The IAR-80 is the best-known production fighter to come out of the Romanian plant during WW2 and has always had a certain fascination for me. Developed in the 1930s as the Rumanian Air Force was working valiantly to get into the arms race then taking place in Europe, the IAR-80 featured a license-built Gnome-Rhone 14K engine and some various bits and pieces purchased from other countries, including the machine gun armament. Despite the comparative lack of experience in such design work, the IAR-80 proved to be a relatively modern and well-thought-out design, although some fixes needed to be included during its design life, including external bracing for the rear fuselage, which had a tendency to twist during high-speed turns.

Among my several favorite aircraft I have an affinity for the B-25 Mitchell in any form. So when Airfix announced the B-25C/D in 1/72 scale I put one on reserve at my local hobby shop and my plans are to start building at my local IPMS club modeling retreat this January. I planned on building the Desert Warrior scheme so this set will work out perfectly for me. Up until just a week or so ago I usually took for gospel that decal sheets were reasonably accurate…

Upon receiving the Lifelike decal sheet, I started doing a little research on the B-25 “Desert Warrior” that Airfix provides as one of two finishing choices in their new B-25C/D kit. My goal was to try and get to the bottom of the decal dilemma. The dilemma being why did Lifelike Decals release decals to correct some of the decals provided in the Airfix kit.

The F-104 Starfighter was a single engine, single seat fighter that was operational from the mid-1950s through 2004. The TF-104 was a two-seat training version and did not carry the fuselage mounted cannon.

Italeri’s 1/32 scale TF-104 follows their nice F-104 from a few years ago. It comes packaged in a very large, sturdy box. All the parts sprues are individually wrapped and only a couple of parts were disconnected from the sprue. The clear parts and photo-etch fret were contained on one side of the box protected by a cardboard divider. Two very large decal sheets, an instruction manual plus a separate painting and decal manual were located at the bottom of the box.

CMK has produced a very nicely detailed resin Allison V-1710-39 engine for the 1/72 Special Hobby P-40E kits. The supplied items include the engine block, parts to assemble the mounting frame, firewall, engine cover panels and radiator assembly. Although made for the Special Hobby P-40E kit, with some prudent sanding to fit, the engine set should be adaptable to any of the 1/72 P-40E kits currently on the market. I dry-fitted to my Academy example (see photos).

Be sure to wash the parts in soapy water to remove mold release agents and prime prior to using your favorite modeling paints.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to the IPMS Reviewer Corps and CMK for the opportunity to review this item.

Background

The Sukhoi Su-24 “Fencer” has been in service for the Russian air forces for over 40 years. It is a rugged, variable wing sweep bomber that is easy to fly and well-liked by the two-man crew. Several kits have been produced of this aircraft and recently, the Advanced Modeling company has released some decal sets that depict the Fencer in modern markings.

In accordance with the agreement between Russia and Syria, a group of Russian aircraft were sent to the Khmeimim Air Base in Syria, September 2015 to fly in support of the Syrian ground forces. During actual operations, the national insignias and registration numbers were overpainted. This could not be easily removed so areas of lighter gray can be seen behind the restored insignias and numbers on certain aircraft. This sheet contains seven different markings for Su-24s that have been operated out of the Khmeimim Air Base.