Details

For those who stay up on the latest US Navy aircraft, we have all heard of the evolution of the classic Hornet into the all new F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet.  As with any aircraft, it’s undergone several updates even within its short service thus far.  One of the areas that has been updated is the infamous Environmental Control System (ECS) exhaust.  Several iterations of design have been tried before the exhaust ports settled on the BARD stacks.  With the early vents came insulation blankets installed behind the vents as a stopgap solution to the skin damage that was happening aft of the vents.  Now, all Super Hornets from Lot 28 and up have the newer stacks built in during assembly, with modifications starting to be retrofitted on earlier jets.  Several kits have hit the market within the last several years, some better than others.  At first, they all had the early vents, with the Italeri kit having the original design with the saw-tooth edge, and Revel and Hasegawa producing the interim version.  Now, all the latest-tool Hasegawa kits have the stacks.

The Mark-77 bomb (MK 77) air-dropped incendiary bomb contains a fuel gel mix that is similar to napalm, but different in that it is kerosene-based rather than gasoline-based.  Of course, its effects are similar to napalm, thus the term is used generically to describe the Mk-77 even though it technically is not napalm.  The Mk-77 is the primary incendiary weapon used by the US, and has been used in both Operation Desert Storm and recent operations in OIF/OEF.  One of the main uses during Desert Storm was to ignite the miles of oil filled trenches being used as barricades by Iraq against collation forces.

The primary fusing system consists of the igniter Mk-273 Mod 0 with the M918 fuse, or the initiator Mk-13 (igniter Mk-273 Mod 1 with the Mk-343 fuse). The Mk-77 Mod 4 also has provisions in the nose and tail for an alternate fusing system using the AN-M173A1 fuse and AN-M23A1 igniter.

The first variant of the Mk-77 carried 110 gal of the incendiary mix, which was later reduced in the Mod 1 to 75 gal.  The later Mods kept the same 75 gallons of content, but are slightly heavier.  The most common various Mods are:

Even with all of the modern molding technology available now, plastic has its limits as to how thin and how small details can be made and still be moldable.  Pitot tubes and AOA (Angle of Attack) sensors are where this shows the most on scale model kits.  Take a kit that is nearing 30 years old, and it becomes grossly apparent that something must be done to improve these details, and for the most part these small details can make an old school model seem new again.

This all becomes apparent when looking at the old Monogram AV-8A / GR.1 labeled simply as “Hawker Harrier” on the box.  It is still the only game in town for an early Harrier (excluding Sea Harriers), but actually isn’t a bad kit.  It’s overall quite accurate in shape, with the major details done quite well.  The pitot tube, on the other hand, is a scale 2” diameter pole sticking out the front end – not only grossly over-scale, but also soft in shape and begging to be broken by the wayward hand.  Master Model comes to the rescue with a very affordable and effective replacement, plus a bonus AOA sensor.

In the Bag

The Yak-38 Forger was considered by many to be the Soviet Harrier. Like in the West, Soviet aircraft design bureaus were fascinated by the potential of VSTOL aircraft and undertook their own developmental efforts. The Forger was borne out of a requirement for a VSTOL fighter for the Soviet Navy to take to sea on the Kiev Class ships. The Kiev Class was technically not an aircraft carrier, but instead described as a heavy anti-submarine cruiser and, later, a tactical aircraft-carrying cruiser. The Forger was used both for air defense and in a short-range anti-ship role. Unlike the Harrier, the Forger did not survive the Cold War. The plane was functionally obsolescent and work was well underway on its replacement, the Yak-141 Freestyle, when the collapse of the Soviet Union heralded the retirement of the Kiev Class and the need for a VSTOL fighter.

If most of this review feels like dèjà vu all over again, well, it is, sort of.  When my HobbyBoss F-14D kit arrived for me to review, included was a set of the SAC landing gear.  This is the same product number that I reviewed against the HobbyBoss F-14A, and as the landing gear did not change from the A to the A+, B, and later D models, the set is appropriate for all.  I have added comments for actual installation, but otherwise, much is unchanged.

Product / Stock #s:

• AM-72-044 – MiG-21 BIS (Fishbed L/N) – $7.00
• AM-72-045 – MiG-21 F-13 (Fishbed C) – $7.00
• AM-72-047 – MiG-21 U, US, UM (Mongol) – $7.00

As I have mentioned previously, the MiG-21 is one of my favorite aircraft to model.  Also, I have been impressed with the products from Master Model and jumped at the chance to review their latest pitot tubes for various MiG models.  This review covers three different pitot tube sets that differ primarily in their length.  They all feature pitot tubes with small vanes near the tip to measure angle of attack and yaw.  The fronts of the pitots, where the vanes mount, are all similar.

Along with several other photo etch sets made for detailing the Kinetic EA-6B and A-6E kits, Eduard offers this wing fold enhancement.  Though the kit detail of the wing fold is adequate, this set definitely fine tunes the whole mechanism and lends a lot of detail.  All together, there are 66 pieces of photo etch detail, all of which must be folded at least once, most twice.  Removal of four tabs and four hinges on each kit wing gets the process started.  These are replaced with three dimensionally-etched hinges and rib detail which, when painted and dirtied up, will give a great depiction of the real thing.  Each wing also gets a very delicate manifold and plumbing piece.  All of these are etched in the light gauge steel that Eduard sometimes uses, so they are a little more stiff that the normal photo etch, which is great for this application.

My thanks to Eduard for the review sample.

One of my favorite aircraft to model is the MiG-21.  The airplane was the most important fighter of the old Soviet Union for many years and was exported virtually around the world.  The number of interesting color schemes abounds.

We have all seen a great number of reviews of impressive parts from Master Model and have purchased a few, so I jumped at the chance to review their new MiG-21 Pitot Tubes.  The subject of this review is a solid, milled replacement for the plastic pitot tubes from Fishbed D and F models.  These MiG-21 PF and PFM models were a part of the second generation Fishbeds and were widely exported.

The attached photo shows a comparison of the Master Models part against an old Airfix MiG-21 model.  A day and night difference.  The instruction sheet does a great job of showing how to modify the kit to accept the Master Model part, how to align the new part, and how to paint it.

These parts are highly recommended and will greatly improve the appearance of any of the noted MiG-21 models.  A big thanks to Master Model for supplying the sample and to IPMS for allowing me to do this review.

This fine metal pitot tube is from Master Model, based in Poland. For those of you who have never heard of the company, they produce finely machined gun barrels, pitot tubes, and the like for aircraft, and also have a great line of metal gun barrels for ships in all scales.

This particular part is a single milled pitot tube for the nose of the Trumpeter Su-27 or Su-30. Adding it to the kit requires nothing more than gluing it in place. I have included a picture comparing the kit piece to the Master Model piece and the Zactomodels piece. I have also added the Master Models pitot to my kit nose (which is the replacement nose from Chris Wilson and Zactomodels) – the fit is perfect.

Highly recommended! This is a great replacement for the kit part (much less clunky) and is stouter than the resin piece from Zactomodels. My thanks to Master Model and IPMS/USA for the chance to review it.
 

This little set is designed as a drop-fit to replace the plastic machine gun barrels on any Italian 1/48 scale aircraft kit that was armed with the Breda 12.7mm machine guns.

Master Model provides a pair of gun barrels, each comprised of 2 pieces: a perforated jacket and the gun barrel itself.  The brass is extremely cleanly cast, with full perforations in the jackets and a nice open muzzle on the barrels themselves. No cleanup of these parts will be required.  The brief instructions show the barrels are to be inserted into the jackets, then placed onto the model in the appropriate location.