This is the third installment of Claringbould’s accounts of aerial combat between Japanese and Allied air forces. Volume 3 continues with accounts of Japanese Naval Air Force operations in the Solomons and New Guinea from 1942 to 1944 against Allied forces - USN, USAAF, Australian and New Zealand. Everything that I wrote previously about Vol. 2 applies here regarding the author’s approach to documenting both side’s account of individual actions by researching official records, eyewitness testimony, personal narratives and diaries, and often evidence obtained from recently discovered wreckage.
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PJ Productions from Belgium continues with their simple conversions allows the Airfix F.6 to become a GA.11 single-seat training version for the Royal Navy. Looking around the Internet, there were 40 GA.11 airframes converted by adding an arrester hook, adding a Harley light to the nose and eliminating the guns. The starting kit is the Airfix Hunter F.6. I am sure the Academy F.6 could also possibly work.
This simple conversion from PJ Productions in Belgium allows the Airfix F.6 to become a FR.10 reconnaissance version. Looking around the Internet, it looks like the FR.10 is a single-seat reconnaissance version with 33 made of rebuilt F.6 airframes. The starting kit is the Airfix Hunter F.6. I am sure the Academy F.6 could also possibly work.
One of the latest conversions from PJ Productions in Belgium is the set to convert the Airfix 1/48th Hawker Hunter F.6 to a F.58 which is the export version for Switzerland. A total of 88 were built and 12 converted for an even 100 airframes. Changes addressed by this conversion include a new nose to the aircraft, under wing rocket option, Side blister under the cockpit, change to tail fairing, fuel tanks and various antennas. All this comes from 34 resin parts which are very well cast. There are no decals for the markings and those will need supplied elsewhere.
ICM’s Gloster Gladiator series in 1/32nd have to be one of the most anticipated kits of the year, and having built all of them (so far) I can honestly say they are a delight and a wonderful addition to my collection. However, the small air intakes associated with the detailed engine build were a bit of a trial. Consisting of three parts each, they were a fiddly assembly and due to the nature of the sprue attachments, it was all too easy to damage the thin nozzle rim on removal (I speak from experience).