This set for the new Airfix Beaufighter is a bit different. It includes a replacement antenna and pitot tube which are direct replacements for the kit parts. They are, as usual, nicely cast with no air bubbles.

The other 3 bits are position lights molded in clear red, blue, and amber resin. The unusual bit about these is there are no instructions telling you where they belong on the model. The kit doesn’t include position lights and there is nowhere in the kit instructions on where they could be. In fact, looking around the web there is a complete lack of info on Beaufighter position lights. So, what is a modeler to do?

Contents Description

The subject set includes several turned brass pitot tube parts, resin vanes and two 30mm gun barrels for the Su-17, Su-20, Su-22 (Fitter), plus the secondary pitot tubes (optional parts for all versions).

I contacted Master to confirm what material was used for the vanes and is their response: "This material is a resin, but not casting resin. This part is a direct 3D print, so it is UV cured resin used in 3D DLP printers. This material is very similar (chemically and structurally) to Plexiglass (PMMA). It can be easily join using CA glue. The problem is that this material is quite fragile, so we intended to use flexible type of UV resin, so it is not so easy to brake. Of course when it happened our customer service will replace broken parts for free. Piotr Czerkasow "

Hasegawa has reissued an old friend in the form of a 1/48th scale J7W2 (Jet Version) Interceptor Fighter. The J7W2 was a natural follow-on to the prop-driven J7W1 kit which was released quite some time ago. While the J7W1 prototypes actually flew short test flights for a total time of just under an hour, the J7W2 never got off the drawing board. The Info-Paragraph on the Hasegawa website states that, “It took its first flight on August 3rd, 1945”, but that comment refers to the J7W1 prop-driven aircraft. The only J7W1 left in existence is in the Smithsonian collection, and the J7W2 was never actualized. Within the kit instructions, the issue of whether the jet version ever flew is correctly put forward with a statement that reads, “The IJN, encouraged by the previous success of its propeller-driven Shinden prototype, had plans to build a jet-powered Shinden Kai, but historians have been able to ascertain exactly how far along this project was at war’s end.”

The Air Force’s 64th Aggressor Squadron uses specially painted F-16s in fulfilling its role of simulating opposing air forces. Over the years its F-5s and F-16s have worn a wide variety of paint schemes mimicking those used by potential opponents. Last year, the Squadron painted several of its F-16s in the “Shark” and “Splinter” schemes recently observed on Russian Su-34s and the Sukhoi T-50. Two Bobs has now issued decal sheets in 1/32, 1/48 and 1/72 scales to allow modelers to depict both schemes.

Sheet 72-104 provides markings for two aircraft in the “Splinter" scheme and one in the “Shark” scheme. Two of the aircraft (one in each scheme) are Block 32 jets while the third is a block 25 jet. As I had an old Hasegawa model of an early block F-16, I decided to use it for this project. I am not an F-16 expert, so it is possible that the kit actually represents a different block number, so I apologize in advance if I did get it wrong!

IPMS/USA thanks Ross and his Team at SAC for supporting the IPMS USA reviewer corps with one more of many monthly releases, with another great landing gear addition for the modeling community.