Gloster’s elegant Gladiator biplane was a staple of the British Air Force through the 1930’s and soldiered on through some of the tougher early campaigns of the Second World War in such places as Egypt, Libya and the Maltese Islands. Battling against often superior and newer opponents, it nonetheless distinguished itself before itself being replaced by newer, faster, and more heavily armed aircraft. It also made its presence known in a number of foreign services including Finland, Greece and the Netherlands.

ICM has released a number of variants of the Gladiator, including both Mk. I and Mk. II versions as well as the Sea Gladiator with arresting hook. All of these have proven to be thoroughly enjoyable builds and really do a fine job of representing this noble little aircraft in 1/32^nd scale. This combo set features the Mk. I only and does not include parts for either the Mk. II or Sea Gladiator.

Used for air-to-air refueling, Lockheed’s KC-130 and HC-130N, HC-130P series of aircraft came with two air-to-air inflight refuel (IFR for short) pods, one on each outer wing just outboard of the flaps. Later, the HC-130H, MC-130E and MC-130H aircraft were modified with these refuel pods. This conversion set replicates those later modified aircraft and the current KC-130J and HC-130J IFR pods.

This resin modification kit comes with 6 parts, three for each IFR pod, including a small phot-etched fret for the tail end of each pod. My sample came with the sprue runner broken off the nose of one pod, the break being at the sprue-to-pod joint, requiring some sanding and putty to smooth it out.

The hardest part on this resin kit is the IFR pod tail to main body attachment. Careful sanding and squaring off will help immensely. I noticed that the tail section’s diameter was slightly larger than the main body’s diameter. Some putty and sanding took care of that.

Based in Central Europe Kagero Publishing House is the biggest publisher and exporter of English-written publications about military history, release nearly 60 titles every year. Kagero was founded in 1995, and began by delivering military titles in Polish. Their success led Kagero to start releasing books in English in 1998. Authors from Poland, Canada, USA, Australia and Great Britain, who were invited to cooperation, gave a beginning to a new range of products, which have put them on a position of one of the most recognized publishers on the market. Kagero has released more than 550 publications. Kagero is managed by Damian Majsak and his wife Joanna.

Brengun from Czech Republic specializes on aftermarket details; for the most part releasing drop-in resin or photoetch replacement parts.

This set is intended to replace the kit wheels of the 1/48 Ki-43. Most likely the main recipient is likely to be the Hasegawa kit, but it could certainly work with the Arii or Fine Molds rendition of the airplane, with perhaps some minor modifications.

The parts are molded in grey resin, free of bubbles or imperfections and with great surface detail. The attachment points of the wheels to the casting blocks are miniscule and removal and clean up should be an easy task.

In addition to the resin parts, a small photoetch fret is included. Depending on which version of the Ki-43 Oscar you are modeling, some had open hubs with spokes and others had covered hubs.

Highly recommended to modelers of all skills, except perhaps the most novice.

I would like to thank Brengun and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

The Israeli Air Force has developed a reputation that is legendary and for good reason. Against overwhelming odds they created an air force that would dominate their adversaries. In a two volume series, of which this is volume one, it covers the origins of the Israeli Air Force in 1948 to the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Published by the Helion Company, number 28 in a series that covers the armed forces and conflicts of the Middle East, the book follows an established format. The text is chronological and packed with black and white photographs. The center of the book features color profiles of aircraft across the time line covered in the book as well as a small selection of color photographs. The photographs are well clear and well produced, something that I appreciate in publications such as this.