Steve Ginter’s Lockheed F-94 Starfire is one of three of the latest in his Air Force Legends series. This edition is in their standard 8.5” x 11” format softbound publication that is 160 pages (excluding covers). I counted 406 photographs (15 in color) along with 82 drawings and 63 insignias.

Author Alan C. Carey is a noted military historian who was born in Orange County, California in a career military family. Carey got to Texas as soon as he could and achieved his Baccalaureate and Masters degree at Southwest Texas State. His interest in military aviation is primarily due to his father’s service from 1942-1966. Carey’s research on his father resulted in his father (and two members of his crew) receiving Distinguished Flying Crosses and Air Medals for their WWII service with VB-109. He ended up serving in the Marines as a machine gunner and in the Army Reserve ass a Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Specialist.

History

The Avia B.534 was developed in 1934, and although obsolete by the time WWII started, it was used in combat as late as 1944! The 534 went through a few changes along the way, most notably the cockpit and landing gear. A 534 is credited with having been the last biplane to record an aerial victory (A Hungarian Ju 52 on Sept. 2nd, 1944).

The Kit

Inside the box are 4 sprue of grey and 1 of clear plastic, a decal sheet, photo etch fret, a sheet of painting masks and a 16-page instruction booklet. The plastic is is nice with very fine lines, little to no flash and no noticeable sink marks. The pre painted photo etch looks nice and the decals are very nice. One thing Eduard did was scale back on the photo etch fret as it looks like they give you just the parts needed for the III.Serie.

Plus model, maker of fine detailed aftermarket products, just produced a ladder for the McDonnel Douglas F-4 Phantom II. What is unique about this item is that it is injection molded instead of resin or photo etch that other companies make. Although this does require some assembly, being able to make fine adjustments to better fit the various kits is a real bonus.

The kit comes in a sturdy box and the sprue is in a suitable plastic bag. The instructions are printed on the back of the box and are basic but sufficient to assist your build. I am not sure if the parts layout changed from previous releases but instructions indicate the steps (rungs) are separate parts but that is not so with what is on the sprue. That is very good since I can image how difficulty it would be to attach and align those parts. Hopefully the instructions will be updated on future releases. The 8 parts have minimal flash which cleans up easily.

Thank you to Video Aviation for providing this elegant aircraft accessory deck crew figure, and thank you to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for letting me review it! I am very appreciative of all you do for the scale modeling community. Video Aviation is a small Italian company that offers a variety of diorama and vignette accessories in three scales that will make a welcome addition to aircraft displays. The casting masters are completely CAD designed and rapid prototyped for production. This allows the same figure to be easily produced in different scales.

Brengun, based in the Czech Republic, is known for producing a range of photo-etched and resin accessories for airplane models. They also produce a small number of 1/72nd and 1/144th aircraft model sets. One of their latest airplane kits is the Yakovlev Yak-1, Year 1941.

The Yak-1 was a maneuverable, fast and well-armed fighter developed by the Soviet air force in 1940. At the start of the Operation Barbarossa, the Soviets had about 500 Yak-1’s built, but just less than 100 were combat operational. TheYak-1 had a steel frame with wooden wings and composite fuselage, it was easy to maintain and fairly reliable and proved to be an excellent base for further developments. At altitudes, below 4,000 feet, was where the Yak-1 performed the best and was strong competition, and in some cases, more than a match for its German foes.