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Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$99.99

The Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship has been in service around the world since the early 1970’s. The first version, the Hind A featured a large square sided front canopy, but later versions, starting with the Hind D, have all sported a streamlined double bubble canopy over the pilot and weapons operator. While the Hind was designed to be a formidably armed helicopter gunship, it can also carry 8 passengers or troops in the main cabin.

Like most other Soviet or Russian designs, the Hind has gone through a number of changes and numerous variants have appeared in service around the world and participated in many conflicts around the world, and continues to do so even today.

Review Author
Keith Gervasi
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$129.99

History

(From the Hasegawa site) On December 7th, 1941, Japanese fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers devastated the US fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor. Militarily, it was a resounding success. Most of America's battleship force was either burning or on the bottom and the Japanese strike force was barely bloodied. On December 8th, Roosevelt gave his speech and asked for a declaration of war. An entire nation woke up on the 9th and went to war by the millions. Now, 75 years since the day, Hasegawa brings you a three-kit set of aircraft from the IJN Carrier Akagi.

Review Author
Rob Booth
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$7.95

Chances are, if you model aircraft in any of the major scales you are well familiar with Eduard. Their product range varies from simple photo-etched enhancement frets to multi-media kits, conversion sets, and accessories which are amongst the finest in the hobby. Their products may be purchased online through www.eduard.com. I have built a few of their kits, and have used many of their accessories over the years. I am even a card-carrying member of the Bunny Fighter Club, which provided me a carrot-themed 1/48 Mig-21 and allows me a modest discount when buying direct. Check the website, and it will make sense.

Review Author
Jarrod Booth
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$129.99

The F-14 Tomcat is well known as a formidable, and versatile Fighter aircraft. It served faithfully, and saw action from 1974, until its retirement from the US Navy following its last deployment in 2006. Iran is the only other operator of the F14 Tomcat and is still in service.

In this package are two complete kits, and include decals for VF-84 Jolly Rogers aboard USS Nimitz in 1978, and VFA-103 Jolly Rogers aboard USS John F. Kennedy in 2004.

The large sturdy box features two nice color photos of each aircraft, and I referred to them several times while building and painting. All the grey plastic sprues for one aircraft and a photo etch fret are contained in one plastic bag. The clear parts are bagged separately. The main canopy in both bags had come loose, but no damage was found. Two squadron patches are included. These look fantastic displayed next to the finished models.

Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$52.00

History Brief

Allied code named "TONY", the Kawasaki Ki-61-Id Hien was officially adopted by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1943. It was different than its Japanese aircraft contemporaries, mainly because of its liquid-cooled Ha-40 engine in a slender fuselage with a long thin wing. Needless to say, it was and still remains an extremely attractive aircraft. Our subject featured an elongated nose to accommodate two 20mm cannons, plus it had 12.7mm wing mounted machine guns. With a production run of 1,360 units, it was the most produced Hien variant.

The Product

My sample arrived in the standard Tamiya box featuring attractive cover art. Inside I found an all new tool kit featuring a superb, highly accurate rendering. All parts are well packaged and free of flash and ejector marks.

The highlights according to Tamiya include;