First look at this kit and you can see a very close resemblance to the V-1 flying bomb. So a quick check of the Internet and Wikipedia found this- “Reports of the German V-1 flying bomb attacks on London prompted Stalin to initiate a program to develop a Soviet equivalent, commencing in June 1944. Vladimir Chelomey, who had been working on pulse jet engines, was assigned to the project in October 1944 and given control of OKB-52. The program was assisted by the partial recovery of a V-1 by Soviet forces at the Blizna test range in Poland. The initial V-1 copy was called 10Kh and later Izdeliye 10 ("Article 10"). Serial production was scheduled to commence in March 1945 with 100 per month, increasing to 450 per month later that year.”

When Tamiya released its 1/48 scale F-14A, it was made the new standard in F-14 kits and from the layout, it seemed like the F-14D would be coming and now, it has arrived. First, it’s gorgeous as far as plastic, general engraving, etc. and that should not surprise anyone. Most of the parts for the F-14A are still in the box and won’t be used. The kit comes with four marking options:

• VF-02 "Bounty Hunters", CAG Plane, May 2003, USS Constellation
• VF-213 "Black Lions", CAG plane, March 2006, USS Theodore Roosevelt
• VF-11 "Red Rippers", CAG Plane, 1995, USS Carl Vinson
• VF-101 "Grim Reapers", September 2004

Some great markings and plenty of aftermarket decals options also. I went through the instructions and compared them to the F-14A instructions and here’s a list of changes/upgrades:

The F-16 is another fighter on my all time favorite aircraft list for not only it’s performance but also, it’s use by many countries around the world (yes, I love small air forces). The Montana Air National Guard received the Fighting Falcon to replace the 106s and they looked good with the C M Russell skull on the tail while I lived in Great Falls. Then I moved to Salt Lake City and was just south to the home of the 16 at Hill AFB so I have seen them in the air and close up many times.

Richard Marmo once again gathers a bunch of great shots of this bird in it’s many forms and puts them together on one CD.

The disc is in HTML format and while it does require an internet browser to open you do not need an internet connection.

Richard has collected almost 900 photos on this CD. These are from Lockheed Martin, the US Air Force and other parties and while some have been seen before there are many are new to me.