Phase Hangar provides a nice upgrade of the engine inlet for all A-10 variants. Before we get deeper into using this set, the inlet parts Hobby Boss provides are impressively thin and detailed for injection molded parts. However, A-10 builders always encounter the same issue, how to mask and paint the inlet interiors, fan blades and center cones. Phase Hangar has solved those issues by separating these parts making access and painting a lot easier.

That’s not the only advantage of this set. The fan blades are scale thin with gaps that allow a view of the structures behind. As with other complex Phase Hangar sets, the instructions are provided on their website and include detailed descriptions and photos to modify the kit parts for a realistic view behind those beautiful fans.

A focal point of any A-10 build is all of the ordinance hanging from eleven hardpoints across its wingspan. While the Hobby Boss A-10 has a lot of strong points, the kit provided weapon pylons are not one of them. The surface details consist of dimpled rivets and some raised boxy panels. Phase Hangar corrects that for us with this set of replacement pylons with separate bomb rack inserts. Each pylon includes a raised station reference on the casting block that corresponds to the weapon station diagram in the kit instructions. As with the other parts Phase Hangar produces for the Hobby Boss kit, these have fine surface details. There are no instructions on the Phase Hangar site for this but you don’t need them. Identify the weapons station, remove the casting block and drop into the recess on the kit wing. After minor cleanup to remove the casting sprue, the bomb rack parts drop into recesses under the pylon and include sway braces.

This book compiles the 4-view color profiles, scale plans, and photo details of the single variant of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 (Early).

The “Single” series of monographs from MMP books is very familiar to most modelers, and continues with this most recent entry concerning the equally familiar Messerschmitt Bf-109G-6. Containing scale plans in both 1/72 & 1/48 scales, black & white period photos, diagrams from the aircrafts’ “Handbuch”, and a full color profile, this 24-page monograph should be of serious interest to the Luftwaffe modeler.

Focusing largely on Rumanian (changed to Romanian after WWII) ‘109s, there is one photo of a captured machine sporting RAF roundels, and a few Luftwaffe ones as well. Numerous, up-close detail photos are helpful to the modeler in a “walk around” sort of way. Zu fasteners, weapons, canopies (and their retention mechanisms), landing gear, fuselage bulges and other details are covered.

The Fairey Flycatcher achieved historical significance by being one of the first fighter aircraft designed specifically for operation from Royal Navy ships and aircraft carriers. Developed to replace the Gloster Nightjar, it won out against the Parnall Plover biplane, and first flew in 1922. Only a few Plovers (10) were built, but 196 Flycatchers were finally built between 1923 and 1926, with the type serving with the Home, the Mediterranean, East Indies, and China fleets. It was primarily land and carrier based, although carrier based, a few were operated with a pair of floats, The Flycatcher was very popular with its pilots, and one advanced feature was the wing flaps, when ran the length of both wings, and which significantly shortened the takeoff and landing distances.

Although no original Flycatcher has survived, a replica aircraft was constructed by the Fairey firm in 1977, and it is currently on display at the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm Museum.

This first of a two volume set of US combat aircraft over Vietnam exemplifies the excellence that we’ve come to expect from Mushroom Models Publications White Series aircraft reference books. This heavily illustrated edition covers 14 of the most important fighter, bomber, attack and tactical reconnaissance aircraft flown by the US Air Force in southeast Asia. The second volume will cover Navy and Marine Corps aircraft. What you get in these pages is a top notch design description and thorough Vietnam combat history for each of the following aircraft, including many specialized sub-variants and special missions: