Graham M. Simons is an English professional aviation writer, publisher and historian. Graham M Simons is one of the founders of the world famous aviation museum at Duxford near Cambridge. His interest in aviation was piqued watching the making of the ‘Battle of Britain’ film and from the days when you could go ‘aircraft spotting’ at London Heathrow and local airports. Graham’s engineering background led him to membership of a number of aviation societies, including sitting on the British Aviation Preservation Council. He was responsible for overseeing the restoration of a De Havilland DH89 Dragon Rapide airliner to flying condition and placing this aircraft - with official approval — in the colors and markings of the first aircraft of what was then the Kings Flight. It was during this period that he was contacted by Ian Allen Ltd to write the first ever history of this classic De Havilland type.

Following the changes with Revell USA over the last few years, Atlantis Model Co. has acquired molds of classic Revell and Monogram kits. Some have not been released in quite a long time.

The Allison 501 D13 (civilian), or T56 (military) engine entered service in 1954 and is still in production under the Rolls Royce name and designated T56. It was originally developed to power the C-130 Hercules and has since been used in aircraft like the P3-C Orion, Electra, E2C Hawkeye and many others.

I understand Atlantis worked to improve the molds. I could see that the molds in this kit had either held up really well, or had some work done to improve and clean them up.

Bottom Line

Tom’s Modelworks supplies a hefty, highly-detailed PE set for the Fujimi family of 12 large, Kawasaki-type Imperial Japanese Navy fleet tankers. This PE set is for advanced modelers with some scratch-building experience.

Brief History

The Kawasaki type tankers were twelve large (~10000 tons) tankers that were designed in the mid-1930s with the intention of joining the fleet in wartime, to be refitted with underway refueling of warships. Although there were some variations in dimensions from different yards, they were very similar in appearance and performance. Seven were used during the Pearl Harbor attack, and all were extensively used by the fleet, but none survived the war.