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Spitfire
and Hurricane Ultracast
Reviewed by Brett Green
Control Surfaces
The fabric detail is very convincing yet restrained. The Spitfire V surfaces accurately reflect the metal ailerons. I particularly liked the actuator connectors on the Hurricane rudder. The replacement pieces look every bit as good as the original parts. The big advantage to using these resin replacements is that the leading edges are already built-up and incorporate full hinge detail. It is otherwise a fiddly and troublesome job to restore these details to parts cut off the kit.
Exhausts
Detail on these parts is really gorgeous. I especially liked the fishtail exhausts for the Spitfire V and Hurricane II. Subtleties including weld lines; the lip at the end of the thin, crescent shaped fishtail; and even two tiny rivets on each exhaust stub are represented in full. The fishtail exhausts are the plain variety without the front inlet and small return pipe. The tubular exhausts for the Hurrican I and Spitfire I are equally well detailed. It almost goes without saying that the exhaust ends are hollowed-out.
Conclusion New accessories for British and Commonwealth modellers are always welcome. The basic Tamiya and Hasegawa kits are really good. Combined with Ultracast's exhausts, control surfaces and maybe one of their lovely replacement seats, you will be well on your way to having a very impressive model! Highly recommended to all Spitfire and Hurricane fans. You may view these and other products including photos at Ultracast's Web Site. Thanks to Kevin at Ultracast for the review samples. Review Copyright © 1999 by Brett
Green
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The three sets of control surfaces reviewed share a number of attributes.
They are all cast flawlessly in the same butter-coloured resin. They are all
connected to the casting block via a very thin strips of resin. It is a simple
and safe matter of snapping the pieces off their casting strip and cleaning them
up with a sharp knife (and yes, I have tried this technique!) Each set contains
a rudder, two ailerons and two elevators.
The above comments about casting quality and ease of removal apply to the
four exhaust sets.