I won’t go into the history of the Mk.IX Spitfire, but let’s get right to the kit. It comes packaged in a sturdy large box with a flat black cove complete with a beautiful gold Spitfire sporting two beer barrels under the wings. On the sides are full color renditions of all the decal options. The box top itself is a piece of art that would look really good framed next to the Bf-109E box top.

Quickboost has always offered quick, easy, and inexpensive ways to upgrade your kits. The latest offering is a set of hollowed-out exhausts for the Academy Spitfire Mk.XIV. Molded perfectly in light grey resin, these two banks of exhausts feature exquisitely opened ends. They are drop-in replacements for the kit parts. Removal is easy enough from the pour blocks. Since the attachments are on the inside, there is no need even to clean them up.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review parts.

The German Kriegsmarine developed the Schnellboot (or S-boot) as a weapon of war to be used by elite sailors. As a testament of their skillfully trained men and excellent design, the S-boot flotillas were able to deliver offensive actions as late as April, 1945.

This book is devoted to the description of the main characteristics and features of the following classes: S-1, S-2, S-7, S-14, S-18, S-26, S-30, S-38, S-100, S-151, and the LS class, which was a “midget” S-boot used mainly from auxiliary cruisers. For each class, there are line drawings and pictures (most of them in half-page size, very clear and sharp) illustrating the characteristics of each class.