Lyons Press was launched nearly four decades ago as a publishing company dedicated to what founder Nick Lyons described as a lifestyle of "responsible outdoor sport," Lyons Press has evolved into a leading publisher of high-quality books on fishing and hunting, nature, animals, military history, American history, and sports.
The Arado Ar68F kit by Roden is one of two version that they produce, the other being the “E” version. The bulk of both kits are the same with the exception of the sprue containing the cowling parts, since the E and F used different engines. The kit contains around 100 nicely molded parts in a medium gray plastic plus a clear plastic windscreen. There are no photo-etch or resin parts. Instructions are provided in black and white on 8 pages in 15 steps. There is also a separate two-sided sheet with two of the color schemes shown in color. Decals are provided for three marking options, all of which are very different from each other. A standard RLM70/71/65 option is included, along with an overall red machine with a white lightning bolt/arrow running the length of the fuselage and a white skull and crossbones on the vertical tail.
MMP Books continues its series of “Colours of…” Eastern European Air Forces. This time the Yugoslav Air Force before and up to World War 2. The second volume covers the period mainly the mid-1930’s until April 1941. Volume 1 has been reviewed previously.
In particular this book covers the following airframes
This book is as single-minded as one can be. Don’t look for a title page, a table of contents, an index, or any text for that matter. They are not to be found. It is an 8-1/4” x 11-3/4” glossy paperback with 24 pages of nothing but information and pictures of the -G model Starfighter as flown by non-US licensees, i.e., the “Single” subject..
The publisher’s catalog (Mushroom Model Publications) states this book is “a compilation of 4-view color profiles, scale plans and photographic details of the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, featuring scale plans in 1/72 and 1/48 scales plus drawings from wartime technical manuals and also photographs of the details in black and white and color.”
Note that the scale plans of the F-104G are only in 1/72 scale. It’s the weaponry and external stores, such as Sidewinder missiles and fuel tanks, that are shown in 1/48 scale. Six of the 24 pages are in color.
Most of the information published on the subject of World War I aviation deals with the development of single seat fighter types, and it is refreshing to see a book dealing exclusively with the less publicized two seaters. At the beginning of the war, airplanes were seen primarily as a means of observing the enemy to see what they were doing, or were capable of doing, and for spotting the results of artillery fire.
The Northrop/Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft with an integrated sensor suite that provides global all-weather, day or night intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. The Global Hawk's mission is to provide a broad spectrum of information collection capability to support forces in peacetime and wartime. For example, USAF RQ-4’s from Yokota Airbase (AB), Japan, have been used for relief and recovery efforts after recent natural disasters in the region.
PLATZ Models of Japan has just re-released their 1/72nd scale RQ-4B kit (# AC-34) as a Special Edition (# AC-34SP) that includes new Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) markings for Yokota Airbase (AB), Japan. The JASDF has recently purchased RQ-4s and is awaiting delivery. These aircraft will have the Japanese livery as portrayed in this kit.
‘Thank you’ to PLATZ Models for providing this kit to IPMS for review.
David Doyle's book on the A-20 Havoc is one of the latest entries in the 'Legends of Warfare' series with entries in Ground, Naval, and Aviation. The Legends of Warfare series has expanded rapidly since its 2017 debut in the market with now over 100 titles released. This hard cover series covers a wide variety of monographs at a good price point.
To start part 2, I started with the unique horizontal stabilizers. These are molded in a single piece (check out part one for a picture. This slots into the bottom of the fuselage with a rubber grommet and the two moving parts are actually separate allowing the entire thing to be posed. The fit is so good; I assembled the parts and left them off until later to ease painting.
I assembled the tail next and it consists of four parts. Since I was doing the VF-111 plane and its tail was white, I was worried about masking it off; no need to , the fit is so good, it also can be added later making painting easier. I did add the outer wing panels at this time and did have to do a little bit of filling with Perfect Plastic Putty.
This set provides an upgrade for Hasegawa’s AV-8B Harrier II kit and provides a complete overhaul of the kit cockpit and along with a number of photo-etch details for the exterior of the aircraft.
The cockpit parts include photo-etch rudder pedals, sidewalls, replacement tops for both the left and right-side consoles, two different main instrument panels, a photo-etch HUD bracket with clear film for the reflecting glass, and photo-etch harnesses and other upgrades to the ejection seat. The two instrument panels give you the option to model either an early AV-8B, such as those that saw combat in Desert Storm, or an AV-8B Night Attack Harrier or AV-8B+. The early panel has a single multifunction display, while the Night Attack Harrier and the AV-8B+ panel has two multifunction displays. The casting for each instrument panel is outstanding with exceptionally fine detail.
This is a re-release of the F-104 A/C kit originally released by Italeri back in 2014. The kit includes six sprues of grey plastic, one clear sprue, a photo-etch sheet and two large decal sheets. In examining the sprues, it is clear that some of them are common to Italeri’s 1/32 F-104G as the sprues include the later zero-zero ejection seat, AIM-9L Sidewinders, several pylons that are not used on the F-104A or C, as well as two styles of ventral fins and exhaust nozzles. The decals depict five F-104As and one F-104C, however two of the six aircraft (markings E and F) are repeats from the original 2014 issue. Unlike the previous release, all 6 of the aircraft depicted in this kit are in a natural metal finish with white upper wings.
