What’s in the box? The kit consists of close to 300 parts in olive-colored plastic (not all parts will be used), eight clear parts for periscopes and headlight lenses, one PE fret with 49 parts (again, not all will be used), one decal sheet for five different vehicles, and a twenty-page instruction book on glossy paper. All parts are very crisp with no flash or knock-out pin marks that will be visible in the end, just the usual mold lines and attachment points to clean up. I suggest that you be careful when removing the parts as many are tiny and may end up in the carpet monster. One standout feature is the one-piece idler wheels, truly a remarkable slide molding that captures all the detail.

Lamborghini introduced the Aventador in 2011 as the replacement for the Marcielago. Aoshima introduced its 1/24 scale version in 2012 and the model is every bit as cool-looking as the real thing. Aoshima accurately captured the stealth jet fighter proportions of the one-to-one car.

The model comes packaged in separate bags for the different trees. The body parts are molded in white plastic, the interior parts in gray, and the chassis in black. The wheels, headlight/taillight bezels, exhaust, and a couple of other pieces are molded in a satin chrome finish. There are painting mask for the windshield and side windows, and all of the clear parts are packaged separately. The taillights are molded in clear red, so no painting needed. The instruction sheet, mostly, is clear and easy to follow.

The Type IIB U-Boat was used throughout World War II as a coastal patrol boat, and only twenty were made. Since it could not operate very far from its home port and carried very little armament, it was used to train new crews and prepare new Kapitans for their commands. Surprisingly, most of the Type IIB losses were from the Kapitan scuttling the boat. The first Type IIB was launched on June 29, 1935. It was interesting doing research on the boats that are referred to on the instruction sheet and finding out that markings and specific details of many of the U-boats are not readily available, and in some cases are best guesses.