This new sheet from Dutch Decal highlights several US- and English-built aircraft used by the Indonesians during the ‘50s. The included history talks about Opeartion “Haik,” which centered on clandestine US operations in Indonesia in 1958.

Decals are provided for a very interesting set of aircraft: B-25 Mitchell, P-51D/K, C-47B, Piper L-4, Auster, Catalina, and B-26B Invader, with the standouts in my opinion being a couple of sharkmouthed Mustangs and a lovely Invader in not only a sharkmouth but also a sharktail.

Full color profiles show each scheme in detail with wing placements for the Mustangs and Mitchells. Also included are a few small pictures displaying a few of the aircraft in real life.

Dutch Decal has a great reputation for their decals and this looks like another excellent set. Now, maybe I need to get another Mustang for one of those sharkmouths.

Aires has developed a highly detailed cockpit for the Trumpeter 1/32 A-4 Skyhawk. This set includes twenty highly detailed grey resin parts and one clear resin part, plus a photo etched sprue which includes the seat belts, rear views mirrors, and other small details to add to the cockpit.

Not unlike their other cockpit kits, the fit of the cockpit tub is pretty much on the money, but some sanding will be necessary for a perfect fit. The quality of the resin is up there where one has come to expect the great quality from Aires, which is truly fantastic. I found no bubbles or missing corners anywhere on the parts. There is some minor flash, but a few licks from a sanding stick or the like will handle it with no problem at all. I did make sure to wash the parts with mild detergent because there was a lot of the releasing agent present.

With the release of the Eduard Mig-21 family and the upgrades to the older Academy Mig-29 and Su-27, as well as the reboxed Su-25 and Su-22s, it is amazing that it has taken this long to get a decent 1/48th scale pilot for these airplanes. If you are like me, I enjoy having a figure next to my airplane for scale comparison. Well, now I can do that with my Russian jets. Yes, I know, you are saying, “Floyd builds jets? And Russian ones at that?” Well, I haven’t yet, but I have all of them, so when I get that itch I can scratch it.

This figure is molded in two pieces of light grey resin that have no flaws that I can see. Aero Line posed the figure with his arm up shielding the sun while watching something in the sky. I like the pose and it seems natural. The biggest piece of resin is the whole pilot with very little cleanup required. The only other part is the arm, which is keyed to go into the body and should represent no big hassle in assembly.