Res-Im’s multi-media upgrades for the AZ Model lifts this kit out of the ordinary. This particular upgrade features three different resin turrets. Molded in a medium grey resin with good recessed detail. The first turret has no opening and would be used at a training center like Hunter Army Airfield or Ft Rucker. The next one is the single weapon system, TAT-102, turret. This one features a single 7.62mm minigun. Strangely there is no hole for the minigun. That is an easy enough modification. The third turret is an M-28 style turret with two openings, either one 7.62mm and 40mm grenade launcher or two 7.62 mm miniguns. Included on the resin pieces are two miniguns, one 40mm launcher and one other ‘gun’ that I’m not sure what it is. This would go with the single turret opening and explains why there is no hole.

The kit of Ernst Udet is one of three German World War One pilots currently offered in MiniArt’s 1:16 scale Historical Figures Series. Udet was the second highest scoring WWI German ace serving in the Great War (and the youngest), who later went on to become a world famous postwar air show performer and light plane manufacturer. He flew for the movies, was instrumental in the development of the Luftwaffe, advanced the concept of dive bombing and was a driving force in adopting the Stuka dive bomber. He lead a very colorful life, becoming a member of the Nazi party and struggled for years with alcoholism until he committing suicide after Germany invaded Russia in 1941. There have been (and currently are) numerous kits of his brightly colored Fokker D.VIIs available from various manufacturers and the man himself has been the subject of a number of smaller scale figure models. In his day, Ernst Udet was almost larger than life.

Model Art Special No. 5 is a “must have” for those who want to build a IJN Type Zero Carrier Fighter. This is number 5 in the Air Model Special series and focuses on what most modelers and historians consider the classic IJN fighter aircraft of WWII. In 136 pages this publication covers the A6M1, A6M2a, A6M2b, 21^st Kokusho A6M2K and the Nakajima A6M2-N.

It should be noted that the text is in Japanese with virtually no English translation for those of us who are English-Only speakers and readers. But no matter, the quality of the images and the clever design of the photographs, tables, and charts is more than sufficient to get the message across successfully.