IPMS Detail Review: Quickboost 1/72 SM-79 Corrected Cowlings

Quickboost

1/72 SM-79 Corrected Cowlings
For the Italeri kit

Stock Number: 72-106

Reviewed By Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: €4.50 ($6.51)
Available at fine hobby shops and online stores.
www.quickboost.net
www.modelchoice.net

The Kit

Quickboost sends you 3 nicely molded cowlings for your Italeri SM 79. They're supposed to be corrections but I wasn't sure what the difference was supposed to be between the corrected cowls and the kit provided parts. So I asked Quickboost through their web site, and got a reply.

Our SM 79 cowlings have slightly modified shape at the front and complete upgraded panel lines (especially at the front, where cooling device is placed). These circular panel lines are now correct and deeper in order to paint front of cowling easily.
Best regards
Petr Soucek

The differences are pretty subtle, but once you know what to look for, there is a difference in the radius of the front of the cowl, and the panel lines are a little more pronounced, which was a help in masking.

The Italeri engines fit just as well in the Quickboost cowls as they do in the kit versions. The only difference was that I had to use a little CA on the engines, when I installed them, as Tenax Ž just won't work on resin.

Construction

The lengthy part of construction wasn't the cowls, it was the SM 79 itself. I got caught up in trying a masking method I saw in Howie Belkin's review of the Ju 87B on the web site. I used the Freeman's Facial Peel Off Mask (Cucumber) to do the Regia Aeronautica scheme for Sardinia in 1941, and figured out how to do it, but it took two tries.

A couple of tips:

You can't do an aircraft as large as the SM79 all at once. Work in sections, and use masking tape to protect the base coat.
Don't let the mask actually set up. 10 minutes at most. If you leave it on overnight, then paint it, it's just about rock hard.
Mr. Surfacer thinner removes the hardened mask. And the paint. Fortunately it doesn't attack the plastic.
Thoroughly clean off the mask with soap and water. Floquil's Reefer White Š paint doesn't cover whatever the mask leaves behind, it just kind of runs off.

The cowls required the front be painted with Testors Ž Burnt Metal at the front, and the main part with the camouflage.

Italeri provided yellow stripe decals for the demarcation between these sections. If I weren't doing this as a review, I might have done an aircraft with the lighter sand/green scheme instead of the one Italeri provided decals for. I didn't want to do any of the other 3 provided, as I think the splotchy schemes look more Italian. If I had done this, I would have had to paint a white stripe around the cowl. Here, Quickboost's deeper panel lines would have helped with masking. I already have to use a magnifier AND glasses to do some fine work, so the help would be appreciated.

Add the exhaust pipes, put in the engines and propellers, and the cowls are complete.

Finished!

Once I got all the aircraft's interior, the fiddly bits on the wing, the windows, the machine guns and the exterior doors installed on the aircraft, adding these cowls was the work of moments.

Most of Quickboost's upgrades stand head and shoulders above the original kit parts. This one is a bit subtle, but if your AMS level is above 6.8 on a 10 scale, you'll definitely want this set. To the casual observer, the difference between the kit cowls and the corrected version may not be apparent. But YOU'll know. Won't you?

Or if the carpet monster attempted to eat one of the cowls, here's a great replacement; especially if your brother in law was helping you look and stepped on the part.

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review parts and learning experience.

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