One of the most revered World War Two fighters, Republic’s P-47 has long been popular with kit manufacturers and modelers alike. If you favor this machine in its P-47C/D ‘Razorback’ format, Mushroom Model Publishing’s first new book in the Colour & Scale series may be only 16 pages but will have huge appeal in terms of reference… and in directing possible streams of thought concerning potential Colour schemes on your builds.

Pages 1-3 are dedicated to side views of all variants along with upper and lower drawings in 1/72^nd scale, while pages 4-6 are dedicated to side views of all variants along with upper and lower drawings in 1/48^th scale.

Pages 8-15 cover the camo/paint and nose art of 14 pilots who flew the Jugg. After careful research, I can also tell you that there are aftermarket decals available for all the following pilots or Squadrons.

Another large and informative decal set from AOA yet again with a wonderful decal set for Naval Search and Rescue birds for the US Navy H-60 Seahawk/Knighthawk family that covers, MH-60S helicopter family.

This 1/35^th scale decal sheet Search and Rescue bird covers the following squadrons for the Kitty Hawk family of kits (now owned by Zimi models in China):

MH-60S

• HSC-2 Fleet Angel
• NAS Patuxent River
• NAS Patuxent River Option #2
• NAS Fallon
• NAS Fallon Option #2
• NAS Whidbey Island
• NAS Lemoore
• NAS Key West
• NAS China Lake

In the Package

There are a total of 2 decal sheets provided that have been printed by Microscale Industries. 9 versions of Search and Rescue birds are in this set! The main sheets provide bureau numbers, navy, and special markings. The second sheet has air frame data and stencil markings in low-viz.

Many will know Ronny Bar’s artwork from Wingnut Wings and Kotare Models kit sets; this new book highlights his talents with a vast selection of full-colour profiles of that most famous of WWII fighter aircraft, the Spitfire, and specifically the Merlin-engined versions. These range from the original 1936 prototype K5054 through to the late-War Spitfire Mk.16 and into the 1950s.

The landscape-oriented book has 232 pages and features 260+ different aircraft; there are 25 4-views, 4 3-views and 18 2-views. All operators seem to be covered including some unusual foreign-marked Spitfires. Also included are machines belonging to such aces as Stanford Tuck, Deere and Malan. The side profiles are to approximately 1/38 scale, so are of a good size. Some of the profiles will be familiar to those who have built one, or more, of the Kotare kits, and perhaps there are some clues as to what machines will be featured in future Mk.V kits?

This latest slim volume of the MMP Colour and Scale series by artists Dariusz Karnas and Teodor Liviu Morosanu features the French Air Force Potez 63.11 during the 1940 Battle of France. A three-place, twin-engined reconnaissance aircraft derived from the classy Potez 630 fighter, the 63.11 had a distinctive ‘greenhouse’ nose to allow for better ground observation. As a combat aircraft, the 63.11 was pretty useless, but it has featured in several kits over the years, particularly from Heller and Azur in 1/72 and the latter in 1/48.

Within this 16-page card cover book are a set of detailed 1/72 plans and full-colour profiles of 19 aircraft, including one 4-view and one 3-view. Captions are in English with a summary in Polish at the back.

Anything that makes a model look better than a basic build is OK with me, whether it is resin, photo-etch, masks, or decals. Enter YAHU 3D instrument panels, these aftermarket instrument panels are the best thing since sliced bread.

I have a 1/32 HKM A-20G in my stash and when I saw the YAHU instrument panel for this model I snatched it up. The initial look at the package, I thought, wow these look better than I expected. The replacement panel comes with 3D photo-etch for the instrument panel and other subpanels in the cockpit. The instructions are not very detailed about where some of the other pieces go.