Table of contents for May 2015 in FineScale Modeler

Tamiya’s 1/32 scale aircraft pack a punch, especially in the detail department. They contain hundreds of parts, including photoetched metal, vinyl tires, metal landing-gear supports, and canopy masks. After several days spent studying the instructions and parts for the P-51D Mustang (kit No. 60322), I was determined to build it straight from the box — mostly. I added detail here and there, scratchbuilding rather than sourcing aftermarket sets.…

DAVID STATHAM BRICK, NEW JERSEY Using the Henschel VK 30.01 medium tank chassis to propel a powerful 12.8cm antitank gun, the Sturer Emil (Stubborn Emil) production run ended at two. Both vehicles fought on the Eastern Front, where one was destroyed. The other was captured at Stalingrad and is displayed at the Kubinka tank museum. David built Trumpeter’s 1/35 scale kit, replacing the “rubber band” tracks with Trumpeter aftermarket individual links and installing RB Models’ aluminum barrel and brass muzzle brake. He weathered with Vallejo and Secret Weapon pigments and shades of rust from AK Interactive. JASON VUKOVICH ANCHORAGE, ALASKA Jason built Italeri’s 1/72 scale F6F-3 Hellcat from the box and liked it. “It’s an inexpensive, nice kit that looks good painted with Testors and Polly S acrylics,” he says.…

This is the first 1/48 scale injection-molded kit of Grumman’s swept-wing Cougar since … well, since forever. The Cougar was the principal carrier-borne fighter of the mid-1950s, paving the way between the straight-wing jets of the Korean War period (Panthers and Banshees) and the supersonic era (Tigers, Skyrays, Demons, Crusaders, and Phantom IIs). Kit: No. KH80127 Scale: 1/48 Manufacturer: Kitty Hawk, www.kittyhawkmodel.com Price: $49.95 Comments: Injection-molded, 276 parts (18 photoetched brass), decals Pros: Subtle recessed panel and rivet detail; detailed gun/camera bay; good shapes; lots of options; decent fit; beautiful decals Cons: Gun/camera bay detail forever hidden; no explanation of options in instructions; compressed nose gear strut; Sidewinders too modern Kitty Hawk’s single-seater follows its two-seat TF-9J trainer kit, and, not unexpectedly, includes many of the parts common to both versions.…

A total of 558 Landing Ship Medium and its rocket variant were built during World War II. Primarily used in the Pacific, the shallow-draft ships were first launched in May 1944. Each required just six week to build Employed first as beach-assault vehicles, they were often kept on station for an extended time as “sandscrapers,” delivering supplies from offshore deep-draft cargo ships to locations without harbor facilities to support troops ashore. Revell Germany’s kit includes 17 sprues and three separate hull sections for a total of 428 parts. There are decals to mark four ships, a spool of thread for railings, and a 20-page, 68-step instruction manual. Color callouts are included, and the box art deserves mention as a nice reference, too. The sprues are reminiscent of a 1960s kit;…

The A400M Atlas, Airbus’ military transport, bridges the gap between the C-17 and C-130. Derived from its earlier 1/72 scale release, Revell Germany’s new 1/144 scale Atlas is impressive. But it shares some challenges with its big brother. The exquisitely recessed panel lines and full interior reflect the kit’s high level of detail. The kit offers several options, including posable landing gear and cargo doors plus different propellers. The decals provide three marking options: a French test aircraft and two transports, one each from the German and French air forces. Kit: No. 04859 Scale: 1/144 Manufacturer: Revell Germany, www.revell.de Price: $30.95 Comments: Injection-molded, 150 parts, decals Pros: Excellent engraved surface detail; options for props, landing gear, and cargo doors Cons: Large sprue attachments on delicate parts, notably the props; decals prone…

AIRCRAFT 1/24 DETAIL SETS Hawker Hurricane Mk.I landing gear (for Airfix) from Scale Aircraft Conversions, No. 24009, $19.99 1/32 SCALE KITS Phantom P-51D Mustang from Monogram, No. 85-0067, $49.95. Transparent see-through working model. 1/32 DECAL SETS Fleet Air Arm/RNZAF Corsairs from Xtradecal, No. X32057, $13.50. Marking for four F4U-1A Corsair Mk. IIs: one in New Zealand service, three from the Royal Navy. 1/32 DETAIL SETS OV-10 Bronco landing gear (for Kitty Hawk) from Scale Aircraft Conversions, No. 32093, $18.95. 1/48 SCALE KITS C-45F/UC-45F WWII USAAF passenger aircraft from ICM, No. 48181, $50.99. Look for a detailed review in an upcoming issue of FSM. Stinson Reliant SR-9 1937 Gullwing personal plane from AMT, No. AMT905/12, $19.99. Pilot figure included. De Havilland Hornet F1 fighter from Trumpeter, No. 02893, $48.95. F-86D Sabre…

www.FineScale.com Visit our website for a guide to Jim’s past articles and his book, Building and Detailing Realistic Sherman Tanks, available from Kalmbach Publishing. For someone who usually builds armor, the Academy/MRC 1/35 scale UH-1C Huey gunship (kit No. 12701) may seem like a strange choice. But I think of this famous Vietnam veteran as a flying armored personnel carrier packing some pretty potent ordnance. Unlike the pile of products you can add to most armor models, there is not a mountain of aftermarket goodies to augment Bell’s famous chopper. However, Eduard’s “Big Ed” set (No. BIG3209) provides interior and exterior details, enhancements for the armament, masks for the glass, and prepainted remove-before-flight tags. With that, I sallied forth to improve the kit.…

In December 1940, responding to defeats in North Africa, the Luftwaffe dispatched aircraft to support the Afrika Korps and the beleaguered Italians. The incoming planes included Ju 87Bs. I wanted to build one of these dive-bombers and decided to go big with Airfix’s 1/24 scale kit (No. A18002). It’s been around since 1975 and is widely regarded as one of the most accurate Stuka models. I ordered one from my local hobby shop and opened it as soon as it arrived. The first thing I noticed was the size of the model and how many parts there were. Airfix went to a lot of trouble to get this thing right. But there’s still room for improvement. Cockpit First stop is the seat; it’s OK but needs a little sprucing up…

Sealing pastels Q I’ve weathered a concrete hardstand and asphalt taxiway on a diorama with pastel chalks ground to a fine powder. I want to seal them to avoid rubbing them off. Can I use a spray-can flat coat, such as Testors Dullcote, provided I spray lightly? – Jason Mitchell Browns Mills, N.J. A You can seal the pastels with a clear flat, but it is easy to blow them off. Also, the clear may affect the shade of the pastels. I’d test it first to see what effect it will have. Alternatively, a clear fixer like hairspray may be just the ticket. Some of the companies that produce weathering pigments sell pigment fixer designed to make the material adhere without altering the color. Play-Doh vs. Blu Tack Q Can…

The Supermarine Swift was a fallback option for the Royal Air Force in the event Hawker’s Hunter didn’t pan out. Problems with the Swift’s development led to one setback after another, but — like the Vigilante and Voodoo — the aircraft became a highly successful reconnaissance platform. Airfix’s new kit replicates this Swift variant, the FR.5, arguably the most attractive. Its inboard wing extensions and saw-tooth outboard wing sections give the aircraft a wicked-looking scimitar-shaped planform. Comprehensive three-color instructions include diagrams showing angles for attaching the beautifully engraved and detailed parts. The seat and cockpit walls are nice, though not highly detailed. Options include a belly tank, posable flaps, control surfaces, and canopy, and two seat inserts, one with molded-in belt detail and one without. Decals are provided for the…

My father served in World War II, although he didn’t see combat. He was a sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a radio operator. He flew two or three ferry missions in 1942 in Martin Baltimores that he knew as A-30s. These planes had large, protruding belly fuel tanks added. His trips involved flying from the States to South America, then over the South Atlantic to Ascension Island, and from there to Africa and the British colony of Gold Coast (now Ghana) where the aircraft was turned over to the Royal Air Force. As I recall, he got to fly in a “clipper” back to the U.S., but I don’t know which type of aircraft it may have been. www.FineScale.com Tell us what you think: Register to join…

This past December, I had the pleasure of placing a display in the Vigo County Public Library. The display’s theme was “Scale models and the books that inspired their build.” The purpose was to encourage reading, the scale model building hobby, the study of history, and appreciation of our veterans. Each model displayed was accompanied by the book that inspired its build and a short summary of the model and book. The centerpiece of the display was a diorama based upon the book, A Higher Call, in which a German fighter pilot refused to shoot down an ailing B-17. Instead, he shepherded the bomber to the North Sea and spared the lives of the crew. One of the models displayed was a post-Korean War Douglas B-26. It featured a short…

In 1984, Shane Hedlund read a story about the Savoia-Marchetti S.M.79. Inspired to build one of the Italian trimotors, he amassed items and references, intending to superdetail Airfix’s 1/72 scale model. Fast-forward nearly 30 years: Italeri surpasses Airfix with a modern tooling of the medium bomber, prompting a change of plans. Shane used a few parts from Pavla detail sets and and a bunch of photoetched metal from Eduard to dress up Italeri’s S.M.79. Parts that didn’t look right in two-dimensional photoetched metal were scratchbuilt, such as the bomb-bay’s overhead trellis. He added missing framing and replaced the floor with styrene sheet and strip. Scratchbuilding enhanced the bomb aimer’s position, machine-gun mounts, ammo racks, spent cartridge tubes, wheel wells, and the engine, which received pushrods and cowl supports. Ammo belts…

To me, using a base to display my models not only showcases the piece, but also adds life and context to a static model. Here’s the easy and inexpensive method I’ve developed for modeling realistic display bases. Although the examples I show feature aircraft, the basic techniques could be used for a wide variety of subject matter.…

When I was a kid, I learned quickly that box art was not a reliable indicator of the model within. I especially remember an Aurora’s DC-9 I picked up that had a beautiful picture of an Air Canada DC-9-30, the stretched version of the famous airliner. In fact, the kit was a reissue of the short DC-9-10. Armed with the modeling skills of a 12-year-old, all I could do at the time was to build it as it came. Recently, I came across one of these vintage kits and thought it might be fun to revisit. But this time, with 40 years of modeling experience behind me, I would make the plastic in the box look like the art on the cover. Mind the gap The DC-9 was one of…

The Horten Ho 229 has to be one of the most futuristic aircraft designs to take to the air during World War II. The Horten brothers’ design was so far ahead of its time that in the early 1980s a team from Northrop-Grumman, working on the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, traveled to the Smithsonian Institute’s facility in Spring Hill, Md., to study the partial Ho 229 being stored there! Zoukei-Mura’s all-new Ho 229 is the first-ever 1/32 scale model of the aircraft. Cleanly molded in clear and gray plastic, the kit’s details follow the usual Zoukei-Mura style of extensive interior and structural parts. Clear exterior parts give you the option of showing interior detail while leaving the exterior intact. No crew figure is included, but Zoukei-Mura offers separately a pilot…

The German army added Wurfrahmen 40 rocket launchers to SdKfz 251 halftracks to provide powerful fire support to fastmoving panzer divisions: 28cm shells contained high-explosive warheads; 32cm projectiles, incendiary. In action, the crew dismounted and remotely fired the rockets from their frames. Though not as accurate as artillery, they were effective when used in large numbers. Zvezda has resurrected its 2006-vintage SdKfz 251/1 Ausf B by adding the rocket frames and ammunition. Previous reviews have mentioned the inaccuracies of this model, and they have not been corrected in this kit: wrong detail on the suspension; interior of an Ausf C instead of the morespartan Ausf B; and an MG34 machine gun should have been included instead of the MG42. The model is molded in light gray plastic with flash, sink…