JeroenPeters

Famous Airplanes (5010) Albatros D.III/D.V Aces’ Fighter Publisher: Kagero Written by: Tomasz J. Kowalski, Wojciech Fajga, Vitor Costa, Damien Majsak Available here from Kagero for € 18,75 Kagero has really made a name for itself in publishing high quality and affordable books for both modeller and aviation, armour or ship enthusiast. Some ranges are an almost must have when correcting of detailing your build. For instance the Top Drawings line for adding rivets and correcting panel lines. Or the Photosniper or 3D books for adding detail. Having said that, this book is from the Famous Airplanes range, which consists of 10 books at the time I’m writing this. Mostly ww1 subjects, but also two Japanese ww2 subjects. This range is clearly written and designed with the modeller in mind that wants to really grasp his subject and see how that translate into a quality build. The whole book is printed in two languages: Polish and English with the text side by side. This saves Kagero money on design and printing. You could compare this book to a Windsock publication, only of higher quality and more comprehensive. It’s a soft cover with a glued back and quality paper. I’ve said it before about Kagero books. They’re cheap and value for money. These days some high quality magazines can set you back almost 13 euro’s, so in my eyes 18,75 euro’s for this book is a bargain. Keep on reading to see whether you agree. The contents are built up as follows: - Albatros D.I – D.V History, construction development, combat usage - Albatros D.III 1/48 Eduard (build report) - Albatros D.V 1/32 Wingnut Wings (build report) - Albatros D.Va 1/32 Wingnut Wings (build report) Albatros D.I – D.V History, construction development, combat usage The left side of the text pages contain the English copy, with the right side reserved for Polish. 26 pages span the whole development of this sleek wooden fighter, with written personal experiences of test pilots and various pilots that became ace in the Albatros. Ofcourse attention is paid to the Albatros in Polish service too. The chapter covering the construction of the Albatros gives a valuable insight to the modeller in understanding what materials were used and how they were engineered. For example: The tailskid was made of ash and covered in canvas tape, ended in a steel pile show. It was fixed to the triangular stabilizing fin with an articulated joint and fixed with a rubber cord threaded through a fitted opening in the stabilizing fin. This gives the modeller an idea how to weather and paint the tailskid. The chapter ends in 2 pages of period technical drawings. Albatros D.III 1/48 Eduard Eduard has produced an impressive line of 48thscale ww1 models and for years dominated the ww1 aircraft modelling scene. I believe the kit built and described here originated from 1998. Whereas the first stages of this build don’t impress me too much, the work on the outer fuselage and wings is lovely. Modeller Vitor Costa shows what you can so using only a few ‘simple’ techniques to mask with ribtape and wood painting techniques. Albatros D.V 1/32 Wingnut Wings (build report) Wojciech Fajga builds the venerable Wingnut Wings Albatros D.V. This build is not about superdetailing an already great kit, but can be seen as a reference build for modellers trying their hands on woodgrain decals, adding rivets (or rather nails) to the wooden fuselage and doing some masking on a decaled fuselage. You sense trouble? You’re right. The modeller pulls of a large portion of wood grain decal. The things we have to deal with! Lovely extra details are added to the radiator louvres and engine. Also loving the homemade rigging turnbuckles. Albatros D.Va 1/32 Wingnut Wings Damian Majsak also does magic to a Wingnut Wings Albatros, but builds the D.Va version. We see some different techniques, followed by a diorama base complete with figures. A feast for the eye. This build focusses more on weathering, which seems right for a model on a dio base. Profiles The books ends with amazing colour profiles. We see the whole range: a German D.I, German D.II, Two Polish D.III’s, Three German D.III’s, Two German D.V’s and a German D.Va’s. Ofcourse the D.V’s are a great inspiration for Wingnut Wings builds. Here’s hoping WNW will try their hands on earlier versions of this plane too. Verdict I’m a big fan of Kagero titles. Especially the ones’ written and designed with the modeller in mind. I don’t need a big bible full of black and white period photo’s. I need illustrated builds, colour profiles and step by step tutorials. This title (in this range: Famous Airplanes) provide just that. As said in the introduction, these books come cheap (€ 18,75) and are printed on quality paper. If I had to nitpick: the English felt a bit uneasy here and there. The English/polish text side by side never bothers me, but I guess that’s personal. If you’re into WW1 airplanes and have a stash of Wingnut Wings kits in the stash (you know who you are!), order one of these titles and get inspired to build one! Order here. A big thank you to Kagero for providing us with a sample. Jeroen Peters

This movie is called Hurricane in other countries? Can't wait!!

oooohhh yes!! I like this! Built this kit too with the Eduard photo etch for the Hasegawa kit since that was the only game in town when the Meng kit was released. Need to build me another one soon. Following this!

I really is a great kit out of the box. What Eduard has done is beyond anything i've ever seen in photo etch. This is the only 48th scale kit I'll tackle and am only doing so because a 32nd scale kit is unavailable and the background of the crash near my house compelled me to build one...

love it! Congrats!!!

Here you go! The bomb bay completed. All the air bags installed. In placed two 500lb bombs (should actually be phospohr bombs for this plane, but this looks better. The bomb tails were replaced by PE from Eduard.

Welcome Ernie Great to have you here!

Really cool John, A beast of a plane.

Lovely! Currently building a 1/48 Wimpy myself and kinda like the change from 1/32 for once. Following this.

Damn! That's a long list of plans... Beware it doesn't start to feel like a proper job with deadlines :))) I'll be happy to finish my current subject and maybe another one this year.... Looking forward to the big cat though!

Dang... Sorry to hear that. Kinda puts everything in perspective. Take care.

Welcome!! Looking forward to see some of your armour and plane builds. If you want to post 48th scale, well that's fine too! Cheers, Jeroen

1:35 Bergepanther Ausf.D – Umbau Seibert 1945 Takom Catalogue # 2102 With German armour growing bigger in the course of the war, the need for bigger recovery vehicles rose. One FAMO wasn’t enough anymore to pull a Panther or Tiger out of a ditch. As a matter of fact two Famo 18 ton vehicles were needed to pull one Tiger I tank. This is why the Panzer V Panther was chosen as the base for a new Bergepanzer: The Sd.Kfz. 179 Bergepanther. Still existing truck brand MAN was issued the order to produce the first batch which were delivered in June 1943. In total about 347 Bergepanthers were built on Panther Ausf A and G hulls with various lay-outs by different factories: MAN, Henschel and Demag. For this latter one please see James Hatch’s excellent reviewof the Ausf A version of this kit. Most of them containing a 40 Ton winch. This specific type was built by Sieber. If you are a U-boot nut this may sound familiar. Sieber was a company that had a lot of experience building U-boot hulls. They built / assembled 61 Bergepanthers Ausf.D (Umbau) between July 1944 and March 1945. The word ‘Umbau’ means ‘Conversion’. As you can see this Bergepanther resembles an ordinary Panther most. All it’s missing is it’s turret and transmission hatch and has a large round steel plate instead. The kit Takom is on a head to head race with Meng. Leaving Dragon and Tamiya in their wake. Where it used to be a no brainer buying a Tamiya kit for quality and fit and a Dragon kit for ease and detail, you now follow Takom’s and Meng’s releases with hawk-eye’s. With these two brands picking the same subjects over and over the battle for detail lifts their quality level to great heights. The boxes keep getting bigger and bigger, but the prices somehow stay in the green. I used to be an avid armour modeler and thought we were spoiled over our ears with detail, subjects and possibilities, but what this kit brings is something else… All this detail and what do we see in the end? You might want to make a cross section model. Check this out: I don’t think it’s fair to compare this kit to the 1995 Italeri Bergepanther nor the Revell or ICM offering. They all offer pretty basic kits that lack most of the interior. To get the full interior you would have to buy the resin Verlinden set, but that would still get you the early Maybach engine. None of the mainstream brands produced this particular late version of the Bergepanther: Ausf.D. For that you had to buy the Precision Models conversion set (which is not an easy find…). As you see a lot these days certain brands go head to head and tackle the same excotic subjects. I never got this… As it happens RFM (Rye Field Models) is releasing their own Bergepanther and knowing them, it will also feature a whole interior, just like their latest Sturmtiger. Takom: beware! The high heavy box is bursting with sprues and parts. 25 sprues in total (!). So I just started with studying the instructions, doing some research and unpacking the top sprue in the box. Overall the casting is really crisp with no flash anywhere. To be fair: Dragon, Meng and Tamiya have the same reputation. Hardly any cleanup needed. With a kit like this featuring a full interior the question is: where are the ejector marks?? More on that later. Another something to add here is that all parts on the sprue intended for the Early version are removed. This prevents an even more overload of parts, confusion, weigth and mistakes. Construction starts with the floorplate of the Bergepanther and is quickly followed by the gearbox and drivetrain. The suspension rods are then placed and we have seen this on other Panther kits, since they actually work on the finished model. Floorplate: Sprues A (2x) with the wheels. Lovely steel texture and bolt detail: Connected sprues E and D with the sprockets, suspension and various interior details. Drivers' seat with spring seat back: Periscopes. Usually these are provided in clear plastic. Since i never like that feature, I'm happy with grey plastic. Sprue E2: Sprue J2 with the jack, tools and towing cable eye lets: The tracks are done in an innovative way. Link and length, but with long stretches of track for the straight parts. The track horns for these stretches are all connected on one long sprue. You need to glue the whole stretch of horns to the track and only then cut the sprue loose. It will be interesting to see how this works. Word of caution: if you want to position this model in a diorama, the straight length of tracks on the bottom of the model will make it difficult to curve the track. So: this method saves time, but limits possibilities. There is also a handy tool / jig that helps you assemble the tracks before they go on the model. This way you can paint your tank and tracks separately. I like this. I’m curious to see whether my Friulmodel tracks fit on this kit. I think so… Sprue F (x2) and C 9x2) with the track links: The jig (x2) for left and right track assembly: On to the engine. This Maybach engine differs somewhat from the early Bergepanther. The detail is outstanding and so is the engineering. I reckon you only need some leadwire to spice things up here. When done, the complete engine drops in the hull of the tank. Just like on the real thing. Check out the differences in the early and late Maybach engines: Sprue N with the engine parts: Sprue J3: Sprue L: Engine piping with only a minimal seam line to remove: Sprue M: Sprue R2: Then work begins on the rear armour plate, grills and upper hull. Photo etch is supplied for all the engine grill meshes. All the tools that go on the sides of the Bergepanther are done nicely in injection moulded plastic, but I would recommend replacing the clasps with photo etch on a model with this much detail. I love the restrained surface texture on the hull, wheels and hatches. Sometimes this is overdone or omitted completely. It will be interesting to see how RFM approach this. As said in the introduction, ejector pin marks on a model that shows so much of it’s insides are crucial. Trust me: they’re hard to find and this saves you a lot of filling and sanding. I found a few on the insides of hatches but they’re not deep and probably disappear with some quick sanding. Sprue H3: Sprue K3 with front armor: Lovely steel surface texture and weld seams: The same goes for the upper part of the hull: One part you almost always want to replace with photo etch are the Schurzen panzer plates on the sides of the tank. In this case you may not have to. The plastic tapers to the sides, making it look much thinner than it actually is. Beware: if you want to remove one or two of these plates, you need to thin the new edges as well. The last items that go on the model are the wooden beam and crane. Real delicate with real chain provided that goes around the pully. Sprue Q2 with the crane and wooden beam: Exhaust stacks: Minimal ejector pin marks on the inside of the hatch: Delicate detail on the crane: Sprue U. Note the absence of the Early Bergepanther parts. Note the thin edges of the Schurzen panzer: Sprue G2: Delicate and refined wood texture on the wooden beam: Detailed Mg34. Only needs the barrel end drilled out: Copper wire, photo etch and chains: Note that the mesh isn't just a plate with holes but features overlapping wiring: Painting schemes Four full colour profiles are provided for you to choose from. All built in 1945 by the Seibert Factory. Reference photo’s are not provided and neither is information as to where what scheme was operational. You’ll find one in Winter camo and three three-tone camo patterns. What I love are the full colour 3d drawings on the last pages of the instruction booklet, showing you want needs to be painted in red brown primer and what need to be black or white. Lovely. Makes me thing of the 3D illustrated books by Kagero. A small sheet of decals is provided, giving you some data plates, markings and the instrument faces for the drivers’ compartment. The 3d drawings in the back of the booklet show you exactly where these go. The instruction manual: Conclusion This is an Epic kit with a dazzling amount of parts. It makes you forget your stash of DML/Dragon and Tamiya kits. The engineering is clever and the quality is top notch. The only thing I don’t like are the tracks that make it hard to position the tank on an un-even terrain. In terms of aftermarket this kit doesn’t need a lot. Maybe just some TLC in the outer detail, like photo etch clasps for the tools. This is a kit that I can whole heartedly recommend to any armour builder. I hope to see the first build here on LSM soon! PS: a fun detail. The brand name Continental is spelled fully and correct on the wheels. Dragon in the past placed the word: Continentau on them, since copyright and brand name protection didn’t allow them to use the name Continental. Wonder if laws changed? Thanks to Takom for supplying LSM with this sample.

Nice! I wanted to buy the resin kit recently but this is cool as well!

Hi Clunkmeister, Thnx for your reply. The more i work on this model and dive into its operational history the more respect i get... here’s some more progress: and here with some paint: weathering to follow. Followed by the floatation bags and a few bombs. 3 or so...

Really cool work. Recently dropped my 1/32 version on the floor

Holy wow. That's pretty impressive... Love that carbon look. Looks like my Yamaha Fz8 which is covered in carbon too

Cool.. You use the black marker to check panel lines?

1/32 Bücker Bü 131D ICM Catalogue No32002 Available from Hannants for € 34,13 Introduction It often happens that I receive a kit for review and think: ‘Mehhh… not my cup of tea…’. This happened when I received the new ICM Bücker Jungmann kit. Not a subject that I could see myself build. And then I start to do some research for the review and discover that there is a whole tribe of pilot enthusiasts that fly and maintain this particular plane. They have fly-ins all over the world where they show off their skills and planes. Planes that are painted in the coolest schemes. Ranging from original wartime liveries to post war Swiss training colours to candy apple red air racer. I’ve noticed that there is a large fan base for the Jungmann in the United States. In the sixties and seventies the Czech, Spanish and Swiss airforces started to sell their Jungmanns training planes and many were sold to private buyers in the United States. Today there are about 200 Jugmanns left, which is pretty much for a plane that saw the light of day in 1932! Many have been fitted with a more modern engine: the Lycoming O-320/360 with 180 HP (which is 80 HP more than the original Hirth engine). Today’s pilots flying the Jungmanns praise it for its agility, acrobatic skills and ease of maintenance. All of a sudden I get ideas get enthusiastic. Check this video if you need some motivation to get yourself one of these kits: https://vimeo.com/266517423 Also take a look at this link with photo’s from the ‘Bücker treffen’ (Bücker meet) in Germany to get some inspiration for cool schemes: http://www.bueckertreffen.de/index.php/wilhelm/ The scheme I’m drawn to? One in dutch livery ofcourse! Exactly one Bücker Bu 131 was purchased in 1937 by the dutch airforce. Later, in 1939, the dutch east india airforce purchased 6 planes. The Bücker was the first plane to come off the drawing tables of the Bücker Flugzeugbau GmbH. A plane very similar to the Tiger Moth, Stampe SV4 and Polikarpov Po-2. A plane that slipped under the ‘radar’ of countries like Britain and France that didn’t allow Germany to rebuild their airforce. That’s why many Luftwaffe pilots were trained before the war in civilian sport flying clubs, and this plane was perfect for the job. Light, cheap, aerobatic and easy to maintain. About 3.000 of these planes were built and some even saw frontline action. This would have been at the eastern front, where they were used in night time missions, harassing the Soviet front with little bombs. The Kit Like with the I-16 kits, this kit is cleverly engineered and fully designed in 3D. Only three sprues (well actually two and one transparent) make up the entire model without skipping detail. The engine is there, a detailed cockpit and anything else you need. The boxing is (like the I-16 kits) strong. With a box top that slids off and reveals another top folding box inside. The fit of these two boxes is so tight, you want to be careful not to tear the top sliding box. The first thing that strikes is how small this plane is. Especially when comparing it to for instance a Fokker D.VII. The second thing that strikes is that the whole kit is made up from only two main sprues. The third is that there is NO flash at all and the detail is really crisp. I would rate this above Trumpeter and Revell. The plastic is strong, easy to work with and slightly flexible. I have seen some of these models already built over the internet and it’s a lot of fun to see people go crazy with their schemes. Sprue A This sprue holds that main components. Fuselage parts, wings, ailerons, rudders, cowling and gear legs. The surface detail could have been a little better in the sense that some is lacking. I’m talking about rivet rows on the engine cover and some fasteners on the fuselage. The wings were in reality smooth as a baby’s ass, so these are fine as they come in the kit. If you look at reference photo’s which are easy to find all over the net, you’ll see where you can add some detail. Like the hinges on the radiator cover. Easily made with thin plastic rod, with added small cuts every 1,5mm. Engine cover. Could use a little more surface detail: Check the hand holds in the upper wing: Fuselage detail: Strut attachments: Gear legs: Aileron: Sprue B Here we have the engine, cockpit, prop, wheels, top wing, struts and radiator cover. The eyes are immediately pulled to the small Hirth engine. What a little gem. You will need to add quite some detail to properly show this though. I’m thinking: inside of engine cover, wiring and additional engine detail. But on a kit otherwise so straightforward it will be worth the extra mile. The cockpit framing is exquisite. The instrument panel is (like the I-16) a transparent part. This is definitely not something I like. I mean.. why?? Grey styrene, instrument decals and some Micro Clear for the glass. Anyway, this will work just as well if you paint the instrument panel first. Another thing I don’t get is (like with the I-16) the omission of seatbelts. Ofcourse you can make them yourself with some spare buckles and masking tape (or lead). You may even have some spares while you’re at it. But still a weird omission. Especially on a plane with 2 open cockpits. If you do choose to build this plane in a modern livery, like seen in my linky above, make sure to do some alterations on the cockpit. A modern harness, modern radio and probably compass. Lovely prop with nice detailed bolts: Check out that crisp Hirth engine: Cockpit floor frame with foot boards: Wheels with brake details: More cockpit framing. No cleanup necessary at all!: Transparent Sprue Here we have the two instrument panels. And the two wind screens. To be honest I would recommend filling the hole on the top fuselage where these slot in and not using these parts since, well, scale thickness. I would however use them as a template to cut my own from thin transparent sheet. Decals No idea who prints these for ICM, but these are just lovely. Sharp, detailed and they register really well. Decals for four schemes are provided. Two from the Eastern front and two from Germany. Scheme1: Bücker Bü131D DR Military Wehrmacht Luftwaffe (German Air Force 1935-1945) 2./JG 54 KG+GB March 1942 Scheme 2: Bücker Bü131D DR Military Wehrmacht Luftwaffe (German Air Force 1935-1945) 2./JG 54 KG+GB July 1942 Scheme 3: Bücker Bü131D DR Military Wehrmacht Luftwaffe (German Air Force 1935-1945) III./NJG 1 SA+ZV 1943 Scheme 4: Bücker Bü131D DR Military Wehrmacht Luftwaffe (German Air Force 1935-1945) unknown TA+AH Bad Aibling | 1944 The instruction manual (as this kit is designed in 3d) is pretty clear and well drawn. Overal: A surprise to see this subject tackled in 32ndscale. A kit that I wanted to build since I saw it flown by Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in Indiana Jones. ICM is quickly climbing the ranks of quality model supplier and we welcome every release. This one is no other. Really well executed with attention to detail. Only critique is the omission of seatbelts and some surface details here and there. Highly recommended. Our sincere thanks to ICM for providing this kit for review.

Holy shit. Nurse! He's at it again! Following this!!

Wow.... insane detail.

Effective work and weathering on that engine!

Oh wow! That is one epic conversion!

That is the best 190D i've seen in some time. Love it!!

ISM? Is that an ICM kit? Lovely scheme of a very early type of this plane. What scale is it?