This is the third volume of Phoenix Scale Publications Real to Replica series and focuses on “Wild Weasel” and other air defense suppression and electronic warfare aircraft.

While the suppression of enemy air defenses probably started as soon as ground forces realized they could shoot back at the aircraft that were bombing or harassing them, it did not really come into its own until the Vietnam war. In order to combat the ever increasingly sophisticated and deadly air defenses over North Vietnam, the United States Air Force created the “Wild Weasel” program. The United States Navy also realized that there was a need to address this problem but took a slightly different approach initially.

History

The Messerschmitt Me 309 was a prototype German fighter, designed in the early years of World War II to replace the Bf 109. Although it had many advanced features, the Me 309's performance left much to be desired and it had so many problems that the project was canceled with only four prototypes built. The Me 309 was one of two failed Messerschmitt projects intended to replace the aging Bf 109, the other being the Me 209 of 1943.

The Me 309 project began in mid-1940, just as the Bf 109 was having its first encounters with the Spitfire in the Battle of Britain, the first aircraft to match the 109 in speed and performance. Already, Messerschmitt anticipated the need for an improved design to replace the Bf 109. The Reich Air Ministry, however, did not feel the same urgency, with the project given a low priority, resulting in the design not being finalized until the end of 1941.

T-14 Armata (Armament) was supposed to be the new top dog of all tanks. Designed in 2014, the new Object 148 rolled out on the parade field in May 2015. During rehearsals one of the tanks stopped moving (quite the embarrassment in front of the cameras) and it took a whole 15 minutes before it, once again, started moving. Here it is, 2022, no more than 20 tanks have been produced and may have had it's production stopped because of sanctions due to the current war.

Trumpeter Models has put out their version of the T-14 Armata this year (2022) and it looks like a little jewel. It only has five steps to complete this model, and, due to the pre-built tracks, pretty easy to put together.

I started out by painting the whole model on the sprues, but this caused a problem, none of the holes for the track, antennas, or track shields would fit. Live and learn. Other than that, everything else worked out just fine.