IPMS/USA Reviews

IPMS/USA again thanks Ross and his Team at SAC for supporting the IPMS USA reviewer corps with one more of many monthly releases, with useful and well-thought out landing gear additions for those who build.  And thanks to IPMS leadership for sending it to me to be reviewed. 

This set has eight parts:  two nose gear halves, two shock struts for the main gear, a main rotorhead three-point blade swashplate, a cyclic main rotor mount plate with four points, a main rotor brace, and a tail rotor pitch link assembly.    Rotor heads are the main focal point and the failure point of most rotary wing aircraft... and metal is the perfect solution for the fragile bits.

Master Model out of Poland, well-known for producing high-quality, precision after-market products, has recently released a set of .303 CAL Browning machine gun barrels for the recently released 1/32^nd scale Avro Lancaster by HK Models. Each barrel comes in three pieces of turned brass; a shaft with hollowed out flash suppressor, a perforated sleeve that slips over the shaft, and a base ring that slips over the other end and into a (slightly drilled out) female receptacle in the plastic gun from the kit.

Assembly

Assembly of the brass barrel is a snap.  The cone slips tightly over the shaft and the base ring only requires a dot of super-glue to keep everything together, and cemented into the receptacle of the HKM gun mount, which is just slightly smaller than the new barrel.  This design allows the modeler the freedom to open up the mounting holes just slightly to insure a nice, tight fit.

Plusmodel is located in the Czech Republic and when you visit the company website you are given the option of an English language version. The links above go to that option.

To get some idea as to what products are offered by plusmodel, select the Catalogue option on the home page. The Catalogue lists hundreds of items that can be used as stand-alone models or items, such as the Ladder being reviewed, to enhance a model. My modeling experience with plusmodel products includes only a dozen or so of the aftermarket-type items, and I have been pleased with each of those items.

Scale Aircraft Conversions continues their 1/32 scale line of white metal replacement gear with set 32146 for the Zoukei Mura 1/32 Ki-45 Toryu. The set includes 8 well made pieces of white metal that allow replacement of the two main landing gear struts along with a replacement of the tail wheel also.

Inside the package, there are two main gear struts that are not interchangeable so make sure you know which side is left and right. The main gear also includes retraction struts and oleo's for both sides. The tail wheel includes a nice sturdy strut and separate oleo.

Fortunately, I was building the Zoukei Mura kit and these popped up on the list so I was able to incorporate them into the build. The cleanup was simple. They clean up like plastic gear and removal of a few seam lines was all the was required. They were direct replacements for the kit parts and the metal is stronger.

Plusmodel is located in the Czech Republic and when you visit the company website you are given the option of an English language version. The links above go to that option.

To get some idea as to what products are offered by plusmodel, select the Catalogue option on the home page. The Catalogue lists hundreds of items that can be used as stand-alone models or items, such as the Ladder being reviewed, to enhance a model. My modeling experience with plusmodel products includes only a dozen or so of the aftermarket-type items, and I have been pleased with each of those items.

The ladder, in 48^th scale, is packaged in a sturdy cardstock box measuring 5 inches by 3.5 inches. The box top shows an F-106, with the canopy open, and with the ladder in place, awaiting the pilot. The backside of the box serves as the "instruction sheet". The illustration shows that there are 14 parts included in the box.