SkunkModels Workshop

1/48 Israeli Defense Force Weapons Set #2

Kit Number: SW-48002

Reviewed by  Chad Richmond, IPMS# 10346

MSRP: $13.99 Review item provided by Lucky Model: www.luckymodel.com The second IDF weapons set released by SkunkModels Workshop consists of two IMI Delilah Missiles, two Python 3 Missiles, one AN/AXQ-14 Data Link pod, and the best thing I have seen in a long time, two 600 gallon fuel tanks. Too bad they don’t market the tanks by them self. I would definitely buy several. There is also a small decal sheet which has a boatload of very thin decals. There are more than 40 for each of the Delilah’s, alone. The box itself is an asset, in that all of the pictures are of the actual models. The back of the box is the detailed decal placement guide and painting guide, which lists Gunze Mr. Color numbers. The instruction sheet is one page, one side, with very basic drawings. There are a total of seven sprues in a soft gray plastic and two clear sprues for the seeker heads for the Delilah’s. The scribing is a little heavy and the plastic surface is grainy, but nothing of any great consequence. The best aspect is the plastic’s reaction with liquid glue. I use Tamiya’s extra thin liquid glue, and it works fantastic with this plastic. It gave me some of the best weld bead I have ever had with any plastic. There were only two places on seams, out of all seven pieces that required any filler. And those two places were a result of my own lack of pressure to close the gap. The attachment points of all of the fins on all of the tanks and missiles however were very disappointing and did require filler. The slots are about twice as wide as they need to be. The fit is very good all of the parts, except for the previously mentioned fins. The Python 3 bodie’s are cast as one piece, and unfortunately the molds were mismatched and the missile bodies are not round cleaning up the mismatched seams and trying to make them round was a lot of work, and I was not totally successful. But, they look okay. I primed everything with Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1000 and smoothed out the seams where the fins joined the bodies and then went on to the paint. I used Gunze Sanyo acrylics and Tamiya Clear as my decal base. These decals are the thinnest I believe I have ever used. Some of them are so thin that they are really difficult to get on the model. The carrier film is very small and lays down nicely, even with no setting solution. There are not enough yellow stripes for the AN/AXQ-14 pod to decal it as shown on the drawing, so I took some yellow strips and made my own. The marking guide for the 600 gallon tans is confusing, as are the decals. It appears there are a couple of different marking options, but this is not well explained. The two red stripes on each of the Delilah’s are too short, so some careful cutting of red decal film and some splicing is in order. I cringed when I applied those stripes, because they are so thin and so narrow. A lot of water and a lot of patience and sweat later, they were in place. I had to use some setting solution where the decals went across panel lines, but it was due to the width of the panel lines, not the decals. Whoever makes those decals does a great job. Out of the more than 100 decals, I only managed to destroy about three of them. Once they folded over on themselves, it was all over. Once everything was decaled and sealed, I used some ProModeler black wash on all of the panel lines, and then finished everything off with Dullcote. I would like to thank Lucky Model for the review sample and to IPMS/USA for allowing me to do the review.