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.

This set is designed for Eduard’s new MiG-21MF kits. The set provides masks not only for the canopy and the windscreen, but also for the HUD, the underwing landing lights, and the antenna panels on the vertical tail, the ventral fin, the wing leading edges and a number of smaller ones under the wings and fuselage. Unlike many of Eduard’s other masking sets, this one does not include masks for the tires or wheel hubs.

The inclusion of the masks for the antennas is a great idea as the MiG-21 has a lot of antennas. Most visible are the large panels on the vertical tail and the front of the ventral fin, but there are a lot of smaller ones on vertical tail, on the leading edges of the wing and on the underside of the jet. The panels are crisply molded on the kit and after painting the antenna panels green, the masks were fitted and fit perfectly as expected.

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, a supplier of great resin parts, 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.