Fighting Ships of the U.S. Navy 1883-2019, Volume One - Fleet Carriers

Published: January 24, 2021
Book Author(s): Venner F Milewski Jr
Company: Casemate UK

Fighting Ships of the US Navy is a series dedicated to exploring each ship in the US Navy’s inventory since 1883. In Volume One, the author, Venner F Milewski, Jr., starts with the Fleet Aircraft Carriers in the beginning. Overall, the book has a plethora of data and information of each aircraft carrier used by the US during the last 100 years starting with the USS Langley. Taking a look at… more

AH-64A ANG "South Carolina"

Published: November 13, 2020
Company: Academy Models

The AH-64 Apache helicopter is very recognizable from its unique shape and visibility from both Gulf wars. First flown in 1975, over 2400 have been produced. Academy has released a kit of the AH-64A Apache in large 1/35^th scale. Based on the instructions, this a rerelease of the Kangnam kit as the instructions are very similar. That’s not a bad thing either as all new decals for the… more

FJ-2 Fury

Published: November 11, 2020
Company: Kitty Hawk

Whew, this was a strange one and I apologize up front to Kitty Hawk. They were nice enough to send us a sample and somewhere between them and us, the USPS lost the kit. Every effort to find it or get it back failed. In the end, I bought the kit as I really wanted it. More importantly, let’s look at the kit!

The FJ-2 Fury was the result of an effort to convert the USAF’s F-86 Sabre to a… more

Lockheed P-38G-15-LO Lightning

Published: October 25, 2020
Book Author(s): Darius Karnas and Artur Juszczak
Company: Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books

MMP continues its “Single” series of books with no. 18, the Lockheed P-38G-15-LO Lightning. As you can see by the title, this is a very specific version of this plane and this book only covers that variant. There is no coverage of the H or J version of the P-38, just the one listed. This is also one of the versions covered in the new Tamiya 1/48^th P-38.

Let’s look in the… more

MiG-31 Foxhound

Published: October 22, 2020
Book Author(s): Robert Pied, Nicolas Deboeck; Kirill Mushak
Company: Casemate Publishers

Duke Hawkins is a series of superb photo essays on aircraft covering a dozen planes in thorough detail. The latest covers the MiG-31 Foxhound. As a first note, the 108-page book contains over 300 pictures taken by pilots and a “back-seater’ with over 20 years of experience and I must add that he is also an excellent photographer.

In order of appearance, the book covers:

• … more

Rafale Pilots - Seated in A/C

Published: September 15, 2020
Company: PJ Production

Belgium PJ Productions makes wonderful resin aftermarket pieces in all scales to enhance many models. This set is a couple modern European pilots in 1/72^nd scale. They are listed for a Rafale but would work in any similar plane also. The set comes with six pieces of finely cast dark gray resin- two pilot bodies and four arms. The pilots are NOT duplicates of one another and are… more

Punchers and Tigers, USN A-6E Intruders in the Cold War & Desert Storm

Published: September 15, 2020
Company: AOA Decals

AOA Decals is known for its well-researched and executed decals covering the Vietnam War and newer eras with an emphasis on USMC and USN subjects. Set 72-010 continues their growth in 1/72^nd scale with Punchers and Tigers, which covers two low visibility marking periods of two Navy A-6 Intruder squadrons - VA-65 Tigers and VA-75 Sunday Punchers, with coverage spanning from the 1980s… more

Hurricane Mk. I

Published: September 14, 2020
Company: Italeri

Italeri’s 1/48^th Hurricane Mk. I is a reissue and for a great reason, with new Battle of Britain decals to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of that event. The kit comes in 89 pieces of well molded gray styrene with minimal to no flash. Also included is a clear sprue of 12 pieces, a photoetch fret of 8 pieces, decal sheet with four options, and a instruction manual.… more

MQ-8B Fire Scout

Published: September 14, 2020
Company: Brengun

The Northrup Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout is an unmanned helicopter used by the US armed services for reconnaissance, fire support, and precision targeting. It is based on the Schweizer 333 helicopter and currently 23 of the MQ-8B’s are being used by the US Navy. Brengun has produced a resin kit of this helicopter based on Attack Squadron’s earlier release. The kit is multimedia consisting of 45… more

Intruder Sandbox

Published: September 9, 2020
Company: AOA Decals

AOA Decals has expanded to 1/72nd scale and their second release is a set of markings for the Fujimi A-6E TRAM covering all three Intruder squadrons involved in the strikes against Libya in March and April 1986 as part of Operation Prairie Fire and Operation El Dorado Canyon respectively; also covered are two squadrons in 1991 from Operation Desert Storm. Inside the package, there is one 5.5 x… more