A great surprise upon opening these decals is finding a set of masks as an alternative to the decals themselves. Then the secondary surprise was finding out that you’re provided enough information to do either the 2001/2002 early type or the 2003/2004 late type Demo scheme. This isn’t obvious from the cover sheet for the decals so it was definitely nice to find in the package. Someone who really knows the display teams would probably recognize the different schemes by year without needing a reference on the cover page. The decals are for the early type and the masks are for the late type. The decals on what I’m learning are a classic dark blue and white background for Syh@rt, making them stand out clearly. All of the decals for the paint scheme are in the gloss black striping. The modeler will need to paint all of the other shades of gray and silver.

The book is the fourth and final volume in the Kagero Monographs series on the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. It was written by Tomasz Szlagor and Leszek A. Wieliczko, and is published by Kagero. It is part of Kagero’s Monographs series, each dedicated to a specific aircraft type, offering a thorough look at its development, variants, combat history, and modeling resources.

Originally released in 2010, this softcover edition comprises approximately 92 pages. Some sources cite 96 pages and mention 128 photographs, so slight variations may exist between editions. The text is presented in both English and Polish, with a large-format paperback layout featuring numerous black-and-white and color photographs.

A pleasant memory for me. Military Aircraft of the 1950s is a combination/reprint of four Ian Allan books released during the Cold War. I had the Jane’s equivalent growing up. A hardbound book with 306 pages of data, each page with multiple photographs of iconic military aircraft.

The first section covers British Military aircraft (including helicopters), the next section covers U.S. and Canadian fixed-wing aircraft. The next section covers “Continental” (European) aircraft. and the last section is dedicated to helicopters, which is interesting as the first two sections also have helicopters in them.

The biggest benefit for a modeler is the three-view drawings of each plane. These photographs provided an additional source of data on wing and engine placement (and landing gear for fixed gear aircraft).

While black and white photos are not overly useful as a paint guide, markings on the aircraft can be used for decal placement

Kagero has started a new series known as “References for Modelers”. This issue is devoted to the Vought F4U Corsair.

I should clarify the book is devoted to the earlier marks of the Corsair, i.e. all the “dash one” versions, including F4U-1, F4U-1A, F4U-1C, F4U-1D, FG-1D and F4U-1P.

The references include a few period pictures (black and white) plus line drawings in 1/48 scale showing mainly side views, with a few front/back or top views. There is also a series of line drawing in 1/72 which show the evolution across the marks and highlights the differences between each one of them -sort of a ‘cheat sheet’ on how to tell them apart.

There are also a dozen color profiles, mostly in US Navy service plus the booklet includes a small decal sheet (in 1/48 and 1/72) for a Corsair Mk.II coded P54 in Extra Dark Sea Grey/Dark Slate Grey and Sky underside.

Atlantis has made a name for itself reboxing vintage kits. The Neptune is typical of these older molds. There is flash due to the age and mold features that were standards of this era. According to Scalemates.com, the model was originally manufactured in 1955. Atlantis has cleaned up the mold and, given its age, it is pretty good. The kit is molded in dark blue plastic and there are 57 parts, including one frame of clear parts. Thankfully, there are fresh decals along with vintage instructions.