From the Manufacturer’s Website:

Our 1/48 scale F-14D Tomcat model kit is one of the most detailed modern plane kits we’ve produced. We’ve now taken what has been learned from its development and production to bring model builders the same level of detail to our popular 1/72 scale lineup while also providing a streamlined building experience!

The Tomcat enjoyed an active career from the early 1970s until 2006; initially given a fleet defense role, in the 1990s the Tomcat’s superb range saw that role expanded to include strike missions, and then later that decade the addition of the LANTIRN targeting pod meant it could undertake long-range bombing runs using laser-guided ordnance. The F-14D was the final variant, which inherited its F-14B predecessor’s General Electric F110-GE-400 engines and was given major upgrades to avionics. It reached units from 1992, serving in the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan. It finally retired from U.S. Navy service in 2006.

The Henschel Hs123 was developed from a 1933 requirement for a dive bomber by the then-emerging Luftwaffe. This aircraft was fairly advanced for its day, featuring an all-metal construction powered by a 725 horsepower BMW 132A radial engine. This gave the Hs 123 a 200 mph top speed. Its sesquiplane design made it extremely maneuverable and its twin 7.92 mm machine guns gave it some teeth as well. Although many regard this as one of the best biplane fighters of World War 2, the Luftwaffe considered it mostly as a stop-gap measure until the Ju 87 Stuka could be put into full production.

With 64 books to his credit, Dilip Sarkar is probably the most qualified individual in the world to write a book about the Battle of Britain as well as England’s premier fighter plane, the Supermarine Spitfire. He was honored in 2003 with England’s MBE (Member British Empire) for his “service to aviation history.” He has done extensive work researching and recording the history of the Battle of Britain. In 2006, he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), and in 2024 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS).