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Summary
Let me start by sending sincerest sympathies to the family and friends of Valery Grygorenko the illustrator for Roden Models. I learned through my local hobby shop that he was killed in the ongoing war in Ukraine
Like most Great War fighters this is a relatively uncomplicated kit. There are some issues that one needs to be careful with during construction, but nothing so complicated that an average modeler cannot overcome. One of the biggest trouble spots was with shallow or limited gluing surfaces. So have your CA cement handy for this one.
Summary
This can be considered a “diorama-in-a-box” in that it contains everything one would need to create a nice airfield diorama. There are some frustrating fit issues, so I would recommend this kit to any modeler with a good dose of patience.
Background
The Spitfire MkVII airframe was based off of the MkV. It incorporated the improved Merlin 61 series engine. It was designed as a high-altitude interceptor and thus had a pressurized cockpit. It also had extended wing tips and the later large (pointed) rudder.
The MkIX was a later variant incorporating the Merlin 66 and later engines. Armament consisted of two 20mm Hispano cannon in the inboard position and four .303 browning machine guns in the outer positions. While most had the standard round wing tip they could be fitted with the clipped wing tip for low level operations. This variant could also carry a 90-Imperial gallon slipper tank as well as bombs and rockets.
This is the 82nd book in the Kagero Monographs series covering aircraft in details photos and diagrams. This book covers the Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets. The book provides great detail drawings of the Super Hornet.
I found the drawings in this book to be fascinating and very detailed, ideal for any modeler as reference materials. The photographs are extremely good, many I have never seen, and provide great details for super detailing any scale model of the aircraft.
Along with the many photos there are outline drawings, schematics, and very nice profile drawings. The cockpit instrument outline drawings are also a great addition, it would have been great to also include a color photo next to these for reference, but this is a minor issue.
I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in the aircraft and a must for modelers.
Thanks go to Casemate Publishing for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it.
This volume covers the Fw-190D and Ta-152 variants. It is presented in the familiar fashion of this publisher, with a column on each page in Polish and English. Captions and drawing explanations are also in both languages.
Text and photos make up the first seventy-five pages of this volume. These pages cover both technical development, changes between variants, and operational use. A serial list of all productions as well as some of the most successful pilots are also covered. There is a wealth of scale drawing both in the book as well as a couple of extra loose ones. The four pages of diagrams showing all the changes from the basic A9 version into the Ds and Ta-152s are quite illuminating. The color profiles are beautifully done as is always the case with this publisher.
To top everything off a lovely sheet of decals printed by Techmod are also included. This sheet has markings in 1/48 and 1/72 scale totaling eight sets of markings for: