This is the definitive book on the Macchi Mc.200.202 & 205. With over 650 photos, color artworks, detailed art and line drawings contained in its 224 pages.
From Wikipedia: The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians, and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. The medal is normally awarded by the President of the United States (the commander in chief of the armed forces) and is presented "in the name of the United States Congress." It is often, but incorrectly, referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor.
ICM has released a new 1/48th scale Bristol Beaufort Mk. I, Bombing Raid version with decals devoted to No. 22 and No. 217 Squadron. For this boxing, there is an additional Sprue W (3X) that will turn this Mk. I into a bombing raid ordnance configuration versus the torpedo version of the previous boxings (there is no F2 or torpedo trailer sprue in this kit). This is PART 2 of this kit review and PART 1 can be located here:
The box and contents review are in PART 1.
For this build review, I decided on the Bristol Beaufort Mk. I, L9878 MW-R, No. 217 Squadron, Autumn 1941, as the final configuration. This is a box stock build but I did not follow the instruction build sequence since there are area of improvements noted below that may help the builder.
This is Atlantis Models re-release of their old (1956) North American F-100C, one of the iconic American jets of the Cold War. As usual, Atlantis has cleaned up the molds and re-done the decal sheet but this is a typical 1950’s model airplane. Minimal parts (37), no interior except a pilot molded into a seat part that was ubiquitous to Revell airplane models of that era and the ever-popular Revell “Swivel Stand”. The model has the then normal raised decal locators but has engraved control surfaces. The canopy is nice and clear and fits pretty well. The decal sheet is quite attractive and having done many Atlantis kits I can safely say that it is well done and the decals behave.
The author begins the book with the following introduction,
While other great powers were in search of colonies across the oceans, Russia was gradually expanding its territorial borders.Starting from the middle of the nineteenth century the country began annexing territories in Central Asia, its northern part had already been controlled by the Russians.
The people who stood in the way of Russia’s expansion included the nomadic Kyrgyz and Kazakhs (until 1822 they were known as Kyrgyz-Kaisaks), and three major states further south: the Kokand and the Khiva khanates and the Emirate of Bukhara. The areas included present-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Chinese Xinjiang, bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
The PANAVIA Tornado was the RAF’s standard attack bomber from the early eighties until just a few years ago, serving across the World and in combat and proving itself to be one of the finest of Cold War military aircraft. Many kits have been issued of the type, including three 1/32 kits. The initial Revell kit was released in 1985 and was very basic for a kit of its size. This was replaced by an all-new and far better detailed tooling in 1996, one that has been re-released at least 8 times since, including a Revell-Monogram boxing in the US. This has been supplemented since 2020 by a new-tool kit of the GR.4 from Italeri.
The Tornado GR.1 was a sophisticated aircraft and as such was festooned by a large variety of antennas and aerials for its multitude of electronic gizmos. The ones in the kit are rather thick and not always correctly shaped. This new set from Quickboost by Aires solves these issues.
Author Alan Durkota succinctly explains this book in his Introduction:
The Army Air Force has 36 aviation-related Medal of Honor recipients in World War Two. One mission to attack oil refineries located at Ploesti, Romania, resulted in five Medals of Honor being awarded. making it the most highly decorated mission of the war. Two of the five will be presented in this volume.
James Doolittle’s raid on 18, April,1942 (sic), shocked the Japanese military and at the same time filled Americans with hope. History would show this mission caused the Japanese military to prioritize their effort to eliminate the American carriers which escaped the attack at Pearl Harbor, thereby setting into motion a series of events, including the Battle of Midway.
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the IPMS Nationals in Madison, WI, in July and was taken back by the variety of ‘specialist’ vendors providing their tools and techniques to the masses. One of the vendors that caught my eye was UMM-USA (Unique Master Models). UMM-USA is an on-line Store, importing and exporting kits, specialized modeling tools and supplies and consulting services. My main mission at the Nationals this year was to find a few tools I’ve been needing and UMM-USA had several I had been looking for.
Also at the convention, UMM-USA provided a few product review samples to the IPMS Reviewer Corp, so I was able to pick up this JHmodels Biplane-Wooden Jig Stand & Transport and a small hole reamer UMM-USA produces, for review (see the review titled: Micro Pyramid – Shanked Reamer RM (2.5mm))
ICM has released a new 1/48th scale Bristol Beaufort Mk. I, Bombing Raid version with decals devoted to No. 22 and No. 217 Squadron. For this boxing, there is an additional Sprue W (3X) that will turn this Mk. I into a bombing raid ordnance configuration versus the torpedo version of the previous boxings (there is no F2 or torpedo trailer sprue in this kit). This is a 2-part review and PART 1 will review the contents of this kit.
The kit box is typical top open with a nice illustration, but it does have a heavier cardboard fully enclosed box to protect all plastic inside. The sprues are packaged in a single plastic bag and the styrene is your typical light gray and clear plastic and will bond well with your usual modeling cement.
The Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-21 is probably one of the best known Soviet aircraft. Operated by nations all over the world, the Mig-21 holds the distinction of being the most produced warplane since WWII. The subject of MMP’s newest monograph is the reconnaissance variant Mig-21R.
The 24-page book is composed of line drawings, photographs, captions, and a color profile of a single aircraft. All of the aircraft featured are Polish Air Force. Close in-detail photos of the fuselage, wing, tail, undercarriage, armament, cockpit and canopy are provided.
Two pages are dedicated to the interior of the vertical fin providing details of the spars, ribs, hydraulic lines, fuel lines, and components not normally seen. Other photographs are of operational Polish Air Force aircraft.
