The Polish Air Force during WWII fought in many fronts, under many different camouflage schemes and with a very large variety of aircraft. During 1939, it fought over Poland and later it became an “Air Force in exile”, fighting alongside first with the French Air Force first and the Royal Air Force later.

It should be pointed out that, while incorporated to with the RAF for operational purposes, the Polish Air Force remained an independent Air Force (hence the small checkerboard with Polish markings near the nose of the airplane) under control of the Polish Government in exile, in London. While there also were Polish pilots in the VVS (Soviet Air Force) those squadrons were not under control of the Polish Government in exile and they were effectively a regular Soviet squadron, which was staffed with individuals of Polish-origin.

Tamiya has had lacquer paints in their catalogue for a long time, but until recently, at least in the U.S, they were only available in spray cans, which limited how they could be used and incurred a rather steep price. However, Tamiya has now made their lacquer paints available in .33 fl.oz. bottles in the United States. The color range is limited at the moment, and we can only hope that more colors become available in the future. In addition to this, many products from companies in Asia are in short supply for various reasons, so it may take a while.

Thanks again to our steadfast IPMS supporter, Ross at SAC… and to IPMS leadership for providing it to me for review. Metal gear frequently makes a difference in the longevity of your efforts in modeling, and Ross and his team are supporting us!

This set simply replaces the main and nose gear for the new Meng F-18E through Growler series. Although Meng plastic is pretty sturdy, and the kit gear will serve the purpose out of the box, the simplicity of installing metal gear on the assembled airframe with a trailing-strut arrangement is a worthwhile effort.

19 Parts include two main gear struts with extension and drag/retraction arms incorporated, and a nose gear with the catapult arm and control rods. As stated before, Meng’s plastic is admirably durable, but the landing gear is still vulnerable to gravity.