IPMS/USA Reviews

Welcome back! Last time we had just completed the interior and internal framework, front end and cockpit of the big 1/32nd Scale HKM Lancaster Mk.IB. This second installment will bring the engines, wings, fuselage, bomb bay and wheel-wells together, leaving the final assembly and finish for the last segment of this three-part review.

Work is going along smoothly, with just a few exceptions here and there. While I had a few problems here and there, the overall build is simple and straightforward, and the fit is excellent. Let's get back to work!

Things to Consider Before You Start

This is a big model. Accordingly, I had to build some jigs to hold components while they were being assembled and finished. Working with 1/2" Gator Board and HoldTheFoam adhesive, I constructed three jigs that held each wing and the fuselage in such a way as to allow the assemblies to be flipped upside down so I could work on both sides (top and bottom). The three jigs were also designed to fit together into the original box, for transport to and from shows.

HMS Submarine M.1 was an innovative but ill-fated attempt to overcome the poor performance and high per-shot cost of contemporary torpedoes. The unique solution was to add a 12-inch Mark IX gun, initially intended for battleship use. The gun was to be fired at a flat trajectory on the surface, or even at periscope depth (!) through use of a simple bead gunsight. 3 of the 4 M-class vessels that were ordered were actually completed, but operational results were poor at best. To reload, the sub had to surface, and it has been reported that the Royal Navy was reluctant to risk the possibility of German replication of this concept. M1, the first in the class, did not see wartime service, and sadly was lost in a collision with a Swedish transport vessel in 1925, and was discovered again in 1999, reported in a BBC television documentary airing the next year.

This is volume one in a three volume set to cover the SAAF in WWII. This volume covers the East African Campaign with the following two volumes to cover North Africa and Malta as well as Sicily, Italy and the Balkans! The SAAF was sent to protect the Sudan and Kenya early on in the war from the Italians and their 200,000 troops and some 400 aircraft. The SAAF 1, 2 and 3 squadrons were equipped with mostly obsolete bi-plane aircraft such as the Gauntlet, Gladiator and Fury with which to counter any Italian attack. These were augmented by a few fabric winged and wooden propeller equipped Hurricane Mk Is. Later on these units joined by 4 Squadron that brought its Curtiss Mohawk fighters and Gladiators.

Scale Aircraft Conversions has been providing replacement gear for a wide range of aircraft models for some time now, and the quality of their products is, by now, unquestioned. This new product for the Kitty Hawk Range of F-5E Tiger II models in 1/32^nd scale is no exception.

Comprised of ten pieces in cleanly-molded white metal, this kit is designed to directly replace most of the major components of all three landing gear, including hydraulic rams and oleo scissors. Examining the pieces next to the kit-provided gear, they appear to be exacting replicas of the originals, although some of the finicky assembly work of the plastic items has already been done for you, as well as the filling in of a few rather awkward pin marks.

Brengun has released a few different kits of the Ohka and in several scales. This is the latest which is the Model 22 and in 1/72 scale. This was a purpose built rocket powered Kamikaze attack aircraft. It was used against allied ships towards the end of world war two.

In the box is:

• 1 light grey sprues
• 1 clear sprue
• 1 decal sheet
• 11 x resin parts
• 1 instruction booklet

The sprue is well molded with very little flash and great detail. The resin parts are to allow you to make the three aircraft wooden stands used to support the aircraft ready for fitting to the carrier aircraft.

Construction

First is the construction of the cockpit the one half of the fuselage which is well detailed for the scale. I did add some more detail to the instrument panel as it needs some to give it more realism.

The next stage is the addition of weight in the nose, which I do feel was not required when mounting on the provided wooden stands. The fuselage joins need a little filing and you need to be careful lining it up correctly.