IPMS/USA Reviews

If you are looking to add a figure to your F-5 Freedom Fighter, you may want to investigate the latest offering from the Aires Aerobonus line. The figure is posed in his ejection seat with his hands resting on the throttle and stick. With a little care in removing the parts from the pour plug, and some painting, this figure is an easy addition for most modelers to place in their aircraft.

The packaging for this figure is simple with a clear plastic bag containing the ejection seat and majority of the body of the pilot (the arms and head are separate) as well as a folded sheet of paper that provides drawings of the assembled figure as well as painting recommendations. The build was quick and easy, as the arms and head are set into position without issue.

Quickboost, an Aires Resin division, continues to produce quick and simple resin upgrades for a wide variety of subjects. The detail parts are crisply cast and often add to or correct kit items.

In this case, the subject of this review is the engine cowling for the 1/32 Hasegawa Fw-190D-9. In a side-by-side comparison (see photos), the details (panel lines, fasteners, etc.) are almost exactly the same. The old real noticeable difference is that that Quickboost replacement is deeper than the Hasegawa kit part. Based on my Vernier caliper measurements, the Quickboost part is 0.025 deeper than the kit cowl. I would have to assume that this is the "shortcoming" of the kit part. The resin casting is also thinner than the kit part and lacks the locating pin. It is cast on a large resin stub, but this is easily removed with a razor saw and a few minutes of careful cutting. Once separated, a few swipes with a sanding stick or sanding block readily remove any saw marks. The diameter of the replacement cowl matches very well with the kit part and it fits snugly onto the front of the fuselage.

This is a white metal landing gear set is to for the Eduard 1/72 Fw 190A-5/8, R-2/8, F-8 aircraft.

The white metal parts are very good and have more defined details than the original kit parts. They are a very good replacement for the already well-detailed kit parts. The advantage is these white metal parts will provide more strength and last longer than the kit parts.

The parts are well cast; you do need to sand off the few cast seams and metal pour points. The parts were a perfect fit to the existing mount and were easy to assemble. A couple of the parts were a little bent,  but very easy to fix.

I recommend these parts are a great addition to an already extremely well-detailed kit.

Thanks go to Scale Aircraft Conversions for providing this set to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

This is a white metal landing gear set is to for the ICM 1/48 HE 111 H3 aircraft.

The white metal parts are very good and have better-defined details than the original kit parts. They are a very good replacement for the already well details kit parts. The advantage is these white metal parts will provide more strength and last longer than the kit parts.

The parts include the rear wheel parts that replace part numbers D1-2, D1-10, and D2-11. With this assembly, you must drill out the location slot in the main strut to accept the part that replaces the D2-11.

The two main gear struts components replace part numbers D2-3, D2-4, C9, and C7 for subassembly 108. D2-5, D2-2, C9, and C7 for subassembly 109. The part number C54 is also replaced with white metal parts. The assembly is a bit difficult but with patience and care makes for a great replacement for the main landing gear legs.

The parts are well cast; you do need to sand off the few cast seams and metal pour points. The parts were a perfect fit to the existing mount and were easy to assemble.

(Again, no preamble this time; only building reports. )

The exterior set contained one item overlooked by many; behind the set of holes on the cheeks of the chin scoop is a set of interior grating; What this is FOR, I have no clue, but it's there, and the fun part of hogging out plastic on a small rectangular part is, well, not there. But it's mandatory, and I've put it aside for now so I can finish up the rest of the other review items I have lurking in the "to build" pile.

The final item provided in the Big Ed set is a set of canopy masks. Now, mind, I will remind myself to check in the future, because this is not your ordinary set of masks. No. It includes the interior masking! So, after I had dutifully fitted half the INTERIOR mask around the EXTERIOR of the bubble canopy, I realized there were not two sets of masks for the sake of providing them, but were specifically called out as interior and exterior.

I felt pretty dumb.