IPMS/USA Reviews

Space, the final frontier.....these are the voyages... Whoops, digressing already. To most people, these words are very familiar as they are the opening of the original Star Trek TV show. Polar Lights has come out with a nice snap together kit of the original USS Enterprise. The kit is loaded with options and is targeted for both kids and the causal builder. There are over 50 pieces made from clear and white styrene along with a very comprehensive decals sheet and stickers. You can make four versions of the Enterprise from the kit. First, the ship as was seen in most 78 episodes of the series. Second, the first pilot version, third, the second pilot version and lastly Mirror Universe show. The main differences are the nacelles and the decals. There are three separate sets of warp nacelles to get this done and the instructions are very clear on what goes where for each version. The difference between the second pilot version and the Mirror Universe is decals. (You remember the Mirror Universe show? Spock had a beard and the Federation wasn't the nicest bunch of people).

Dad's (Mike Howard) Introduction

My 11 year old son is a big fan of space and science fiction, so I thought this would be an enjoyable model building exercise for him. I'm also planning to put some simple electronics inside the Nebulizer (at a later time) that will tie some lights and sounds into the trigger.

Here is Andrew's review of the kit:

Andrew's Review

The Ion nebulizer and VOX communicator was an interesting set, fun to build and rather easy too.

The de Havilland Mosquito really needs no introduction, beyond the fact that it was one of the most versatile aeroplanes ever built, fulfilling an amazing variety of roles with air forces and civilian organizations across the globe from 1941 until the mid-sixties.

This new kit from Airfix continues a tradition dating back to the early 1970's for large-scale kits, starting with their still-relevant Spitfire I. Rumour has it that Airfix even considered a 1/24 Mosquito back in the early 1980's, but decided to use their research to create a 1/48 kit instead, one that is also still relevant despite newer, more detailed (but not always as accurate) and always more expensive rivals. A couple of years ago, wistful thinking had the newly-reborn Airfix resurrecting those plans, and Lo and Behold! they have.

Despite there being over 600 parts and 52 stages in the instruction manual, this doesn't seem to be an overly complicated kit; however, there are places where care with assembly will be needed to ensure that there are no fit issues later on - I'm thinking particularly of the undercarriage, which will probably be the most fiddly part of the build. The amount of detail seems reasonable for the scale, and bearing in mind the fairly simple nature of the actual aircraft, but I am sure there will be some who wish to go the extra mile and add more; I am planning on doing this build OOB, but I reserve the right to change my mind as I go along. For those who wish to upgrade their references in preparation for the build, I can recommend SAM Publications Aviation Guide 2 - Mosquito FB.VI by Dave Brown that has many useful detail photos of the insides of a Mosquito, with tech manual diagrams as well.

Bottom Line

None better - has very fine sagged and straight railings in 2- and 3-bar styles.

Photoetch Set Review

Lion Roar has a large line of 1/700 photoetch accessories for United States, Japanese, German and Royal Navy WW2 navies. This set is devoted exclusively to US Navy railings, both 2- and 3-bar varieties.

The fret contains seven types of railings: