Package Contents Front

USAF Crew Chief with Toolbox, Tools, and Notebook

Left front 3 antennas finished

Befehls Panther Ausf. G

Cockpit assembly

Academy B17E "Pacific Theater"

Aircraft on kit-supplied catapult

Aichi E13A1 Type 0 Jake Model 11 & Catapult Limited Edition

Sample sprue

Panzerkampfwagen V Panther Ausf. A Early/Mid

8

Beaufort Mk.1 – WWII British Dominions Air Force

19

P-40E Warhawk Royal Class Dual Combo

Parts 4

Spitfire Mk. VI

Right front

Messerschmitt Bf-109F-4

Finished Model - Left Side

2015 Ford Mustang GT SnapTite

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Cover

General Dynamics F-111 - A Comprehensive Guide
Book Author(s)
Anthony Thornborough
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
SAM Publications
MSRP
$27.18

For those of you who haven't seen them, SAM Publications has a series of books they call Datafile which are devoted to a particular aircraft and also have a modeling section. The newest one is No. 19 and deals with the General Dynamics F-111 series. There are 12 chapters dealing with all things Aardvark. The chapters are listed below:

Box Art

'55 Jukebox Ford
Review Author
Mark Aldrich
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$18.99

Pro-Modified cars are some of the most killer machines on the planet! I mean what is not to love about an old muscle car that has been stretched, chopped, and a throwing a HUGE powerful engine under the hood? They combine power, speed, coolness and creativity into some crowd pleasing machinery. Dick Brown Motorsports runs this beautifully modified 1955 Crown Victoria with a stretched Boss 429 engine. I have no idea the last time this monster raced. I know it was driven by Norm Wizner, who also appears to be a custom builder as well as a driver. He runs a customizing shop that has a 2005 copyright on it and all the links on the bottom page were bad. I was able to find two photographs of this real machine and only one of them had a date on it…..2011. Norm must love the Fords. In 1987 he built the Mega Ford to take on the Chevys on the circuit.

Box Art

Sea Vampire F.20 with Scale Aircraft Conversions Metal Gear
Review Author
Walt Fink
Published on
Company
Cyber-Hobby
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$28.00

Included with this review

Cyber-Hobby’s Sea Vampire kit is a variant based on their Vampire FB.5 kit, with the inclusion of additional parts unique to the carrier-capable version. All parts are beautifully molded and the engraved panel lines are sharp and precise. (See Parts photo) The use of slide molding allows a huge amount of depth in the parts, which shows up in the hollow tail booms and underwing fuel tanks. The kit gives the builder the option of retracted or extended gear, open or closed canopy, and raised or lowered flaps. The heart of the aircraft consists of an upper and lower half, which makes up the fuselage and wings. Sprue gates for several parts are on the inner mating surfaces so when they’re trimmed off there’s no danger of marring the surface detail.

Box Art

USS Essex LHD-2
Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Hobby Boss
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$64.00

History

The USS Essex was commissioned in October 1992 and is currently serving in the USN. LHD stands for "Landing Helicopter Dock". This vessel has the ability to launch helicopters along with Harriers and Ospreys. The one thing that makes these vessels unique is the ability to also launch AAVP, LCAC and LCU's from the well deck.

The Kit

Hobby Boss provides the kit in a sturdy cardboard box that is stuffed full of plastic. There are twenty nine sprues of plastic, three photo etch frets, two decal sheets a twelve page instruction sheet a two page color paint guide. One note about the color guide, they list Mr. Hobby, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol paints. There is one mistake where they call for XF-58 olive green which is supposed to be the deck color. I believe that they meant XF-53 Neutral Gray which is what I used and was a pretty good match.

F9F Panther Wingfolds Packaging

F9F Panther Wingfolds
Review Author
Mike Kellner
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$16.50

Aires’ F9F Panther wingfold set comes in a bubble package, consists of 10 parts, and is made for the Hobby Boss F9F kit #87249. The pieces in the package are very nicely done and look great.

To install the Aires sections, about 1/4 inch needs to be cut out of the kit’s wings. I “under-cut” mine (slightly less than a full cut) then filed them down until I got a good fit. I had to thin the Hobby Boss leading and trailing edges on the inside of the wings to get a good fit for the resin parts.

Each fuselage side of the wingfold has 3 small tabs, and each wing side has two---these slide into the 3 on the fuselage side---just like the full size machine. But be careful; they’re very fragile. I broke one side sanding the joint and had to carefully glue them back on.

I used CA glue to attach the resin parts to the plastic and sanded them to blend in. Most panel lines lined up but a few didn’t.