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Review Author
John Ratzenberger
Published on
Company
Aviaeology
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$23.69

Aviaeology did a series of 1/32 decals for Zotz -- they released under their own name the 1/24, 1/48, and 1/72 versions. Of the 16 total aircraft in the original super set for Zotz, 7 have been released in 1/24 scale in these two sets. More may be coming, depending on how these sell.

Review Author
John King
Published on
Company
Minicraft Model Kits
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$24.99

The PBY-5A Catalina is a well-known piece of US Naval aviation. The modeler has Catalina options in 1/48th, 1/72nd, and 1/144th. For the 1/144th modelers out there or those that do not have the shelf space for the 48th Monogram kit, the Minicraft kit will fit the bill nicely. This is Minicraft’s third boxing of the PBY-5. The box contains the same plastic but contains two decal options.

Upon opening the box, two light gray sprues, one clear sprue, decal sheet printed by Cartograf of Italy, and instructions greet the modeler. There is some flash on some of the parts but nothing too bad. The engraving on the parts is nicely done with the exception of the main wing. The engraving of the main wing is a little soft, especially compared to the rest of the kit. However, after painting, it does not look bad at all. The clear parts look well molded and clear.

Review Author
John Lyons
Published on
Company
Bronco Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$39.95

Short History

The YW-531a was the first APC manufactured by Norinco for the PLA. It was designed in the early 1960’s and first appeared in 1964. It can carry a crew of 4 to 10 troops. The YW-531 was first used in the Vietnam War by the North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) and was in action again in the Iran-Iraq War.

APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), or mortars. They are not usually designed to take part in a direct-fire battle, but to carry troops to the battlefield safe from shrapnel and ambush. Amor on APCs is usually composed of simple steel or aluminum, sufficient for protection against small fire arms and most shell fragments. Just about any type of anti-tank weapon can defeat the armor of an APC. Some APCs also come with NBC protection, which would protect its crew from radioactive fallout or the like.

Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$34.95

Contents

Detail set of F-4 exhaust nozzles for the Hasegawa F-4E/F/G/J/S Phantoms powered by J79-GE-10/17.

  • 8 highly detailed resin parts
  • 1 Photo etch fret.
  • Instruction Sheet.

The Product

Packaged in the standard clear double blister pack you find secured by a small black foam block the delicate resin pieces, found intact and without flaws of any type. In the shallow upper blister section resting on a black back paper is the photo etch fret. The folded instruction sheet features well illustrated detailed instructions in color, on the reverse side also in color they feature other products offered by Brassin for the Hasegawa 1/48 Phantom phamily along with the standard contact and safety information.

Book Author(s)
Christopher Orlebar
Review Author
Jack Kennedy
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$35.00

Let me begin this book review by giving a little background. When I saw that IPMS received this book from Osprey Publishing, I jumped at the chance to review it. The reason for my excitement to doing this review is that back in 1995 I was working part time as a courier, this entailed traveling all over the world delivering different packages that needed hand delivery and were time sensitive. One day I got a call at my office to go to Dublin, Ireland via Atlanta. That evening I flew to Atlanta to meet another courier and accept the shipment for Dublin. The other courier did not meet me on time to make my connecting flight to Dublin and the courier office told me to bring the package back to NY and that I would take the 9:00am British Airways Concorde flight the next day.