Once, I heard that a “modeler can only be as good as his tools”. While I think some modelers can be better than their tools, I know that in my case my tools are the best I can get, which is why I try to get the best tools I can.

This arrow-head shaped tool is extremely handy to create “hand grabs” (for an armor vehicle, an aircraft canopy, or maybe a ship ladder) which will all have the same size and dimension. This tool might find uses in trains and maybe for hydraulic lines in an aircraft, or for internal wiring inside an AFV or a car.

The tool has 28 pre-set lengths, or notches, so you only need to choose which one to use and then simply bend the piece of wire or photo etch to the length you need.

Simply brilliant design. Every single handle will have the same size.

I would recommend this tool for modelers who work with photo etch or scratchbuild parts.

I want to thank UMM-USA and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

History Brief

The USS Indianapolis is a ship potentially more famous for her loss than her life. On July 30, 1945, after delivering components for the first atomic bomb, the Indianapolis was hit by two torpedoes from the HIJMS I-58. Her loss was not discovered before August 2nd, after many of her survivors met grisly ends at the hands of the elements and constant shark attacks.

The Portland-class cruiser was launched in 1931 in the post-Washington Naval Treaty world. Envisioned as an improvement on the Northampton class, the Portlands featured a lower tripod forward mast and improved protection. The Indianapolis had a busy wartime career, earning ten battle stars for her service. She also saw extensive modification through her life, losing much of her upper works to the torch to make room for additional AA guns.

Quickboost now offers a 1/48 scale three-piece resin ejection seat to replace the nine-part injection-molded seat found in the Trumpeter Sea Hawk kit, or the resin one found in the Classic Airframes kit. The multi-part ejection seat found on the sprues in Trumpeter’s kit builds into a nice, but somewhat unconvincing, replica of what you would see in the prototype. The resin seat in the Classic Airframes kit is much nicer, but requires the modeler to add PE belts to the seat, and the kit is now out of production. The Quickboost seat offers superior detail than what’s provided in either detail set, plus it includes nicely molded safety belts (the photos below show the level of delicate detail molded into the parts). The Quickboost seat also appears to be better proportioned. In the comparison photo below, the Quickboost seat (on the right) exhibits superior detail over that found in the Trumpeter kit’s seat (on the left).

Thank you to the wonderful folks at Casemate Publishers and to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to review these two very timely detailed volumes describing the He-219. The Heinkel 219 Uhu was a highly effective but under-utilized Luftwaffe night fighter, with a variety of innovations including obliquely firing guns and the first operational ejection seats. The two Kagero monographs described here provide an excellent resource for any modeler constructing and replicating this extraordinary aircraft.

Squadron is one of the mainstay companies in the United States for our hobby, and they have been making great strides in providing customers great items at reasonable prices. In this case, their release of the Avionix-range of resin accessories is proving quite valuable. We cannot thank Squadron enough for their support of the hobby, and IPMS USA in particular by providing us new releases. On to the subject of this review: The Avionix front cockpit for Hobby Boss’ 1/32 P-61!

I’m a bit tardy on this review; I received the Avionix review item a month or so ago, but the reason is I needed to purchase a kit to use it on, (I thought the backorder would arrive before the review item) and they keep selling out! Once I had it, I could use it to review the upgrade while meeting the reviewer corps requirement of “Use the set if you can…” I thought it would be an easy to find one, but no… I finally got one about two weeks ago, and here we are.