Once again I’m diving back into the surreal world of the original Batman television series with this wonderful rendition of Julie Newmar as the classic Catwoman adversary. In actuality, I believe at least three different actresses took a shot at this role, but Julie is the one most remember, both for her statuesque presentation in that vinyl suit as well as her quintessential purr. Even Michelle Pfieffer didn’t come out looking this good.

In 1979 Pontiac sold 116,535 Trans Am models which still hold the record to this day. My relationship with the Pontiac Trans Am goes back to an evening ride with my high school chum Kendal Morbito in his white 1976 Pontiac Trans Am. We cruised around town a little then headed out to the freeway. After two rather abrupt high speed turns the yanked my eyeballs from the sockets, I was hooked. On December 23, 1977 I spent all the money I had been saving since my first job on a brand new shiny blue 1978 Pontiac Trans Am.

Lakenheath is host to the largest deployment of United States Air Force personnel in the United Kingdom and one of the most important planes in their inventory is the F-15 Eagle. The Eagle is becoming a venerable plane having first debuted in 1976 but is still very capable and Caracal has honored this by producing a sheet for four F-15C’s all with kills and one F-15D all from Lakenheath.

The set comes an excellent color cover showing all four options. Left and right profile shots of all four options are also included with stencil and markings placement. Color call outs are also included. There is also a note included that all aircraft depicted have had the MSIP II conversion so that is why the Great Wall Hobby kit is the recommended kit over the Hasegawa/Tamiya/Monogram offerings. Also, this group of planes is well documented and pictures can be found all over the Internet.

Kittyhawks 1/32 scale model of the T-6 Texan was very well received and the buildup models with the kit decals look great. The T-6 was widely used as a trainer and over 15,000 were built. Caracal Models has released a set of excellent markings which depict the T-6 as USAF trainers from the 1950’s. The markings cover:

• T-6G Texan 49-2910, Hondo AFB, Texas 1954
• T-6G Texan 49-3477, Columbus AFB, Mississippi 1955

Both planes are FS33538 Chrome yellow overall and are a nice change from the kit markings. Inside the package, there is a folded booklet of full color instructions showing all the needed plane views and profiles for each plane with decal placement and color call outs (chrome yellow and black). A standard size decal sheet is included and is printed by Microscale. Registration is excellent and all the stencils needed for one aircraft are included.

Osprey Publishing’s latest campaign monograph focuses on the battle waged by the US to regain the Philippine Islands held by the Japanese since 1942. This from the website: "The loss of the Philippines in 1942 was the worst defeat in American military history. General Douglas MacArthur, the 'Lion of Luzon', was evacuated by order of the President just before the fall, but he vowed to return, and in August 1944 he kept his word when he led what, at the time, was the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War on the island of Leyte. This is the full story of that fateful battle, one of the most ferocious campaigns of World War II and one of huge strategic and symbolic significance. In the face of stubborn Japanese resistance, including the first systematic use of Kamikaze attacks, the US forces ground slowly forwards before another amphibious assault took the vital position of Ormoc in the last decisive battle of the campaign.