IPMS/USA Reviews

"Sink the Bismarck" was the very first war movie I ever saw as a young lad, with my Scottish Father telling me it involved "the greatest naval engagement undertaken by the Royal Navy in the Second World War". The Bismarck, one of two Bismarck-class battleships laid down by Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, was fast and extremely powerful, armaments wise. She had a very short career, undertaking only one offensive operation, in May 1941, codenamed Rheinubung. Together with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, Bismarck sailed into the Atlantic on a mission to block shipping carrying supplies to Britain. Obviously, this was something the British were determined to stop, and so the Royal Navy sent forces to try and intercept the German ships, including the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, and the battlecruiser HMS Hood.

Veteran Models in Taiwan has been producing finely detailed multi-media aftermarket replacement parts for ship modelers for quite some time. Nicely crafted, their parts are a significant upgrade to model warships. They started in 1/350 Modern USN systems and have since branched into other Navies. Now they are offering modern Soviet/Russian systems.

If you have noticed Soviet and later Russian ships are busy, some would say crowded, with sensors and weapon systems. While functional, none of these are elegant in design, and the number of each provides redundancy to ensure survivability and reliability. Each one is hodge-podge of small detail not easily duplicated in the ejection molding process, no matter how sophisticated the molds. So Veteran Models move into this area is welcome by at least this modeler.

This offering comes in the standard oversize matchstick box which I love. Included are sufficient resin and brass details to make 4 AK-630 close in weapons system (CIWS) and two Bass Tilt (NATO Name) fire control radars. This is sufficient for the Trumpeter 1/350 Sovremenny, Udaloy or Slava. The brass is for the grab rails on the AK-630.

Veteran Models in Taiwan has been producing finely detailed multi-media aftermarket replacement parts for ship modelers for quite some time. Nicely crafted, their parts are a significant upgrade to model warships. They started in 1/350 Modern USN systems and have since branched into other Navies. Now they are offering modern Soviet/Russian systems.

If you have noticed Soviet and later Russian ships are busy, some would say crowded, with sensors and weapon systems. While functional, none of these are elegant in design, and the number of each provides redundancy to ensure survivability and reliability. Each one is hodge-podge of small detail not easily duplicated in the ejection molding process, no matter how sophisticated the molds. So Veteran Models move into this area is welcome by at least this modeler.

This offering comes in the standard oversize matchstick box which I love. Included are sufficient resin and brass details to make 4 AK-630 close in weapons system (CIWS) and two Bass Tilt (NATO Name) fire control radars. This is sufficient for the Trumpeter 1/200 Sovremenny. The brass is for the grab rails on the AK-630.

Veteran Models in Taiwan has been producing finely detailed multi-media aftermarket replacement parts for ship modelers for quite some time. Nicely crafted, their parts are a significant upgrade to model warships. They started in 1/350 Modern USN systems and have since branched into other Navies. Now they are offering modern Soviet/Russian systems.

If you have noticed Soviet and later Russian ships are busy, some would say crowded, with sensors and weapon systems. While functional, none of these are elegant in design, and the number of each provides redundancy to ensure survivability and reliability. Each one is hodge-podge of small detail not easily duplicated in the ejection molding process, no matter how sophisticated the molds. So Veteran Models move into this area is welcome by at least this modeler.

Thank you to the Eduard Company for sending this signal flag set for review, it is always a pleasure to see what your new products bring to the scale-modeling world. Thank you also to the IPMS Reviewer Corps staff members who do the hard work in getting us modeling products to review, the reviews posted, and the news spread to the world.

The photoetch fret arrived in excellent shape in a resealable plastic package with the distinctive Eduard knight logo. The fret is 2.75 x 1.3 inches in size. The color-etched laminated signal flags areprinted on both sides on polished metal (steel). The fret is only slightly magnetic, but individual flags will jump on to magnetized tools. A full 26-letter alphabet, two sets of numbers in flag and pennant formats, and two code/answering pennants are found on the fret. Duplicate Alpha, Echo, India, Oscar, Sierra, and Tango signals are included. No substitute pennants are present, but this should not be a problem unless your model is experiencing unusual navigation or similar issues. Thankfully, the flags are well labeled on the fret, so you do not need Sierra-Hotel status in the signal skills department to read them, whew!