“I Don't Want A Pickle...”

by Ben Morton

I should explain the title so as not to throw you off from the get go. The more refined and worldly among us may recall the name Arlo Guthrie. A singer-songwriter that had some notoriety for being Woody Guthrie's son and a few FM radio hits like the “Alice's Restaurant Massacre” and of course, “The Motorcycle Song”. The opening line of which is: “I don't wanna pickle, I just wanna ride my motorsickle.” Now, on with the show.

The MICV-65 (Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle) was a project conducted by the United States Army seeking an armored personnel carrier vehicle to replace the M113, built by the FMC Corporation (Ford Machinery & Chemical Corporation). FMC was awarded to design and build the MICV and designated XM734. The XM734 utilized the M113 as basic platform, armed with a turret manned by a single crew firing a 20mm cannon. The newly designed vehicle was re-designated the AIFV (Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle), but the United States showed no interest in the vehicle; however, the Dutch government showed interest and placed orders in 1975. Further modifications were made and the vehicle was redesignated YPR-765 (Pantser Rups Infanterie 765).

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS reviewer corps with a set of 1/48th scale metal landing gear for Trumpeter’s HU-16A Albatross. 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 packaged in a clear blister package with cardboard backing. No instructions are provided.

Review Process

The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for the kit parts as noted

The iconic Mitsubishi A6M Zero was the Imperial Japanese Navy’s primary carrier-based fighter plane from 1940-1945. Over 10,000 of these ubiquitous fighters were produced, with the A6M5 Type 0 Model 52 being the last and most effective model. Scale Aircraft Conversion has produced its famous white metal landing gear for the A6M5/5a Zero in 1/48 scale. As aircraft modelers well know, aircraft models displayed on their landing gear are susceptible to damage from the weight of the model, especially on styrene landing gear.

Scale Aircraft Conversion has had the solution since 1990. Their white metal landing gear is designed to bear the weight of the model and complement the detailed non-load bearing plastic parts. Their extensive range covers white metal landing gear from 1/144 to 1/18 scale aircraft.

This is another book in this series, each concerning itself with one particular type or class of ship. This one is about British Anti-/Aircraft Cruisers and includes ships specifically built for this mission or converted to it. As usual for this series, it is not so much a history of the ships, although brief accounts of their careers are included, as it is a description of the various specific modifications made to them that made them anti-aircraft ships. Included are the “C” class cruisers that were converted for this work, merchant vessels that were requisitioned and converted and the more-or-less purpose build Dido Class ships.

As this is a relatively new and unknown combat vehicle, Wikipedia provided some background:

“The K808/806 White Tiger (Korean: 백호 "Baekho", Hanja: 白虎) wheeled armored personnel carrier (APC) is family of 8×8 and 6×6 armored vehicles. Developed by Hyundai Rotem as a private venture in 2012, the Korean Army declared a plan to acquire 600 6×6 and 8×8 wheeled APCs in order to help build rapid response forces modeled after U.S. Stryker combat brigades.

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS reviewer corps with a set of 1/48th scale metal landing gear for UMa’s AV-8B Harrier II Plus. 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 packaged in a clear blister package with cardboard backing. No instructions are provided.

Review:

The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for the kit parts as noted:

Nose Gear: C1, D20, D21, and D26

Rear Gear: D9 and D17

Wingtip Outrigger Gear: D15, D16, D18, and D19

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.

I saw these modeling stands mentioned in one of the chapter newsletters Mark Young compiles and sends to all members (sorry, can’t recall which one). I decided to purchase the sets mentioned above at https://www.wardogmodeling.com/. War Dog also makes a Model Ship Stand and a Model Car Stand. My stands arrived unassembled in a plain white cardboard box, so I don’t have any box art to show you. The box contains the parts in separate plastic bags, a copy of the order information, and that’s it. No instructions, but they aren’t really needed. Assembly is straightforward.