The third kit in Eduard’s FW 190A-8 series is the Fw 190A-8/R2 “Sturmbock” variant. As the American daylight bombing raids became larger and more frequent the Luftwaffe searched for ways to increase the effectiveness of their daytime fighters in bringing down the B-24s and B-17s without drastically increasing their vulnerability to American escort fighters. Focke Wulf’s solution was to add additional armor to key areas of the Fw 190 and to up-gun it. The result was the Fw 190A-8/R2 which had extra armor around the engine, the ammunition boxes in the wings and along the sides of the cockpit. In addition the side panels of the windscreen were beefed up with extra panels of glass and large side panels of toughened glass were installed on the outside of the main canopy. The R2 also had the outer 20mm cannons in the wings replaced with 30mm cannons – giving the Sturmbock a hefty punch.

Kinetic Models has provided all new molds for the Super Etendard in 1/48 scale. Upon opening the box you find 5 sprues, one clear sprue and a small PE fret (HUD and some external details). Two of sprues are devoted to an array of weapons and underwings stores.

Plastic is the typical light grey from Kinetic, with good surface detail, fine and crisp recessed detail and no flash.

Construction starts with the cockpit, air ducts and engine face, plus wheel bay (both nose and fuselage ones). There are no surprises with those subassemblies, but make sure every part is properly cleaned and square as assembling all those components could throw the fuselage alignment off. There are internal alignment points for the air ducts and fuselage wheel bay, but not for the nose wheel bay.

The Summer 2016 edition of Windsock World War Centenary is the second edition of Volume 32. This edition has a decidedly Sopwith Camel bent, perhaps due to the release of the 1/24 Merit Camel and in anticipation of the Wingnut Wings 1/32 Sopwith Camel. The cover subject is a recently restored F.1 Camel in the markings of B5663 as flown by FSL RA Blyth that is owned and operated by TVAL of New Zealand. The Great War Paint series chimes in with photos from the Harry Woodman collection along with some twenty-six color side views and four top or bottom views by arvo@arvoart.com. Topping the Camel feature off is a color walk-around by James Fahey of the TVAL Camel on the cover with thirty-five detailed photos.

The S-24B is an unguided air-to-ground rocket with a high-explosive warhead that has been fitted to the following aircraft: Su-7B, Su-17, Su-24, Su-25, Su-27, Su-34, Mig-21, Mig-23, Mig-27, Mig-29, Yak-38, Yak-130, so you have many, many models that could benefit from this aftermarket set.

The set itself consists of two rocket bodies, two sets of tail fins, two set of exhausts, two pylons and 4 fuses (two V-24A and two RV-24 fuses). You also get a small decal sheet with stencils for the weapons and the pylons.

All the parts are casted in light grey resin, with a very smooth surface and no evidence of air bubbles anywhere. Removing the parts from the casting blocks should be easy and simple for all parts except for the tail fins, as they are very delicate parts and care should be taken to avoid damaging those parts.

Спасибо! THANKS VERY MUCH Mikhail and Victory models for importing and distributing these sets, and also sending IPMS USA another of your growing line of resin accessories for Russian/Soviet aircraft. Much thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it on to me to review….

A word about customer service; Mikhail, the Proprietor of Advanced Modeling, provided Dave Morrissette with reference pictures of the actual MER installed on three aircraft; it looks like Sukhois and one TU-22m; Dave then forwarded to me. THAT saved me a lot of time on correct colors. Most excellent service Mihail!