Last summer Squadron Hobbies released three sets of decals for the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet family. Set 72002 provides decals for three Super Hornets in high-visibility schemes – two CAG (the carrier air wing commander) aircraft from VFA-81 Sunliners (2009) and VFA-143 Pukin Dog (2009) and an aircraft from VX-9 Vampires (2013).

Building a battleship, especially one this large and complex, can easily appear overwhelming. So, as with any large model project, its easiest to tackle it as a series of subassemblies. That’s more or less the way the instruction sequence is arranged, and it simplifies painting, if nothing else (I found out the hard way that the Tamiya spray can and the bottle lacquer are not the same shade of Kure Grey - too different to use the two together). So everything on this model is painted from the bottle through the airbrush. Otherwise, the Tamiya lacquer goes on beautifully.

I reviewed the Erawan War, Volume 2 - The CIA Paramilitary Campaign in Laos 1969-1974 that was posted in January 2023. I was impressed so much with Ken Conboy’s style, research, and approach that I asked to review the third volume in his series on the Erawan War. And I was not disappointed. While the first two volumes focus on American efforts, largely though the CIA, this volume focuses on the Laotian perspective and their many wars, infighting, international relations, and coups. Despite the efforts of the French, Americans, South Vietnamese, Thai, and Filipino advisors and military, the Laotian country followed the other Southeast Asian countries in their forceful conversion to communism.