Great Wall's 1/48 scale F-15B/D kit has generated a flood of commentary on the internet forums regarding its accuracy or lack thereof. Some of the complaints are justified, if sometimes verging into the area of extreme nit-picking, and some are not. This review will not rehash the controversy but rather will concentrate on building what is in the box to best advantage.

My primary references for this project were Reid Air Publications “The Modern Eagle Guide” and Isradecal Publications F-15 Baz. The latter is indispensible for information and detailing on IAF Eagles, and the former is the best available reference on the Eagle in general. The 26 page instruction booklet is fairly well done, although some of the illustrations are a bit vague. Packaging is first rate, especially the missiles. No parts were broken or detached from their sprues.

The FJ Fury series of aircraft has always interested me. I think mostly that’s because they were initially developed along with the F-86. Early decisions by the Navy resulted in their first version having straight wings, but they got their jet first. Of course, research into the information gathered from the Germans at the end of World War II showed that the swept wing was the way to go and the Navy eventually came around to the Army’s (later Air Force’s) way of thinking, resulting in the FJ-2. This aircraft was very similar to the Air Force’s F-86A. Improvements and more powerful engines for the FJ-2 led to the FJ-3, wherein the development started to diverge more and more from the F-86. Yet further developments let to the FJ-4 and FJ-4B Fury.

Many of the latest releases seem to have been ignored by many of the resin companies. One of these is the Trumpeter 1/48 A-3D Skywarrior. Eduard has come to the rescue with several sets that address some detail issues in the kit. This set is a self-adhesive (SA) upgrade for the cockpit. The set comes with one standard sheet of photoetch and one precolored sheet with SA backing. The SA sheet is for the instrument panel, side instruments and about anywhere a black panel is needed. The other sheet addresses replacement boxes on the back of the cockpit, sidewalls to the cockpit and rudder pedals.