History

This Limited Edition kit from Hasegawa allows the modeler to produce an interesting diorama related to the Akeno Flying School as it existed in December of 1943. The Akeno Flying School was located on the island of Honshu, south of Nagoya and east of Osaka. It was called the Supreme Flight Training School for the Imperial Japanese Army. Lots of photos of aircraft that were used during training at Akeno include many fighters from the Ki-27 to the Ki-100. By December, 1943, Japan was seriously in need of new pilots. A series of conflicts with opponents across the area of operations had ground down the Japanese Army Air Service and replacements were desperately needed from schools like Akeno. This limited edition kit combo features two aircraft, a Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa and a Ki-44 Shoki, plus a TX40 Fuel Truck. Also included are several figures and a small four wheeled push cart.

Thank you to Bert Kinzey and Rock Roszak for bringing another tremendous digital resource to the modeler. Thank you to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to test out this new and exciting method of researching colors and markings of my favorite jet of all time, the F-14 Tomcat. A very significant plus of this updated version is that the entire history of all the Pacific F-14 squadrons, including TOPGUN/NSAWC and evaluation squadrons, is now available in a single publication.

Brengun, based in the Czech Republic, is known for producing a range of photo-etched and resin accessories for airplane models. They also produce a small number of 1/72nd and 1/144th aircraft model sets. One of their latest airplane kits is the North American A-36 Apache. With the release of this new kit, they have added a number of accessories for it including additional photo-etch details, a vacuform canopy, and these painting masks for the canopy.

The A-36 Apache was a dive bomber version of the P-51 Mustang. It was based on the fuselage of the P-51A, but with completely redesigned wings strengthened to support the added stress of dive bombing. Since the main difference between the P-51A and the A-36 is the wind design, this mask set would work with both the P-51A and the A-36. I used mine on the A-36.