DMold Model Works

1/48 B-25 D/G/H Corrected Cowlings For the Accurate Miniatures kit

Stock Number: DM48016

Reviewed By  Chris Durden, IPMS# 29474

MSRP: $21.99 USA Distributor Victory Models - Website: www.victorymodels.com DMold Model Works has released as handful of much needed conversion/update sets for various 1/32 and 1/48 aircraft. This includes 1/32 seamless intakes for the Academy 1/32 F/!-18 Hornet and Tamiya F-4 Phantoms. There are also seamless intakes in 1/48th scale for Hasegawa Phantoms and Skyhawks and corrected cowling for the F6f hellcat and lastly, the cowling for the 1/48th scale B-25 D and later series from Accurate Miniatures The Accurate Miniatures B-25 series is arguably the best 1/48 scale B-25 on the market with an incredible level of detail. However, the small size of the cowling aperture has been the kit's Achilles heel. Several companies have marketed corrected cowlings and DMold has released a replacement set designed to be used with the 'bumpy' cowling versions. Even though Quickboost has also done a replacement set, I really like the way that Dmolds has arranged the pour stub at the rear of the part rather than at the front. Removing a pour stub from the front of cowling can be a pain as well as fraught with the possibility of damaging the aperture itself. Molded in a light grey resin with sharp defined panel lines, my samples were for the most part free of blemishes. There were a couple of pinholes and gouges located on the external surface. All easily rectified with some putty and sandpaper. All of the exhaust ports are hollowed out, even the rearmost ring that is covered by the pour stubs. This is an improvement over the kit parts in of itself since you do not have to cement all of the separate exhaust ports. The cowlings are a drop fit to the Accurate Miniatures cowling flaps and, as a bonus, the gap between the air intake and cowling is reduced from the kit part as illustrated in the view from up above. When both the kit part and the resin replacement are viewed from the front, the difference is obvious and looks dimensionally closer to the real thing. Despite the small mold flaws present on my example, I recommend this replacement set as a quick and easy upgrade that will go a long way toward improving the look of your B-25. My thanks to Bob Busby and Victory Models for the review example. As a side note, Victory Models is on a brief hiatus until September/October 2009 while developing new items. I can't wait to see what they come up with next. There's still stock at Victory Models until all the new stuff arrives.