B-25J/H Detail and Conversion Set

1/144 Scale

Cobra Company

Reviewed by Brett Green

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Cobra Company offer a steadily growing range of resin kits, conversions and accessories in large and small scales - from 1/144 to 1/32. The majority of their subjects are helicopters, but this is not always the case.

Alex Bernardo will be well known to many HyperScale visitors as a superb modeller of 1/144 scale aircraft. Cobra Company has enlisted Alex to master several small scale conversions, including their recent 1/144 scale B-25J/H Detail and Conversion Set. The result is really quite remarkable.

Cobra Company's 1/144 scale B-2J/H Detail and Conversion Set comprises 21 parts in pale cream coloured resin and three vacform canopy and turret parts. The resin is beautifully cast, with only a few minor imperfections (a scar of a casting step on the lower fuselage and one tiny pinhole in a nacelle). The surface detail on the resin is terrific. The features are as crisp as you would expect to see on a 1/72 or 1/48 scale kit. The cowl flaps and exhaust ejectors are worthy of particular mention in this regard.

The next striking attribute of this set is the large amount of detail cast in the interior of parts. The forward cowls are deeply undercut to include convincing engine cylinder and crankcase detail. The forward fuselage part has structural detail and boxes cast onto the interior sidewalls, with consoles and bulkheads provided in the cockpit. This is really impressive to see in a piece of resin less than 1.5" long!

"Small details" in 1/144 scale are really small, but this has not stopped Cobra Company from supplying seats and control columns. The real surprise is the provision of separate, hollowed-out control yokes and an instrument panel with recessed instrument positions.

Remaining components of the kit include a new nose gear assembly, main wheels, a solid gun nose for the B-25H option and replacement propellers. The last item are cast in a thin wafer of resin and inside a triangular framework. Extreme care will be required to remove these without damage.

The clear nose, canopy and upper turret are supplied as vacform parts. These parts are extremely thin and easily damaged.

My clear nose was punched in during the long trip home and it will not entirely resume its original shape. The lesson here is to store and transport this conversion (and the resulting model) very carefully.

Instructions are supplied on two sheets of letter-sized paper, and called out over six steps. Reference diagrams and photographs are included.

Cobra Company's 1/144 scale B-25J/H Detail and Conversion Set is a remarkable piece of work. It will represent a major improvement to your Revell or Crown 1/144 scale B-25.

Modellers with some experience working with resin and vacform parts in 1/144 scale will really enjoy this new offering from Cobra Company.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to Chris from Cobra Company for the review sample.
Cobra Company's website and online catalogue may be found at http://www.cobracompany.com/index.htm

Review Copyright © 2002 by Brett Green
Page Created 21 August, 2002
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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