Quickboost has come out with a direct replacement for the .50 Cal machine gun barrels on the HK Models 1/32^nd B 17 Flying Fortress kit. You get 12 barrels, all the same length and style cast in resin. The packaging is quite adequate. There was nothing broken or warped. The quality of the casting is superb and there is no flash or pinholes. I would assume that the barrels are the proper length. They are a little fatter then the kit ones and look good. Another nice feature is that they are drilled out on the ends.

A word of caution may be necessary, on the HK kit, the kits gun barrels come in various lengths and some have flash suppressors. The quickboost are all the same length and style. A nice feature about these barrels is that they are somewhat generic in nature. I believe they can be used on any Allied Airplane that is 1/32^nd and used .50 Cal machine guns.

Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships, and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved from there over the past forty-six years. They also release many special releases during the year as is the case of this issue.

This issue is the second in the series Ship Model Database Extra Edition. The first covered IJN Destroyers that were produced from 1918–1941, and this one covers the IJN Carriers 1922–1945. The carriers included in this are the Hosho, Akagi, Kaga, Ryujo, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku, Taiho, Unryu, Amagi, Katsuragi, Shinano, Shoho, Zuiho, Ryuho, Chitose, Chiyoda, Hiyo, Junyo, Taiyo, Unyo, Chuyo, Kaiyo, and Shinyo. The magazine is broken down into eleven sections. I will cover each section below.

Thank you to Bert Kinzey and Rock Roszak for bringing back a tremendous resource for the modeler, this time in digital format. Thank you to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to test out this new and exciting method of researching the F9F Cougar.

Overview

This review of an exciting new format of a familiar product will take three parts; 1) content coverage, 2) how effective and useful the digital e-book format is from a modeler’s perspective, and 3) evaluation of a kit using the modeler’s section. I certainly would expect the first question a reader would ask is, "Why do I want an e-book format?" I like reading through traditional books as much as anyone else, with the page-by-page discovery of storyline or new information. I also have tons of books in my library, mostly residing on stoic-looking bookshelves. This new publication format provides many advantages for the modeler, with few disadvantages, as described below.