What's New

Review Author
Mike Hinderliter
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$8.95

A new addition to Quickboost’s ever-growing line of resin aircraft accessories is the corrected spatted undercarriage for the Ju-87G Stuka. This set is to correct the spats that come in the Academy kit. It is up to their usual standards – molded in grayish resin, smooth, seamless, and bubble free.

The spats that come in the Academy kit are too short and at a different angle than they should be. A great plus to the Quickboost parts is that all of the separate parts are molded as one piece, eliminating seam lines. All you need to do is pop the wheels in and glue the assembly in place. The resin parts are very easy to install and add a neater appearance to the finished model.

I highly recommend this product if you want a really superior looking model. Usually, replacement parts need some work to get them installed properly, but this assembly just drops into place. Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS USA for the chance to do this review.

Review Author
John Lyons
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$32.95

The USS Saratoga was the US Navy's third aircraft carrier, being commissioned a few months prior to its class-lead, USS Lexington CV 2, in November 1927. USS Langley CV 1, Lexington, and Saratoga were instrumental in developing a new generation of fleet tactics that embraced the capabilities of airpower.

Eduard has put together a really nice set of details for the USS Saratoga CV-3 Trumpeter kit. You get 2 sheets of PE that provide a lot of details that are not in the original kit, along with six pages of instructions to help you apply the parts to your kit. The details include upgrades for the turrets and island, upper deck safety rails & nets, stairway guide rails, and ladders. The set also comes with parts to upgrade the deck crane and the plane catcher net.

The PE parts are perfectly etched and can be easily cut from the trees without special tools.

Review Author
Mike Hinderliter
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$8.95

Quickboost just keeps adding to their great line of quality resin aircraft accessories. The latest addition is for the Hasegawa B-24 Liberator. It is up to their usual standards, molded in grayish resin – smooth, seamless, and bubble-free.

The doors that come in the Hasegawa kit are okay but lack the level of detail that the Quickboost doors have. The Quickboost covers are superior and add just that much more realism to the finished kit. I shaded in one of the doors to show the detail that is molded into the Quickboost part. The resin parts are very easy to install and can be used on any other brand kit that is similarly molded.

I highly recommend this product if you want a really superior looking model. Usually, replacement parts need some work to get them installed properly but these doors pretty much just drop into place.

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS USA for the chance to do this review.

Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.50

Quickboost has now added resin exhaust pipes specifically for the Zvezda 1/48 kit of the Bf-109F to their line. As with all their releases, this is meant to be a drop-fit replacement, so there are several 1/48 Bf-109F exhausts now available from Quickboost, each designed to fit a specific kit.

The Zvezda kit of the 109 differs from other manufacturers’ releases in that it includes a full engine (among other details) and has individual exhaust stubs. So the Quickboost exhaust designed for any other kit (molded as a single bank of stubs) certainly would not ‘drop-fit’ into a Zvezda model.

Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$27.50

Arriving in the familiar, colorful, small poly envelope, the set contains one color printed photo-etch fret, one smaller piece of acetate film, an illustrated instruction sheet, and card stock backing. I found, upon close inspection, the parts to be beautifully printed and well finished.

Installing the parts will require removing the surface details of some existing kit parts, such as the instrument and console panels, while other parts like the rudder pedals are folded and simply changed out for the kit part. Other parts, like the ring and bead gun sights and radio knobs, are basic add-on parts.

The kit parts seem a little clunky, to be fair, and I think the photo-etch is a better alternative for true scale effect, plus the genius of printing on photo-etch affords really beautiful renderings.

The bottom line is I highly recommend this set to anyone ready to tackle the 1/32 Dragon Bf-110.

Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.50

One of Quickboost’s latest products is this set of three 1/48th scale headrests for the F6F Hellcat. Although the recommended kit is Eduard’s, I’m sure this would easily work on Hasegawa’s kit or even the old Arii/Otaki (or even the Monogram if you are feeling adventurous or nostalgic!).

As best I can determine, the middle headrest on this set (with the narrower width) was for use in the -3 (and early -5) Hellcats that carried the small windows aft of the pilot. The other two headrests without this narrower section are identical except for the size of the headrest padding.

The molding is very crisp and in a grey/green colored resin. The accompanying drawing of the set, along with photos on the web, shows that a vertical ‘bar’ should be present on the sides of the pour stub, presumably to offer some protection to the pieces. These bars were missing on my copy, but the headrests themselves were in perfect shape.

Book Author(s)
Mark Linney
Review Author
Hub Plott
Published on
Company
Haynes Publishing
MSRP
$28.00

This is the second book in this series that I have had the pleasure of reviewing, the first being for the RMS Titanic. The reader is presented both with history of the airframe type and the basic knowledge to safely start, operate and maintain an F-86A Sabre.

This book begins with the story of the Sabre’s development and testing. Next is a good overview of the Sabre’s combat history. Then the reader gets into the main body of the book. This covers the restoration, operation and repair of the world’s only flying F-86A. The book then concludes with a listing of principal production variants and surviving airframes.

Book Author(s)
Don Marsh & Peter Starkings
Review Author
Tim Hortman
Published on
Company
Schiffer Publishing
MSRP
$79.99

Imperial Japanese Army Flying Schools 1912-1945 is a recent edition to the Schiffer Military History book line. This large hardbound book contains 248 pages and is packed with information that the historian and model builder will find useful.

The book starts with an introduction and special note to those reading the book. This is especially useful to those who may not be familiar with the nomenclature and terminology used with Japanese language and aviation terms.

The book’s chapters are listed as follows:

Review Author
Tim Hortman
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.50

Another nice-looking resin detail set in the fine line of Quickboost products. This time we’ll be looking at the resin landing gear covers detail set for the 1/48 Hasegawa J2M3 Raiden “Jack” Interceptor/Fighter.

The Japanese WWII Raiden Interceptor/Fighter was designed to combat the high-flying B-29s over the Japanese Home Islands. It had the fastest climb rate of any Japanese aircraft of the war. The allied code-named the aircraft “Jack” and it saw combat starting in 1944.

This detail set is designed to fit exactly with any boxing of the 1/48 Hasegawa J2M3 kit. The resin parts are made in a way where they simply fit into place with no surgery required. All one needs to do is carefully remove the parts from the resin ‘plug’ they come on.

Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.95

The Brassin boys have been busy burning the midnight oil, producing several items to compliment the new Eduard MiG-21. Our example, an early model seat, came packaged in the familiar clear blister pack containing one pre-painted photo-etch fret, twelve finely cast resin parts, and a well-illustrated instruction sheet. As a bonus, you’ll find the Eduard’s now infamous pilot’s helmet included.