Master Model has come to the rescue of Blackbird modelers with their latest releases in 1/72 and 1/48 scale. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Alpha-Beta probe measures incidence and yaw and is mounted to the RF isolation segment of the nose cone. The pitot tube branches off to the side of the alpha/beta probe. The size and detail are quite difficult to realize due to molding limitations. You can find many releases of the Blackbird from Revell / Takara / AHM (first released in 1966), Hasegawa (first released in 1983), Monogram / Revell (first released in 1984), Italeri / Testors (first released in 1985), and Academy / Minicraft (first released in 1985). I used the Monogram / Revell kit 85-5810 that was re-released in 2011.

Osprey Publishing’s latest edition in their American Revolutionary War series concentrates on the British invasion of the southern states in 1778, the first move in their "southern strategy".

There are some cases where photo etch parts are more realistic than anything you can produce in plastic The scale thickness is just something you can’t get in plastic When I think of photo etch I automatically think of Eduard They have been producing some of the world’s best photo etch for years and they keep getting better.

This single brass fret is designed by Eduard for their Bf-109F-2 kit It could also be used on the F-4 The detail parts are the same for both versions.

There are parts of the Bf-109F that are distinctly different from the later G-6s The flap design was still evolving when the Friedrich was produced Their flaps had an additional boundary layer built into the upper flap This is not reproduced in the plastic parts, however, it is easily replicated in photo etch The flaps can then be positioned in any position instead of the usual down The toughest part of the entire set is folding the flap mechanism This will take some patience.