nmayhew

Hi Steve! Oops - sooo busted!! I guess I put it down to watching too much 'Allo 'Allo in years gone by Glad you liked the review Cheers Nick

Is it Mal Mayfield at Miracle Mask? Sorry don't have a link (on train) They are the only two guys around now that AdAstra have disappeared I think

JG54 Green Heart Fighters Kagero Units series #2 by Marek Murawski €15.71 direct from Kagero This is the second in Kagero's new Units series, but part of their well established and ever increasing book empire. The premise is simple: rather than focus on a particular aircraft or campaign, we now see things at unit level, and in this case, the subject is Jagdgeschwader 54. JG 54, whose most enduring emblem was a green heart - hence the 'grun herz' nickname - were formed in 1939, and fought in the Battle of Britain, the Balkans, and then in Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia. By 1943, elements of the unit were fighting on both Western an Eastern Fronts, with the last JG54 kill credited on 8th May 1945 over the Baltic, so this unit truly fought from beginning to end. The book is 32 pages long, in soft back landscape format, so as a unit history it is nothing if not brief. Some of the most significant battles and indeed entire campaigns in modern history are distilled into a few paragraphs, even I the perspective is always a very narrow unit level one. I have no real complaints about this - if you want serious historical research or day by day accounts of the say, the Siege of Leningrad, there is plenty of material a available. The narrative that is here provides useful colour and background. What sets Kagero apart from their competitors is the addition of decals with pretty much all of their books in this field. There are decals for four aircraft, in all three main scales of 1/32, 1/48 and 1/72. The subjects covered are: Messerschmitt Bf109 G-2 'Blue 5' 7./JG 54 Isotscha airfield, Smolensk, Winter 1942-43 Complete winter whitewash, heavy exhaust staining; undercarriage gear covers removed. Focke-Wulf Fw190 A-5 W.Nr.1501 'White 4' 1./JG 54 Flown by JG54's most famous son, Walter Nowotny, Russia Summer 1943 White bull outline drawing and inscription "Rammbock" under canopy on port side. Bucker Bu131 D-2 W.Nr.1683 KG+GB 2./JG 54 Krasnogvardeysk airfield, Russia March 1942 RLM70/71/65 with wavy winter whitewash; "Lili Marlen" inscription on port fuselage, kill bars on port rudder (unit score, not pilot or aircraft) Messerschmitt Bf109 F-2 'White 9' 4./JG 54 Mal. Owsischtischi 10th August 1941 Pilot Oblt. Hans Philipp, Staffelkapitan; standard RLM74/75/76 but with RLM70 lines on fuselage, with patches of RLM75 within. What can we say about the aircraft choices? Well, any book covering JG54 will be spoilt for choice with some of the most colourful Bf109s and Fw190s you could wish for. That also makes the subjects to pick out of the bunch a little more difficult perhaps? That one of Novotny's aircraft has been chosen is no surprise, and I like that we have close up pictures of the man himself with the Rammbock logo in clear view. The aircraft also gets a full four view profile so, although you have to source your own national markings, you're pretty much there and won't want for anything else. The whitewashed 109 only has a two side profiles, but since it is depicted in a full winter scheme, I'm not sure the lack of top / bottom views are that great a loss. Similarly, the 'crazy paving' schemes are well documented, and Hans Philip is a relatively well known pilot. The choice of the Bucker is perplexing: most casual modellers will have not even heard of this aircraft, let alone know what it looks like; but the main point is a lack of injection mould kit in ANY of the scales that decals are provided for. This is a bit of a misguided attempt to 'be different' and a waste of one of only four options. Two final comments on the decal side of things. One, Novotny's bird aside, the featured aircraft are not shown in any of the many photos in the book. I would much prefer to have photographic confirmation of what I am modelling - so why not show these pictures, or chose different but similar subjects? Two, there is no detailed commentary on the features of each bird, as provided by EagleCals. I mention them because they are the industry benchmark in WWII decals. Conclusion So what we have here is an interesting and I think very effective combination of elements of a regular decal set, together with a 'Unit History lite' (I hope I'll be forgiven for the American terminology here, but it seems particularly appropriate). If you could put an Osprey Aircraft of the Aces book and an EagleCals deca sheet in the blender, this is probably what you would get. Price also needs to be mentioned here: I think it's a fairly good value proposition. No real complaints apart from the odd choice of the Bucker. Looking forward to more of this series! Highly recommended With thanks to Kagero for the review sample.

Jeroen, Dave Too funny! Jim, what a project - come on finish it! Who need sleep?!

Wow What a beast! Looks awesome now it has full complement of stripes

Oops wrong thread! DOH!!

nice one guys WNW are just are an unstoppable machine! cheers Nick

I thought it was mid 2013... can anyone else elaborate?

Well, way back a few years ago they actually had the 1/32 version mentioned in newsletters, then Tamiya showed them how the game is to be played Great looking progress btw Jamme - looking forward to seeing more!

nice one Jamme i did an extensive review of this kit back on SPR http://scaleplasticandrail.com/kaboom/index.php/all-things-aviation/132-135-scale/132-kit-reviews/1139-132-spitfire-mkvb-trop-from-hobbyboss interesting that it can be argued this kit is pretty much on a par with the Eduard 109 - looks like a Spitfire, but has some shape and some detail issues - and yet this kit is generally looked down upon i hope the review might be of use, and look forward to seeing more of this! Nick

And the crowd goes 'oooh...' And the crowd goes 'aaah...' :)

Great looking bird! I agree the finish looks wonderful - I have always felt uneasy about super shiny fighters, so this one really appeals Thanks for sharing

Looks great! Thanks for the (long awaited) update Cheers Nick

Masks definitely in this scale AdAstra were IMHO the best out there but Ian seems to have disappeared off the face, so go with what the guys have recommended Keep in mind you'll need to research the size etc of whatever you ask for unless it is a standard bird / markings etc - this is in itself sometimes a useful exercise Let us know how you get on / what prices you are quoted, as I will be in the market for some masks one day soon I hope

Oops Give us a picture of the guilty party!!

Addendum - here are the instructions for the above set in full:

Abrams M1A2 SEP TUSK II Update Set by ET Model #E35161 designed for DML kit #3536 $92.99 from LuckyModel This is the first of a number of reviews I will be doing of ET Model products here on LSM. For those not familiar, ET Model specialise in armour upgrades in 1/35 scale, primarily in photo-etch metal (PE), but also extending to the use of resin and other media. They cover both WWII and modern armour. In terms of quality, they are up there certainly with Eduard and perhaps Aber for some items. They are also considerably cheaper than their European counterparts. At present they do not cover aircraft, but this may change in the future. The set in all its glory [all built up pics courtesy ET Model] If you are 'into' the Abrams, you'll know far more than I could tell you here, but suffice to say that 'TUSK' stands for Tank Urban Survival Kit; and these TUSK upgrades came about as a result of US experience in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This upgrade set is for the DML Abrams kit#3536. It is certainly one of their more ambitious sets and, at $92.99, one of their more expensive. However, the price should be put into context when we consider that it contains a monster 20 - yes, twenty - PE frets, as well as resin, clear injection mould plastic and finally perspex-type parts. The set is so large that it demands a box rather than the usual slip with card backing we usually see. The box is pretty sturdy and keeps everything nice and safe, although I did have one issue with the contents, but this was not due to poor packaging. The only problem I had was with fret #G: hopefully I can describe this correctly, but it seems that the fret is actually too short for the parts it contains, and as a result 'buckled up' somewhat. Take a look at the pictures below, and you should see what I mean: Luckily, as soon as I snipped the the two large panels which run the length of the tank off the fret (parts #G11 and G#12), the tension was released. The parts were slightly bowed, but I managed to get them back into shape very easily. So if you buy this set, don't be too put off if you see this. I have alerted ET Model, and hopefully this problem will be resolved in future production runs. The majority of the set - some 10 frets - are used in the construction of the additional armour protection 'blocks' that run along each side of the tank. Working my through the nine page instruction booklet, each of these blocks has something like 15 parts, and the whole sub-assembly has to be repeated 28 times. Annealing PE parts is always recommended, but here it will be essential in order to help you recreate the curve of the outer block 'shield' (part #O1). On fret H there is a slot marked as 'part' #H10, which is a template for the requisite shape of the curve; a nice touch, but I wonder how easy to use in practice? There is a lot more to this set though: the turret has multiple upgrades and additions, including resin machine guns, and gun shields which are composite PE and perspex. It is a nice touch that some parts are notable thicker PE than others, reflecting their actual size in real life. The detail on the PE parts is excellent, but there are some things that I would have liked to see done differently: I am not a fan of having to cut the armoured glass (perspex) to shape myself - why not give us regular clear plastic? Templates are given, but to cut these pieces accurately will be challenging by hand I would have thought. The other thing is that whilst the resin 0.50cal body is pretty decent, the barrel cannot match the latest turned brass offerings, so if you've blown $90+ on this set, chances are you'll be a perfectionist and will want to buy another barrel. As you can see from the above picture, this set cover pretty much the whole tank. The other part I should mention is #H1, which is a massive plate added to the underside of the tank. Whilst most of the other parts should fit other Abrams kits around (Tamiya?), this part will probably only work with the DML kit given its nature. If you are wondering what the TUSK II set looks like in practice... Conclusion In the following post I will show the instructions in full, because at present ET Model do not post their instructions online (take a bow, Eduard). The short shot fret which caused bowing of two parts was disappointing, and having to cut the perspex to shape is not the ideal solution in my view. But to sum up I will state the obvious: this is a very comprehensive upgrade set, but not one suitable for beginners. I would go further and suggest that only those who are very confident with PE are likely to be able to pull this set off and do it justice. For the less adventurous, I believe there are resin alternatives offered by other companies. That being said, I think this set has the greater potential by far. Highly recommended; not for beginners. With sincere thanks to ET Model for the review sample. Nicholas Mayhew

hi guys Voyager have announced an update for the Hobbyboss BergePanther Ausf.D w/37mm FlaK37 I have the Hobbyboss kit in my stash, and should be getting this Voyager set (and hopefully some others too) shortly, so keep an eye out for the review in the near future Nick

Nice one Rick And you guys...TOO funny!!

I would suggest a Hasegawa Fw190 or Me109 in 1/32 - not super cheap but Revell re-pops of te 109 can be found reasonably on eBay They are fairly accurate and generally go together ok They have been built a million times and their is pretty much unlimited aftermarket so plenty o people to talk you through your build Also, you could build them again when more confident with said aftermarket As to 1/48, well, that's for Scale Plastic and Rail

And the crowd roar for more!!

Err, thanks...I reviewed this book for LSM and the review can be found (unsurprisingly) in the review section, armour Let me know what you think of the review... http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/331-tankart-vol1-wwii-german-armour/#entry4044

Can you not make a Wellington in 1/32?? If you were to scratch one, I guarantee that just prior to completion a company would release an injection mould version. This would make you unhappy (perhaps). But I would be VERY happy. Lol :)

And back to our regular programming, in addition to Dave's question, can I ask if you have any close up pics of the rigging, obviously where it attaches to wing and brace etc? Cheers Nick (Can never have enough muppets!)

Sorry, only just had a chance to catch up on this thread and couldn't resist a re-quote!! Tee hee hee