This elegant looking jet trainer has been in service with numerous air forces for many years and has even become a common sight at “warbird” fly-ins. Several years ago, Eduard released an exquisite little model of this trainer. Their latest version is the “Weekend Edition,” a more basic boxing of their “Original,” “Dual Combo,” or “Profipak” releases. To meet the “weekend” criteria, this kit has no photo-etched frets, resin pieces, masks, or decals for multiple marking options. What you get instead is the all-plastic, basic kit with decals for one scheme: the Libyan Air Force Academy circa 1985. Included in the box are 56 pieces molded in tan plastic, six pieces of clear parts, a decal sheet with lots of stencil/data markings, and a six page instruction booklet. All the pieces are crisply molded with excellent surface detail. The decals are on register with the instrument panel renditions among the best I’ve seen in this scale.

First flown in December of 1944, the Heinkel He 162 Volksjager (people’s fighter) was known as the “ninety day wonder” as it went from an Air Ministry requirement to prototype in a mere three months. Like the other jet fighters of the day, it relied upon the BMW 003 turbojet engine, which was highly demanded as the Second World War drew to a close. The plane was 29 feet 8 inches in length, had a wingspan of 23 feet 7 inches, and stood 8 feet 6 inches tall. The A-2 variant carried a pair of 20mm MG 151 cannons with 120 rounds per gun. Depending on the source, between 238 and 320 of these aircraft were built. Something that I found unique is that the Volksjager, which is often referred to as the Salamander, was built under the code name “Sparrow”, which is what the Heinkel company called the plane during construction.

Being that this detail set is denoting the gun bay of an F-5E Tiger II, I will begin with a little history of the M39A2 cannon, which is represented in this set. This weapon was developed by the Springfield Armory in the late 1940’s, and was based upon the German Mauser MG 213. The design was a five-shot revolver firing 20mm by 102mm projectiles at a rate of 1500 rounds per minute at a velocity of 3300 feet per second. The M39A2 was first released in 1964, but the M39 guns themselves entered service in 1952, and were mounted within the F-86H, F-100, F-101A and C, as well as the F-5 variants. Ford and Pontiac are among the companies who manufactured the M39 cannons, and some 35,500 have been produced. The M39A2 itself weighs 178.5 pounds and is just over six feet in length.