IPMS/USA Reviews

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!

Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy!

Kagero Publishing's latest installment of its Naval Archives - Volume 9 - is a softbound European A4 size with only one page of ads - for Kagero Publishing books. You get five feature articles with detailed text and photographs plus drawings, and sprinkled in between, two-page color layouts of specific ships. The last 10 pages live up to Kagero3D's name with 3D CG drawings of the WW2 Kriegsmarine destroyer Z37 in its early fit (before its 1945 "Barbara" antiaircraft gun enhancement), and a red/green plastic eyeglass is included to visualize the 3D effect.

What You Get
A 2 3/4 by 5 1/8 inch 2-piece cardboard card wrapped in clear plastic containing a small Ziploc bag with
Instructions and another card with a small plastic bag holding 20 barrels taped to the card (Figure 1). For
no blast bag mounts (-058), each barrel is 7mm long with a 1mm tab at the end. For mounts with blast
bags, each barrel is 4.5mm long with a 1mm tab at the end (Figure 2). The tip has a fine hole that is
difficult to see, but it's there.
These barrels are intended for Ise and Nagato battleship classes (secondary armament), Hosho aircraft
carrier, Tenryu, Kuma, Nagara, Sendai, Yubari, and Katori light cruiser classes, and tenders Nisshin,
Itsukushima, Okinoshima, and Jingei (Figure 3). Other auxiliaries and armed merchant cruisers carried
this weapon as well. Be sure to check your references since Hosho, light cruisers and auxiliaries were
refitted, sometimes removing or altering the number of 14cm gun mounts. And of course, check
references to see if blast bags were fitted on your build. Another way to determine whether or not blast