My father, a retired career pilot and Colonel in the USAF, passes along a magazine he receives each month as a member of the Air Force Association. Several years ago, an article in one issue titled “Life on the Pine Tree Line” captivated me. The article details daily activities at a remote DEW-line radar site on Resolution Island, in far North Newfoundland, back in the 50s and 60s. In particular, photos of an H-21 Shawnee or “Flying Banana” as it is more commonly referred to in Artic Red conspicuity markings, caught my eye. Other aircraft and vehicles documented in the photos included a C-123, a TWA “Connie”, various cargo trucks and vehicles, and a small WWII utility vehicle known as a “Weasel”. Visions of a winter diorama scene began to take shape.

The Boeing AH-64-D Longbow is a twin-turbo shaft attack helicopter with a nose mounted target acquisition and night vision systems which makes it incredibly destructive. Longbow-equipped Apaches can locate up to 256 targets simultaneously within 50 km; the fire control radar is able to crush the enemy beyond sight range.

Upon opening the box, I found there to be 4 sprue's - 3 grey and 1 clear. Also included were the instructions for five different markings and stencils plus a decal sheet. The first thing I always do is to remove the clear sprue and pour future over them. This will stop a lot of problems later. Inspecting the rest of the grey sprue's I found no sink holes on the outside of the parts, but there were a few on the inside that were not going to be seen at final display.

This title is from Osprey’s well received Combat Series of books. It is number 26 in the series.

From the Cover

South Africa 1880-1902