Javier Garcia de Gabiola, is from Spain and works as a lawyer. He has published numerous articles and books related to legal issues. Always interested in military history, he also regularly contributes to various Spanish military history magazines, for which he has written more than 50 articles and has published multiple pieces with the Universidad Autónoma de México. This is his first instalment for Helion’s @War series.

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 almost 1,200 books, with 100 or more new titles coming out every year, for readers around the world.

This Kit

This is not a new kit and was previously reviewed by Mark Andrews in February 2020 and followed up with an after-market seat belt set review by Chris Smith. I strongly recommend you read both of these reviews and I hope I have avoided repeating those reviewers’ contents.

After it’s initial issue by ESCI, way back in 1983, this kit is clearly showing its age especially in terms of the industry’s newer molding technology. While I rate the fit of most parts is passible and the overall accuracy of the kit as good, you should be prepared for a 1983 ESCI kit effort (reboxed in 2001 and now 2020). I also have one of the earlier kits and cannot find any differences in the 37 years between these two kits.

Italeri’s 1/48^th Hurricane Mk. I is a reissue and for a great reason, with new Battle of Britain decals to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of that event. The kit comes in 89 pieces of well molded gray styrene with minimal to no flash. Also included is a clear sprue of 12 pieces, a photoetch fret of 8 pieces, decal sheet with four options, and a instruction manual. Engraving is very nice and there are several options along the way which I will point out as I build the kit. The four options on the decal sheet are:

The SBD Dauntless was a stalwart aircraft in the USN arsenal from the beginning of the war throughout most of the major naval engagements in the Pacific Theater. The Battle of Midway was a major engagement in the turning of the tide in the Americans favor. Accurate Miniatures’ Dauntless kits were their stalwart kits in their line—serving as the best example of the kit in 1/48 scale. It continues to be re-released by other companies with new decals and parts added here and there. In this Academy offering, the molds are starting to show their age with some flash and warpage. The sink marks are plenty as well and if you’re one to fill every one up- even the no-see-ems, you’ll have your work cut out for you.

What’s Inside the Box

The kit contents come in a nice sturdy box and includes the following well-packed bits:

The Top Drawings series specializes in line drawings of a given subject in each booklet. The 94^th installment in this series is devoted to the Gloster Gladiator or J8 as was known in Swedish service.

This booklet has line drawings (front, back, left, right, top, bottom, plus fuselage contours) for the Gloster Gladiator Mk I, MkII, Sea Gladiator, Mk II Meteo, Mk I Trop, J-8, plus Norwegian and Finnish ski types for the Mk I.

In addition to the B&W line drawings, you also get 10 color profiles, in some cases with multiple views (left side, right side, etc.) of the same aircraft. Markings are for British and Finnish service.

The booklet also includes a brief description on the overall history of the aircraft and each line drawing has an explanation as to what was modified from the previous block series. Scale of the drawings is 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32, in a pull-out sheet.