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Review Author
Jason Holt
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$43.00

History

The J2M2 Raiden (Jack) was designed to achieve a high rate of climb in order to intercept incoming bombers. The aircraft went into full scale production in 1943 and early models included two cowl 7.7mm machine guns and 20mm wing cannons. Later versions omitted the cowl guns and relied on the heavy wing armament instead. It was used extensively late in the war as a bomber interceptor and proved to be one of favorite aircraft of Japanese pilots for this task. There were a total of about 500 aircraft built by the end of World War II and only one surviving example of this aircraft today located at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, CA.

Book Author(s)
Ray Rimmell, Editor
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Albatros Productions, Ltd.
MSRP
$9.50

The Autumn 2016 edition of Windsock World War Centenary is the third edition of Volume 32. The cover subject is a reproduction Albatros D. Va with Rob Horne in character that is owned and operated by TVAL of New Zealand. More color photos from reproductions from TVAL (Peter Jackson) are depicted in the photo spread, “Stow Maries Photo Shoot” from Essex England. The “Our Reader’s Gallery” features excellent builds of a Wingnut Wings 1/32 Salmson 2A2, 1/32 Fokker D.VII, and a Roden 1/32 Sopwith Triplane.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$29.95

This is a nice photoetch set for the ICM Ju 88A-4. This set adds a lot of addition detail to the exterior and make it look even better.

The photo etch parts are for the:

  • Landing gear details
  • Engine and engine mount details
  • Land gear bay details
  • Engine bay doors

In the packet is:

  • 1 large photoetch sheet
  • 1 clear film sheet
  • 1 instruction sheet

Summary

This is great photoetch set to bring a lot of additional details to this very good kit. The engine parts are great as the engine access panels can be left open. The only issues I found was with the rear wheel bay parts which need to be carefully installed. Also the side brackets that install in the land gear bay are trick when you mount the engine and gear bays to the wing and can pop out.

With that being said the set adds some realistic detail.

Book Author(s)
Zibigniew Kolacha
Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$35.00

Available in the U.S. from "Casemate", in Australia from "Platypus Publications" and in the UK from "Mushroom Models Publications", this book is one of several excellent books in the "Spotlight On" series. All books in this series feature approximately 50 color profiles of the aircraft in question, showing the markings and camouflage patterns seen on the aircraft and in varied national markings.

In this particular publication, illustrator Zbigniew Kolacha provides 50 color profiles of 44 F4U Corsairs. The introduction to the book, 2 pages, provides a short "biography" of this classic W.W.II aircraft. The remainder of the pages are given over to those 50 superior illustrations mentioned previously. Each profile is labeled with the BuNo, if known, the airframe numbers, Squadron affiliation, and area of service.

Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$18.00

Hauler produces photo-etched and resin upgrade sets for armored fighting vehicles (AFVs), airplanes, cars, railway vehicles, and dioramas. They also produce a few resin kits. Their products are in most of the common scale sizes, 1/72, 1/48, and 1/35, but they also produce a number of other items in common railroad hobbyist scales.

The kit for this review is a set of sharply cast resin Dragon’s Teeth. Dragon’s Teeth are those square concrete pyramids, most often associated with the Siegfried Line in Germany during World War II. However, these types of fortifications were used in many countries, other than Germany in World War II, and continued to be used today around the world. The idea behind these formations was to create an obstacle to slow the advance of enemy AFVs, or to channel those vehicles into prepared kill zones where anti-tank units waited in ambush.