The August issue starts off with "Model Art New Item Special Information". They cover a multitude of new kits that have just hit the market or are getting ready to. Some of the kits mentioned are the Tamiya 1/32 F4U-1, Wingnut Wings 1/32 AEG G.IV, Wolfpack 1/48 T-38A, Meng 1/35 T-90A, and Takoma 1/16 Renault FT.

The feature article focuses on IJA aircraft and different techniques that can be used to replicate realism in your models. This article consists of forty pages. A few of the techniques shown are replicating fabric covering, chipped paint, and oil leaks. Of note is one reference picture of wing tip lenses. There is some debate on whether the lenses are green or blue. This is a color photograph and the lens is blue.

Designed in 1935, the B-17 became a force to reckon with by 1942 when the F model was introduced. It had a total production run of 3,405 – 2,300 by Boeing, 500 by Vega, and 605 by Douglas.

This release by Hasegawa features a new set of decals, but the same basic moldings which this kit had 35 years ago: overall good fit, lightly raised panel lines, light grey plastic, and some sink marks expected in an older kit. It has 98 parts and comes in a nice box with a sturdy cardstock bottom and a nice glossy top.

For years, I’ve been fascinated by what has come to be known as the 1946 Luftwaffe, or Luft ’46 – the seemingly inexhaustible blizzard of drafting-table designs the German aircraft industry produced before and during the Second World War for aircraft that were never built. The what-iffyness of these proposals that could have been flying against the Allies had the war continued for one more year has always deeply intrigued the science fiction fan in me. I first became aware of the phenomenon in 1967 when I bought Aireview’s German Military Aircraft in the Second World War, which included a series of line drawings of aircraft I’d never heard of before. As the decades passed, more and more information about these fanciful designs has come to light from declassified government files.