The Fleet Air Arm drew from the backbone of the Royal Air Force to flesh out their ship-born fighter contingent, adding an arrestor hook and catapult spools to the venerable Hawker Hurricane to convert it into a naval fighter.

Arma Hobby are building a reputation for some great kits, especially in the underserved 1/72 scale. They have a growing line of Hurricanes among their recent releases, and the Sea Hurricane is a very welcome addition.

The box and instructions include colored art for 5 different aircraft, accompanied by nicely printed decals that performed well. Care must be taken to determine which aircraft you want to build, and then run through the instructions and mark which parts and markings are to be included on selected version.

The Arma Hobby styrene has a nice feel – not as soft as Airfix, and not hard or brittle. It was a pleasure to handle and responded well to filing and sanding clean-up.

ICM continues to pump out high quality model kits for us eager, plastic hungry modelers around the world! This is the second release of the Bristol Beaufort and represents the Mk.1A with tropical filters. These filters mounted on top of the engine pods and were used in hotter/dustier Mediterranean and North African environments. The downfall was the larger filters increased drag and reduced the cruising speed by about ten mph. The Mk.1A was an improvement over the Mk.1 incorporating a new machine gun turret and an ASV radar for torpedo bombers to search for surface targets. The Beaufort and her crews were relatively forgotten and unsung heroes of the Second World War.

What is in the Box

• 2 gray injection molded plastic sprues
• 1 clear sprue
• 1 3-D printed resin parts
• 1 set of pre-cut masks
• 1 decal sheet with 5 markings options
• 1 instruction book

Construction

This Arma 1/72 Hurricane IID starts with an unconventional build sequence, wings first, which includes the modification for the [-IID] 40 MM canons armament. This is really the only part of the kit that may cause concern for the neophyte builders. The plastic is a bit soft so careful sanding and re-scribing is necessary. Arma does give you a nice little resin [3-D printed] template for the upper wing. This provides the access panels to the 40mm underwing canons. You have to remove the four 20mm Hispano Suizo canon details on the upper & lower Hurricane IIC wing. Essentially, the plastic in this kit is the previously released Arma Hurricane IIC kit.

ICM has provided this very unusual subject matter for review, the KFK Kriegsfischkutter in 1/350 scale, and which is also produced in the larger 1/144 scale. The KFK was manufactured in large numbers as it was a very versatile platform for marine operations. It was used in every German WWII theater of war.

Kit Contents

• One light grey sprue
• Instructions

The detail quality is excellent.

The assembly is quick and easy.

The hull can be built as a waterline version or full hull, which is what I selected. Then the super structure and deck parts are assembled. I selected to paint the kit while building as it was small and easier to do that way. The kit shows the railing but does not supply material/thread, so I used easy line. There is also a small plinth base to mount the ship in the full hull configuration.

This is a great little kit and I really enjoy building it, it will make a great addition to a small diorama.

Tamiya caught everyone by surprise with its announcement of a 1/48 F-35A Lightning II. The kit is out now and it is fantastic. Let’s take a look into the box. The sprues are classic Tamiya, perfectly formed with great panel lines, no flash and the great Tamiya plastic. Starting off with the sprues, the top and bottom of the fuselage cover the majority of the fuselage with a total count of nine gray and a clear tinted sprue. Options include: