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Review Author
Phil Pignataro
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$3.95

One of the criticisms I've read about the 1/72 scale Airfix Spitfire Mk.22 is the cannons are not quite the right shape or length. Apart from this deficiency, the Airfix Spitfire is an excellent kit and a great value for your money.

If you want to improve this model's looks and accuracy, however, Quickboost has a remedy. Their replacement resin cannons are drop-ins for the original kit pieces. Based on photos I saw, they capture the shape and size of the real thing. The kit's outboard cannons are too short, both barrels seem too bulbous, and both have an out of scale extension on the tip. Also, the resin replacements have no seam lines to eliminate – a definite plus, since the kit parts have large sprue gates. Smoothing out these sprue attachment points presents the possibility of deforming the circular barrels. Overall, the Quickboost cannon barrels look more refined and in scale. Check out the photos to see what I mean.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$199.99

After the last segment, the kit was ready for paint. There are three marking options included in the kit. I chose a tri-color screen from VF-17 aboard the USS Bunker Hill in 1943. To start painting, I wanted the bottom white to be hard and take some weathering. For this, I used decanted Tamiya lacquer from a spray can. This is just one of the many tricks I learned from Ed Kinney. I masked off the exhausts with Silly Putty and used a little red brown (just a couple drops) to tint the white away from pure white. This was sprayed in three coats and left to dry. The lacquer dried very quickly and very hard. At this time, the landing gear and the gear doors, the main flaps, and a bunch of miscellaneous parts were sprayed.

Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/4
MSRP
$39.95

The Bf-109E instrument panel is the second instrument panel released by Eduard, the first being the Bf-110 panel. The kit consists of eighty five plastic parts on two grey-colored sprues, one clear sprue, two photo etch frets (one colored), and one decal sheet.

The construction sequence starts off with the Revi C/12D gunsight. Let me tell you, this is a kit in itself. The build is pretty straightforward. You just have to pay attention to the instructions. I put one PE piece on upside down and had to remove it and reattach it.

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Squadron Signal Publications
MSRP
$59.95

This is the second book to be released by Squadron Signal Publications under the "Historical Reference" series. As explained in the front of the book, this series is written by using in-depth research of primary documents, giving a very detailed look at the subject matter. It appears that there may other books in the works covering aircraft and vessels. As I have said before, in my opinion this book is like a Walk Around or In Action series book on steroids.

The book starts with the origins of the CCKW. This began in 1928 when the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps started developing its standard fleet. What came from this were two 2-1/2 ton 6x6 vehicles. One of the interesting names involved in its development is a major player – John D. Hertz. Yes, of the rental car company, but he first owned Yellow Cab, and then Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company, which ended up merging with GM. They were instrumental in the development of the CCKW.

Review Author
Ron Bell
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$23.50

This one falls in the "that's an odd duck" category. This was a Japanese attempt – and a successful one, at that – to create a truly amphibious tank. The IJN developed the Type 2 Ka-Mi tank for invading Pacific islands that did not have adequate port facilities to handle regular tanks. The tank had removable pontoons fore and aft for flotation and to avoid shipping any water; they added a trunk for the air intake and a tower over the commander's turret hatch. It could do around 10 km/hr in the water, being driven by two propellers at the rear, and had a range of 150 km. These were probably test results in a bay or on a lake. I could find no information on its performance on the open seas, so I'd take that range and speed with a grain of salt. The vehicle was never used operationally in its amphibious mode, serving mostly as a dug-in pillbox on various Pacific islands.