IPMS/USA Reviews

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) produces white metal replacement parts for kits in a variety of scales. Some of their landing gear sets are for a variety of kits and some sets are designed for a specific model. The white metal sets are designed to support the weight of a specific model without warping that can be seen with kit styrene landing gear.

The parts are for the Airfix Me-262 are well cast and had no flash or other area that needed to be sanded. I bent one of the struts when removing from the sprue but could straighten it out easily. I had to put heavier weight in the front of the jet than anticipated so it would not be a tail sitter and the SAC landing gear stood up to the weight very well.

When gluing the landing gear to the aircraft I used CA and the parts fit perfectly without any modifications to the join areas.

The landing gear would be a great addition to the model kit and is a recommendation for purchase.

I want to thank Scale Aircraft Conversions and IPMS for the ability to review this product.

For as long as I can remember I've always painted the outside of my canopy framing the interior color first and then painted the exterior color overtop of that. This ensured that the interior color showed through the canopy. But there was always one thing that bothered me a little bit, the color was always glossy. Well Eduard has finally fixed that with their new line of TFace Masking sets.

This particular set is designed for the FW-190A series of Eduard models, including the A-8/R2 Rammjaeger. The masks are made of the infamous Kabuki tape so they are flexible and very easy to use. There are instructions to show you which masks to use where, including which is the inside masks and which are the outside ones.

Placing the masks is fairly easy but care has to be exercised when adding them to the interior as there are no panel lines to follow. I recommend that you add the interior masks first and then the exterior ones. Placing the exterior ones is easy enough.

So you bought the Weekend or the Overtree FW-190A-5 but you don't really want to paint the instrument panel and you'd like to have some seatbelts. What do you do? Well Eduard has the answer. They provide you with the pre-painted photo etch brass fret that comes in the Profipack kit.

Personally I think that the ZOOM sets are what really makes it a Weekend or Overtree kit. This fret is typically released when the Overtree kit is released. I think that they are a bargain. You get one pre-painted photo etch with all the parts you need for the cockpit and a few other places. The key is you get the seatbelts and the instrument panel. Those two things alone are worth the price of admission. Also included are the side panels and some various other photo etch pieces for the outside of the model, but this set is primarily concerned with sprucing up the cockpit.

You get the single fret of nickel plated brass pre-painted photo etch. There are no instructions so you'll have to look up how to use it with the Profipack instructions. Most of it is self-explanatory. The printing on the instrument panel is flawless and looks perfect.

My, but when it rains it really pours, doesn't it? After years of comparatively limited (and sometimes pretty iffy) kits of the impressive King Tiger, we now have numerous companies falling all over themselves to provide THE definitive version of this classic monster. Meng, a relative newcomer to the modeling community, has chimed in with their own contribution - one which offers a lovely Porche-turreted vehicle in classic 1/35^th scale, but also a separate kit of the full interior as well as a decal set for the zimmerit.

Because of the nature of the build, the interior kit and the basic kit are unavoidably interlinked, as you will have to bounce back and forth between the two a fair bit during construction. As I intend to write separate reviews for these two items, I will do my best to refer to the companion kit (in either case) only in its relation to the other kit's construction. Bear with me on this - I found myself going through the directions and crossing out portions of both sheets so I wouldn't get confused.

Meng has done something comparatively new to accompany their outstanding Porsche-turreted King Tiger model in 1/35^th scale, offering a separately-available decal sheet for the zimmerit coating found on so many of these monsters at this stage of the Second World War.

The decal sheet is certainly comprehensive - providing 3-dimensionally printed decals for literally every surface that might have had this coating on the real beast. All parts show a remarkable fidelity to the surface they're supposed to cover and have virtually no film to interfere with the edges. On complicated areas, such as the rear of the hull and turret, multiple decals simplify getting around surface detail. All tool attachment points and other such extrusions are also left free of film to facilitate gluing.