IPMS Number
2209

Reviews By Author

Box Art

P-39 Airacobra

Published: June 9, 2011
Company: OzMods

Background

Dave Johnson bought this kit from a swap meet or mail order. He let me build it and review it. Then it goes back to Dave. This saves me from taking up my already meager shelf space.

The Aircraft

The kit calls itself a P-39, and it is. But it’s also a P-400, which was the Export/RAF version of the Airacobra.

The P-39 was notable for the engine… more

Box Art

P-51D Mustang

Published: October 10, 2021
Company: Hasegawa

The Aircraft

The P-51 was the ultimate propeller driven fighter for the US in World War II. Fast, maneuverable, excellent range, plenty of punch, good load carrying ability, and it could be used for any mission the higher ups thought of. While it was superseded by jets, the P-51D was used for tactical bombing in Korea, and some air forces didn’t retire their Mustangs until the 1980s… more

Front cover

F-105 Wild Weasel vs. SA-2 "Guideline SAM"

Published: October 1, 2021
Book Author(s): Peter Davis
Company: Osprey Publishing

I was somewhat familiar with the two opponents in this duel, having built the 1/72 Monogram F-105G a while back, and I’ve got the Gran kit of the SA-2 in the “to build some day” stash. I also have a copy of a video produced by the Air Force which features the development of the F-100 Wild Weasel mission, with interviews with the participants.

The Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD… more

Kitset packaging

Mi-24 Mask

Published: July 11, 2022
Company: Eduard

I was just getting to the paint job on my review of the Zvezda Mi-24V. I had already painted the sand color when the postman delivered a package which saved me hours of work and possibly saved my sanity also. The Eduard mask set is a really great time and labor saving addition to the project.

If you look at the mask layout, it becomes evident that there are only a couple of straight… more

Box Art

Mi-24V/VP Hind E

Published: May 15, 2011
Company: Zvezda

The Helicopter

The Mi-24 has been in service with the Soviet/Russian air forces since 1972. The design is interesting in that it has three engines; another tri-motor to add to the list. The 24 has undergone a number of redesigns, and the early versions had a much different cockpit setup. The Russian Air Force has announced that it will replace its 250 Mi-24s with newer more capable… more

Box Art

Il-2 Sturmovik

Published: April 11, 2011
Company: Zvezda

The Kit

When I got the new Zvezda 1/144 Il-2 Sturmovik and Ju-87B Stuka, I thought they’d be highly detailed standard kits like the Mi-26 I built a while back. Well, no, they’re not. Zvezda is not only a manufacturer of plastic models, but they also have a large assortment of board games, and recently they’ve gone into war games using miniatures.

This is intended as an add-on… more

Box Art

Ju-87B Stuka

Published: April 11, 2011
Company: Zvezda

THE KIT

I’ve built a couple of 1/72 scale Zvezda kits, and they’ve always been quite complex, with lots of parts. The Stuka is a complete departure from that norm. It’s very simple, with only a few parts, and there’s not much detail on the kit. The explanation comes from the Dragon website. Zvezda not only makes scale models, they also make table-top games. This is intended as… more

Front cover

Model Art Profile, #9, Mitsubishi T-2/F-1 of JASDF

Published: April 7, 2011
Company: Model Art

I recently built the Hasegawa 1/72 T-2 for a detail set review. I ran into a large problem. The decals in my T-2 were many years old, had yellowed, and I didn’t want to do the Blue Impulse plane anyway. I went to my bookshelf, and I had only two references to the T-2, and one of them was for the Blue Impulse. I found a photograph of an aggressor which I used, but this book would have been a… more

Box Art

Boeing E-3 AWACS, NATO

Published: October 6, 2022
Company: Minicraft Model Kits

The Aircraft

The E-3 Sentry is a logical follow-on to the earlier US Air Force EC-121. Of course the Sentry has better radar, more room and a more reliable aircraft. The basic airframe is the Boeing 707-720 with the JT-3D engines. When NATO decided they needed an airborne command and control system, they bought 18 Sentries. It’s of interest to modelers that the 17 remaining NATO… more

Front cover

Victor Units of the Cold War

Published: November 8, 2021
Book Author(s): Andrew Brookes
Company: Osprey Publishing

The Victor was the second of the three “V Bombers”, Valiant, Victor and Vulcan, flown by the RAF in the nuclear strike role. When Surface to Air Missiles came onto the scene, the Victor became a low-level penetration aircraft. With the advent of the Blue Steel stand off missile, the mission became more feasible, but still sporty. This is when the camouflage changed from white overall to grey/… more