Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Euro Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$21.25

The Hawker Hurricane saw combat in many theaters of operation, performing different roles (interceptor, ground attack, night fighter, etc.), and served with several different air forces. This allows the modeler to finish their model in different camouflage schemes, different markings, and with different under-wing stores.

Euro Decals provides us with a sheet for a total of 8 airframes, two of them being night fighters (all-black), a recon bird (very dark blue), and the remaining 5 airframes provide a combination of Day Fighter schemes. These include European, Desert Schemes (North Africa), and a very unusual scheme of Dark Green/Mid-Stone/Azure blue used in Burma. Considering all the markings provided on the sheet, you can probably build 3 or 4 different models utilizing this sheet, which increases the value of it. A minor note is that no stencils are provided, but typically you can get them from the in-the-box sheet included with your model.

Review Author
Pat Villarreal
Published on
Company
Euro Decals
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.85

Euro Decals has provided the IPMS/USA reviewer corps with a wonderful decal set for the WWII Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Vb in service with the Royal Air Force, South African Air Force, and Royal Canadian Air Force. There is no specific mention of a preferred model company for this decal set.

This 1/72nd scale decal sheet covers eleven (11) schemes:

Review Author
Pat Villarreal
Published on
Company
Euro Decals
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$20.15

Euro Decals has provided IPMS/USA reviewer corps with a wonderful decal set for the WWII North American P-51 Mustang Mk. III (P-51B/C variant) in service for the Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Airforce. There is no specific mention of a preferred model company for this decal set.

This 1/72nd scale decal sheet covers eleven (11) schemes:

Review Author
Bradley Moreland
Published on
Company
Modelsvit
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$30.00

Unboxing

This kit is packed very nice. It has 11 sprues molded in light grey for the aircraft and armament and 1 sprue of clear for the canopy, for a total of 225 pieces. It came with 2 decal sheets. 1 is the “Tiger Stripes” for the “Luftwaffe, 1993” version, which I have been attempting to do. This kit also includes 1 sheet of photo etch parts. They are beautifully done. However, for me, these parts were too small for me to work successfully with them. The item I was most impressed with was 1 sheet of masking film, mainly for the canopy. These were extremely high quality and fit perfectly where they should go. They made painting the aircraft without messing up the canopy a dream. I have never been able to mask another canopy as well as I did this one.

The instructions were highly detailed and even in color in some steps, plus the 4 different color schemes you could do. The illustrations were just as detailed as the parts themselves.

Review Author
Michael Furry
Published on
Company
Yahu Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.00

The Mitsubishi Ki-51 Sonia is one of those aircraft that has been consistently neglected by model kit manufacturers. Nichimo produced a kit in 1975 and that was the only option available until 2019 when Wingsy surprised Japanese aircraft model enthusiasts with a new tool kit. Yahu from Poland produces photo-etch instrument panels for a large number of kits including the Ki-51. I do not own any Yahu photo-etch instrument panels so this review allowed me to get a first hand look at their products.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$27.00

ICM has released a plethora of German medium bombers in the He-111, Ju-88s and Do-17 family. It is only natural to include bombs for them! What do you do if you don’t necessarily want the big kit? Or you want to add to your diorama? Well, ICM helps you out with sets like this one. It comes in a sturdy cardboard box with a cover bearing a nice photo of the contents.

Unusual for me is the inclusion of torpedoes. The instructions are on two separate sheets: one for the bombs and one for the torpedoes. They are printed on high-quality paper with full color painting instructions/decal placement. A sheet of decals is included. They look and work perfectly. There are six sprues of light grey plastic that is flash free. The grey is a little soft. That is a good/bad thing. Good when gluing but a bit of a challenge when cleaning up small and thin pieces.More on that later.

Book Author(s)
Tom Cooper
Sirous Ebrahimi
E.R. (Ted) Hooten
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

Helion is a UK-based company that produces books on many aspects of Military History from the Late Medieval period through to the present day. Helion was established in 1996, and since then they have published over 1,200 books, with 100 or more new titles coming out every year, for readers around the world.

Book Author(s)
Michał A. Piegzik
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

This is the second volume of Into the Endless Mist, The Aleutian Campaign. The first volume, Into the Endless Mist Volume 1: The Aleutian Campaign, June-August 1942, was reviewed previously. This book picks up right where the first volume left off. While good, a map of the Aleutians theater of operations present in Volume 1, would have benefitted from being included in this volume. A good introduction to this book is summarized by a letter from General Marshall to Private Allen, dated 17 December 1942, stated...

Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
Yahu Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$10.50

Founded in 2013, Yahu Models' expertise goes back more than 20 years in producing photo etch and utilizing screen printing. Most of their current product line consists of aircraft instrument panels.

This product comes in a clear bag containing an instrument panel, a photo etch (PE) fret for the two sidewalls raised objects, and a clear sheet is provided for instrument faces. I am really impressed at how sharply the detail is represented. The instrument panel is thin brass with raised instrument features in full color and the background color (black) is not shiny and looks just as it would in an actual aircraft. On the photo etch fret, details are full color and very crisp. Instructions are just one page and give the basic information on where to locate each item. The instructions do not indicate preparation of the kit panels, but it is obvious what needs to be done.

Review Author
Chris Smith
Published on
Company
Kovozávody Prostějoy
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$35.00

Another P-51 Mustang joins the continuing parade of new releases of this subject. This one from KP is advertised as a “new tool” for 2024 on the box top. I’ve had my share of challenges building KP kits, so I went into this build with high hopes. They get high marks for presentation.