Lakenheath is host to the largest deployment of United States Air Force personnel in the United Kingdom and one of the most important planes in their inventory is the F-15 Eagle. The Eagle is becoming a venerable plane having first debuted in 1976 but is still very capable and Caracal has honored this by producing a sheet for four F-15C’s all with kills and one F-15D all from Lakenheath.

The set comes an excellent color cover showing all four options. Left and right profile shots of all four options are also included with stencil and markings placement. Color call outs are also included. There is also a note included that all aircraft depicted have had the MSIP II conversion so that is why the Great Wall Hobby kit is the recommended kit over the Hasegawa/Tamiya/Monogram offerings. Also, this group of planes is well documented and pictures can be found all over the Internet.

Kittyhawks 1/32 scale model of the T-6 Texan was very well received and the buildup models with the kit decals look great. The T-6 was widely used as a trainer and over 15,000 were built. Caracal Models has released a set of excellent markings which depict the T-6 as USAF trainers from the 1950’s. The markings cover:

• T-6G Texan 49-2910, Hondo AFB, Texas 1954
• T-6G Texan 49-3477, Columbus AFB, Mississippi 1955

Both planes are FS33538 Chrome yellow overall and are a nice change from the kit markings. Inside the package, there is a folded booklet of full color instructions showing all the needed plane views and profiles for each plane with decal placement and color call outs (chrome yellow and black). A standard size decal sheet is included and is printed by Microscale. Registration is excellent and all the stencils needed for one aircraft are included.

Revell’s PBY-5A Catalina has been around for 20 years now and I have seen quite a few built and it looks large and impressive when finished. The kit comes in two style- the “-5” who has no wheel wells and the “-5A” which does. Eduard has released sets for the PBY-5A which allow improvements to the entire airframe. This set (#48825) addresses the wheel bays which are only present in the “-5A” model and cannot be used on the initial “-5” release.

Videoaviation out of Italy is one we don't often see here in the US. But I can tell you that any modeler with an interest in aviation modeling needs to look at their suite and wonderful selection of products. The item for review in this case is a 1/32 MHU-12 munitions handling trailer, used to transport munitions between the storage areas and the flight line for the US and many other forces. It has a 5,000 pound capacity and can accommodate a wide variety of munitions.

The kit is beautifully cast in 66 resin parts with parts for two different versions in the box; one (yellow) early with tires and towbar, one (green) late with tires and towbar plus decals. The kit can be configured many different ways based on what munitions would be being hauled. I elected to do the late version in green and configured as shown in the pictures in the instructions. Another comment, the instructions are superb with red highlights where things go and notes and options carefully noted.

Airfix has been producing some of the finest model kits in the industry for 75 years - models that we all grew up with; models that absorbed our allowance money; models with box art that filled our imagination. The company has gone through a lot of changes over the years, but, like our hobby, it’s always been there in the background, beckoning us back to the workbench.

Following their recent trend back into 1/24 scale aircraft kits, Airfix has released the venerable Typhoon Mk.Ib by Hawker Aircraft.

The Typhoon was arguably the RAF's premier ground attack fighter of World War II. Armed with rockets, bombs and Hispano cannon, the ‘Tiffy’ lorded over the Normandy skies, disrupting or completely paralyzing German road traffic and sapping morale, for even the prospect of a rocket attack by the dreaded ‘Jabo’ was unnerving to those on the ground.