The latest journal of Cross & Cockade International - Autumn 2015, features a color painting by Geoffrey Watson of the Vickers FB.19 A5227 on the cover. A5227 carried interesting armament in the form of two extra Lewis machine guns on the lower wing just inboard of the wing struts, bringing its total armament up to four machine guns. This issue also includes a separate A2 size sheet in color covering Ordnance Survey maps that are marked up with the location of WWI aviation interest sties in Ireland.

Cross & Cockade International is a non-profit UK based group known as the First World War Aviation Historical Society that publishes their journal four times a year. They also provide a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI themed books like the Sopwith Dolphin monograph I reviewed earlier. In fact, this issue includes some updates for that monograph in the Fabric section.

Eduard Brassin line continues to expand by adding a very nice all-resin model of the AM-39 Exocet missile. While the Exocet is forever associated with the Super Etendard, it is also used in different aircraft, like Mirage V, Alpha Jet, Super Puma helicopters, and patrol aircraft like Breget Atlantic and P-3 Orion, just to name a few. As such this aftermarket set can be used in many different models.

In the box you get several cast resin pieces, all free of bubbles and imperfections. The casting blocks are small in size and easy to remove.

The missile body and body fins are cast in a dark-colored resin, while the missile exhaust tubes are cast in a clear-colored resin. The parts cast in clear-colored resin (exhaust tubes) are the only option you have; to build a Block 1 or a Block 2 AM-39. Do your research as to which block version you should build.

NOTE: This review covers two decal sheets. The stencil decal, 32005 has a MSRP of $12.50. It can be found on the AOA website at: http://www.aoadecals.com/32005/home.htm.

AOA (Angle of Attack) decals: New on the block, and focusing on Marine Air … We sincerely appreciate this new decal manufacturer sending IPMS/USA their latest releases for review! (…and the usual thanks also to IPMS USA Reviewer corps leadership for sending these my way.. )

The two sheets being reviewed were provided in the same package; I don’t know if this is the common delivery method.

This (32-004) sheet covers a total of 21 different options for the OV-10A/B as flown by Marine and Navy Air in Vietnam. Included with this sheet was the stencil set, 32-005, which includes propeller warning markings, ejection triangles, etc…

Options include for 32-004 (from AOA’s Website):

AoA (Angle of Attack) decals: New on the block, and focusing on Marine Air … We sincerely appreciate this new decal manufacturer sending IPMS/USA their latest releases for review! (…and the usual thanks also to IPMS USA Reviewer corps leadership for sending these my way.. )

This sheet is a comprehensive delivery focusing on one Marine and one USAF Bronco with two different schemes operating out of Danang AB in South Vietnam. I utilized the Marine decals… NOTE! This sheet includes only the major airframe details for the two subject aircraft. From their website: “This small 1/32 decal sheet includes two Marine VMO-2 aircraft, one from 1969 and the other from 1970; and the USAF 20th TASS CO's "famous" shark-mouthed Lois Little, which can be depicted from different time periods in 1972 (although a third option is also possible). “

I won’t go into a long drawn out spill about the S-30M2 due to the fact that just about all of us know about the Su-27 Family of Soviet/Russian fighters or build one. So a brief history is as followed, the Su-30M2 is a long-range, high-endurance, heavy-class Air Dominance Fighter with multi mission capabilities. It is currently the most advanced version of Su-27 Flanker flying anywhere in the world. The Su-27, which was first produced in the Former Soviet Union starting 1982 is counted among the world's best fighter aircraft even without any upgrades; but some of the technology and capability that the Su-30MKI boasts has absolutely no parallels across the world's air forces. The Su-30M2 gives its operator a capability that will remain unmatched by all rivals for the foreseeable future. Eduard set consists of two previous photoetch sets and a mask. The photoetch sets deal with the interior and exterior plus the mask