Aires-Quick boost has solved a few issues with the base kit in this set. The De Havilland prop is the one included in the Airfix kit. A comparison of the kit part to this one shows several advantages going to Aires. First, the spinner is cast as a single part with very fine lines representing the breaks in the real aircraft’s spinner. Next, there is a hole cast in the front that’s not on the kit part. The tool (jig) allows accurate placement of the blade angle. It also provides a hole that centers the spinner hole (you have to drill out) when you set it into the round recess provided. Be very careful to cut the blades off the casting block in a way to leave the maximum length to inset into the spinner. If you cut them short, you will have difficulty maintaining the 120 degree spread between the blades. Another plus for this set is the spinner on the version I built had a white front and black rear portion. Luckily there is a fine joint line right where the masking has to go.

History

The Avia B.534 was one of the classic biplane fighters of the 1930’s, and was used by several European air forces almost until the end of World War II. I did a review of Eduard’s kit of this aircraft in May, 2015, so for a detailed account of its service, I refer you to the IPMS review site. The aircraft appeared in four basic versions, differing in cockpit arrangement, armament, wheel covers, and propeller. There are many references available on this aircraft, including the old Profile #152, and most sources are available on line.

NEWS FLASH!! If you have one in your stash, throw away that awful old resin 1/48 F-16XL conversion set! You need not wait until you achieve master modeler skills levels to finally attempt the advanced surgery necessary to produce an example of this rare aircraft from those hunks of resin. Skunkmodels Workshop has finally come to our rescue with an affordable, 1/48 scale, injection molded F-16XL.

Two F-16XL airframes were built by General Dynamics in their Fort Worth plant in the late seventies. One single-place and one two-seat example of this truly beautiful airframe were completed. They competed unsuccessfully against the F-15E Strike Eagle in the enhanced Tactical Fighter competition in the early 1980’s, and the two examples were then turned over to NASA for research.

Scale Aircraft Conversions has released a nice set of replacement landing gear for the Kitty Hawk 1/48 Vought XF5U-1. The eleven parts supplied include the tail gear, main gear, torque links, and main gear retraction arms. A side by side evaluation of all the SAC parts shows the similarity with the kit parts. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new white metal items. You do need to be very careful to assure proper alignment on all three axes. The SAC landing gear may need to be slightly adjusted to be straight (a benefit of using metal is that you can bend it slightly). Smooth jaw needle nose pliers work wonderfully.

Wojciech Zmyslony and Wojciech Sankowski author the latest in Mushroom Model Publications’ series of aircraft used in the Polish Air Force. This volume’s focus are the piston engine Yak fighters deployed by the ‘People’s Polish Air Force’ during WWII and the late 40s.

The front and back covers are by Marek Ryś of a Yak-1b, one of three aircraft adorned with a presentation inscription.

I counted 177 black and white photos along with 2 color photos of museum aircraft. Thierry Vallet contributes 42 color side views as well as top and bottom views as appropriate. Colors are even called out with Russian AMT and US FS numbers. The great part of these color side views is they are backed up with period photos of the aircraft that is being portrayed. Wojciech Zmyslony and Wojciech Sankowski also include two tables (see below) that detail the date, unit, aircraft, markings, and pilot.

The Table of Contents focuses on the following sections: