Aircraft History

The EA-6B Prowler is an electronic warfare aircraft operated by the US Navy and Marine Corps since 1971. With a crew of 4, the Prowler can take on several roles, such as jamming and electronic intelligence gathering, or even an offensive role when equipped with the HARM missile. There have been several upgrades throughout the Prowler’s life, culminating in the current ICAP III version. Today, the Navy has begun to replace their Prowlers with the EA-18G Growler. However, the Prowler is expected to continue to fly with the USMC until 2017.

Model Art No. 44 is devoted to Super Dreadnoughts – battleships from the beginning (HMS Dreadnought in 1907) to the US Navy’s Iowa class (the last operational dreadnought). As usual, in this issue there is extensive historical information along with kit builds of examples. The magazine itself is A4 size – somewhat longer and less wide than standard US 8.5 x 11 inches. There is a centerfold with the full-sized cover art of the Yamato firing a full broadside and Tamiya’s 1/350 Yamato model.

The coverage starts with a 14-page pictorial on Zvezda’s 1/350 HMS Dreadnought, the battleship that lended its name to describe the world’s most powerful weapon at that time. A beautiful kit, with pages of how to build the kit.

Next up is the ultimate Super Dreadnought – Tamiya’s 1/350 IJN Yamato. 20 pages showing details on building the kit (in late 1944 fit). Again, a beautifully built model.

This is the sixth Ultracast figure I have had the honor of reviewing and I can honestly say that each one is better than the last. This figure of a Luftwaffe Fighter Pilot is no exception.

It is sculpted by my friend Mike Good. He has a world reputation as a sculpture of pilots in every scale, and I believe I have painted every one of them.

This piece is cast in hard tan resin in five parts that fit perfectly. The engineering is superb in that the pieces are pegged in such a way that there is no way to fit them wrong.

After removing the casting blocks and minor cleanup of seam lines, I assembled the parts and mounted the figure on my favorite working block, a medicine container. I like this method because it affords me a surface to hold onto once the figure is CA glued to it, and after the painting it is easily removed from it.