After 28 years of publishing, Ray Rimell’s Windsock Worldwide should be a familiar periodical reference to any serious WWI model aircraft builder. It’s fair to say that any such builder who is not familiar with the publication has been missing a lot and has been pursuing the subject at a great disadvantage when compared to those who look forward to the mailing of each new issue. Windsock Worldwide is, without a doubt, THE reference on the subject.

The September/October 2012 issue continues to deliver what can be best described as the bread and butter of WWI model aircraft news and information. This issue follows the now-familiar format…regular columns presented in order, with the center of the issue devoted to one or more featured subjects. This issue will be of great interest to any model builder who has purchased recent Wingnut Wings’ Fokker Eindecker or DH2 kits, because they comprise the featured subjects.

“Space, the final frontier…” The thrill that my friends and I felt that evening in September of 1966 for the premier of Star Trek on NBC (we were all of 11 or 12 years old) is still resonant in my mind. How cool was that new spaceship named Enterprise with its saucer-shaped main hull and cylindrical appendages – like nothing that we had ever seen before. To this day, I am still blown away by all that Star Trek technology and the original series is still tops in my book. So you can imagine my anticipation and delight upon hearing of this new 1:350 kit from Polar Lights of the U.S.S. Enterprise from the original series. Sure, we had the refit in 1:350, and even the NX-01, but c’mon, what’s life without Captain Kirk’s original mount in that same big scale? But enough of all that memory lane stuff, let’s take a look at this kit and see how my anticipation and delight have fallen short and been fulfilled.

The Mi-24V Hind E is the prime Russian attack helicopter. This variant entered production in 1976 and has become known worldwide for its effectiveness. Variants remain in operation in many countries around the world and, I believe, some variants are still in production. The Russian scale plastic model company, Zvezda, offers an excellent kit of the Mi-24V, as well as the earlier Mi-24A and the later Mi-35. One notable feature of the aircraft and the kits is a variety of exterior antennas. This offering from Quickboost provides a number of these antennas, finely molded in resin and much more petite than is possible with injection molded plastic.