Helion’s latest book in the Asia @ War series is a square back soft cover includes 76 gloss paper pages. The cover color illustration by Pablo Albornoz depicts A116, one of the Royal Pakistan Air Force’s 35 Tempest IIs. Here, she is seen flying over the mountains and lakes of Kashmir in 1949. Tom Cooper’s color side-profile is of L973, a Hawker Sea Fury T.20 serving in a target-tow role. Her undersides were painted yellow with diagonal black bands. The white fuselage band was applied in the field by the squadron’s maintenance personnel. The rear cover features a color side-profile by Peter Penev of a de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth in British standard trainer yellow. Compare this with the color side profile of this aircraft on Page 34i where she was painted in high-speed silver from the factory, and passed down through the RAF, the Indian Air Force, and finally to the Royal Pakistan Air Force. This aircraft was manufactured by Dockers Brothers Aircraft of Birmingham, England.

ICM has provided this very unusual subject matter for review, the KFK Kriegsfischkutter in 1/350 scale, and which is also produced in the larger 1/144 scale. The KFK was manufactured in large numbers as it was a very versatile platform for marine operations. It was used in every German WWII theater of war.

Kit Contents

• One light grey sprue
• Instructions

The detail quality is excellent.

The assembly is quick and easy.

The hull can be built as a waterline version or full hull, which is what I selected. Then the super structure and deck parts are assembled. I selected to paint the kit while building as it was small and easier to do that way. The kit shows the railing but does not supply material/thread, so I used easy line. There is also a small plinth base to mount the ship in the full hull configuration.

Tamiya caught everyone by surprise with its announcement of a 1/48 F-35A Lightning II. The kit is out now and it is fantastic. Let’s take a look into the box. The sprues are classic Tamiya, perfectly formed with great panel lines, no flash and the great Tamiya plastic. Starting off with the sprues, the top and bottom of the fuselage cover the majority of the fuselage with a total count of nine gray and a clear tinted sprue. Options include: