IPMS/USA Reviews

The RS-82 rocket was an unguided air-to-ground rocket developed by the Soviet Union in the 1930s and used extensively in World War II. The rockets were pretty small, only around 3 inches in diameter and 24 inches long and like most early air-to-ground unguided weapons, their accuracy was questionable at best. As a result they were usually fired in one salvo. They were used on almost every aircraft flown by the Red Air Force during World War II and there are a lot of photographs on the Internet of various aircraft with them mounted under the wings.

Anybody who knows me and my modeling preferences know that I am NOT a fan of photo-etch for photo-etch's sake. Too many model companies have begun including photoetch sheets in their products not because they actually enhance the accuracy and scale of the model, but because it gives them an excuse to jack the price up. This does not make me their friend.

That being said, there are times when nothing but photoetch will do the job. In this case, Brengun has offered a set to model separate landing flaps for the 1/32nd Special Hobby Brewster Buffalo, and what a lovely little accessory kit this is!

The parts come on two separate sheets - one for each wing - and feature not only the flap itself but the interior of the upper wing. They also include a somewhat cryptic instruction sheet to help with assembly. As a technical writer by profession, I can think of a few things that they might have shown differently, but it's still clear enough to be quite functional.

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) produces white metal replacement gear for a variety of popular model kits from a variety of manufacturers. The white metal replacements are normally a one-for-one replacement with the plastic parts provided with the kit. Some landing gear sets consist of the main gear only while others include the nose gear, tail gear and wheels. In some cases, inaccuracies in the original kit gear are corrected, but the mounting points remain identical to the factory parts to ensure ease of use. The quality of the parts is normally spot on, or even better than the kit parts, and since the replacement parts are made of white metal, they provide the additional benefit of improved strength.

If you want to make life a little easier when masking and painting canopies and wheels, you may want to check out the line of masks produced by Eduard. This particular set is made for the Hobby Boss A-4E (kit 81764), and provides masks for the windscreen, canopy, and wheels/tires. The precut masks are easy to use, so modelers with a little experience placing items in exact locations will have no issues with this set.

After seeing the decals provided at the IPMS Nationals last year, I decided that I needed to add an A-4E Skyhawk to my stash, and being a relatively small plane, 1/48 scale seemed appropriate. Hobby Boss had recently released their kit of the E model, so it was an easy decision when I saw one on the Squadron table. My late father in law was a Naval Aviator, and he flew some A-4 missions in Vietnam, including Iron Hand, so this will a bit of a tribute to him once built.

IPMS/USA thanks the Eduard team up front for sending us this absolutely stunning set for the new Eduard FW-190 series. I received this set when difficulty was experienced by another reviewer having some issues out of his control in getting the sets reviewed, so I volunteered and got "The lot". Hooo boy...

Another note: right after I got the sets, I had work and a funeral interfere with MY life, so these took some time to get done; particularly since I was working out of a hotel (as I am now again on OTHER review items) so I'm a bit behind.

First off, Eduard has produced some of the best sets, bar none, for the FW-190. In this review I used both the engine sets and the upper gun deck sets; here are my observations.

First, the sets fit great. I had a few difficulties with figuring out what went where, but was able to overcome and get them installed. The upper MG's in particular need care in installation, or you can really have them out of whack.