I am a “History of the Battle of Britain” enthusiast, and as an offshoot of that enthusiasm I am a follower of all things “RAF”. When given the opportunity to review Guidelines Publications new “Camo & Markings” book I jumped at the chance.

As an enthusiast of the “historical aspect”, I found this publication to be superb. As a scale modeler I found this book to be an excellent reference for colors and markings of the RAF. You will not be disappointed!

Thanks to Round 2 models for sending us this “blast from the past” kit, and leadership for generously firing it my way to relive what could have been for a very young modeller…

First, this is a BIG model. A yard’s worth…(36 inches)… Suitable for R/C (Many have tried and succeeded), display (with work) or free-running (for those with big enough pools… it’s too easy to lose a non-controlled ship in a local pond).

The box art is an attention-getter: using the original 1964 box art is a great idea; nostalgia sells. (Yep, I was six at the time when I first saw this kit). It was what got my “COOL MODEL” factor spun up. (For those interested, I saw this kit at “Who hobbies” in Rapid City, South Dakota, where my father was stationed at the time as a missile support helicopter pilot flying H-19’s and later UH-1F’s out of Ellsworth AFB… that’s another story, as that hobby shop is, last time I checked, still in business!)

The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) was developed to replace the AGM-45 Shrike and the AGM-78 Standard ARM. Unlike the Shrike and the Standard ARM, the HARM was designed from the outset as a SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) weapon, not an adaption of an existing weapon. The HARM system includes the missile, the LAU-118 launcher and HARM specific avionics in the launch aircraft. HARM has the ability to detect, acquire and select a radiating threat and once launched operates in a “fire and forget” autonomous capacity, freeing the launch aircraft to maneuver or to attack another target. The HARM proved its lethality during operations over Iraq during both Desert Storm and Desert Fox. It was used by the F-4G, A-6, A-7, Tornado and the EA-6B and is currently carried on the F-16CJ, F-18A/C/D/E, EF-18G and other aircraft.