Hasegawa 1:72 E-2 C Hawkeye

Item # E31

Review By

Patrice Sublemontier 

This kit is a full new tool with a beautiful Shigeo Koike box-art.
The kit consists of 12 sprues (including the clear parts), 1 decal sheet and 1 painting instruction. The decals are for 2 differents Aircraft, one of the VAW-117 « Wallbangers » on the CVN-68 USS NIMITZ CVW-11 CAG during february 2008. High-viz camo with black tails and 3 big eagles on each side of the fuselage and one on the upper of the rotodome. The second is for the VAW-125 « Tigertails » on the USS DWIGHT D ; EISENHOWER CVW-7 CAG during 2007. The particular of the markings are on the black tails only.

In the past, the only kit available at this scale was from Fujimi or Heller re-box. But with many problem are with both kits but now with the Hasegawa, we have the best kit in this scale, ever produced. Nice engraved panels, good in dimension with nice and crisp details.

The cockpit is well detailed and when we don’t get any parts for the 3 radar operators its not necessary, as this area is hardly visible anyhow even if you would open up the crew acces door. The wing is in 2 parts and with the possibility to have flaps down or not. Wing fold is not included but probably from Goffy Models or scratch build. The engine nacelles are good and in this box, we have the new propellers with 8 blades and not 4 blades like the old version. Clear parts are nice and the nose is clear and it’s better for the 

To help you for the build, I know 2 books about it, the Squadron Walkaround and the book made by 2 French guys (Me beeing one of them) from DTU Edition, a part of Replic Mag.

I highly recommend this kit for all fan of the Us Navy.
Thanks for looking
SPang

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 A2Zee Models 1:72 Bae Nimrod Weapons Bay

Item # AC72003C

For the Airfix Bae Nimrod

Review By

Jay Laverty July 2008

 The Airfix Nimrod certainly generated quite a bit of excitement when it was announced, and even more when it was released, so it is no surprise to see a few conversions and detail sets available for it in a relatively short period of time.

 A2Zee models have entered the fray with the newly released Weapons Bay set for the Airfix kit, and once I had seen the set, I was glad they did!

The full set comprises of 12 parts, the main bay, 8 weapons hangers and 3 new bulkheads

 Cast in biscuit coloured resin, there are no imperfections anywhere on the parts, the entire set being cast to the highest quality. The level of detail throughout the set is worth every penny, as the difference between the kit parts and the detail set parts is astonishing. Designed to be a direct replacement for the kit parts, the instructions advise that there is a small amount of cutting to be done to modify the donor kit, but aside from that this is an extremely easy to use conversion. So much so that I would highly recommend it for modellers contemplating a first foray into working with resin, or those not too comfortable with the medium.

 The instructions are another bonus feature of the set, particularly for novice aftermarket users, as they are very clearly laid out using a combination of text and full colour photographs, leaving little or no room for misinterpretation of the assembly process.

 For anyone in possession of the Airfix Nimrod, I would highly recommend the Alley Cat Weapons Bay, as it is superbly cast, highly detailed and easy to use, thus ticking off all of the correct boxes in order to score very high marks in my opinion.

 Price: £13.50 ( €16.98 ) + S/H

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 Coming Soon from Cammett:

Scale Calibre

1:72 AEW3 Conversion

for the Airfix BAe Nimrod

 Robin Carpenter has graciously sent us over some exclusive preview images of the masters for the forthcoming AEW3 conversion being prepared by Phil Edwards for the Scale Calibre line. As you can see the workmanship is second to none, and this shall prove to be a very worthy conversion set indeed.

 Included with the conversion are replacement tailplanes, a new fin and rudder along with the obvious new nose and tail.

 The tail will be hollow cast resin to help with any issues regarding weight, and the nose will be cast in solid resin which will also act as a nose weight to prevent to model from being a "tailsitter". I imagine the nose section will be cast in clear resin on account of the cockpit glazing.

 A release date is not yet confirmed, however, as you can see from the advanced progress in the masters, release will be withing the next few weeks. Rob has offered one of the conversions to accompany the current giveaway featuring the Airfix BAe Nimrod. Thanks Rob!

Thanks to Rob for the information and the images!

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