Scale Aircraft Conversions specializes in white metal replacement parts. Its line of replacement landing gear has been expanded to include a set for the Tamiya 1/48 Bf 109E3/4/7.

The set includes 3 parts, two landing gear struts and tail wheel, finely molded in white metal. These parts are drop-in replacements for the plastic parts.

You can see from the pictures the parts are very cleanly molded and formed. They include the “slot” in the struts where the plastic landing gear cover is attached, so replacement should be trivial.

Typically I tend to think of replacing a plastic landing gear by a white metal one when the model is large and heavy. For most single engine 1/48 scale models, weight is not an issue.

This is another fine addition to Squadron Signal's line of In Action books and is sure to complement your library. The book takes you to Jack Northrop's response to the Army Air Corps‘ call for a secret purpose-built night fighter, and follows it from the drafting table to wind tunnel testing, factory manufacturing, test flying, and finally to combat. The book also covers all production variants and prototypes.

The book comes in either softcover or hardback; it's 80 pages that contain 30 vintage color and 164 black & white photographs plus 4 color plate profiles and a dozen detailed line drawings. It's well written, in-depth, and laid out keeping the modeler in mind. The photos alone are a wealth of information.

With the old 1/48 Monogram kit looking better all the time, the newer P-61 lines in 1/48 from Great Wall Hobby, and the larger 1/32 Hobby Boss Kits, this book will surely come in handy. I highly recommend it.

The heavy tank Panzer VI was designed in 1942 by the Henschel Company in response to the heavy Russian tank (KV-1) encountered on the Russian front. It mounted a tank version of the Flak 36 88mm canon and had 100mm of frontal armor. The Tiger remained in production and front line use until the end of the war. It became know as the Tiger I after the Tiger II entered combat in late 1944.

Zvezda’s newest kit is the first production model of the Tiger, the Ausf (model) E, which was introduced at the Battle of Kursk and used in North Africa and the Italian campaign. The first thing I noticed is that the sprues are not clearly marked on the front with a letter; the letter is small and on the back of the sprues. I wrote the letters onto the front to help in construction. There are four sprues of yellow plastic, one clear sprue, and vinyl two-piece tracks. No photo etched or metal parts.

Detail sets for Edward Spitfires:

• Brassin cockpit # 648100 - $40.00
• PE landing flaps # 48765 - $25.00
• Color PE interior # 49639 - $20.00
• Surface Panels # 48766 - $20.00
• Five-Spoke wheels with block tread tires # 648098 - $8.00
• Exhaust Stacks Fishtail # 648099 - $8.00

Every time I use superlatives to comment on a build, another one comes along to prove there is a LOT of great plastic, resin, and brass out there. This was the case with Eduard’s Spitfire! We at IPMS USA are truly fortunate to have Jan Zdiarsky and the team at Eduard supporting us by providing these most excellent kits and details to review.

Right off the bat, I had the kit on the build table; the sheer number of resin and PE parts was daunting, and it’s back to basics here. The best way to eat an elephant is to…GET TO WORK!

Airscale has been producing some excellent aftermarket items, such as aircraft instrument decals. Until now, you had to punch them out and add them to the kit instrument panel. What if you wanted to build your own instrument panel? Well, until now you had out-of-production Waldron bezels, and that was pretty much it. Airscale now offers you some options…lots of options.

On a single brass photo etch fret is a plethora of levers, handles, and switches. There are actually 72 photo etch pieces. Some of these details will require you to fold them over. Many of the items are for WWII aircraft, but they can be easily adapted to later aircraft.

The instructions are on a two-sided full-color piece of card stock. One side contains the parts breakdown of the fret. The parts are in rows with letters assigned for the individual parts. The key at the bottom of the page will aid the modeler to get the right part and what it was originally designed for.