Developed in 1917 as a follow up to the MG-14, the MG-14/17 Parabellum was a machine gun used on WWI German aircraft that was capable of firing 700 rounds per minute of its deadly 7.92 mm ammunition. In addition to use on aircraft, my internet research also located photos of the guns used by the infantry. The offset 3-power scope shown in many of the photos is included with this Eduard release.

The Su-7 - in 1/48 scale - has one kit in town: the late 80s kit from Kopro/OEZ recently re-boxed by Eduard. The model is somewhat limited in surface detail and different manufactures offer ways to enhance it. Among them is Master Model which offers a drop-in replacement for the guns and pitot tubes (nose and wing).

As you can see in the pictures, the guns are a vast improvement over the originals, which are basically a plastic rod. The metal replacement parts have nice hollow ends and have different lengths to properly reproduce the placement of the guns in the Su-7.

The wing’s pitot tube has a much fine shape than the plastic one. Please note that you will have to keep the base of the plastic pitot tube and modify it to receive the turned brass one. Very simple to do with a file and a drill bit.

Of the many modeling aids available today, one of the most welcome for aircraft modelers is a good set of canopy masks. Furball Aero-Design delivers well with its 1/48 set designed for AFV Club’s F-5E/F Tiger II kits.

The single sheet of black die-cut vinyl masks will handle a single F-5E or F-5F kit – masking the edges of all canopy sections and the entirety of all wheel hubs. The die cuts are sharp and the masks lift cleanly from the sheet and adhere well to the model surfaces. Only two minor concerns were noted: First, there are no placement diagrams, which leads to the second issue of the masks for the F-5F windscreen being a bit short, thus requiring augmentation from the F-5E windscreen masks to cover the masking perimeter. Masking tape was used to fill in the remainder of the canopy surfaces.

The IRIS-T (infra-red imaging system - tail / thrust vector controlled) is a heat seeking missile developed by a consortium of European countries as a replacement for the AIM-9 Sidewinder. The program was led by Germany, but included other NATO countries such as Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Spain and the IRIS-T has been exported to several countries such as Austria, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. The IRIS-T became operational in 2005 and is carried on the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16 Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet, Tornado and the Gripen

Trumpeter has issued two versions of their 1/32 A-6 Intruder which was on many peoples most wanted list. While the kit is expensive, it is well done, well detailed and builds into a great replica. Of course that doesn’t mean there is not some room for improvement. While the aftermarket has been slow coming, Eduard has issued sets for the A-6E TRAM version to spice up several areas of the kit. This set upgrades the under carriage and wheel wells and contains one large fret of photoetch parts for the kit.

All three wheels wells are addressed and we can take a look at the nose gear well first. This is fairly well appointed in the kit but sidewall detail is lacking on the aft bulkhead. Eduard includes a very nicely done fix for the bulkhead and also half a dozen enhancements for the nose gear well which will add to the detail.