Eagle Editions has released a 1/32 scale sheet for the pending HK Models B-25 “Strafer” which represent the 345th Bomb Group, the Air Apaches. For those who don’t know, the Air Apaches were a Bomb Group based in New Guinea in WWII who flew the B-25J. They flew missions against shipping, ground emplacements, and flak positions using the B-25 bomber not only for its intended purpose but also for strafing almost anything. One thing they also had was very distinctively marked ships. The tails were marked with stylized Indians and the planes marked as bats, parrots, and many other things with great nose art. A modeler’s dream come true.

HK Models’ B-25J Strafer is reviewed here at http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/b-25j-strafer . The kit is now arriving in the US and these decals give the builder three markings for this kit:

Scale Aircraft Conversions continues their prolific run at supplying modelers well cast metal gear with this latest offering for the Hasegawa Hs-129 kit which has been freshly released in a winter camouflage screen. The Hs-129 was the WWII Luftwaffe equivalent of the A-10 Warthog. The Hs-129 was small for a 2-engine attack plane with a wingspan of slightly over 46 feet. Consider that a P-51 had a wingspan of 37 feet for only one engine – this was a small plane!

Guided rockets are nice when you need to place some hurt on a specific spot, but when the need is an overwhelming amount of firepower in a small area, nothing beats the classic unguided rocket. Most nations still have podded unguided rockets in their inventory, including the US and the former Eastern Bloc, as they are cheap and effective. The B8V20 is a podded launcher that holds 20 80mm S-8 Series rockets. They are commonly found on attack helicopters such as the Mi-25 Hind, Mi-28, and Ka-50 Hokum, but also have been fitted to the Mi-8 Hip and others. Other variants of the pod include more aerodynamic shaping with a cone on the front.