will also work on the Fujimi AV-8A kit, as that is a copy (not a reissue) of the ESCI kit. These are first after market nozzles available for the first-generation Harriers, although similar items have been available for the second-generation Harriers (AV-8B, AV-8B+, GR.5/7/9) for some time by a variety of manufacturers. They are not the same.

Review Author
Walt Fink
Published on
Company
Special Hobby
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$30.00

Vought’s Vindicator was designed in 1934 in response to the U.S. Navy’s requirement for a new all-in-one bomber, torpedo bomber, and reconnaissance platform, and was first produced in 1937. Ultimately, the SB2U was more successful as a movie star than a weapon of war, being featured in the motion picture “Dive Bomber”. Vindicators were used by the Marines of VMSB-241 at the battle of Midway, but were mostly ineffective and outclassed.

Special Hobby’s kit represents the SB2U-3 version and comes with markings for for USMC aircraft - three in camouflage, and one representing the first SB2U-3 to roll off the production line, in its pre-war yellow-wing scheme. The kit’s gray plastic parts have really nice recessed panel lines, and I liked the treatment of the fabric areas of the wings, tail, and fuselage. According to photos I have, I think the contour of the rear cockpit sill should be more curved, but it doesn’t detract from the overall appearance.