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Nothing beats Eduard’s brass, like the slogan says “Best Brass Around” and I’m a believer. The large sheet of shinny brass photo-etch is a work of art and could be matted, framed and hung on the wall as such. My sample arrived in pristine condition with a comprehensive fold out instruction sheet.
Newly offered in injection-molded plastic by Bronco Models out of China, is a wide-tracked sWS Utility Halftrack sporting a 60cm infrared searchlight and accompanying night-vision IR equipment.
This "new" kit is actually a reissue of the high-quality Great Wall (Lion Roar) kit from a few years back. Aside from the box art and the color of the plastic, the main difference between the two kits is that Bronco includes a complete engine assembly. At some point GW introduced these parts as an aftermarket set you had to purchase separately for their sWS kits.
Warpaint’s latest is their standard A4 format softbound publication that is 64 pages (excluding covers) on the Sikorsky Chickasaw and Westland Whirlwind helicopters. The book is split into two, with the first half dedicated to the Sikorsky Chickasaw and the second to the Westland Whirlwind. I counted 187 photographs (136 in color) along with 46 of Richard J. Caruana’s color profiles. Richard J. Caruana also contributes the centerfold (four pages) that features twenty drawings, all in 1/72 scale.
In Part 1 of this review, one of the “come away” conclusions was that this model is massive. Think in terms of a 1/48th B-29 or a C-130. And yet, even a very large model starts out as just a collection of small pieces, with a set of instructions to guide the building through the project. In the case of this Mosquito, there are some 600+ of those pieces and not all of them are small, thus the rather large box in which the kit is presented.
As Part 1 of this review ended, I was about to begin the fun stuff….the gluing, and sanding, and painting, and the last few weeks working on the Mossie have been enjoyable, but not without some challenges. Remembering that this is a kit review and not a “how to build it” article, let’s take a look at some of the properties and characteristics of this product which should catch the builder’s attention.
The short version - I liked the kits. The new molds that the current Airfix products have shown are on display here. These were pleasing to build.
Now, the details.
The pairing in the set is based upon an air battle that took place on the 9th of February 1945. A force of thirty one Bristol Beaufighter long range fighter bombers took off from their bases in Scotland to attack the German Narvik-class Destroyer Z33 at anchor in a Norwegian fjord. The attacking force and its escorts of Mustang fighters was also intercepted by twelve Fw-190s of Jg5. Over 50 aircraft were involved making it the largest air battle over Norwegian skies during the Second World War.
