iModeler Reviews

Reviews of scale model kits, products and publications.

Review: Discovered in The Department of Lost: Aeroclub 1/48 Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b

A model that survives from the pre-Jurassic days of 1996. Of all the awful airplanes the Royal Flying Corps went to war with, it is a tossup whether the F.E. series or the B.E. series can take the title of Worst of All. The two had [...]

Review: Another Rescue from the Department of Lost: Classic Airframes S.79 "Sparviero"

I built this model 20 years ago when it first came out. I am including the review I wrote then, since Eduard is re-releasing this kit in February 2024, with the Spccial Hobby plastic and Eduard resin detail parts, and an Eduard decal [...]

Review: Magic Factory 1/35 M2A4 Bradley Review

Review: Magic Factory 1/700 CVN-78 Gerald R Ford Review

Review: Halberd 1/48 conversion (for Tamiya) XP-72 "Ultrabolt"

In July 1941, Republic Aviation submitted two new designs, the AP-18 and the AP-19. The AP-18 was an interceptor fighter powered by the Wright R-2160 Tornado engine. The AP-19 was powered by the Pratt & Whitney Wasp X (R-4360). Both [...]

Review: Halberd Models/Tamiya XP-47H conversion

Chrysler began development of a massive new liquid-cooled engine in early 1940, which became the Chrysler XIV-2220, offering 2,500hp. To simplify things, Chrysler decided to put two V-8s together inline, producing an inverted 16-cylinder [...]

Review: Eduard 1/48 Bf-109G-10 of Lt. Vladimir Sandtner

There were several attempts during the production run of the Bf-109G series to develop a “standard” model. The last of these was the Bf-109K-4, which appeared in the summer of 1944 powered by the 1,850 h.p. DB605D engine with a [...]

Review: Zoukei-Mura 1/32 FW-190A-4 Review

Review: Eduard continues to own the Wildcat

Eduard brought out the "classic" F4F-4 Wildcat, following that with the first really accurate FM-2 "Wilder Wildcat" in any scale, and then stealing Tamiya's fire about updating their 30 year old F4F-4 as an FM-1 with an [...]

Review: 2023 newcomersArma, Magic Factory, Mini-Art

2023 saw three new companies enter 1/48 kits with products that, when completed, can be called, "definitive" and "best in scale." Arma's Hurricanes definitely win "best in scale." I took a Hurricane IIc and [...]