This book comes in the now familiar red cover with type photo and follows the series normal format. The XB-46 was one of four entries into the competition for a jet-powered medium bomber. They were along with the XB-46; the North American XB-45, Boeing XB-47 and Martin XB-48. Boeing was allowed to use swept-wing research captured from the Germans on their design.

Of the other three straight winged designs the XB-45 was the winner and received a production order. That being said Convair’s XB-46 was one of the most beautiful and elegant straight wing jet designs ever conceived. The long thin 113 foot Davis wing and 105 foot cylindrical fuselage combination was most aesthetically pleasing.

The book begins with the development of the design and construction. Paying strict attention to the details, including a full range of cockpit detail photographs, other crew position area as well as aircraft systems from pneumatic to fuel to weapons to engines.

Up front: Sincere thanks to Italeri and their U.S. distributor, Hobbico USA, for this Boeing -Licensed model of the venerable B-52. And thanks to IPMS for sending it to review.

When you purchase an overtree kit, Eduard also offers an ‘minimalist’ photo etch to upgrade it. The LEPT set normally includes just a pre-painted fret, but in this case there are actually two frets. One pre-painted that is primarily for the cockpit, and the other is a brass fret.

Packaged in a ziplock baggie with a card stock stiffener, this set is just the right amount of detail that is needed for the kit. These are things that I would want to add, Eduard just helped me out. The first fret is the pre-painted fret. It is designed primarily for the cockpit. It has the pre-painted instrument panel, which I absolutely love, along with other pre-painted parts. This fret also has the seatbelts. Some people have complained about the ‘pixelization’ of the pre-painted parts. I don’t find that an issue under a coat of flat clear. The clear coat causes the pixelization to disappear.

Aires Quickboost has released a replacement for the Monogram (and later Revell) series of 1/48 B-25J kits that replaces the cheek gun packs. There are no instructions but this is direct a replacement for the kit part. No modifications to the kit are required; the assembly simply goes in the same place as the kit parts.

Quickboost has molded the external gun packs in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles on three resin sprues. Each Quickboost twin gun pack is supplied on its own resin sprue with a separate sprue for the four .50 caliber gun barrels.

Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash this part to remove any remaining mold release and prime it first. This part will need to be installed with your favorite CA (super glue) or epoxy, as the normal plastic glues or solvents will not react with the resin.

History

The Mikoyan MiG-27 (NATO reporting name "Flogger-D/J") is a variable-geometry ground-attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan design bureau in the Soviet Union and later license-produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics as the Bahadur ("Valiant"). It is based on the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 fighter aircraft, but optimized for air-to-ground attack. Unlike the MiG-23, the MiG-27 did not see widespread use outside Russia, as most countries opted for the MiG-23BN and Sukhoi Su-22 instead. It remains in service with the Indian, Kazakh and Sri Lankan Air Forces in the ground attack role. All Russian and Ukrainian MiG-27s have been retired.

Trumpeter, a Chinese maker of scale model kits, produces the kit. The kit arrives in a very colorful box with artwork of a Mig-27 Flogger D displayed in level flight. The box sides show the four decal options.