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Showing topics in Aircraft Reviews, Kits, Aftermarket (updates/conversions), Decals, Reference material, Armoured Fighting Vehicle Reviews, Kits, Aftermarket, Diorama & Accessory, Reference Material, Kits, Aftermarket, Reference Material, Vehicle Reviews, Sci-fi & Real Space Reviews, Figure Reviews, Locos, Trains & Layout Reviews and Tools & Paint Reviews posted in for the last 365 days.
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I know! Chris
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Damn it all!!!!!. Another unbuildable kit. What is the world coming to?
- Today
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Looks like there are some NF aerials on the sprues tho. So maybe.......... Thats not good
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I've also noticed that Revell didn't include the 3 collector ring supports. Airfix did it in 1/72 scale. Chris
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Russian 9K79 Tochka (SS-21 Scarab) IRBM (85509) 1:35 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Mobile launch systems are a method for deploying missiles in such a way that makes tracking them down by the enemy more difficult, ensuring that launches take place before they are destroyed due to their location being known in advance. The Soviet Union had a number of such types in their inventory, which were able to move, set up and fire in short order, then escape retaliation by packing up and moving again, at least in theory. This system is known in the West as the SS-21 Scarab, with the suffix A, B or C used for improved variants over time that could reach further into enemy territory. The missile is capable of carrying high explosive, nuclear, biological or fragmentation warheads and is more accurate than its larger predecessors, with better inertial guidance, and solid propellant that makes it easier to handle and launch than equivalent liquid options. The carrier and launch vehicle is a BAZ 5921 built by KB Mashinostroyeniya with the designation 9K79, and it carries the missile in a recess that runs down the length of the chassis that has a protective warhead "cup" at the front behind the crew cab. When setting up, the missile is raised pivoting at the rear on a short platform, with corner steadies deploying from the underside to reduce instability. The chassis has 6 wheels on three axles and is fully amphibious, with water jet propulsion at the rear, and a set of long lift-and-slide doors that cover the missile when on the move. The system has been in use since the mid-70s, and still serves with the Russian military in an upgraded capacity today, as well as former Soviet states and sympathetic countries. It has seen use most recently in the ongoing Syrian conflict, causing concern and an aborted reaction by neighbouring Israel. The Kit This is a new tool from Hobby Boss, and pretty much the first injection moulded kit of the type that I could find online. It arrives in a fairly large box, which is divided internally to hold the hull parts and missile safely, with ten sprues in sand yellow styrene, plus the five larger parts that have already been removed from sprues before packing. There is a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) parts, six black rubberised tyres, two decal sheets, a sheet of die-cut masks, and a short length of braided thick brass wire. It's a full interior kit, so the instruction booklet is a fairly long affair, and the painting guide includes photos of the interior built up and painted. The level of detail is excellent throughout and the exterior surface is very crisp, fitting snugly to the underside part with no adjustment. The instructions begin with the drive and steering units, of which there are six, built up in pairs due to their location on the hull. The tyres are slipped over the two-part hubs, and glued to the axles, while various small parts are fitted around the underside before it is flipped over to accept the main chassis rail. This large part sits in the space between the wheel arches down the full length of the hull, and has additional drive parts added to the inner rail, cross-members fitted between the halves, and a small deck at the rear of the frame. When it is placed in the hull, transfer boxes a fitted inside, and the basic cradle parts for the front of the missile are put in place, including the rear pivot-points. The big 300bhp engine is incorrectly mislabelled when it is built up as E-E, and later as G-G when it is installed in the chassis, so it may be worthwhile altering the instructions to remind yourself. It sits low behind the crew cab, and as joined by a number of other assemblies, such as the receivers for the rams that power the steadies, which can be fitted deployed or stowed as you see fit. The ancillary power unit is also built up from a substantial number of parts, along with the cab bulkhead with radio gear, the water jet system in the rear, the launch rail for the missile, various equipment, plus a protective shroud for the main power plant. A whole host of other equipment is made up and installed in a flurry over the next few pages of instructions, with controls for the missiles, stowage, equipment boxes and all manner of other tanks, receptacles, and of course the crew compartment, which has seats, instrument consoles and pedals fitted, plus the remainder of the parts, and even more equipment being fitted to the inside of the hull top. The missiles can be built up either ready to launch or stowed for transport, with two included so you can take your pick. The fins fold closed, and the steering baffles can be fitted to the exhaust ring open or folded up parallel to the rocket body, and it latches to the launch rail by four small tangs that fit into corresponding recesses on the sides of the missile body. The folding nose-cone shroud is attached to the chassis and can be left open or closed as is appropriate to your build option. Although it looks like you can build two missiles, they are slightly different from each other, and there are only one set of fins and baffles supplied. Turning to the upper hull, this is detailed with the aforementioned internal parts, plus the door mechanism for the missile trough, the doors themselves with separate hinges, external vents that are fitted from the inside, the top crew hatch, and of course the windscreen parts, which are actually fitted from the outside (don't forget to mask them!). Externally there are a set of pioneer tools, some PE mesh vents, side windows, hooks, light clusters, wing mirrors… the list goes on! The final act brings the two halves together, which would probably be best done before you add all the greeblies for fear of knocking them off during handling. The back page of the instructions show the two display options, either all locked away for transport, or in a deployed mode with doors open, steadies down and the missile at a jaunty angle. Markings Someone at Hobby Boss quite likes this subject, as they have included six decal options for the kit, and most of them are quite attractive camo options in varying colours, and only one boring Russian Green version for the camo-phobic. The missile is always a medium green however, but some options sport a bright red tip, and others have decal stripes added to the sides. As usual with Hobby Boss however, you don't get any additional information of where and when these schemes were used, so you'll have to make an educated guess based on the decals, or surf the net to pick up some comparables. Decals are printed in-house and have good enough registration, clarity and sharpness for the job, and the smaller sheet includes lots of decals for the interior equipment, with dials and so forth for instrument panels. Conclusion Nicely detailed and quite petite for a mobile missile system, this should look cool in your cabinet if you choose one of the camo options, needing only a little extra headroom if you decide to portray it in the launch position. Review sample courtesy of
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We'll also be looking forward to it, and will try to get it online just as soon as we can
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Thanks for the review and tempting pics. I so want to support the new Revell but will hold off until there's a regular RAD/NAV bubble canopy hood in a later NF boxing. NF radar set displays were either rear facing (A I Mk IV) or on the right hand array of black boxology (A I Mk VIII) and I could scratch these, and have a host of unused Beau decals, but the bubble hood is essential for me to part with cash. Looking forward to that moment. Tony
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You sound like me! I'm not overly bothered by the collector ring being integrated with the cowling. I have a feeling the fit will be good, and if you squeeze the glue out of the seams, the clean-up will be minimal. With things like the Ultimate Thinny Sticks (other sanding sticks are available, but are they thinner?), you can sand easily in small areas
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I was hoping this would have the strike camera behind the cockpit, but it doesn't seem to. Perhaps someone like Quickboost will give us one.
- Yesterday
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I'm not talking about open cowl panels. I just think the ring should be a separate piece. Revell's 1/72 Halifax B.III has the whole cowling in two halves, leaving two seams for the modeller to try to sand away while leaving the shape of the ring intact. In 1/48 scale, this just seems sloppy mould making. Why not follow reality as close as possible. Not everyone who will build this Beau kit may not be as skilled as some of the masters on this forum ( this ham-fisted, semi-sighted old git is definitely NOT on that list! ). It just seems a bit poultry excrement-like to me. Chris
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Have to say I agree with you there.
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I have had mine for a week or so and I like it. I'll maybe add another couple to the stash in due course. One thing Mike did not mention is that, very possibly following on from research by Terry Higgins of Aviaeology (Canada) although no Credit is given, the cannon troughs in the kit are offset to stbd. This, it seems, was because the cannon themselves were not handed and needed to be to one side for installation and re-arming. Eduard have already listed a future release for internal cockpit details for this kit, as well as the current bits for the Tamiya one. I hope that they include a full radar scope set for the rear Navs position. A very nice kit. I will be finding out pretty soon how well it builds, Dennis
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Dora Wings Bell P-63A/C Kingcobra (14401) - 1:144 Dora Wings
Julien replied to Julien's topic in Kits
err... I seemed to have missed a whole paragraph from my review Corrected now, Thx. Julien -
By the way Julien, the historical background is for the P-39 not the P-63, superficially similar but not the same aircraft at all. Thought it worth pointing out.
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In fairness to Revell the cowling was not designed to be posed open, so calling it a fail because there will be 3 very small seams to deal with might be a bit OTT. Cowlings that are posed open need to be in-scale (or at least nearer) on any model really if you're going for realism, and we all know that injected styrene just can't do that. If I were going to open up the engines on mine, I'd either wait for Eduard to release a resin set, or get ready for some scratch-building. Cutting the collector ring along that panel line seems like a pretty easy job to me, and then make up some cowling panels in metal using the cast-offs as a template and finding out what's on the other side to detail it. Not simple, but doing something well never is
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So Revell didn't mold a separate exhaust collector ring for the front of the engine cowling ? Well, that's a fail. Now the modeller will have to carefully cement these together and try to remove the 3 seam lines. A separate piece, like almost every other kit manufacturer has done, would be a better choice. Chris
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Bristol Beaufighter TF.X (03943) 1:48 Revell The Beaufighter was originally developed as a fighter variant of the Beaufort, aiming to utilise as many components from the light bomber as possible to speed development, construction and minimise tooling costs. It didn't quite work out that simply, as it needed additional power that could only be provided by the new Hercules engines that was in development, as even a Merlin engine would leave it underpowered as they later found out. This meant a mid-wing mount had to be created so that the props had sufficient ground clearance, and a skinnier fuselage was used to reduce weight and drag. It was still fairly quick to reach production, and although it wasn't as amazing as the Mosquito, it turned out to be a good multirole aircraft, able to assume roles for which it was never intended for. The TF.X was a later mark that was adapted to carry a torpedo slung under its belly, and mounted two Hercules XVII engines that had been tuned for low-altitude performance to improve the crew's chances of survival during an attack. Over 2,000 were built, and they were colloquially referred to as the Torbeau. The Kit This is a completely new tool from Revell, and one of the first to be released from the newly reinvigorated company, and the first new tooling of a Beaufighter for a long time. It arrives in one of their chunky end-opening boxes (think 1:48 Tornado), and inside are a lot of sprues in pale grey styrene, nineteen in all, with a trio of small clear sprues, the decal sheet and new-style colour instruction booklet with the obligatory safety warning sheet tucked inside. There are 188 parts in total, and when you pull the wing sprue out of the box you realise that the Beau was quite a large aircraft. Surface detail of the aircraft's skin is restrained, with lots of fine engraved panel lines, and even what appears to be an attempt at replicating the unevenness of the skin of the aircraft around the fuselage sides and on the nose cones, some of which you won't use. You get a full length floor inside the fuselage with plenty of interior details, which also includes the wing roots as seen from the inside, the equipment in the back and the observer's seat base. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is placed at the front (shocker!) of the internal floor, with a portion of the forward spar at the rear, bracing structure and a three sided console in front, onto which the instrument panel is fixed, and a decal can be added if you don't fancy painting it yourself. Rudder pedals are moulded-in, and a control column drops into a slot in the centre of the floor, with the comfortable-looking seat (with moulded-in belts) against the spar. The rear spar forms the box, and this is full height, with moulded-in doors into the rear compartment, and two ammo drums behind feeding the belly cannons. Behind that is the base for the observer's chair, which also has lap belts moulded-in, another bulkhead behind that, which can either contain a pair of doors in a smooth bulkhead, or a framework that has a central equipment rack in it. Behind that door is an empty space with the tail wheel well at the end, which is moulded into the floor as a curved box, and can accept the tail wheel in either deployed or stowed positions by using a different strut on the same wheel. The lower access hatch is fixed to the hole in the floor, and the fuselage can then be closed around it, after de-flashing some holes along the top seam. The nose cone is separate, and you have a choice of the large thimble-nosed one with radar, or the original sleek nose that gives the Beau such a nice line. The canopy is fitted next, and has an apron in front of the windscreen moulded-in to make fitting it easier, and a separate top panel for the pilot's exit. The gun-sight is also clear, and needs partially painting before installation, which would look more realistic if you add some clear green to the edges of the glazing to simulate thickness. The rear crew member's dome is able to be fitted open or closed, and a machine gun mount can be put in place in either position, with the closed dome having a small hole in the rear to admit the gun barrel. Now for the wings. The lower wing is a full width piece, and includes a short length of the lower fuselage to give it a good fit. Four small holes must be opened up in this area before proceeding, after which the gear bays are constructed in the lower half of the "power egg" from individual panels and a front bulkhead. Behind them the flap bay is completed by the addition of an upstand part that spans the gap between lower and upper skins. This is of course repeated in both sides, and the upper wings are glued in place once this step is completed, then the flush landing light, the supercharger intakes and wingtip lights can be added along with the inner and outer sections of the flaps, which can be posed open or closed, by adjusting the leading edge tabs that are present. The ailerons are each two parts and these fit on pins and can be left loose or posed how you see fit. Next up are the engines, and these are depicted fully with two banks of pistons and plenty of nice detail. The exhaust collector ring and the forward cooling vanes are all there, although a little bit of wiring will be needed to complete the look. The exhaust section section the three cowling sections all build up around the front ring, and then you have a choice of adding open or closed cooling flaps, by using one or other of the sets provided glued to the aft of the cowling. This is done twice of course, and the engines aren't handed, so the exhausts are on the same side, as are the hedgehog flame hiders that trail along the nacelles, which have glare shields over them to protect the pilot's night vision. A choice of large or small intakes are fitted to the top of the cowlings, and the tiny rear tip of the nacelle under the wing finishes off that section. The tail of the Beau is noticeably cranked upward with quite a large dihedral on this variant, and here you have a choice of two styles, one of which has a straight line fit of the elevators, the other is stepped, requiring a complete set of parts for each. The trim actuators are shared parts, and the elevators are separate and can be posed to taste if you wish. The tail fin isn't moulded into the fuselage, but fits into a slot on the top of the elevator assembly, with a choice of a fin with a fillet or without, using the same rudder parts, and again allowing you to pose the rudder deflected if you wish. The filleted part needs a hole cutting in the top of the fuselage to stabilise the fillet, so make careful measurements to find the flashed over slot if you didn't open it up previously. The main landing gear can be left off totally if you are posing your model in flight, with the single piece gear bay doors dropped into the aperture in the bottom of the nacelles. If you are building the landing gear down, you will need to construct the H-shaped legs in stages, sandwiching the two-part wheels between the halves as you go, and this completed assembly is attached to a small section of the spar for ease of attachment. This is glued into the front of the bay, with another set of retraction jacks fitted diagonally from the bay rear into the lower section of the leg, and the door closing mechanism running along the lip of the bays. The single door panel is split lengthways and added half to each side of the bay, and the prop is fixed to the front, either with or without a spinner, which has a backplate for completeness. Then it's a case of fitting a pitot under the wing, aerial on the fuselage, and the main build is complete. All that remains is to build up the torpedo from two halves plus a large H-tail, fit it to two C-shaped attachment points, and it's finished. Markings There are two options on the decal sheet, which span two pages each due to the generous sizing of the profiles. As you might guess, one option has the fin fillet, and the other doesn't. The fillet-less machine does have a fetching set of D-Day stripes however, which always prove popular, but you'll be masking and painting them yourself, as they aren't provided as decals, which shouldn't be seen as a negative in my experience, as getting large decals to settle on curved surfaces can be a pain at times. S/N. NE429 "P6-S" No.489 (NZ) Squadron, RAF Langham, England, July 1944 S/N. RD467 "QM.J" No.254 Squadron, RAF North Coates, England May 1945 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Whilst the other manufacturer's offering in this scale is well liked, it's good to have a choice, and this is a very detailed modern tooling that includes plenty of parts, and will be readily available due to Revell's large distribution network. Very highly recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or
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Mikromir Westland Dragonfly HC.2 - 1/48 AMP via Mikromir
The Tomohawk Kid replied to Julien's topic in Kits
It would be possible to make a HC.2 from the previous boxing, without too much effort, which makes it a stange second release. Hopefully, AMP in future iterations of the kit will return to single piece windscreen glazing. Thomo. -
I thought that about the front Glazing when I saw this kit, having the original S-51 in the stash. Julien
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Mikromir Westland Dragonfly HC.2 - 1/48 AMP via Mikromir
The Tomohawk Kid replied to Julien's topic in Kits
The kit has been significantly re-engineered (along the lines of the Belcher kit) from the intial HO3/S-51 kit released earlier this year. Its obviously an attempt to get more options out of a single mould. However, I'm not sure about the change to windscreen glazing, it looks a bit of a clunky arrangement to me and will leave a seam down the middle to clean up, that will be hard to clean up particulary on the internal face - in my opinion the one piece glazing in the previous kit was better. Thomo. -
Mikromir Westland Dragonfly HC.2 - 1/48 AMP via Mikromir
corsaircorp replied to Julien's topic in Kits
Hello chally Now looking for a good painting scheme, HS silver or Yellow ? Did they have another suit in their service life ? I will restart my Fonderie HOS 3 when I get the AMP one. Have a good modelling time ! Sincerely. CC - Last week
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Dora Wings Percival Vega Gull (72002 & 72004) - Civil & Military Service - 1:72 Dora Wings
Tbolt replied to Julien's topic in Kits
Thanks for the info. We can only gain so much info from pictures unless they are close ups. -
Dora Wings Percival Vega Gull (72002 & 72004) - Civil & Military Service - 1:72 Dora Wings
Julien replied to Julien's topic in Kits
I generally let the pictures do the talking, but as you have asked the plastic looks quality, the panel lines such as they are are nicely restrained, detail is good and the decals look like they will pose no issues. I did say the decals were printed in house, but on closer inspection they are done by a Ukrainian company Decograph which I cant seem to find any information about, however I note AMP and BPK kits now have decals by them also. Julien -
Dora Wings Percival Vega Gull (72002 & 72004) - Civil & Military Service - 1:72 Dora Wings
Tbolt replied to Julien's topic in Kits
I'm interested in picking one of these up, but it would be nice if you gave us a bit of info on what you have in front if you - what's the quality like if the holding like, panel lines and details and what the quality of the decals like etc? I know you said highly recommended but would be helpful before spending money on a kit. -
Nice review and can't wait to get the Royal Navy version. There were at least five HC.2s delivered, WF308, '311, '315, VZ960 & WZ749, the last two being ex civil WS.51s. I rather suspect the instructions mean Yeovil at Westlands 1950. I have seen pictures of RAF HCs with the winch fitted, which appears to be in the box, so this may add some extra interest to a build. WF311 is the only one I have seen pictures of with the tailplane, so building a different airframe would get you around scratch building it
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