Reviews

Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Hobby Boss
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$60.99

Brief History From Wikipedia

The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named for the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, a World War II-era fighter-bomber effective at attacking ground targets, but commonly referred to as the "Warthog" or "Hog".[4] The A-10 was designed to provide close air support (CAS) to friendly ground troops by attacking armored vehicles, tanks, and other enemy ground forces; it is the only production-built aircraft designed solely for CAS to have served with the U.S. Air Force.[5] Its secondary mission is to direct other aircraft in attacks on ground targets, a role called forward air controller-airborne; aircraft used primarily in this role are designated OA-10.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$19.25

Hauler has provided another addition to the great Diorama releases with this Bedroom Furniture set. The set includes a double Bed, two bedside units, a Wardrobe, two table lamps and two telephones.

The detail quality is great. The parts once removed from the mold base are ready to assembly.

Be careful when removing the side table lamp as they break easily. Also be careful not to drop a telephone on the carpet it will never be seen again as I found out!

The Assembly is quick and easy. The final part is painting them how every you want and looks great as an addition to any diorama.

Thanks go to Hauler for providing this kit to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$61.99

This is a review of the Ford Escort Zakspeed Gr.2.

Engine

The little 4 cylinder engine is well engraved. I was a little disappointed that there was no distributor.

Interior

Interior is wonderfully engraved and everything fits perfectly. There’s seat belt decals for the driver seat. The kit also had seat belt latches but they weren’t supposed to be used.

Body

Body was crisp and clean with no flash. I used a wonderful Tru-Color Grabber Blue because the kit is a Ford. A 2-part urethane clear was used to finish the paint.

Chassis

The suspension parts are separate from the chassis pan as is the exhaust system. There’s really not much detail to the chassis or suspension.

Instructions

The instructions are several pages long with suggested paint color for specific parts.

Book Author(s)
Antonio Luis Sapienza Fracchia
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

“On Thursday, 15 June 1955, thousands of people as usual were on the streets of downtown Buenos Aires. Some curious citizens had heard something about an air parade, and they were in the Plaza de Mayo looking up at the sky. At around 12:40 p.m., some Naval Aviation North American AT-6, PBY-5A Catalina and Beechcraft AT-11 planes appeared on the horizon, But they were not there for a parade; they were there to simply bomb Government House in an attempted coup against Juan Domingo Perón. This raid left behind more than 300 dead, 600 wounded and dead everywhere. The Army units that should have been mobilized to support the uprising never did. The coup attempt was aborted within a few hours. But unlike the bombing of the city of Guernica in 1937, the planes that bombed and the pilots who flew them were national forces. Perón would be finally overthrown three months later by the so-called Liberating Revolution.”

Book Author(s)
Gerry Manning
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$24.95

This is the 5th volume of a new Key Books Series Historic Commercial Aircraft. This covers the Airliners worldwide from 2000 to 2010. This covers all types of aircraft across the global airlines flying in this period. The book contents consists of many photos with individual captions describing the details of the aircraft and the operators.

During my Airline interiors career I work on the interiors for a lot of the aircraft shown on this book and is a great collection of Aircraft types and Liveries.

All the photographs and write up in this book really help to show the variation of aircraft and airlines using then during this period.

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in Commercial Aircraft and or Airlines. Also great for commercial aircraft modelers. After reading this book I look forward to adding more of this series to my library.

Book Author(s)
Michael John Claringbould & Peter Ingman
Review Author
Keith Gervasi
Published on
Company
Avonmore Books
MSRP
$46.95

Volume Five of this series chronicles aerial warfare primarily in the New Guinea theatre in the critical period between September and December 1942. It can be read alone or as a continuation of the previous four volumes which span the first nine months of the Pacific War.

By early September the strategic picture in the theatre had changed markedly within just six weeks. From their new Buna beachhead the Japanese Army commenced a Papuan mountain campaign which threatened the Allied bastion of Port Moresby. Meanwhile the battle for Guadalcanal was raging, with the outcome of the wider Pacific War in the balance.

Against this background a strengthened US Fifth Air Force took the fight to the IJA with direct air support. While this was being conducted by P-39s, P-40Es, A-20As and B-25s, raids by B-17s against Rabaul aided US forces in the neighboring Solomons. RAAF Beaufighters, Beauforts, Bostons and Hudsons also contributed substantially to these efforts.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
Company
Bases by Bill

If you have won an award at an IPMS contest and it was an engraved wooden plaque, chances are it was made by Bases by Bill. Bill and Wes Wedeward have been supplying custom awards to shows for several years including the 2018 and 2019 IPMS National Conventions.

The awards are available in several sizes with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and special award options available. The bases are made out of the finest hardwoods and use laser engraving and can have hand painted color accents.

Bill supplied us with 2 examples. The first is a 4” x 3” rectangular award and the other one is 8.5” at the base and 6.25” tall with a rounded top. The engraving is perfect with all words easily readable.

He also sent me pictures of several other options they have done in the past.

Pricing varies by the size of award, details, type of wood, etc. and from what I can see on their site their prices are very competitive especially for the quality of their products.

Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$60.00

The Unimog 404, also called the Unimog S and Unimog 404S, was developed by Mercedes Benz from 1955 to 1980. Unimog (taken from UNIversal Motor Gerät, or universal power unit) is a small, capable, 1.5 ton offroad truck that reached a production number of 36,000 for the German military during the Cold War. The Unimog 404 could be driven in either 2x4 or 4x4 mode, being at home in the outdoors or cruising up to 60 km/hr on paved surfaces. The Unimog has a folding canvas roof with a frame and canvas cover for the cargo area. Despite its German origins, the first Unimog 404s were produced for the French Army who wanted the spare wheel moved from the cargo bed to an undercarriage location on a newly designed down swept frame to provide more space for troops and cargo.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Trumpeter
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$76.29

Trumpeter has recently released several WWII German, truck-mounted Flak platforms based on the Mercedes Benz L4500A, including the subject of this review. As with previous releases, Trumpeter continues to stick to its roots in providing interesting and often one-of-a-kind subjects for a competitive price.

The L4500 was a heavy-duty truck built by Daimler-Benz from 1939–44 in the Mercedes-Benz plant at Gaggenau, and from 1944–45 by Saurer. The long-bed vehicle was built as both a rear-wheel-drive truck (L4500S) and as an all-wheel-drive truck (L4500A). The German Wehrmacht used the L4500 with armored cabins as Flak trucks during World War II. Due to the lack of production material, the cabin was replaced with the simplified standardized Wehrmacht cabin and the mud wings with simplified wings in 1943. The L4500 chassis was also modified as a halftrack for use on the Eastern Front.