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.

Quickboost now offers a pair of resin engine cowlings for the 1/72 scale Italeri Mk.IV/V Hudson kit. The Quickboost cowlings are one-piece moldings that are designed to be drop-in replacements for the kit’s two-piece cowlings. After the engines are attached to the nacelles, the one-piece cowlings simply slide over the engines. There does not appear to be any effort on Quickboost’s part to improve upon the excellent details molded into the kit parts. Instead, the purpose of these replacement cowlings is simply to ease kit construction by avoiding the need to assemble the pieces and clean up the two seams along the centerline of each of the cowlings when the kit parts are used, thus avoiding the need to replace/rescribe details. See the comparison photo below of the Quickboost cowling (on the right) to the Italeri kit’s two-piece cowling parts (on the left).

I’ve always loved the look of the Fw-190A-5/U12. Designed with two cannon pods containing two cannons each, it’s one mean machine. For those of us who are old enough to remember, we had the Monogram Fw-190 in the ‘70s, and in that kit they included the gun pods. While not totally accurate, it did make an impression on a little red headed kid. I built it with my kid. Fast forward a few years (okay, so more than a few), and we are blessed with accurate Fw-190s all around, but no U12 versions…until now.

Hasegawa’s Fw-190 kits are easy to build and really accurate. Inside this one, there are five sprues of light grey plastic with no flash or blemishes. The panel lines are recessed and display typical Hasegawa fine quality. Amazingly, the parts count is low at 81 pieces. A sprue of clear is also provided. Some poly caps are included for the prop. This makes a very good A-5 version.