Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Book Author(s)
Peter E. Davies
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$23.00

The newest in Osprey's Combat Aircraft series is authored by Peter E. Davies. A noted author with over twenty-six aviation books published, Peter E. Davis' focus has been on Vietnam War era aircraft. He has had a long relationship with Osprey and has authored 13 titles and co-authored another two.

Illustrator Jim Laurier, a native of New England, provides the color profiles. Jim has been drawing since he could hold a pencil and throughout his life he has worked in many mediums creating artwork on a variety of subjects. He has worked on the Osprey Aviation list since 2000, and has been featured in hundreds of aviation books.

Gareth Hector is a digital artist of international standing as well as an aviation history enthusiast. Gareth Hector provides the cover artwork of pilot Lt. Grover Erickson and RIO Lt John Perry in their F-4B attacking Bach Long Vi island on the night of October 26, 1965.

Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
Yellow-Wings Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.95

This is the first Yellow-Wings product I have had the pleasure of reviewing, and my initial reactions were very positive.

The focus of this company is on USN, USMC and USAAC subjects from the 1930-42 era, and this one falls right in line. This particular set provides markings for one specific aircraft, SBD-2 Dauntless #2106, during 5 phases of its lifetime. The standard ziplock bag contents consist of a stiff cardboard, full-color “title board”, 5 double-sided instruction pages (printed in black & white and color), and 2 full pages of decal sheets printed by Microscale. This is the 1/48th scale set, and there is also one available in 1/32.

The five different schemes for Dauntless #2106 provided are:

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Twobobs Aviation Graphics
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$14.00

The Aggressors are used to simulate potential enemy aircraft. The 65th Aggressor Squadron painted up their aircraft to visually look like the enemy aircraft. In this case they took on the look of the Su-27.

The decals and instructions are included in a zip lock bag. The instructions are included on a double-sided 8.5 x 11 high quality paper. Both sides of the four aircraft are shown. On the front of the instructions are the left and right side with the individual aircraft peculiarity. As is typical of the level of research that Two Bobs does the instructions give you the FS numbers of the paint scheme and the modifications necessary to make your kit accurate. The back of the instructions gives the color cross-reference for Testors, Humbrol, Gunze and Xtracrylic.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$14.95

Sincere appreciation to Eduard for providing IPMS USA yet another review item, and to the IPMS reviewer corps leaders for sending it to me!

This set is part of Eduard’s expanding range of aftermarket accessories to use on various aircraft. In this case, you receive four missile bodies with aft fins already cast in place, a set of forward fins (16 total), and four clear resin seeker heads. Also included is a set of resin ground-protective end caps which can be placed over the seeker heads, and a decal sheet to handle all four missiles. There is also a brass etched set of missile nozzles.

A word on the detail: FANTASTIC! These are the first AIM-9’s I’ve noted that have all three rail mounts in place between the fins; the rollerons are extremely well done, and the rest of the missile looks the part.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
AOA Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$11.50

Contained inside a ziplock baggie is a sheet of high quality, high viz, full color stencils for the A-4 Skyhawk. With the Hasegawa and Hobbycraft kits on the market the need for quality decals cannot be overstated.

These decals from AOA Decals are perfectly in register. Even though the one star and bars looks deformed it is perfectly correct. It is designed to fit over the inflight refueling boom. That is the attention to detail that you get with AOA Decals.

The decals themselves are printed by Cartograf so you know they are the best in the world. They are thin and in perfect register with good color saturation. There are plenty of variations for some of the common stencils. So you’ll have to check your references. The sheet is about 5.5 x 9 inches and contains markings to do a single Skyhawk.

The decals are applicable to the early A-4A, B, C/L and E. They also cover the A-4F and M.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$17.95

Thanks to Ross at SAC for yet another outstanding metal gear set. IPMS USA continues to appreciate the support! In this case, I purchased the gear, because I really needed it.

This set is, again, a simple drop-in replacement gear for the new 1/32 Italeri F-104C. This is the logical follow-on kit to the previously released F-104G/S, and this kit is great. A bit expensive, but the decal sheets are huge Cartograf items with several options. The basic plastic and the few add-ons like the gear was worth my money.

The SAC set contains the entire main gear beam strut area as one unitary item, and a nose gear. Both are perfectly cast and directly upgrade the kit parts.

Installation is easy. Use superglue and press the SAC gear in place. They fit perfectly, and impress with strength and “peace of mind” when attaching wheels/tires to the axles.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Advanced Modeling
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.75

Russian 1/72nd scale modelers rejoice. There are some superior parts available for your aircraft. Advanced Modeling used actual blueprints and prototypes to render these miniature gems in 3D CAD. This set is designed to replicate the bomb rack used on ground attack aircraft holding 250kg bombs.

The packaging is in a self-sealing bag that contains the parts for two racks, with parts contained in two separate self-sealing bags. There is even a small decal sheet for those that have Optivisors, as these decals are small.

The instructions are beautifully printed and attached to card-stock packaging. They are written in Russian and English. The drawings are simply beautiful and extremely accurate. The one sheet shows where the decals go.

Review Author
Jason Holt
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$54.99

Sometime back in 2015 it was announced that ICM was going to produce a new 1/48 Ju-88 series kit. I was rather intrigued as the Ju-88 is one of my favorite aircraft of WWII and that the last time I actually built a Ju-88 was an old Hobbycraft kit back in the late 1980’s. Then sometime in the early 1990’s a new model company DML, later Dragon, came onto the market with a whole series of the Ju-88 family. At the time these were top notch kits but some of the engineering in order to produce a wide variety of variants made things slightly complicated for some, myself included. So with this announcement of a new Ju-88 kit coming out I was excited but at the same time very reluctant as my past experience with ICM not being favorable.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Twobobs Aviation Graphics
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$14.00

On the heels of the Aggressor unit, 65th FG, being disbanded the aircraft were farmed out to various units. One of those units that acquired the ‘used’ aggressor aircraft was the 194th FS in Fresno, CA. They traded in their F-16Cs for F-15s. The aircraft retained their aggressor paint schemes until they were repainted in the Mod Eagle scheme.

This sheet is contained in a ziplock bag. There are two full color pages printed on high quality paper in full color. The side view profiles are on the first page. This gives you the color callouts for three aircraft, one Mod Eagle, one in Flanker paint scheme, and one in Desert Eagle paint. The paint cross references for all three aircraft are included.

The other three sides of the instructions show the upper and lower plan views. Each aircraft has the color callout and cross reference with Testors, Humbrol, Gunze and Xtracrylic paint ranges.