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Book Author(s)
Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$22.95

Osprey Publishing continues to expand it series Aircraft of the Aces with the installment of the Aces of the 78th Fighter Group. The book covers the story from inception to disbanding of the 78th Fighter Group. Even when trained to fly the P-38, upon arrival in England their airplanes (and many of their pilots) were sent to North Africa, and the group had to convert to, at the time, the short-legged P-47, then it took the Thunderbolts all the way to Germany and it ended the war flying P-51s.

The book has the following chapters:

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$6.50

Quickboost has released a complete set of replacement control surfaces for modelers who wish to finish their Tamiya’s 1/72 Focke Wulf Fw-190A-3 with the rudder deflected and stabilizers dropped. These parts were available previously in two Quickboost sets (QB 72 309 – Stabilizers & QB 72 311 – Rudders). But, now Quickboost offers everything in one set.

The parts are cast in the typical Quickboost medium gray resin that is both flexible and resilient. Detail is crisp, with recessed panel lines that are curiously close to those found on the kit parts. It looks like Quickboost started with the Tamiya kit parts, cut them apart, and added a groove in the stabilizers so the elevators will fit properly in whatever position the modeler desires. It also appears that Quickboost added a V–shaped edge to a rudder that was separated from a Tamiya kit so it will fit perfectly against the fin after the rudder is cut away from the kit part.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Monogram
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$23.99

Revell / Monogram has re-released their vintage “Eager Beaver” M-34 6x6 2.5 ton truck, the first of a long-lived family of trucks initially deployed by the United States Army, and subsequently utilized by many nations around the world. The M-34 started out in 1949 as a design by the REO Motor Car Company as a 2 1/2 ton, three-axle, all-wheel drive, off-road truck that was later nicknamed the "Deuce and a Half". The first vehicle in the family, the M-34, was quickly superseded in military usage by the M-35, the major difference being the M-35's 10-tire configuration versus the M-34's 6-tire configuration.

This old kit brings back memories of bicycle trips down to Rexall Drugs with my paper route money to buy yet another plastic model – I probably had a dozen of these trucks in and around the sandbox and dirt piles in my back yard, filled with mud-covered and dog-chewed army men. When I saw the opportunity to review this kit, I knew I had to get it!

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Aerobonus
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$10.00

The usual “Thanks very much” goes out to our friends and suppliers at Aires for providing us a brace of detailed, upgraded Mark 46 torpedoes – excellent parts as usual!

These torpedoes only took about 10 minutes to assemble; careful removal of the parts is called for, as the aft fairing and torpedo fins and propellers are extremely fragile, but they look great once assembled.

There was no filler required on this set; the keyed front body fits tightly into a socket on the aft section with the fins, making them a perfect fit. NO PE FINS OR PROPS! I was so pumped over this…

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$21.50

The usual "Thanks very much" goes out to our friends and suppliers at Aires for providing us this marvelous exhaust nozzle; you have made quite a niche in the market, and IPMS USA is pleased to review your products!

This is an upgrade to the existing kit exhaust nozzle. As it is, there are only two parts to the Kinetic kit afterburner/reheat section; with a bit of paint and drybrush, an acceptable exhaust can be obtained.

With the Aires upgrade, not only do you get a much more detailed hot section and fairing, you get a photo etch flameholder, a detailed augmenter tube, and a super-detailed exhaust nozzle and external aerodynamic fairing petals. The only difficulty I had was attaching the exhaust nozzle assembly to the augmenter tube, but a bit of light grinding of the augmenter tube fixed that problem…it all fit well once I did that.