When you purchase an overtree kit, Eduard also offers an ‘minimalist’ photo etch to upgrade it. The LEPT set normally includes just a pre-painted fret, but in this case there are actually two frets. One pre-painted that is primarily for the cockpit, and the other is a brass fret.

Packaged in a ziplock baggie with a card stock stiffener, this set is just the right amount of detail that is needed for the kit. These are things that I would want to add, Eduard just helped me out. The first fret is the pre-painted fret. It is designed primarily for the cockpit. It has the pre-painted instrument panel, which I absolutely love, along with other pre-painted parts. This fret also has the seatbelts. Some people have complained about the ‘pixelization’ of the pre-painted parts. I don’t find that an issue under a coat of flat clear. The clear coat causes the pixelization to disappear.

Aires Quickboost has released a replacement for the Monogram (and later Revell) series of 1/48 B-25J kits that replaces the cheek gun packs. There are no instructions but this is direct a replacement for the kit part. No modifications to the kit are required; the assembly simply goes in the same place as the kit parts.

Quickboost has molded the external gun packs in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles on three resin sprues. Each Quickboost twin gun pack is supplied on its own resin sprue with a separate sprue for the four .50 caliber gun barrels.

Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash this part to remove any remaining mold release and prime it first. This part will need to be installed with your favorite CA (super glue) or epoxy, as the normal plastic glues or solvents will not react with the resin.

Greg Van Wyngarden has taken a new look at the Pfalz D.IIIa service in WWI. This is the second volume of a two volume set (Datafile 173: Pfalz D.IIIA At War!). Datafile number 21 by Peter M. Grosz came out in1995 so it is about time that Windsock revisited the Pfalz D.IIIa. The initial Pfalz D.III aircraft received a poor reception amongst German pilots as it was regarded as inferior to the Albatros D.V. That doesn’t negate the fact that it was still superior to most of the Allied opposition of the time. The Pflaz firm, however, did listen to the pilot’s concerns over the D.III and soon offered improvements in the form of the D.IIIa.