There are certain things that seem to define some nation’s armor in WW2. The Soviets had their political slogans painted on vehicles, and the Americans had lots of personal equipment stacked and hung on the vehicle. If you are modeling the US Army in WW2, you have wall-to-wall Olive Drab in your display case. Value Gear provides the modeler with a wide selection of low-cost stowage to break-up that OD.

Value Gear from the USA specializes in stowage sets for military vehicles. Many are generic tarps and boxes that will work for any county and almost any period. Others are specific to an Army, era, or vehicle. In this review, I will be covering three sets for USA vehicles in WW2

If you are a fan of obscure World War II armor, especially light tanks that were in numbers large enough to only fill two French tank battalions at the outbreak of war, then you are in luck. Furthermore, if you enjoy beutepanzers (German for “captured tanks”), then this is a kit for you. If you are running out of display space, then this model is for you.

Perusing the website of Monroe Purdue Studios (MPS), out of Simi Valley CA, will uncover a variety of unusual modeling products, including a growing set of very affordable laser-cut wood and paper Zimmerit sets, among a lot of other interesting items. Visiting their booth at the 2021 Las Vegas IPMS Nationals, I looked at a dozen or so build-ups in various stages of completion, demonstrating the uniqueness of their products. I came home with two sets; one a complete zimmerit set for the 1/35th scale HobbyBoss King Tiger II (the subject of this review), and a 1/35^th scale laser-cut wood set for cases of wine (the subject of a separate IPMS review).

Description

The set for the King Tiger is purpose-designed for the HobbyBoss (Henschel Turret) kit, but also closely fits the Tamiya kit as well, parts of which I used for this review since I do not own the HobbyBoss offering.

OKB Grigorov specializes in resin, photoetch and turned metal barrel conversions for armor. One of their latest releases is the Turret for Pz.V Panther Panzerbeobachthungswagen/

This aftermarket set includes parts in grey resin, green resin, clear resin and photoetch. The gun barrel is casted in resin for this set. As you can see from the pictures, the casting of the parts is pretty good, without any bubbles in the resin, although with some small flash in some areas.

Overall this set is well done and will require minimum cleaning of the parts for assembly.

Highly recommended, mainly for those modelers looking for unusual subjects or conversion projects.

I would like to thank OKB Grigorov and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

OKB Grigorov specializes in resin, photoetch and turned metal barrel conversions for armor. One of their latest releases is the Turret for Pz.VI Tiger H2.

This aftermarket set includes parts in grey resin, photoetch while gun barrel is made of turned metal. As you can see from the pictures, the casting of the parts is pretty good, without any bubbles in the resin, although with some small flash in some areas.

Overall, this set is well done and will require minimum cleaning of the parts for assembly. This would make for quite an interesting conversion and it is meant to be a “drop-in” replacement, without having to modify parts of the original kit.

I went ahead and assembled this turret - even if I don’t have a donor kit. The overall fit of the parts is fantastic. The only thing you need to be aware of is to properly clean the minimal “flash” around the hatch openings so the hatch covers, or the gun muzzle, would fit.