F / RF-84F
Resin Detail Sets

AMS, 1/48 scale

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Reviewed by "Bondo" Phil Brandt

Elderly recce puke that Bondo is, he always liked the looks of Republic’s swept wing picture-taker, and Heller favored us modelers many years ago with a decent injected version, albeit with raised panels lines.

Over the years, the essentially lone piece of aftermarket embellishment for this kit has been Reheat Model’s RH006 PE fret, long OOP.

Another scheme that Bondo Industries visioned was to graft in the not-bad Monogram F-84F cockpit, also a bit long in the tooth.

All of a sudden, from out of the West (Tigard, Oregon) comes Harold Offield to finally provide a definitive resin cockpit / nosegear bay / tailpipe for the Heller recce kit... as well as for plain ol’ F-models of Heller and Monogram! Not only that; Harold offers a choice of cockpit vintage for each brand kit: early, late or Euro styles.

In the accompanying pix, I’ve lined up the AMS (aptly named, don’t you think?) RF pieces along side the corresponding Heller RF and Monogram F kit parts for comparison. As far as the AMS set comparison with the stock Heller parts, well, there is none! Truth be told, though, Monogram did their F-84Fs in the same, excellent tradition of their still-popular Century Series. That is, there’s a significantly higher level of cockpit interior/bay detail that didn’t normally exist in other brand kits of the same 70s-80s time frame. Harold’s nosegear bay is one-piece, though, and that’s a big plus. The AMS resin details are crisper than Monogram, too.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Molding

The pictures speak for themselves: the resin is sharply cast, with excellent detail. I especially like the small lines, tubing and hoses in the AMS tub and seat. Belts are cast-in.

It’s a big help to have one-piece nosegear bays and jet tailpipes. Don’t know ‘bout you, but I surely get tired of having to cut separate sheet plastic floors to cover the split in gear bays!

Also, Harold has cast the nosegear bay door hinges integrally with the bay itself; another time saver (Monogram headed this problem off at the pass by casting the gear doors as part of each bay half).

These helpful, often one-man, garage outfits just keep coming outta the woodwork, and we modelers are indeed indebted to them for their initiative and hard work in mastering difficult, much-needed parts. Small business entrepreneurs are a key ingredient in this Golden Age of Modeling.

Highly Recommended!
 

Review and Images Copyright © 2007 by Phil Brandt
Page Created 21 May, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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