The movie Top Gun, love it or hate it, raised a lot of interest in the Navy Fighter Weapons School and that interest was not lost on modelers, with the markings of the Adversary planes standing out. Furball has given us an enormous sheet of markings covering thirteen different schemes covering 12 different of F-5Es and F-5Fs between 1976 and 1986. Note that this is different from the smaller schemes as they just couldn’t fit the T-38’s on the sheet. There is great news in that the markings included are all airframes so you could build all thirteen planes included.

The schemes included are:

Last we left off, the airframe was together with the parts and we were ready to paint. In preparation, I added the landing gear. To me, this allows the plane to sit up off surfaces while drying and these were sturdy and fit perfectly with the best attachment points I have seen. To start, I used Tamiya acrylic high gloss white thinned with lacquer thinner and sprayed the bottom and slightly up the sides. I masked off the intakes as they had a great demarcation line from the previous painting and the great design. I also shot the flaps, the rudder on the tail and all the landing gear doors. This dried quickly and I masked off for the Gull Gray. I masked around the edges and the rudder and used my Gyrocut to get some wavy lines. Tamiya yellow tape was used for all masking. I sprayed the top with Xtracolor thinned with lacquer thinner and set the plane aside to dry for a few days. I also gave both horizontal stabs a coat of gloss white.

This is a photoetch bomb bay upgrade set to for the Revell Ventura MkII which has very simple molded details in the kit part and really needs them. One reason I put off buying the Revell kit was my disappointment in the bomb bay detail, this set make it very simple to really improve the kit.

In the packet is:

• 1 large photoetch steel sheet
• 1 instruction sheet

Summary

This is a fantastic set and the kit really needs this as it’s a major improvement. The set does require a lot of work removing the simple molded details on the kit parts especially part B6. But it’s well worth all the effort. The set also includes the bomb fins and spinners. I really loved the finish look of the bomb bay once this was done. If you have the Revell kit you have to get this set!

Thanks go to Eduard for providing this set to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Many thanks to Mr. Ross MacMillan of Scale Aircraft Conversions and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to try this neat substitute and replacement set for the newly-released Zoukei-Mura F-4J Phantom II. I am pleased to report on another sweet add-on and upgrade from this company. The target kit has excellent detail and complexity making it a bit heavier than most, and having strong metal “legs” really helps!

The 7 white-metal parts arrived in a blister pack, backed by the distinctive SAC company logo. The weight of the parts is very noticeable. All parts are free of sprues and are nearly ready for priming and painting. The parts require very little buffing, cleanup and polishing. There are some barely-noticeable seams that readily retreat at the advance of a #11 blade!

The SC 50 was a small general purpose bomb used by the Luftwaffe in World War II. The bomb weighed between 48 and 55 kg and was produced in several different variants. It was carried by Luftwaffe bombers and fighter-bombers during the war. The bombs could be equipped with “screamers” which look like long whistles to make noise during flight.

This set provides eight SC 50 bombs and thirty-two very tiny screamers. The bombs are single piece units which are easily separated from the pour stubs. The screamers are provided in sets of 8 on 4 separate pour stubs. After removing the bombs from the pour stubs, I lightly sanded them on a piece of sandpaper taped to a small piece of glass from an old picture frame, making sure to keep the bombs vertical. This removed the remains of the pour stubs. Work slowly as the bombs are small and the fins are delicate. Fortunately I only broke off one of them, but it was quickly reattached with superglue.