No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. It is an F-15C with conformal fuel tanks.

By 1984, the USSR had amassed a considerable submarine launched ballistic missile capability which complemented their already powerful ICBM force. The vast majority of the Soviet SSNB submarines, known as ‘boomers’, were based at Archangel and Murmansk. Their pre-launch stations were usually in the White Sea sector. Because of this, the US Navy devoted a large portion of its SSN submarines or ‘hunter killers’ to located and then follow the movement of all Soviet SSNB boomers in the White Sea. To perform this task, US SSNs ran through the Giuk Gap in route to their patrol areas. To counteract the Americans, the Soviet navy began a pattern of deploying an ever increasing numbers of modified Bears, call sing ‘F’, in an effort to track the US SSNs boats before they enter the Sea.

I’m old enough to remember a time when Heller was the only game in town if you wanted to reproduce some of the fascinating French armor of the Second World War. Now we seem to have been presented with a number of choices, each with their good and bad points. However, permit me to discuss this particular rendition of this lovely little two-man vehicle on its own merits.

Hobby Boss has taken its own stance on reproducing this tiny machine by providing it with a complete interior, viewable through the numerous open-able hatches on the model. Frankly, this is one kit that begs for a maintenance diorama in order to show off its features -- anything else seems a waste of detail.

Among recent offerings from Brengun is a set photo-etch details designed to enhance the 1/72 Tamiya A6M3 Type 32 Zero kit. Set BRL 72071 provides about 70 parts on a single photo-etch fret and two on a printed acetated sheet that will combine to enhance the cockpit and exterior details of the a/c. The photos below show the fret and the instruction sheet that guide where the details are to be installed.

The small photo-etched parts on the fret are very impressive, but look strangely familiar to me. Familiar, because they are exactly the same as the parts on Brengun’s set BRL 72074 for the Zero type 22…yes, exactly the same. Not surprising though, because the detail parts they provide were the same on the original aircraft (with the possible exception of a small dial face on the instrument panel). One of the photos below from the Brengun website shows most of the parts installed.