Quickboost Roundup #41
1/72 Scale Accessories

May, 2011

Reviewed by Mark Davies

The Quickboost range is a well-established and a familiar line of enhancement and corrective accessories. They are produced to very high standards. All come supplied in a cellophane envelope with orange card header, and a few have simple diagrammatic instructions.

I am a fan and convert, and have purchased many of their sets. However I do feel in some instances that the benefits of some items over kit parts can be marginal. For this reason I will generally leave the reader to draw their own conclusions based on the images accompanying this review, and only comment where my own opinion is strong one way or the other.

QB 72 291 A-1 Skyraider Pylons, Recommended for Hasegawa

These are a really worthwhile refinement in my view over the kit parts due to the limits of injection moulding. Be careful upon opening as some of the quite delicate sway-brace lugs may have broken off and will be loose in the packaging. (This is where cellophane envelopes aren’t quite up to the job of protecting some parts.)

QB 72 292 P-51B/C/D Propeller with Tool, Recommended for Hasegawa

Injected props can be a bit thick and lacking some of subtle shapes found in propeller blades. Resin offers a good way to rectify this. The alignment tool is a very worthwhile inclusion. Very refined, it may suit other brand P-51’s as well, although quickboost does make a prop specifically for Tamiya’s P-51D (QB 72 299).

QB 72 293 (Junkers Ju 88A-4 Exhausts, Recommended for Hasegawa

Very refined, and may suit other brand Ju 88’s as well.

QB 72 294 Focke Wulf Fw 190A-4 Top Antenna, Recommended for Tamiya.

Fits the tail fin to provide the characteristic antenna mount introduced with the A-4 variant (Tamiya’s kit is an A-3). This item requires the top of the fin to be removed along a panel line and the resin part fixed and blended in.

I’m sure it’s easier (and cheaper) to file of the A-3 style antenna attachment point and simply add a suitable A-4 style attachment point. To my mind this item is not worthwhile.

QB 72 295 Junkers Ju 188 Exhausts, Recommended for Hasegawa

Very refined, they may suit other brand Ju 188’s as well.

QB 72 296 AC-47 Minigun Gun Barrels, Recommended for Esci

I find it surprising that the parts are recommended for an out of production kit, although there is no harm in doing so. The barrels are very refined compared to styrene parts in this scale, and should suit other minigun applications well as Esci’s AC-47.

QB 72 297 Focke Wulf Ta 154 Exhausts, Recommended for Hasegawa

Very refined, may suit other brand Ta 154’s as well (but why would you bother when you can have the Hasegawa kit?).

A very good improvement over styrene parts given the scale refinement that can be achieved with resin, and may suit other brand P-40’s (but not P-40B/C’s whose covers were subtly different to later P-40’s).

QB 72 300 B-24 Correct Front Undercarriage Covers, Recommended for Hasegawa

The packaging does not say which B-24 version of Hasegawa’s kit these nose-wheel doors are intended to correct. This is important as B-24’s had different styles of doors, some being external and others retracting internally; so I feel that this is a bad labeling oversight.

I saved the following notes from a forum whose name I can’t recall, but they were written by a gentleman called Al Blue:

The following Liberators had inward opening nose wheel doors:

• All the early series including the XB-24, B-24A, B-24C, LB-30s, etc.
• All B-24D, regardless of manufacturer.
• All B-24E, regardless of manufacturer.
• The first 110 B-24Gs.
• B-24Js manufactured by San Diego (CO) prior to 44-40149.
• B-24Js manufactured by Fort Worth (CF) prior to 44-10603 with the exception of the 57 planes bearing serials 42-50452 - 42-50508.
   

All other B-24s had downward opening nose wheel doors.

The Hasegawa B-24D is wrong in having you mount the nose doors externally when open. However I cannot relate quickboost’s instructions to the diagram of how the B-24D’s doors are stowed when nose-wheel is extended (see accompanying images of the instructions and a flight manual diagram).

Besides, it seems just as easy to me to cut the mounting lugs off the kit parts and fit them as they should be. So like the Fw 190A-4 antenna, I see this item as unnecessary item.

QB 72 301 Mosquito Exhausts, Recommended for Tamiya

In my opinion Tamiya’s Mosquito kit exhaust manifolds are too small, and the night-operations shrouds are a bit too large. This is because Tamiya chose to shroud the exhaust manifolds (rather than exhausts or shrouds only approach), which just can’t be done authentically using injected styrene in 1/72 scale as it forces the exhausts to be under-scale and the shrouds over-scale.

Quickboost offers more refined exhausts compared to the kit examples, but unfortunately of the same size. This of course makes some sense commercially because they will be a trouble-free fit in the kit cowls. However the minor improvement in refinement is not worth replacing the kit parts in my opinion as they will still look too small. It's a real pity an opportunity to provide a fix for the Tamiya kits has been missed.

So a bit of a mixed bag, although I unreservedly give top marks for quality of production.

The most worthwhile items in my view are the Skyraider pylons, miniguns, and P-40 undercarriage covers, because a lot of work would be needed to improve the kit parts to quickboost’s levels. The P-51 propeller, Ju 88, Ju188 and Ta 154 exhausts are also worthwhile, although their benefits over kit parts might be a little more subtle.

The Fw 190 A-4 antenna mount and B-24 doors really aren’t needed, as most modellers should be able to achieve the same results without quickboost’s help. As for the Mosquito exhausts, keep your wallet in your pocket as they do nothing to correct the undersized kit items.

So decide for yourself, but my money’s on seven out of ten for a recommendation.

Thanks to Aires / Quickboost for the review samples

Text Copyright © 2011 by Mark Davies
Page Created 1 June, 2011
Last updated 2 June, 2011

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