With the release of the Encore (upgraded Monogram) A-37 there is renewed interest in this little dragonfly. The kit is really nice, despite its age.

Perfectly molded in light grey resin these two gun barrels have the shrouded miniguns inside of thinned fairings. The addition of these little jewels will add to the look and aid you from having to clean up a seam on the shroud. This will ensure the shroud is round. You’ll also have hollowed out gun tubes inside of the shroud.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review copy. You can obtain yours by contacting www.modelchoice.net or your local hobby shop or online retailer.

This Beaufighter decal set is one of the latest from Canadian-based Aviaeology – SkyGrid Studio’s line of model-related products.

Upon first opening up the standard ziplock plastic bag that holds the decals and instructions, I was immediately impressed with the quality of the decals. There are 4 sheets included in this set, covering 4 aircraft (3 of which have multiple variations). In addition to the individual aircraft markings, a full set of national markings and stencil data is provided for one aircraft. These decals look first-rate, with little to no carrier film except where absolutely necessary. The decals themselves have a glossy finish and appear quite thin, but with good color density.

This new injection molded plastic kit is a great example of modern engineering that exhibits fine surface detail and great fit of parts. It is a builder’s kit, to be sure, and it was indeed a pleasure to build. The design of the parts is excellent and thoughtful allowing easy construction and clean up for a smooth finish. For example, the sprue attachment points are on the inner mating surface of many of the major components which makes cleaning up these areas as easy as it can be. Design features allow the wings to be posed folded, flaps posed up or down, the tail hook posed up or down and there are separate parts for posing the landing gear in the retracted or extended position (although this is not addressed in any way in the instructions). Slide molded parts provide for hollow details and single unit pieces that don’t require assembly and clean up of two halves. Overall, the kit is cleverly designed and simple to build.