Review Author
Mike Hinderliter
Published on
February 20, 2011
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$24.95

Aires now offers a resin a replacement exhaust set for the Revell F-22 Raptor. This set has very well detailed resin pieces molded in the standard Aires grey resin, and are flash and bubble free; as well as a small photoetch set. They also include a 3-page, blue paper diagram, which is a real help.

The resin pieces include the burner cans, turbine faces and nozzles. There is also a small photoetch for the turbine fans and which really will make the exhaust detail just pop out at you when looking at the model from the rear, especially when it is compared to the original kit parts. One thing about the F-22 is that the exhausts are a very distinctive and major feature.

The biggest improvement in this set over the kit parts is that you get one-piece exhausts, doing away with a seam. Also, the thrust augmenters are one piece, another seam you don’t have to deal with.

Review Author
David Goudie
Published on
February 19, 2011
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$14.95

Masking to paint a kit canopy can be a pretty complex and time consuming thing. Not to mention possible (probable) paint bleed under the mask to mess-up the clear areas. Eduard has a solution for this in the form of a sheet of die-cut masks for specific aircraft. This set is for the Hasegawa 1/32 scale Bf 109F-4.

You get a small (1-7/8” x 2-5/8”) rectangle of a very thin, tough material on a peel away surface. The die-cuts are almost invisible and I had to hold them at an angle to my light source to actually see the individual pieces. That is precision!

Review Author
Roger Carrano
Published on
February 18, 2011
Company
Minicraft Model Kits
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$40.00

The B-24D was the first mass produced model of this aircraft which entered service early in 1943. Along with turbocharged engines and increased fuel capacity, there was a total of 10 machine guns. It was one of the heaviest aircraft in the world at over 59,000 lbs, on par with the British Bombers like the Lancaster and Halifax. Because of its ability to carry large loads of bombs and its capability to fly long distances it was chosen for “Operation Tidal Wave”, its most famous mission, which was a low level air strike on nine oil fields at Ploesti, Romania on August 1, 1943. It was to be a strategic mission to destroy these oil fields in order to reduce the amount of fuel and oil for the German war machines. This turned out to be one of the most costly missions of men and machines. Over 600 crewmen were killed and 50 B-24’s were downed on this mission. This mission was to become known as “Black Sunday”.

Review Author
Gary Telecsan
Published on
February 14, 2011
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.95

This set consists of 11 resin and 19 photoetch parts, and one sheet of film from which 4 parts are to be cut. There are two more each of photoetch and resin than are shown on the instructions, but there was no issue with assembly. The set is intended to replace the cockpit floor, seat, sidewalls and instrument panels which come with the Academy kit. I confirmed that it will also fit the Tamiya E-3, and with some more drastic surgery, could be made to fit even the Hobbycraft kit.

The first pictures are of the packaging and the set’s parts and then a shot of the kit’s fuselage halves, from which you will have to remove the sidewalls. I do not picture the process here, but it can easily be seen that the Aries sidewalls are much nicer. The kit cockpit floor and seat are also very simple.

Review Author
Mark Aldrich
Published on
February 14, 2011
Company
Celticwerks
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$18.00

I have been a dedicated TreadHead for many a year now. That love also has a few sub divisions of TreadHeadiness. Yea, like that is a word. I have always thought Recovery Vehicles were so neat. Whether they were based on an actual combat vehicle like the M-31 and M-32 or completely their own design like the M-88. They all look so neat! The Russians were just like any other Army in the world. In the event of war or just a simple vehicular break down, combat vehicles need to be recovered and moved back to a location where they can be repaired. The first VT-34 vehicles were simple T-34s with no turret. Over time, they went from simple pulling tractors to very advanced combat recovery vehicles.

Review Author
Fred Wilms
Published on
February 13, 2011
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$14.95

Construction

Edward has produced an E-2C Hawkeye photo-etched cockpit installation and seat detail system, pre-finished and with adhesive backing. Photo-etched parts were in perfect condition. The instructions were excellent for the most part, but I believe they forgot to show where the face air outlets (eye balls) and fire warning instrument system were located. Per my research, I placed it below the overhead eyebrow. The parts were easy to install. Make sure the instruments, control pedestal and side consoles are filed flat, removing the instruments molded in the details before adding the new panels. A word of caution: some patience is required when installing the throttle, flap, and steering controls, as they contain many tiny parts.

Comments

This kit is recommended for the experienced modeler, due to the numerous tiny parts.

Book Author(s)
Al J. Venter
Review Author
John Ratzenberger
Published on
February 13, 2011
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$34.95

This book has nothing to do with models or modeling. If you are into modeling that part of the world, you might find a useful picture of a vehicle or aircraft.

The author, Al J. Venter, is a South African war correspondent who has covered Africa and the Mideast for 40-some years He has about 20 books to his credit, a few of which are on diving. I have read none of them, so this was a first for me. There is no doubt that he is not, and never has been, sitting behind too many desks.

From the publisher's data sheet and the book end covers, I gathered the purpose of this book is the show that it's a dangerous profession -- well, yeah, think Ernie Pyle. It was fortuitous (I guess) that as I was reading this, the Egyptian government was being overthrown -- the media became the target of the "pro-government" forces and there was the scene of Katie Couric almost swallowed by a mob -- all that brought the theme home, maybe as well as the book did.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
September 21, 2021
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$3.80

Quickboost recently released a set of detail parts for the 1/72 Tamiya P-47D that shows their unique focus on accuracy. Set QB 72 282 provides model builders with a pair of oil coolers that will not only add an often-overlooked detail, but also correct a distortion that is molded into the kit fuselage parts. Tamiya’s practice of simplifying kit construction usually leads to molding as much detail as possible into major parts. This sometimes leads to less than perfect shapes here and there (such as those oval shaped rivet depressions along the mating surfaces of both fuselage halves).

The oil cooler louvres molded into the kit’s fuselage halves are incorrectly angled upward so they will release from the molds. This inaccuracy becomes very obvious when the kit's parts are compared to the Quickboost replacement parts (as shown in the photo below).

Review Author
Doug Hamilton
Published on
February 11, 2011
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
Unkown
MSRP
$44.99

Editor's note: Although the scale is unkown, the figure stands Rider: 5" approx, Horse 7-1/2"

Originally produced by Aurora Models in 1958/1959, this kit has been around awhile, although until recently only in the kit collectors realm. Moebius Models has chosen to rerelease this gem of yesterday, with the same box art and instruction sheet guaranteed to bring you back to your childhood days of saving your paper route money to buy one of these babies for about 3 whole dollars. The horse looked very familiar to you when you got it home and opened the box. But that’s only because this fella had been released twice before. The first time seating the mounted Gold Knight of Nice, part of the original Aurora Knight set. The second time around, an Apache Warrior was atop this fine steed’s back. The third time being the charm, here comes the trusty mount again, this time carrying a Confederate Raider!! Talk about some mileage!!!

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
February 11, 2011
Company
Wingnut Wings, Ltd
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$139.00

First comment: Thanks to Richard at Wingnut wings for sending IPMS USA a review copy of this magnificent kit. Did I say it was “Magnificent”? You better believe it!

Crammed into a sturdy double-corrugated lower, full-color wraparound upper box is undoubtedly one of the most complex, yet simple-to-build, WWI kits I have ever encountered. Box art is excellent, showing two aircraft flying through flak and dropping bombs… Given the reputation of this still-young company, you don’t have to worry. There has been a bit of engineering involved here (duh) to provide excellent fit and, as our British friends say, “Value for Money”.