The Gloster Meteor F.4 was the first post-WWII Meteor. The big differences between the Meteor F.3 and F.4 were the engines and wings. More details can be found online or in many different publications. For the 1/144th community, there are only a few Meteor options. The ones that I know of are the F-Toys F.1, Don Schmenk’s resin F.8, a Welsh Models vac-form F.8, and an Anigrand resin F.3. That would make Hong Kong Models’ F.4 the first injection molded Meteor kit in 1/144th.

Introduction

Growing up building all genres of AMT/ERTL/MPC kits – cars to aircraft to space ships to monster figures – it was a sad day when ERTL reduced AMT to a shell of its former self. Being a particularly big Star Trek fan and with AMT being the only game in town for Star Trek models (before this “internet” thing became such a big deal), it was a sad time indeed.

Then, a few years ago after much finagling, along came Round2, acquiring the AMT/MPC molds, fine-tuning them, and re-releasing most of the old kits we all remember. Many are being re-released with Retro-Style packaging, while others are being issued with all-new box art and packaging. The old Star Trek kits are back, in style. Among those are the Cadet Series – the 1/2500 scale ships of the line in the Star Trek universe as well as their nemeses from all parts of the series’ timeline.

This is a revised and updated reprint of a title by the same author, published in 1999 by Hikoki. A quick internet search revealed that copy to have only 99 pages, as compared to the 192 in this edition, so this is quite an update!

The production quality on this book is first rate. Thick, matte-finished pages are enclosed in even stiffer color covers.

The first 15 or so pages describe the background and possible rationale for the proliferation of unit emblems in the Luftwaffe. After this, the next 175+ pages are devoted to lists of each and every unit that used some form of an emblem on its aircraft. Sections are broken down by aircraft type, such as fighter units, bomber units, etc.