In 1941, Britain had an idea on how to extend the range of the Spitfire MK II so that it would be able to escort and protect their bombers from the Luftwaffe further into Europe. This idea incorporated a 40 gallon fixed fuel tank under the port wing. The only problem was that speed and maneuverability suffered. The tanks were used by the RAF’s 66, 188, and 152 Squadrons.

This set is made by a company named 3D-kits in the UK. I went to their web site and was impressed with what I saw. They have one area where you can download a Spitfire control panel that you can make into a decal and there is information that will answer most questions you might have about the Spitfire conversions they make.

I’m the rookie on the reviewer corps, and I was beginning to think that we rookies get the difficult assignments in order to weed us out. Not so this time. I received the Eduard Wildflowers and Butterflies today, and have already used them and I like them. Don’t worry the review is not going to be that short.

I have been a fan of the B-17 Flying Fortress for as long as I can remember. Seeing the punishment many of these planes took and still brought back their crews is nothing short of amazing.

The Fortress has also been a popular subject for the In Action series. I purchased #1012 back in 1973 and #1063 came out in 1984 and now we have a 3rd volume. However, this time you can get it in the normal soft cover or in hardback (which is my example). So what do we get with this new version?

Once again we get a brief history of each version of the plane from the original Model 299 through the B-17G, including a few pages on the XB-38 and YB-40. Line drawings and pictures show the differences in each model and will help the modeler get these right. I did notice the line drawings showing the development of the airframe appear to be smaller versions of those from the previous volume. However, I did not notice any repeated photos from either of the earlier books.