What’s in the Package

This conversion for the Border Models 1/35 Scale Spitfire Mk. Vb is presented in a rigid cardboard-backed blister pack with generic Scale Aircraft Conversions packaging and labels on the front and back of the packaging indicating the item details and MPN, as well as the UPC on the barcode label on the rear.

The parts replace the plastic parts provided for wheel assembly in steps 8 (K3) and 13 (S1 & S2). The wheels are still required, and there is a separate sub-assembly in the Border Models kit Step 13 (R1 & R2) and part E20 for the rear wheel. Overall, the molding is good, with superior detail on the white metal parts to a greater extent than that of the kit provided parts.

The parts maintained good adhesion with Alclad Black primer and micro filler, which will allow a nice base for the final paint coat.

Ever stalled on a “dream build” because you’re afraid to mess it up? We went straight at those fear targets—perfectionism, PE jitters, bare‑metal dread, and the myth that pros are “just fast”—and came back with practical fixes that make the bench fun again. Kicked off by a wave of listener mail, we connect the dots between honest expectations and real skill barriers, then show how to shrink both: build your favorite subject twice (one OOB as recon, one for the opus), keep something always in paint to protect your airbrush touch, and use smart crutches—canopy masks, 3D prints, and layered decals—so your craft effort lands where it matters.

Community kept shaping the journey. From clubs that outlive geography to vendor‑table conversations that compress months of trial and error, we heard how connection turns paralysis into progress. One modeler finally tackled a family B‑17 after years of hesitation and discovered the power of “a hundred little builds,” learning new techniques while honoring a story that mattered. Another shifted from failed journals to a public build log that doubles as a searchable memory. Along the way we swapped tips for taming CA, tested custom decals (plus an opacity workaround), and compared wet vs. dry color shifts on new AK Real Colors. Yes, we even found a French marine catapult and may have paid for it twice—worth it.

Bench reports? The Hellcat is decaled and heading into gloss, the long‑parked T‑33 is back on the rails, and Moosaroo is heating up with a vignette twist and custom markings from a boutique printer. If you’ve been avoiding your favorite subject, this is your permission slip to jump: make a plan that fits your time, turn one big build into guided sprints, and let technology erase the chores that steal your mojo. Hit play, then tell us: what’s the one fear you’re finally tackling this month? If this resonated, subscribe, share with a modeling friend, and leave a quick review so more builders find the show.

Model Paint Solutions
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SQUADRON
Adding to the stash since 1968

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Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us.

D-Day Miniature Studio goes to the hills of then-Yugoslavia with fighters of the SS & Chetniks. Five figures, singles and sets. We look at their latest 35th-scale set in our preview...Read on... »

Hello, and welcome to the MGPC Episode 117!  In this episode, Nemo hosts the Geeks with a full house, including a special guest host, Mr. Rudy Cline from LionHeart Hobby.  We chat about the latest and greatest in everyone's model world and get caught up with what's happening in the hobby.  

The mail bag was full of awesome emails for this episode, so we run through the listener email and deep dive a few.  We also discuss our favorite listener gallery submissions.  Please keep the emails and gallery pics coming and we can't wait to see your work, discuss them on the podcast, and present them on our website.

For the main topic, we discuss trends in the hobby, especially the resurgence of the brick and mortar hobby shops.  Rudy shares his thoughts on the hobby shop boom and notes a few specific contributors.  We also discuss a few notable positive and negative trends in the hobby, with a focus on the positive side.  It's a great topic so we hope you all give it a listen.

Please feel free to interact with us through social media, Facebook, Instagram, and email:  contact@modelgeekspodcast.com

Be sure to check out our website: www.modelgeekspodcast.com.

Make sure you check out our new group / community on Facebook, The ModelGeeks Model Shack

We also want to thank each of our sponsors for their support. We are very lucky to have their support. When you have the time, pay a visit to their web sites, and have a look at their fine products.

• Detail and Scale
• Furball Aero-Design
• Tamiya USA
• Bases by Bill
• LionHeart Hobby
• Hypersonic Models
• Matters of Scale
• Kotare Models

 
Also, if you're interested in the model shows, click the link below!
IPMS USA Events Page

We are very fortunate to be able to join the scale modeling podcast community and are in the company of several other really GREAT podcasts. Hopefully, someday we’ll earn our wings and be able to keep up with those guys!  Please check them all out at Scale Model Podcasts.

Blogs:
The Kit Box
Sprue Pie with Frets
Model Airplane Maker 

Well, that's it for this episode.  Thanks again for all your support and we hope to see you all this year.  Just remember, be excellent to each other, and get out there and build something!  Take care everyone, out from the Geeks!

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HI ! Here another project I have done in the past , if you like to view the WIP on thsi project , just follow this link : https://photos.app.goo.gl/ekCpxAzrAPktzLvT8 Enjoy ! Jmarc

This kit is a direct replacement of parts for the Trumpeter Super Cobra. The parts have some very nice details on them. They were also well contained in the packaging, resulting in them arriving without even the long skids being bent. The overall level of cleanup is very minimal, and the molds are set along the designed weld lines or oriented with elements of the skids or supports so they don’t require cleanup. For instance, on the skid mount, the parting line on the white metal matches a weld line on the full-size component, so no cleanup was required due to the minimal flash present. I applied some white primer to help show the lines of the SAC gear so that the detail was more evident in the picture.

Many thanks to SAC and IPMS for making this kit available to me for review.

If the aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm of the United Kingdom is an area of interest for you, I don’t think you’d have to look too much further for information on every aircraft used by this service since 1945 than this book. That includes fixed and rotary wing aircraft and even some prototypes. The design, development and deployment of every type used is given in significant detail as is a list of all the specifications and requirements issued by the DOD for their design. As a sort of bonus, there is also a listing of all the ships that carried these aircraft, including the helicopters on surface ships.

The photos are excellent, are crystal clear and the line drawings and charts and tables give extensive information on each type of aircraft. It is particularly pleasing that information and photos are supplied of the ships that carried these aircraft.

On this episode the boys talk to Steve Herod the developer of a system that takes all the headaches out of model management. No more pens and paper or having to write up judging results.

This systems lets you get on with the job of running a model show without the hassle of writing online entries, judging tabulations and award results. Nathan Bradford, a judge from ScaleACT 2025, also joins the conversation to explain how easy the hobbyshow program is to use from a punters point of view.

If you would like to know more go to www.hobbyshow.org

Mailbag, Wheel of Fortune all that and more!

Don't forget to support the sponsor of our show Scott from the Scale Modellers Supply

https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/

Leave us a message, comment or even ask a question, we would love to hear from you! Write to Onthebench64@gmail.com.

If you would like to support our show please go to www.patreon.com/onthebench

Clayton gives us his review of Tamiya's recent 35th-scale PaK 38 gun & crew. Building it up & adding a lovely base in his review story & video.Read on... »

On this episode the boys explore the theory whether scale modelling, specifically, Gundam/Gunpla can have a deeper meaning or invoke a deeper emotion than seeing the technical skill on display, can we, as modeler convey a message in our toy robots? Digging in!

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This accessory kit contains three direct replacement pieces for the Monogram Catalina kit. There’s one piece of the breaching gear that isn’t included with the kit. That is the strut for the rear tail wheels. You will have to use the kit part for this.

The level of detail is nice and representative for a 1/48 scale kit. The gear itself in real life is relatively simple, meant to be attached in the water. There was a little bit of cleanup to be done and two pieces of long, thin flash from the molding process had to be cut off.

General flash on the parts was minimal and they cleaned up easily. I didn’t note that the tail wheel support was extremely soft until after I started working on it. Just scraping flash off with the #11 Blade caused it to bend.

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS reviewer corps a set of 1/48th scale metal landing gear for the Academy F4F-3/4 Wildcat. These parts are drop-in replacements and provide a more robust landing gear set given its metal properties.

In the Package

The metal pieces are packed in a clear blister package with cardboard backing. No instructions are provided.

The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for parts B4, B17, B23, B33, and B50 and can be referenced in the instructions on step 2.

The metal used is malleable and has some give to allow for any minor bending if needed. Also, seam lines will need to be cleaned up prior to painting just like the plastic kit parts.

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS reviewer corps a set of 1/48th scale metal landing gear for Clear Props F-86A Sabre. These parts are drop-in replacements and provide a more robust landing gear set given its metal properties.

In The Package

The metal pieces are packed in a clear blister package with cardboard backing. No instructions are provided.

However, my review sample did not come with the nose landing gear and came with an extra RHS strut, part H19 (a quality control slip).

The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for parts H19 & H15 (RHS & LHS struts) and the K2 oleo arms are molded with the strut. The nose strut, part K22, was missing from my sample review, but it too should have the oleo arms, part K27, molded with the strut. Also, the nose gear extension arm, part K9, is included.

ResKit has obviously spent some time designing their packaging to make a visual impact both from the outside of the box and then when opening it. The parts are capped on top and bottom with foam and each resin print has a cage around it in addition to major pieces also being in small plastic baggies. I assume the baggies are to catch any parts that might inadvertently come off during shipping. All the parts are finely detailed, and the only place I could find layer lines was on the very ends of the cargo platform, and they barely showed up under primer. It took me roughly 2 hours to detach all the parts from the print supports. The main cargo bed was definitely tricky to detach. I worked from the outside, meaning the longest supports, to the inside one layer at a time. I was able to cut the lower base plate in between the layers of supports.

For their latest set of 48th-scale flyers, MiniArt released a set of six Romanians & Germans with ground crew & tools. See them in our preview...Read on... »

Real Weathering Volume 2 is a reference book with photos of military vehicles showing various conditions of wear and exposure to different environmental conditions. This volume features military armor and land vehicles. The book is the second in a series and is intended for military modelers who want to weather their scale models to better replicate actual vehicles.

The book is not an instruction manual that describes how to model the effects shown in the photos. The value in this book shows examples of vehicles that can be used by the modeler to replicate various effects on actual vehicles. The photos are large and many are zoomed in on particular details.

The only text in the book is in the Introduction and captions on some photos in the Introduction. The main chapters of the book are strictly photographs with no descriptions and are as follows:.

Today I finished my first ever diorama. I give you “We Gotta Get Outta This Place” It’s a 1/72 Huey that I put together, and for the first time ever I created a diorama. Before this, I’ve never done weathering on a model, made a diorama, used figures. I had to weather the helicopter to make it dirty, hand paint the figures, make the mud/dirt and grass, and make that wind swept effect. It was a lot of work and not perfect, but I’m so happy with how it turned out for my first time! Any advice? Tips? Pointers?

More on Takom's 16th-scale jeep & trailer & the "Big Box" set of T28 / M28 kits PLUS an exclusive book sold only with the big set in our updated preview...Read on... »

MiniArt's 35th scale Werkstattkraftwagen Auf RSO/01 includes interesting woodwork & a mobile workshop. We have art, profiles, decals, etch & CADs of this interesting kit in our preview...Read on... »

It’s not a marker…it’s not a brush…it’s the Missing Link! The ultimate solution for adding weathering effects to your models.

AMMO by Mig is proud to announce its new Missing Link Sets: Aircraft, Trains and Tanks. Per their website:

The new brush tip watercolor marker set from AMMO by Mig Jimenez represents an evolution in modeling tools. Designed for precision, versatility, and ease of use. This set of 12 transparent colors has been carefully selected to reproduce realistic effects on military vehicle models. With Missing Link Brush Tip markers, you can apply everything from filters to weathering effects on your models.