Prominent on the underside of the Mig-23 is the twin GSH-23 twin barrel 23mm cannon which can be used air to air or air to ground. The Trumpeter 1/48 Mig-23M and Mig-23MF kits provide multiple parts to create the cannon – the L34 for the fairing, PE parts 2 and 3 for the shell ejection chutes and part C2 which consists of the twin cannon barrel. Once covered by the fairing, the only portion of the GSH-23 are the muzzles of thee barrels with their distinctive finned shaped. This offering by Quickboost is a one for one drop in replacement for kit part C2, providing a more accurate pair of muzzles that are physically separated, unlike the kit part which has the muzzles connected. My guess is that the kit muzzles are that way for easy of injection molding. The resin replacement is not only separate provides smaller more realistically sized gun bores.

One of the planned builds in my stash is the Mig-21 F-13 the USAF obtained from the Israelis that became the secret “Have Doughnut” project. I discovered this aircraft in an article in an old Air Force Association Magazine my Dad gave me. The photos of the ungainly looking natural metal beast with stars and bars markings were intriguing. When I saw this book offered up on the review list, I asked for it thinking it would contain all the reference photos I needed to supplement those in the magazine to complete that build. I was wrong. There were few photos of the aircraft in the book.

What I did find, though, was the fascinating story of the creation of one of our country’s greatest defense assets over the past few decades. Author, and former F-4 Phantom driver Gail Peck (Col., USAF, ret’d.) details the story of the USAF’s aggressor training squadron from inception to its’ current status as the opposing force team for the best trained pilots in the world.

This review is for the 1/35 MiniArt Ardennes Street, which is a road section with a damaged building and a small culvert.

As with most of these MiniArt kits you get extras, and these are worth it too. There is a full door, some window panes and some window shutters plus a rail fence. The culvert is really neat too, and I plan to dress mine up with a small piece of pipe, and some trickling water.

The building is not difficult to build, but it does need some reinforcement in the form of styrene stripes. As you can see in the photo, it helps the building stay together, and it provides a place for the putty later on. I have built three of these MiniArt 1/35 buildings, and while I do like them my main pet peeve is that they don’t have much surface for glue to grab onto. However, as you can see from my previous two reviews, once the putty work is done and once they are painted they do look nice.