Black Box 48001
A-6E Intruder Cockpit Set
For the Revell-Monogram Kit

This set is simply stunning. Upon opening the small box you are greeted by a small number of parts, but the amount of detailing in these parts will astound you. Each piece is a work of art in its own right, and together they make up what is easily the most detailed 1/48 A-6 cockpit out there. I quickly compared this set to a few photos of the A-6 I have, and it looks like there is nothing missing here.

The seats are almost too good to put into the one-piece cockpit tub, but at least with the A-6, everything is raised up and quite visible, so all this detailing will be seen. The cockpit tub is perfect, down to the last switch. A replacement for the rear canopy hood is provided, as is the area underneath the hood. The instrument panel is also included, and that alone should keep you busy with the paint brush. All in all, this is definitely THE set to get to spruce up your A-6 kit. In fact, you'll have to do a lot of extra work to the Revell-Monogram kit to bring it up to the quality of this cockpit set.

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

CMK 4025
Fw190A/F/G Undercarriage Set
For the Tamiya Kit

CMK has done quite a few Fw190 detail sets lately, and this one focuses on the undercarriage. Everything from the wheel wells to the wheels are provided here, all cast in polyeurethane resin with excellent crispness.

There are two sets of main wheels provided. Proper research will tell you which one you'll have to use for the particular Fw190 you're modeling. There is also a mainwheel well insert, with some very nicely done detailing present. With separate stiffeners provided, this assembly will build up into a beautiful replica of the wells, much better than what's in the kit.

But there's more to the Fw190's undercarriage than the main gear, and the rest of the set reflects that. The tailwheel gets the full treatment here, with what appears to be the entire strut arrangement provided in resin. Most of this would be hidden in the tail, but this is taken care of by providing the tail hatch so you can open it up and see all the added parts. In addition to this, both a solid and a fabric rudder are provided, rounding out this set.

If you're wanting to tweak up a Tamiya Fw190, definitely check this set out.

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

CMK 4028
Fw190A-3 Interior Set
For the Tamiya Kit

Another Focke Wulf set from CMK, this one targets the Fw190A-3 from Tamiya. A full interior is provided, and they did a good job on this one. There are three main resin pieces in this set, the one-piece tub, a piece with the seat, stick, and rear 'hole', and a third piece with all the smaller bits and pieces. An etched brass fret is also provided.

The neatest thing about this set is the fact that they provided the different instrument layouts for the A-3. The etched brass fret has three different lower panel halves, and you'll have to research your particular Fw190 to see which one it uses.

The cockpit tub is crisply molded, and there's lots of detail present in that one piece. Some careful painting is called for here. The seat is nicely done as well, with the seat belts molded in. While some people prefer brass seatbelts, they just don't capture the look of real belts like these do.

Covering this is your choice of either a blown or straight canopy, vacuformed in clear plastic. Coupled with the other Fw190 sets reviewed here, this will go a long ways to making your Tamiya Fw190 into an eyecatching model.

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

CMK 4032
Allison V-1710 Engine

This nice addition is a two-piece resin engine that is crisply molded and detailed. The ignition lines, ducting, and even the bolts are all well represented. This engine was used on a great many US planes, so if you are planning to open the cowls on your P-40E/N Warhawk, A-36 Apache, or P-51A Mustang, then this engine is just what you're looking for. Of course, if you're wanting to open up a P-38 Lightning or maybe tweak up a P-82 Twin Mustang, you'd better get two of these... Recommended!

Reviewed by Michael Benolkin

CMK 4034
Fw190A/F/G Armament Set
For the Tamiya & Italeri Kits

As long as you're cutting up that Fw190 kit for those other CMK detail sets, might as well chop open the wings and show off some guns, too. This set takes care of that itch, and does it quite well.

CMK did their homework with this set. Both the MG151 machine guns and Mk108 cannons are provided, allowing you to choose which set properly fits your model. Both wings are taken care of, with separate hatches for the MG151 and Mk108s provided. Hatches in the wing root are also included, with a corresponding bay.

All of the bays are molded as one piece, so some careful painting will be needed to separate the guns from the bay, but once that's done they should look really good. The hatch needs to be removed from the kit part, so some care will be needed to make sure the hole isn't too big. Overall, this is a great little set, and either by itself or with the other CMK Fw190 sets, this will really make the Butcher Bird unique.

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

CMK 4035
BMW 801 German WWII Engine

So, you like engines, do you? Want to open up that Fw190 cowling and show off some cylinders? Well, this set may or may not be for you. It is an excellent example of the BMW 801 engine, and would look perfect under the hood of a Focke Wulf. But the set is so well detailed it is almost a crime to put it under something and hide it!

I knew that this was going to be an impressive assembly when I noticed the separate cylinders, but it took me a couple looks to notice that they aren't just four sets of the same thing. The cylinder banks are different, just as they are on the real thing, and CMK took this into account. When building this up, make sure you note the differences, as it will become painfully apparent later on as you try to attach the exhaust stubs.

The etched brass fret adds a bunch of small details, including the wiring harness and the front impeller. There is even a decal to fit onto the impeller assembly once it is all done.

Just in looking at the picture of the finished motor on the box, this looks like a beautiful kit by itself. Under the hood of a Focke Wulf, and people won't notice anything else.

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

CMK 4035
Mosquito FB Mk.VI Cockpit Set
For the Tamiya Kit

The latest interior set from Czech Master Kits is for Tamiya's 1/48 Mosquito, but the box identification is a little incorrect. This set is for the Mosquito FB.VI (the instructions correctly identify this as the Mosquito FB.VI set). It can also be used for the NF.II version by adding the kit-supplied radar equipment.

Comprising some 16 resin, photo-etch and acetate parts, this set provides a complete replacement for the Tamiya cockpit. While the Tamiya Mosquito FB.VI cockpit was very nicely detailed, CMK has taken the cockpit to a higher level of detail, replacing the decal seatbelts with seatbelts molded on the seats, more detail on the aircraft radios, and adding a few additional “black boxes” missing from the kit. They also add the "Eduard-style" photo-etch and acetate instrument panels, photo-etch throttles and mixture controls, and canopy release levers. CMK also provides a vacuform canopy, but my example was not as clear as the kit canopy.

This is the only aftermarket Mosquito cockpit available now that KMC terminated their line. This set is recommended!

Reviewed by Michael Benolkin

CMK 7012
Me262A/B Control Surfaces
For the Revell Kit

The Revell 1/72 Me262A is easily the best 1/72 Me262 out there. The detailing present is superb, but like all kits out there, the injection process has a few shortcomings. The most common problem is that of thin trailing edges. With two-piece wings and solid tailplanes, the trailing edges tend to be thicker than they would be in real life. This is one area that resin can really make a difference, as this set does for the Revell 262.

This set gives you flaps, ailerons, rudder, and elevators. All of these are molded as one piece, with a nice, thin trailing edge. The flaps, ailerons and rudder will all need to be cut from the kit parts, but with the elevators CMK has also provided a set of replacement stabilizers as well, so all you'll need to do is glue them on and you're done. While there's not much to this set, what it does provide will help make the Revell Me262 look more realistic.

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

CMK 7013
F4D-1 Skyray Interior Set
For the Tamiya Kit

The Tamiya F4D-1 is a near perfect kit, with the only shortcomings being minor details. We said in our review in the February Internet Modeler that an aftermarket set could remedy this. CMK's set isn't going to be the one to do this, however. While the parts are better than the very good Tamiya interior, they aren't terribly accurate, and some of the more obvious omissions from the kit parts are still missing here.

The cockpit detail starts with a tub with the canopy rails molded in place. These are appropriately thin, and I was able to drill the lightening holes out for an even better appearance. The tub is noticeably less clunky than the kit part, and includes the control column, side console detail and rudder pedals. The oval cut outs are not present, however, and some of the panel detail is not entirely accurate.

The set provides a replacement version of the Douglas ejection seat included in the kit. Whether this part is better is a toss up; it has nicer detail around the headrest, but omits the structural detail on the back of the seat pan. Shoulder harnesses are molded to the seat, but, oddly, no lap belts are provided. There is also no mention of the face curtain handle that should mount at the top of the seat. One wishes that CMK could have invested some time in providing a Martin-Baker Mk. P5 seat, which was used on later Skyrays and retrofitted to early aircraft.

The arrangement of the control panel and radar gunsight is very nice, and many of the etched parts address the area around the gunsight, often an overlooked area. Rear view mirrors and sight details are also present for the windscreen's periphery. The area behind the seat is much better detailed than the kit provides, and there's a replacement instrument shroud that is thinner and better detailed than the kit parts. The throttle is provided as a photoetched part that needs to be added to a bit of styrene rod.

The set's real benefit is a beautifully rendered radar set and dish for the nose. A resin radome replaces the area the modeler will need to cut away to add these features. For people who like to expose parts of the insides of their model planes, this is a great shortcut.

Despite the shortcomings, this set is a good value. I got mine through mail order for the whopping sum of about $8US, and the photoetched parts and vacuform canopy are worth it by themselves. However, a little more attention to detail-and the history of the Skyray's seat-could have made this a great set rather than a good one.

Reviewed by Chris Bucholtz

CMK 7016
F4D-1 Skyray Detail Set
For the Tamiya Kit

This set combines the above cockpit detail set with something just about everyone who bought the Tamiya Skyray has been wanting: separate slats! There's more to the set than just slats, but that alone makes this set worth it in my opinion.

In addition to the slats (more on those later), this set provides you with wheel wells, elevons, flaperons, and rudder. The wheel wells are very nicely detailed. I only wish that they had provided suitably thin landing gear doors to go with them. The control surfaces have nice and thin trailing edges, and having them positionable will allow you to droop things realistically.

The slats are really well done. They are provided in two parts. The first part is the slat itself. This is to scale and very thin, so some care is going to be needed in removing them from the pour gate. The second part is the wing part. Instead of messing with trying to cut out the slat area just right, this set has you take a chunk out of the leading edge of the wing and glue in an insert. The slats then fit in place on this, resulting in a very clean and simple assembly.

The final part is a lower engine panel. This reveals a portion of the engine and includes a nicely detailed hatch as well.

While the cockpit has the shortcomings outlined above, the rest of this set more than makes up for it, and with the radar nose, engine hatch, and control surfaces, the potential for dioramas abound. Definitely take a look at this set if you're wanting to build a 1/72 Skyray.

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

Roseparts #414
1/48 Parabellum machine gun
w/heavy jacket
$3.50 USD

The main defensive weapon of the German two-seater and larger was the Parabellum. Roseparts give you this important weapon in their usual high quality resin. The set contains two guns and ammunition drums

Reviewed by Bob Pearson

Roseparts #516
1/72 Parabellum machine gun
w/heavy jacket
$3.00 USD

And for those who model in the smaller 1/72 scale there is this set with four combination guns/drums.

Reviewed by Bob Pearson

Roseparts #518
1/72 Browning/Marlin machine gun
$3.00 USD

Not known to many is that American aircraft in WW1 were often armed with other than the ubiquitous Vickers machine gun. Many used the Marlin, as did various Russian aircraft including many of the Il'ya Muromets four-engine bombers.

Reviewed by Bob Pearson