Aviation Models

1/72nd Scale

1/48th Scale

Other Scale

1/72nd Scale

F-86E Sabre:

The Sabre was designed to compete with the MiG-15 during the Korean War.  This model features decals for three variants.  They consist of the plane flown by Lt. Col. Ed Heller of 16th FIS during 1953, Yugoslavian air force, and the Turkish air force.  I opted for the markings of Heller's plane.  

This model kit goes together very well.  The pieces are straight and there is no evidence of warping in the assembled product.  Those were the good points.  Now for the bad points.  The instructions say the model includes detailed cockpit, landing gear and authentic markings.  I think one out of three is pretty poor.  The cockpit consists of a generic panel and boxy looking parts for a seat.  Once the model is assembled you cannot even see these parts anyway so I guess it is just as well that you don't have to detail the heck out of the cockpit.  The landing gear look like little plastic sticks with wheels on the end.  However the decals do look pretty decent.  Probably the best part of the detail are the break flaps on either side of the model.  Another problem with this model is that there are no weapons on the hardpoints.

I used Heller's plane as my goal.  I used Testor's ModelMaster chrome paint for the body.  The landing struts and wheel wells I used Testor's MM steel and zinc chromate for the inside of the brake flaps.  The drop tanks are red for which I used Testor's Guards Red.  

With the dearth of Sabre models available in either 1/72nd and 1/48th scale there are better choices than this one.  If you want something simple that goes together quickly or you are new to modeling I would suggest this model.  Otherwise keep moving.

Nieuport-Delage Ni-D 622:

The Nieuport-Delage Ni-D 622 was developed to replace the Ni-29.  It was produced in 1930 and served with the French air force until 1935.  The Ni-D 622 was a metal bodied, open cockpit plane with a canvas parasol wing and stub wings for the lower.  The length was 7.64m, wingspan 12.00m, max. speed 250kph and armament consisted of two machine guns mounted in the engine cowl.

This model is not horrible but I have seen better.  The thing that made me purchase it was that it is unusual.  To the best of my knowledge there is no other company that produces this plane.  There is no evidence of warping and the pieces fit together without gaps for the most part.  The gaps that were present in my model were so small that when I painted it they were effectively filled except for the one along the spine of the fuselage.  The biggest problems consist of the engine cowl and the cockpit.  The cockpit has no detail whatsoever.  Since it is an open cockpit it would be nice to have some semblance of instrumentation in the thing.  The engine cowl lacks in detail also.  The ports for air intake and the exhaust ports are not as deep as they should be and are not consistent from one side to the other.  Also on the right side of the plane the line that separates the cowl from the fuselage is wavy and of course the paint flows right to the line making the paint job wavy.  Also the radiators, which are mounted on either landing strut have a nice injection mark right in the front of them which totally destroys the grill marks.

The paint job for this consists of a satin ivory for the interior and a grass green for the fuselage and wings.  The cowl is steel and that is the color I painted it.  At some later time I will repaint the cowl silver instead because steel is to dark.  There are paint schemes marked for Humbrol paints but I opted for Testors because of price, availability, and consistency.  The decals are for Armée de L' Air 4th Escadrille and Armée de L' Air 6th Escadrille.  The emblem for the 4th consists of a panther silhouette and the 6th has a cock's head.  I chose the 6th just for the extra color the cock's head added to the plane.  One thing to note is that the decals for under the parasol wing must be put on BEFORE you glue on the wing.  Otherwise you will have to pop of the wing or go without the flight markings.

If you like to collect examples of lesser known planes this model will not disappoint you terribly.  Otherwise you can probably live without it because it just doesn't knock your socks off after it is completed.

 Hawker Tempest Mk.V:

The Tempest was the direct descendent of the Hawker Typhoon.  Whereas the Typhoon was more adept at ground attack roles using either rockets or its 20mm cannons the Tempest was used for interception of both fighters and the V-1 rockets because of its higher speed.  The increase of speed (up to about 435 mph compared to the Typhoon's 410 mph) can be credited to the thinner wing of the Tempest and a switch in engine.  The armament of the Tempest consisted of four flush mounted 20mm cannons and hard points for other armament. 

If you are familiar with Air Fix models out of England then you will be familiar with this model.  I don't know which company bought out which company but I have seen the exact same box photos bearing the names Heller and Air Fix.  I do know that the one from Air Fix is also touted as the Typhoon on some boxes and Tempest on others though from what I have seen there is no remarkable difference between the two models other than the protruding cannons on the Typhoon.  Alright, enough of this stuff.

This model is pretty well constructed.  It went together easily and with little scraping or modification.  There are a few problems to note however.  The first has to do with the air intake (water/oil cooler also).  The two halves of the fuselage do not come together well at this point and one side was a little thicker than the other.  With a little scraping and sanding they matched but it was touchy work.  The wings also present a slight problem behind the air intake.  There is a rather large gap directly behind the air intake that requires a putty job.  However a plus is that on the top surface and the rear portion where they meet the fuselage they fit wonderfully which is sort of rare I have found.  The top spine where the two fuselage sections meet also needs a light putty job to hide the hairline gap between the two pieces.  The drop tanks have an annoying seam along them that sanding just could not take away.  For that reason I have as yet to paint this model until I can eliminate them.

Then there is the armament.  Or should I say lack of.  The model of the Tempest has holes in the underside of the wings for hard points but nothing comes with the model.  I could be wrong about the purpose of the little slots because they could be ejection ports of some kind for the cannon but seeing as how there are four cannon and six slots the math doesn't quite work.  If someone has any idea as to their purpose then let me know.  I would really appreciate it.  Also the cannon on the far side of either wing looks like garbage.  They had to protrude to accommodate themselves in the wing.  The people at Heller decided it would look nice to portray them as little squat pegs sticking out.  The inner cannons are of course nonexistent but are represented by holes in the wing.  The best plan of action would be to take some very thin tubing and insert them flush with the leading edge of the wing where the inner guns are.  If you are steady enough to pick off the little pegs on the outer positions the same procedure would probably have a nicer effect (remember to leave the outer cannons sticking out about 1/16th of an inch).

The cockpit detail is typical for a 1/72nd model.  Generic console, unidentifiable stick and a little box representing a seat.  However the plus side is that the canopy of course hides almost all of the interior detail anyway.  The landing gear and wells are nicely detailed for a model of this scale and I am not disappointed with them in the least.  This is a fairly decent model and I am still enjoying it except for what I have listed above.  For someone with more skill than myself I am sure that it would be a superb project that could be completed in a limited amount of time with decent results.  In other words go ahead and spend the $6.00 for it...

1/48th Scale

Messerschmitt Me-262:

The Me-262 was the first jet aircraft to see combat in WW II.  It outclassed its competition in speed reaching up to 540 mph whereas the fastest Allied planes reached around 440 mph (the Mustang and Tempest being the two fastest I believe).  It was armed with four 20mm cannons, missile racks and later models were equipped with two bombs and a few actually carried anti-aircraft field pieces mounted in the nose.  Though it was the fastest plane to hit the skies at the time it was cursed with poor acceleration, a tendency to explode because of the fuel type, a huge turn radius and the bad habit of stalling if the sliding wing flaps failed to operate properly.  Also the role as a fighter-bomber was not suited to this plane which probably saved the Allies several headaches.

This is by far one of my favorite kits.  It is not the most detailed or clean lined Me-262 kits I have seen.  Compared to the ones put out by Hasegawa and Tamiya it is mediocre.  Looking at it sitting on my desk as I write this I see all of the flaws that are in the kit.  To name a few the panels that cover the cannons do not fit properly and produce a large gap.  The wings do not flush up to the belly of the fuselage very well and there is a slight twist in the rudder of the plane.  The missile racks look like truncated toothpicks lined up neatly in a row.  There is also the fact no swastika emblems came on the decal sheet (Revell-Monogram is owned by Hallmark Cards you know...).  There is also a horrible seam that runs from the back of the wings on the belly to the tail.  You may ask yourself how this can be one of my favorite kits.  Especially, I am ashamed to admit, since I did not even bother to fix any of these flaws.  

The answer is simple.  This kit has potential.  The canopy can be in either open or closed position and it comes with a standing pilot and a ground crew member.  The interior of the cockpit is pretty well detailed, there is engine detail and cannon detail to be had if you cut away the panels.  The front end could have been easily fixed by totally filling in the gaps with putty and scribing the lines for the panels back in.  Unlike most kits with a string of problems like this one has they could have all been fixed with little to no effort to give an effect as good as those other kits out there.  There is also this deciding factor.  This kit only cost me about $15.00 when I bought it three years ago.  The other kits will run you about $40.00 or so.  And though they come out clean from the box a little work makes you appreciate the thing even more.  I fully intend on purchasing another kit and building this model again.  Keep in mind this was the second model I had actually finished in my life.  The first for those who are curious was a Revell-Monogram 1/28th scale Fokker D.VII which also looks pretty crummy but I still enjoy the thing.  

I would recommend that you take a look at this model.  There are a few sites out there that have really spectacular pictures of the Me-262 kit in different paint schemes and a few in nice dioramas.  One of them is located at http://www.stormbirds.com/warbirds/index.html.  Included on this site is how to construct the sliding flaps that were necessary to keep this plane in the air.  I am not affiliated with this person in any way except that I respect their very fine work. The site contains all sorts of tips, tricks and info about the Me-262 that, to the best of my knowledge, is not available elsewhere in such a readable form.  Overall a really nice kit for the money and I intend on purchasing another one in the near future.

P-40B Tiger Shark:

This kit was bought out of a whim.  It was under $10.00 and looked decent enough.  It is suited more for the middle stage of modeling than the beginner because of some quirks in the model.  I unfortunately was a beginner at the time and paid no attention to the things I can now see clearly.  The fuselage has a really nice twist in it that at the time I could not straighten out (this was my third model).  The wings also have a dihedral to them that is pretty severe.  To get the proper angle thin strips of plastic could be inserted and then puttied over.  At the time I purchased this kit I didn't know much about the tricks of the trade and just cranked the wings up to meet the sides of the fuselage.  Then to make matters even worse I filled the gaps in with...gasp...Testors putty.  I know...I know...I am a rapscallion and a scoundrel.  Looking back at this model there are many things that I would have done differently.  Because I liked this kit I am planning on purchasing another one and doing the job right.  For starters no more Testors putty...I promise.  For another there is a really nasty set of seams that run the length of the top and bottom of the fuselage that I should have filled and sanded out.  I also would have airbrushed on the insignia and unit markings or purchased after market decals instead of using the ones from the box.  The ones in the box are fairly poor.  The colors are faded and everything underneath them comes through very well.  On the plus side they are so thin that rivet detail comes through... :)  Ok, so that is not much of a plus but I'm really trying to be nice here...

It really is a decent kit and the one I have sitting here reflects more on my lack of abilities at the time than on the kit itself.  It is a low price kit and that speaks for itself in that you get your money's worth and probably will not be disappointed.  It comes with markings for the Flying Tigers, RAF markings, and USAAF markings.  The canopy can be open or closed, gear up or down, there are brake flaps, and a pilot.  The pilot that came with it is the typical melted features sort of guy but I put him in anyway.  With the canopy closed you cannot see the fact he looks like he caught a flak shell in the stomach.  I love ironic mold marks...

I chose to use the Flying Tiger markings for my plane.  The best part of this plane was doing the painting.  The camouflage job I did was the first time using an airbrush for a model and it came out great.  The weathering and oil leakage looks pretty nice also.  It is very unfortunate that I spent so much time on the painting instead of actually getting the model to be in a little better shape.  Of course it does follow the rule of three.  If you look at it from three feet away it is pretty nice...: )   Now I know and for those of you old enough or young enough to remember..."And knowing is half of the battle".


B-24J Liberator:

The B-24 Liberator was the workhorse of the bombers.  Without the more attractive lines of its cousins the Mitchell and the B-17 it seems to have faded a little in most peoples memories.  Of course...

WARNING EDITORIAL COMING UP!!!!PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!

As I was saying, most people don't know their elbow from their...ahh...ear shall we say.  Unfortunately in this day and age the memory of such things as WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, etc. has vanished from society.  There is about zero respect for anyone who served, fought, died or survived anymore.  I have noticed that people are more concerned with the socio-psychological implications (whatever on the green, green earth that means) of  the people who chose to put potatoes in their ears and stand on their head than on the people who basically saved the rest of us from Nazism.  What I am saying is that if you are a parent you should probably take a walk into your kids history class because they probably are not teaching your kid what it was all about or even that it occurred.  I remember several years back when I was still in high school and the time we spent on any of the conflicts was minimal.  From a friend who has a brother in school and a sister who graduated recently I learned that their education on WW I and WW II was almost to the point of non-existence.  I hate to tell these people that closing their eyes will not bring everyone back as much as they (and myself) wish it would.  The next best thing is to make sure it doesn't happen anymore...that means knowing how it happens and why.  I am done.  Thank you for your time.

This model is pretty decent.  First off, it is pretty big.  Make sure you have a place to stick a model with a two foot wing span.  It would be a shame to not have a place to display your finished product.  It comes with a ground crew and two pilots.  One is seated and the other standing smoking a cigarette...or maybe it is just convenient flash.  Anyway, the interior detail of this kit is pretty top notch for a Revell-Monogram kit.  All of the visible portions of the interior are nicely done.  The cockpit and dorsal gunner's position as well as the waist gunner stations are well done.  The machine guns have passable detail.  The interior ribs are visible at these points as well as in the bomb bay.  The floor gives the impression of ribbed plate metal.  I detailed the heck out of these positions and they looked really nice until I put the plane together of course.  If I would have thought about it I would have either omitted the detail or cut the fuselage open to reveal the guts of the plane in those places.  As it was it was wasted effort but I still enjoyed doing it.  It is sort of neat knowing that when you peek very closely through the window of the waist gunner's position you can see the shadow effect and the worn metal look that is there.  Then there is the drawback to this model.  The landing gear are pretty generic and cumbersome looking as well as there being some really nasty seams in the clear nose, ball, and tail gunner turrets.  I wish the seams had followed more along the lines of the framing instead of bisecting the thing in two even pieces but alas and alack it is not to be.  Yet another thing are the engines.  The detail of the ports and exhaust are rather poor.  I would suggest sitting down for awhile and think of a way to replace or modify them.  For the most part the pieces are free of flash and mold lines and go together well.  The paint scheme given is the standard aluminum color but I chose to go with a green/intermediate blue for my color scheme.  I unfortunately chose to paint the thing with a shade of green that is pretty dark.  Along with an experimental attempt at a weathering technique I read about in a magazine the color darkened about three more shades.  I have plans to redo the entire outer paint scheme in the near future and hope to have pictures up on the site soon.  The ground crew is also equipped with a tractor and tow cable that is a nice touch but seems more an after thought to the kit than anything else since it lacks in detail.  For the most part this is a satisfying kit and it went together smoothly.  It is very nice to have such a weighty object sitting in front of you and I think there is a lot which can be done to this model to improve it even more.

Fokker E.III:

The Fokker E.III was one of the planes that changed history.  It featured the synchronized firing gear that allowed pilots to fire through the props of their planes.  The amount of death dealt out by this plane was staggering and assured its dubious place in history.  It featured the wing warping design patented by the Wright brothers instead of flaps and rudders which made it fairly unique among planes of its time.

I had to have this kit.  I love WW I aviation and adding something other than a Fokker D.VII or a Spad XIII to the collection would be great.  I finally found a hobby store that could order the plane for me.  At the tune of $20.00 and a few weeks wait for it to come in on special order I received the kit.  I plunked down the money and walked out the door with it.  When I got home I discovered I had purchased the second worst model of my life beside the F-2 Banshee put out by Testors.  This model has become my Nemesis.  It is the modeler's nightmare.  It goes beyond description of the loathing I feel for this lump of plastic.  Yet at the same time I want to finish the darn thing so bad I can taste it.  From other web sites I have seen completed kits of this plane.  They look beautiful.  I talked to the woman who owns my favorite model store (even though I got this thing there) and asked her why it looked so horrible.  She explained that it was a limited run and therefore the molds are made of a soft metal that becomes more and more disfigured as time goes on.  I unfortunately purchased a later production and that is why the thing is so shapeless.  

I fully intend on finishing this kit when I have about three-hundred hours to set aside.  The thing is a walking disaster.  The ribbing in the wings is almost non-existent and the framing in the fuselage of the plane which is so visible in photographs I have seen has almost melded into obscurity.  The bracing for the landing gear is warped and so full of flash and mold lines that I will have to scratch build the whole thing from metal tubing to even have it resemble the real thing.  The bracing for the pulley where the wires ran for the control surfaces is a photo-etched part.  If I remember correctly the thing is supposed to be a timber or pipe of some sort and not a flat piece of metal.  I will have to do a little more research into the subject but it just does not look correct.  The seat is about 1/16th of an inch to wide and that causes the halves of the fuselage to not fit properly.  The pegs on the wings to fit into the holes on the fuselage do not match up to the holes and had to be cut off.  The curve for the wing to go around the engine cowl on the right wing did not match the curve of the cowling and it had to be scraped until it fit.  For the cowl itself I had to totally remove all of the tabs and grooves that are supposed to be construction guides for the simple fact that nothing matched up.  There are however three things that are nice about this model and sort of justify the fact that I bought it.

The first is the machinegun.  The body of the thing is not to swift but the barrel is a nice scale piece of metal tubing.  The cooling jacket is a photo-etched part that if you are careful can be rolled up and slipped over the barrel.  Then there is a choice of three photo-etched gun sights that look pretty nice.

Second, the rotary engine is cast out of white metal and looks pretty decent.  I wish I had a picture of a real one so I could add the wiring to the thing.  It would probably distract from the rest of the model.

Third, it is the only 1/48th scale E.III that I know of or have ever seen in production in recent time.  Since I wanted it so badly I just have to deal with it I guess.

Overall, unless you are a skilled modeler I would avoid this one.  It would probably be easier to scratch build a balsa and tissue kit than monkey around with this thing.  Hopefully in the near future I can report to you I have finished and am happy with the results but don't hold your breath because I won't be holding mine.

F-2H Banshee: 

This model is the worst thing I have ever put together.  Unlike the Fokker E.III which has at least some potential if I spend a lot of time on it this thing was junk from the start.  I became interested in this plane from a very early age.  I had read the book Bridges of Toko-Ri which featured this plane and was smitten with the love that only a young boy (and men in middle age) could have for a piece of machinery.  I looked and looked for this model and it was no where to be found.  Of course at the time (about seventeen years ago) the only choices out there for models came out of Illinois (the modeling conspiracy state).  Then a few years back I happened to stumble across the kit offered by Testors.  I bought the thing and took it home.  I thought I was going to cry.  It was taken from molds done back in the 1950's.  Back then, instead of decals there were raised edges to catch the paint for the markings.  It came with a decal sheet but first you had to remove the edges.  This was not as easy as it sounds and started me off on the path of frustration.  Next, the kit consisted of about ten pieces or less.  I kid you not.  I assembled the whole thing in about fifteen minutes.  Granted the pieces fit together wonderfully but so what?  I spent about ten bucks for fifteen minutes of fiddling with the thing.  

So there I was.  I scraped off all of the paint guides and put the thing together.  It looked like it should have come in a bag with green army men but I figured a nice paint job would do the trick.  I thought the prototype paint scheme looked nice and I tried it out.  I pulled out my trusty Badger airbrush and whipped up a batch of Testors light gull gray and went to town putting on the base coat.  It did not take to the model.  I cleaned it off and used soap to remove the thinner.  I let it dry after a good rinse and tried again the next day with a new jar of gull gray.  Same thing.  At this point I was a little irked.  Then I thought maybe I would give the US Navy color scheme a whack.  I shot it with dark sea blue and the stuff would not stick for anything.  Where it did stick it dried sort of bubbly and uneven looking.  I thought perhaps it was my technique at first but then I was hit with the irony of the situation and had to laugh even though I was so darn ticked off.  The punch line to this little story is that Testors paint didn't stick on a Testors model.  End of story.  I threw the thing in the trash and have been on the quest to find a different model of the Banshee ever since.  I am on the trail (I should say the lady who owns the hobby shop is) of a kit put out about six years ago in a limited run that she knows of.  If I am lucky I may be able to let you know how it goes with the next kit.